Volunteer with Janaagraha

Janaagraha has a core group of paid permanent staff and 200 volunteers who satisfy our HR requirements at any given point in time. Volunteers are important to Janaagraha in two respects: they infuse the organization with new ideas and creativity, and play a critical part of the ethos of the organization. 'Practical Patriotism' and 'Professional Volunteerism' are drivers in Janaagraha's approach to volunteers.

As engaged citizens, YOU can be a part of Janaagraha and build on the opportunities to improve our public governance. Please find below an overview of different programs and related volunteer opportunities.

IJANAAGRAHA

The iJanaagraha portal envisions a huge online networking community that is committed to urban issues - electoral and civic. It aims to initiate change, build networks of communities & local civic bodies, provide data on urban issues, civic awareness & training – all of this at a local neighbourhood level. With the relevant information presented intelligently through use of simple interactive MAPS and a powerful platform to ACT, we aim to inspire everyone to get out and grab opportunities, participate in campaigns, events and community projects and become an Active Citizen in our society.

Volunteer role name: iJ Networking Associate

Volunteer task description: Visit RWAs, Clubs, JR clubs, other communities etc and market iJ. Bring all the offline communities onto iJ. A confident go-getter who needs minimal hand holding.

Time commitment-hours/wk for number of months: 3 months. First month – 8 hours Mon - Fri. Second month onwards – 4 hours Mon-Fri.

Skills required: Fluency in Kannada, Tamil & English. Should be a quick learner and have the ability to market new ideas. Should be MS-Office savvy. Should be able to do ppt presentations, chalk out documents or minute meetings quite well.

In office role / offline role: More of a networking role. Office role is minimal for co-ordination/updation

Number of volunteers for the particular role: 1.

Anything else you think is relevant: Needed ASAP

Volunteer role name: iJ Content Associate

Volunteer task description: Person excellent in spoken & written English. Well read, ability to conduct interviews, sketch event highlights, write features, news, columns with ease. Should be committed to work within deadlines

Time commitment-hours/wk for number of months: 3 months. First month(15th June – 15th July) - 8 hours per week, then needed on ad-hoc basis.

Skills required: Fluency in Kannada & English. Should be a quick learner and have the ability to market new ideas. Should be MS-Office savvy.

In office role/offline role: More of a networking role. Office role is minimal for co-ordination/updation

Number of volunteers for the particular role: 2

Anything else you think is relevant: Needed from 15th June

ADVOCACY

The program is aimed at designing framework laws for urban governance. This includes institutional redesign that would require harmonization of the underlying legal structure of existing institutions through amendments that bring out the new relationships precisely, repeal of some legal provisions that are rendered obsolete and enactments of new provisions and laws.

Responsibilities:

• Understand the basics of urban governance (with our help) and the issues that challenge reformers.
• Get up to speed on the progress achieved so far by the core team working on this project.
• Work in teams to examine laws that have been categorized together for easier scrutiny.
• Each sub-group will, in respect of the aspect assigned to them for study:

(a) Compile relevant state and central laws
(b) Examine these laws within the context of the desired institutional structure
(c) Draft amendments to these laws so that they are harmonized with each other and together provide the framework for the new paradigm.

• Present suggestions for legal change before peer teams.
• Once the broad modalities of the changes suggested are agreed, volunteers will be called upon to write sections of the final report.

Requirements:

- Senior legal resources: Practicing lawyers/People with legal background, and work experience.

- Junior legal resources: Students of law who have completed 5th semester.
All with a time commitment of 2 months or more.

JAAGTE RAHO!

Jaagte Raho! is a non-partisan campaign to facilitate informed civic participation among India’s urban citizens. By providing citizens with tools, opportunities and information to play their roles easily and effectively, the aim is to build a movement for active citizenship in urban India.

Volunteers are required to:

• Assist the team in preparing documents, plans and undertaking the pilot activities towards institutional outreach.
• Knowledge of Kannada will be an added advantage.
• While full time availability will be good, part time volunteers are welcome too. Volunteers are required critically in the months of August & September.
• Verify polling booth boundary maps through ground surveys.

