NIRANTAR - a centre for gender and education

Material Production Course

Over the years Nirantar has developed expertise in creating a variety of educational material as well as training groups to produce material that is gender sensitive and appropriate for rural audiences. This expertise was brought to bear in conceptualising and organising a course on material production for rural readers. The first Material Production Course was conducted in Chitrakoot and Delhi in December 2004. We offer this course annually.
The objectives of this course are to build capacities - both perspective and skills - of functionaries of grassroots organisations to produce material locally. The course also seeks to provide them exposure to different genres of writing and innovative efforts in material production. The participants from different NGOs and grassroots organisations who attend the course are also introduced to the world of journalism, particularly rural journalism. The course is designed in two phases and has a fieldwork component to give participants the opportunity to apply concepts learnt and skills developed. The first ten-day phase is held in Chitrakoot. During this phase, conceptual issues such as the importance of locally produced material, gender and language issues are discussed. The challenges of writing simply in local language are shared with the participants during with a field trip to Khabar Lahariya in Chitrakoot.
LEARNNG ABOUT MATERIALS Different methods are used during the course. Participants’ skills of how to critically analyse material are honed through exercises where they review a variety of material – mainstream and alternative – to see how they reflect the politics of gender, language and identity. Discussions based on reading articles are also organised. Resource persons from different fields are invited to interact with the participants. For instance, for the first Materials Course in 2004, journalists Neelabh Mishra and Bhasha Singh (Outlook) talked about the limitations of mainstream media; and Sanjeev Mishra, a freelance journalist from Rajasthan, conducted sessions on developing writing skills. Ganesh Devi, from Bhasha in Gujarat, discussed the significance of writing in local languages. And activists from Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Eklavya and Vividha who all create different types of material, shared their experiences too. Practical skills, such as news gathering, are introduced during the field visit to Khabar Lahariya in Chitrakoot. Participants gather news for an article and then it write up.
In between the two phases, participants undertake small projects in their own field areas, which are then discussed in the second phase. The focus of the second five-day phase, usually held in Delhi, is on developing skills in writing and editing. Participants write articles and are given feedback by the resource persons. Click here to read a report on the Material Production Course conducted in Karwi in December 2006.