Rural Youth Volunteers

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For a 3 month period, paired volunteers (one from the US, the other from India- ages 21-27) contribute to economic and social entrepreneurship projects in 2-4 different rural communities that address issues such as empowering women and girls, career planning, education, countering social discrimination, renewable energy, drug abuse, trafficking in persons or gender-based violence among others. Internships should be organized for a minimum of 8 pairs (16 participants in total). The Indian member of the pair should come from a part of India with no connection to the rural community where he/she is to be placed and should be fluent in Hindi and thereby able to act as a language bridge for his/her American counterpart. The projects themselves, developed and implemented (at least initially) by the volunteers and relevant community members, should serve to address the isolation of these communities by connecting them to the world beyond. Following a three day orientation in New Delhi, the pairs are placed with grassroots organizations in rural communities. Each pair stays with a local family in the community. Upon completion of the 3 month program, the pairs return to New Delhi for a final “assessment of their experience”. During this time, they also map out an action plans which they will jointly implement in their home communities upon return. These plans could serve to further the social entrepreneurship projects they worked on through fundraising, campaigning and/or advocacy activities, thereby increasing public awareness of issues facing rural India. (For more details, please refer to the full announcement available under 'related documents' tab).

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