AREA SURAKSHA MITRA [ASM]

The terror attacks in Mumbai have unleashed an unrelenting resolve amongst citizens to secure the future. There is heightened interest in the citizenry to participate in security related initiatives. Civil Defence Karnataka and Janaagraha have come together to effectively channelize these energies in Bangalore. This will be done through the induction of AREA SURAKSHA MITRAS into the Civil Defence. Area Suraksha Mitras are citizen security representative from local communities.

Benefits:

• Underlining the key benefit is the contribution to enhanced security steps within neighborhoods.
• Clearly addresses the “how” of participation, in that it provides an active step that citizens can take to make a difference. Often, and as in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, citizens’ volunteer spirit is at a high, yet the avenue of how they can channelise this energy is unclear. This initiative gives citizens clarity on how they can participate.
• The model lends itself to replicability.
• This community-centric model also combines well into the state’s formal mechanism for safety through the Civil Defence.
• It gives people a greater sense of ownership of their neighborhoods, and heightens their sense of preparedness in a crisis.

Volunteers are welcome to sign up to join the ASM force in the city. Please log into www.areasm.org

CITIZEN AWARENESS PROGRAMME

Based on the belief that each individual can play a role in our democracy, the CAP was created to give citizens the knowledge, motivation and tools necessary to participate in the political process/governance of their city. The program is conducted by trained facilitators with small groups of participants.

Through multimedia presentations participants learn about the structure of the union, state and local governments, the infrastructure of service providers and the strengths and challenges of our democracy. Role-playing and team and individual exercises reinforce key concepts.

The final phase of the CAP introduces tools and methods for community engagement that enable individuals to contribute to the quality of life in their community. Participants become part of a growing network of committed citizens who feel a sense of ownership towards their city.

CAP Facilitators will undergo training and exposure to the program, before being permitted to train program participants. Facilitators must be willing to modify and develop their delivery based on regular evaluation and feedback.

Skills:

Public speaking, documentation, content development, and training.

Time Commitment:

8 to 10 hours a week.

Location:

Bangalore

COMMUNICATIONS

The Communications Program facilitates the information exchange and dialogue across stakeholder groups with the goal of positioning Janaagraha’s value and work in the context of Urban Governance and Citizen Participation.

The responsibilities of a Volunteer Anchor include:

• Assist in communication work within the designated program.
• Develop communication plans for each program: message mapping for stakeholders, content writing and media communication.
• Role play of communications volunteer.

Time Commitment:This is a part-time role and requires an input of 1 to 2 days a week at Janaagraha.
Location: Bangalore

We require Communication Volunteers with good writing skills and an ability to understand the Program. The volunteer will have to send weekly written updates of the Program which will be used on the website and in our monthly magazine. They will have to cover the YJ events and write articles on the progress of the Program.

Time Commitment: 2 to 3 hrs per week.
Location: Bangalore

The role includes content development and updating the website. S/he will be responsible to follow up with coordinators and collate updated content on a rotational basis. Interactive pages will have to be reviewed regularly and information kept current. S/he will build appropriate groups on the site and moderate them to move the dialogue forward meaningfully.

Time Commitment: 7 to 10 hrs per week with one meeting in the office.
Location: Bangalore

The responsibilities of a Design Volunteer include:

• Deliver specific design requirements using a brief given by the program
• Design and assist in work on posters/brochures/flyers/ etc.

Skills: Adobe software, photography, web design.
Time commitment: 8 to 10 hours a week.
Location: Bangalore

TECHNOLOGY

Technology supports Janaagraha campaigns, assesses city planning activities, promotes interest and awareness amongst citizens and serves as a resource. It seeks to ensure that the focus is on content and delivery to citizens rather than on technology, and that our projects can be replicated and scaled to a higher level.

Volunteers are required to:

• Test websites for the Area Surakha Mitra and the One Billion Voters project. This is a part time role and may be done offline.
• Volunteers are also required to assist the in-house technology team in coding a dummy website for the Ward Infrastructure and Services assessment index [WISA]. This role may be done offline with a weekly review on Saturday in office with the WISA team.

For further details, attend our Orientation program every Saturday at 4pm. You can also visit us at www.janaagraha.org  or contact us at 080-41277102/103.
Write to us at volunteer@janaagraha.org or
work@janaagraha.org