From empathy-backed communication to modern parenting: Our revolutionary social stories for the week

Manasi Saxena had a revelation when a fundamental question was thrown at her as she walked into a non-violent communication (NVC) practice group meeting in Delhi. The question was simple: What did she need? It was, however, strong enough to make her think that it lies at the heart of all communications whether interpersonal or social.

Taking inspiration from psychologist Marshall Rosenberg’s principle of non-violent communication (NVC), Saxena understood that all emotions a person or group of people experience point to something they need at that time.

It dawned upon her that the secret to resolving any external conflict between persons or groups is to first become an empathetic listener and resolve it by responding to it rather than reacting. This could only be achieved if one could understand the needs of the parties in conflict.

Saxena, who runs Encompassion Foundation in Delhi, is trying to put the approach into real-time practice where she is helping resolve conflicts between various social groups.

She also actively applies these principles with organisations working in the social sector where putting the needs of other people become more important than their own.

Read more about this unique approach here.

Meanwhile, in other socially relevant news…

Making fathers babysit

Dr Dnyaneshwar Avhad, 33, who practices alongside his gynaecologist wife was astonished to find his father washing his son’s cloth diaper. Never having seen his father taking childcare roles in his childhood, Avhad understood that there has been a change in the air.

Inspired by what he saw, Avhad made his parents watch videos of a programme initiated by UNICEF that encouraged the involvement of other family members in child care apart from the mother.

The story published in the Times of India focuses on the UNICEF programme (Aarambh) initiated in Maharashtra. The pilot project aims to knock the gender inequality that exists in childcare by involving fathers and making them take active roles during the initial phase of parenting.

Dr Raut, a doctor associated with UNICEF said that the programme will make Anganwadi workers visit homes and conduct a ‘parents meet’ where they will be talking to both the parents about childcare and not just the mother.

Finding new age ways to preserve tribal language

While languages have been preserved through oral traditions for a long but it might be interesting to read about an activist who is propagating the vulnerable tribal language through virtual means.

This New Indian Express story captured language activist Ganesh Birua who hails from Odisha and belongs to Ho tribal community. He is on a mission to create a world identity for Warang Chiti, a specially designed script for the Ho language.

Interestingly, his methods of preservation are different from the traditional ways of preserving a language through oral practices. He unlike his forefathers take an online route.

Birua is taking the scale of language preservation to altogether next level where he is trying to improve the educational content present in Ho language in virtual space. He has been creating text, audio and video content in the language for it to get a wider audience on social media.

“When I started, searching for something in Warang Chiti script was very difficult because none of the digital platforms would support the script. Today, the language at least has a digital script and a mobile keyboard,” Birua told TOI.

Saving girls from child marriage

Roshni Perveen who hails from Kishanganj was 14 years old when she got married to a middle-aged man. At 16 years of age, she was navigating her way through a divorce with a one-year-old baby. After her two years of marriage, she set out on a mission to eradicate child marriages.

As such she has been conducting awareness campaigns in several villages in Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia and Khagaria. She has been conducting these campaigns virtually as well as in person. With the help of the local administration, she has saved 50 teenage girls from entering into child marriages.

“I have suffered the pain of child marriage but don’t want other girls to face the disaster and that is why I have dedicated my life to their welfare,” she told the Times of India.