| Date 17-Sep-2020 to 17-Sep-2020 |
Location Time: 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM |
Format Online |
Animation in development sector has been characterised by different vocabularies and philosophies and often ends up describing what an animator does, neglecting the fact that it is process of facilitating learning in individuals and communities.
Caritas India organised a webinar on the theme ‘Empowering Animation in the New Normal’ on Thursday, 17th September 2020 from 3pm – 5pm to discuss ambiguities and concerns regarding how one could continue the grassroots engagement, when the world is going virtual.
During the webinar, Dr Rajesh Tandon spoke about the relevance of ‘Participatory Approach in the Virtual Context’, without compromising the participation of those who do not have access to such infrastructure or facilities. He explained participation at grassroots level as a process of facilitating learning at individual and community level. Learning leads to change; the change is sustainable only when both unlearning and relearning happens: Unlearning of old behavior and relearning of new behavior.
Change also means reclaiming the agency of change at the individual and collective level. Individual agency requires valuing one's capacity to make choices and to make decisions. Collective agency is similar but gives power and strength to the collective voice. This is called Empowerment. Empowerment means learning, unlearning and relearning, individually and collectively, to share, listen and realise that we can all do it. This requires some simulation and facilitation. Here, the role of animators and local educators is essential to facilitate learning in others.
There were many other representatives from various development organizations. The webinar enhanced the understanding of ways to convert ongoing programs to community led initiatives and also discussed the new avenues/opportunities that the current situation has brought into the community-led approach.