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In a recent development our Department of Geology was able to help an NGO, in preparing the Draft Coastal Zone Management Plans for several villages across Goa using latest open source GIS tools such as Mobile GPS, Google Earth, and Quantum GIS but this post isn't about GIS OR Geology. It is about what was learnt and realized during the course of this activity. It is about the benefits of such Academia-Community Linkages which were highlighted during the preparations of these plans.
Let me begin by giving you a background of the story. The Government of Goa presented the draft Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) to the people of Goa. A document which was to become law if let through. This key document was prepared by a reputed national agency based in Chennai, which for some reason missed out several important coastal features such as Shell Fish Breeding Grounds, Important Fishing Zones, Canoe ramps, Ferry ramps, Fishermen Huts and other community structures such as Bunds, Sluice Gates, Ponds etc which are important assets of the coastal communities whose livelihood this very plan intend to protect as per its objective. These observations were highlighted by the many prominent NGO's and the coastal communities and hence the plans met with rejecting all over the coastal state. The coastal communities demanded that the agency send their surveyors on the ground to verify these facts however instead of doing the ground survey the government asked the people to send their objections or suggestions hence the people decided to prepare their own plans. This author first met with the representatives of the NGO during one of their awareness campaigns on CRZ in his own village. A brief discussion later a plan was made to have a seminar on the topic of CRZ in the college with the members of the NGO, Marine Researchers, Faculty and Students as participants. This seminar led to the idea of preparing the peoples draft CZMP with the technical expertise of the faculty and the support of the students. As the clocks were ticking on the short deadline for submission of these suggestions, several teams of students were mobilized to carry out field data collection in different villages across Goa. Armed with a pen, notebooks and mobile GPS, The Students, Representatives of NGO and representatives of various coastal communities including elected representatives of the villages set about collecting the necessary geospatial data. In a very short span of about 25 days 19 Villages were able to draft their CZMP and submit the Maps to the state Coastal Zone Management Authority for incorporation of their inputs. The National Agency will now have to verify these suggestions and hopefully incorporate the same in the final plan.
Coming back to the topic of this post, this whole exercise has given us some key pointer on, why there is a need to build Community-Academia Linkages?.
Personal Development of the Students: When students participate in activities of community interest they get an opportunity to interact in the real world, they learn to work in a team towards achieving a common goal, they experience working under pressure, learn to respect one another with different views and opinions, creating a positive impact in the community and being appreciated for their work gives them a feeling of belonging and happiness.
For the faculty: As educators of a young nation we have a social responsibility towards nation building, serving the community for their betterment gives us immense satisfaction.
Often talent misses opportunity, many a times researchers from different fields spend much of their time on seeking problems rather than solutions to carry out research. Interacting with the community can help us understand the real problems and focus our efforts accordingly as per their needs and to come up with new ideas and solutions to those problems.
What good are the lessons taught in the classroom if we fail to apply them in the real world. Participating in community outreach activities puts our skills to test. faculty should be able to identify relevant skills and upgrade themselves with new knowledge from time to time.
For the institution: Community outreach should be an important part of any educational institution, this will give them recognition as a key player in the upliftment of the community. The positive impact will attract more students to the institute. It also has the potential to raise funding for the institution through a network of well wishers from the impacted community.
For the community: Many a times the ability of community to understand, decide and act are hampered due to lack of access to reliable and trustworthy technical expertise. With a strong community-academia bonding it may be possible to overcome the may obstacles of good governance. Communities can be empowered by making them understand the various aspects of their environment thus enable them to make better choices. To make accessible to them the resources available in the institution such as Library, Scientific equipment, Expertise of the faculty and student volunteers.
Above I have just brushed upon the benefits of academia-community linkages, there is a wealth of opportunities and possibilities to unearth. share in your comments or experiences from your own community outreach endeavors in the comments below.
In a recent development our Department of Geology was able to help an NGO, in preparing the Draft Coastal Zone Management Plans for several villages across Goa using latest open source GIS tools such as Mobile GPS, Google Earth, and Quantum GIS but this post isn't about GIS OR Geology. It is about what was learnt and realized during the course of this activity. It is about the benefits of such Academia-Community Linkages which were highlighted during the preparations of these plans.
Let me begin by giving you a background of the story. The Government of Goa presented the draft Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) to the people of Goa. A document which was to become law if let through. This key document was prepared by a reputed national agency based in Chennai, which for some reason missed out several important coastal features such as Shell Fish Breeding Grounds, Important Fishing Zones, Canoe ramps, Ferry ramps, Fishermen Huts and other community structures such as Bunds, Sluice Gates, Ponds etc which are important assets of the coastal communities whose livelihood this very plan intend to protect as per its objective. These observations were highlighted by the many prominent NGO's and the coastal communities and hence the plans met with rejecting all over the coastal state. The coastal communities demanded that the agency send their surveyors on the ground to verify these facts however instead of doing the ground survey the government asked the people to send their objections or suggestions hence the people decided to prepare their own plans. This author first met with the representatives of the NGO during one of their awareness campaigns on CRZ in his own village. A brief discussion later a plan was made to have a seminar on the topic of CRZ in the college with the members of the NGO, Marine Researchers, Faculty and Students as participants. This seminar led to the idea of preparing the peoples draft CZMP with the technical expertise of the faculty and the support of the students. As the clocks were ticking on the short deadline for submission of these suggestions, several teams of students were mobilized to carry out field data collection in different villages across Goa. Armed with a pen, notebooks and mobile GPS, The Students, Representatives of NGO and representatives of various coastal communities including elected representatives of the villages set about collecting the necessary geospatial data. In a very short span of about 25 days 19 Villages were able to draft their CZMP and submit the Maps to the state Coastal Zone Management Authority for incorporation of their inputs. The National Agency will now have to verify these suggestions and hopefully incorporate the same in the final plan.
Coming back to the topic of this post, this whole exercise has given us some key pointer on, why there is a need to build Community-Academia Linkages?.
Personal Development of the Students: When students participate in activities of community interest they get an opportunity to interact in the real world, they learn to work in a team towards achieving a common goal, they experience working under pressure, learn to respect one another with different views and opinions, creating a positive impact in the community and being appreciated for their work gives them a feeling of belonging and happiness.
For the faculty: As educators of a young nation we have a social responsibility towards nation building, serving the community for their betterment gives us immense satisfaction.
Often talent misses opportunity, many a times researchers from different fields spend much of their time on seeking problems rather than solutions to carry out research. Interacting with the community can help us understand the real problems and focus our efforts accordingly as per their needs and to come up with new ideas and solutions to those problems.
What good are the lessons taught in the classroom if we fail to apply them in the real world. Participating in community outreach activities puts our skills to test. faculty should be able to identify relevant skills and upgrade themselves with new knowledge from time to time.
For the institution: Community outreach should be an important part of any educational institution, this will give them recognition as a key player in the upliftment of the community. The positive impact will attract more students to the institute. It also has the potential to raise funding for the institution through a network of well wishers from the impacted community.
For the community: Many a times the ability of community to understand, decide and act are hampered due to lack of access to reliable and trustworthy technical expertise. With a strong community-academia bonding it may be possible to overcome the may obstacles of good governance. Communities can be empowered by making them understand the various aspects of their environment thus enable them to make better choices. To make accessible to them the resources available in the institution such as Library, Scientific equipment, Expertise of the faculty and student volunteers.
Above I have just brushed upon the benefits of academia-community linkages, there is a wealth of opportunities and possibilities to unearth. share in your comments or experiences from your own community outreach endeavors in the comments below.
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