In the larger development context, community organizing is critical for people to demand, support, resist and contest processes and to have a voice in order to steer decisions their way. The issues and challenges being often region or state specific, there are a range of interventions that are taken on over a period of time. Multi-level interventions and newer approaches by practitioners contribute to the dynamism and churning in the field.

Placement: Social Audit Unit, Jharkhand; September 2017

In this backdrop, it is imperative for education in community practice to respond to the dynamism of the field in the classroom as well as in field education. For students the capacity to grasp the connections between the micro and macro realities to inform practice and to build the ability to engage with communities in complex and cross-cultural situations is extremely important.

Towards this end the Centre facilitates field placements in diverse contexts. Organisational contexts include State-led projects/institutions, NGOs, Social Movements and Trade Unions.

Diverse regional contexts in both urban and rural community settings have also been engaged with that include the following.

• Eastern India: Odisha, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand
• Western India: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra
• North India: Delhi, Uttarakhand
• South India: Kerala

Placement: District Collectorate, Palghar – Ashram School Project; September 2017

Students are placed for a period of one month each in the third and fourth semesters respectively. While engaging with the community and working towards addressing specific issues, it is expected that students fulfil the following objectives.

• To gain an understanding of development issues in specific regions and contexts
• To appreciate challenges for community practice in particular organizational contexts
• To build and strengthen skills of community organisation through engaging in intervention initiatives at various levels
• Through comprehensive learning from the organisation and field, to develop an overall appreciation of community practice