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Empowering Citizens Through
Constitutional Awareness and Capacity Building
We, the People of India
Stories of the making of our Constitution
Like when I stood in the middle of about 25 women in rural Haryana. Most of the women had covered their heads. We were discussing gender equality. I wanted to start the conversation with something that they could relate to in their lives, something that resembled equality. So, I said to them that I had completed my graduation and then studied for two more degrees. So, I had the right to three votes. But people who were not educated got only one vote. The more educated you are, the more votes you get in any election. At first, there was a stunned silence. It took them a minute to process what I was saying and then an older lady got up and said that’s not true. Every person in this country gets one vote—one person, one vote. She said it with clear confidence and then all the women joined her and called out my bluff.
Read the full article here.
Our Constitution, Our Stories
Our Constitution, Our Stories is a short film by We, The People Abhiyan, capturing real stories of active citizens across India.
Through this film, we hope to inspire citizens to own, understand and practice Constitutional rights and values in their daily lives.
THE NEED FOR ACTIVE CITIZENS
In any democracy, the quality of governance depends on two fundamental forces: legal-institutional frameworks AND active citizens.
Active Citizens are defined as those citizens who engage in a “broad range of activities that promote and sustain democracy”. This points towards two aspects. First, that active citizens undertake activities. Depending on the context, there could be a range of these – from voting, volunteering, petitioning, campaigning for elections, protesting, holding public hearings, to many others. The second aspect is that activities on their own are not sufficient. Active citizens must base these activities on certain values and principles that are essential for a democracy - like respect for others, freedom of choice, equal voice and participation, and respect for law, among others.
As the world’s largest democracy, this is what India needs. All citizens must be willing and able to act towards bettering their lives and communities while upholding constitutional values. Each citizen must be an active citizen.
OUR VISION
Every citizen participates, individually and collectively, in making all lives equal, free, just and dignified.
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OUR MISSION
To empower all citizens to own, understand and practice constitutional values, rights and responsibilities in their lives and communities.
OUR WORK ENCOMPASSES THESE SDGs:
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RATIONALE AND PATHWAYS
Active citizenship is a learned behaviour that requires a thoughtful and deliberate learning process. Therefore, our primary focus lies in implementing a large-scale, comprehensive, and impactful capacity-building program for citizens.
As depicted in the diagram, We, The People Abhiyan’s key initiative involves training and sustaining a network of Citizen Champions across various regions of India. These Citizen Champions, in turn, enhance the capacities of fellow citizens to foster positive changes in their lives and communities.
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Bolstering our Capacity Building endeavours are our Awareness efforts, which entail the dissemination of messages about active citizenship. This includes promoting actions, values, and success stories that inspire and encourage individuals to embrace their roles as proactive and responsible citizens.
Thus, the two defined pathways of our work are Capacity Building and Awareness and Visibility.
OUR IMPACT SINCE 2010
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6,700
Trainers Trained
25,00,000
Active Citizens
122
Partners
OUR PARTNERS
OUR SUPPORTERS:
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FEED FORWARD