Guy Poitevin - France/India

I am 69. Originally French I settled in India in 1972. I married with Hema Rairkar and obtained Indian citizenship in 1979. Hema Rairkar and myself are involved in two kinds of activities.

The first kind, under the name of Village Community Development Association (VCDA), is a programme of training, animation and coordination of groups of rural activists intervening at their village level as responsible citizens. Their role is to organize and put collectively on the move groups of villagers. This training has led to the creation of a network of similar groups all over the state of Maharashtra in western India. The perspective is one of responsible democracy of citizens starting with local bodies and spontaneous groups at the level of the village.

The second activity, under the name of Centre for Cooperative Research in Social Science (CCRSS) is a research in social sciences focussing on the cultures, oral traditions, grass-root dynamics and human potentialities of common people as grounds of social and cultural intervention. The aim is to valorize indigenous systems of knowledge and traditional forms of communication.

Both these activities lead to publications of books and articles in journals meant to bring the attention of intellectuals and teachers on the validity and relevance of people’s tradition with regard to issues of cultural and material development.

We are planning to hold a workshop on Training of Social Leaders at the WSF jointly with FPH; APM-Terre citoyenne and CERAI. The focus of the workshop is on pedagogy, methods and perspectives of a collective self-education of citizens to an effective and responsible people’s democracy.

Guy Poitevin
Rairkar Bungalow
884 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune 411 004
Tel. (91 20) 2565 0383