For a brief overview of PSA’s work, please click here
A working collective operates with the General Secretary of PSA from Delhi. The Collective works with different mediums and is composed of the following Units; Research, Fellowship, Dialogues and Conflict Transformation. The Media Collective and the Campaigns and Advocacy wing of PSA operates independently.
THE RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
The Research Collective, of the Programme for Social Action (PSA), facilitates research around the theoretical framework and practical aspects of development, sustainable alternatives, equitable growth, natural resources, community and people’s rights. Cutting across subjects of economics, law, politics, environment and social sciences, the work bases itself on people’s experiences and community perspectives.
Our work aims to reflect ground realities, challenge conventional growth paradigms and generate informed discussions on social, economic, political, environmental and cultural issues.
The TRC attempts to develop an action based and participatory research methodology.
Publications are available for download here
THE MEDIA COLLECTIVE
The Media Collective is an experiment of individuals and groups using a range of creative mediums as the mode of interaction with people's struggles and politics. In the process, it hopes to evolve a creative spirit and expression, as well as a community of media practitioners who can provide an alternative to the mainstream media. The space adages that the medium is the message, as much as the message itself. The Media Collective is working towards creating a journal of visual documentation and creative non-fiction to illuminate ground realities which are often beyond the ambit of the mainstream media.
Recent videos and films are available for viewing here
DIALOGUE FOR ACTION (DFA)
DfA aims to promote people-to-people dialogue as the lasting solution to civil, political, economic and cultural conflicts. It believes that people and communities have an inherent capacity to change the nature of conflicts towards creating better eco-systems. DfA structurally promotes Conflict Transformation as a school of thought, vis-à-vis schools of Conflict Management or Conflict Resolution.
Conflict Transformation fundamentally is about the belief that conflicts in society can only be transformed through a process of transition from different stages of conflict – from active to passive, from armed to unarmed, from militarisation and occupation to demilitarisation, from undemocratic to democratic, etc. and that any ‘solution’ based approach is bound to fail.
DfA take South Asia as the geographical region where our interventions and Dialogue experimentation will be brought to practice. Within South Asia, the specific areas of work include: Indo-Pak fishers issue/conflicts, Siachen conflict between Indian and Pakistani Armies, Sir Creek conflict in Indo-Pak maritime waters, prisoners issues between India and Pakistan, the battle between Maoists Party and the Indian state and the larger battle of democratic movements against aggressive, growth oriented development model in Central India’s tribal region and the conflicts between different ethnic communities in North East region.
@ Publications from DfA and the TRC are available for download here
THE ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT
The Admin Unit was created with the aim of equipping people with different skills in the areas of finance and administration. The collective aims to create a space whereas administrative work is not divorced from the ideological and issue based engagement that the Collective has, but rather functions in tandem with the same.
FELLOWSHIP IN ACTION UNIT (FIA)
The ‘Fellowship in Action’ works towards enhancing the capacities of community organizations and support groups at the local, regional, national and international level, in order to advocate for social justice and strengthen democratic alliances. Key activities of the Unit are; to build alliances, document and provide strategic support and solidarity with new/ existing community organisations to achieve social justice; to facilitate processes of sharing knowledge and information in an effort to build and broaden the perspectives across regions; create a network of resources to aid future work; to assist in efforts towards creating alternatives for innovations and traditional livelihood with traditional natural resource based communities.
THE CAMPAIGNS AND ADVOCACY UNIT
The campaigns unit and advocacy unit functions independently of the working collective. It focuses on providing advocacy and campaign support to community initiatives. These inlcude key legislations of importance to natural resource based communities in following thematic areas:
Land rights, agrarian reforms and land acquisition
Coastal rights, Coastal Regulation and livelihood sustenance of traditional fish-workers
Forest Rights, with focus on the implementation and monitoring of the Forest Rights Act
Labor laws with focus on the unorganized sector
Handloom workers