Guest Post - Daya: International Consultants for Peace Initiatives

Today, we have a guest blog post from one of the GSPIA student organizations, Daya: International Consultants for Peace Initiatives. GSPIA student organizations are an excellent way for students to gain skills outside of the classroom that will benefit their career goals. We highly encourage students to get involved! 

Daya Center for Peace is an NGO based in Hyderabad, India working for peace and conflict transformation. The staff members of Daya have extensive training and a long history of working with an extensive network of partners from all over India.  They have built up the trust and respect necessary to provide peace building work in conflict affected regions of India. The Mission of Daya Center for Peace is to promote a culture of peace in schools and enable schools to impart transformative education. Through leadership training and other programs, Daya aims to help children, youth, teachers and civil society organizations become agents of non-violence and social change.

 

Although the staff of Daya has a long history of working for peace in the region, Daya as an organization is young, understaffed, and underfunded. It provides a great opportunity for NGO minded GSPIA students  to put into action the skills and knowledge they gain in the classroom. So Daya: International Consultants for Peace Initiatives (I.C.P.I) collaborates with Daya Center for Peace to support them in their goals and missions from the heart of Pittsburgh – GSPIA! We have many opportunities for you to get involved and and make an impact nationally and internationally in India. Daya Center for Peace works in many states within India, working with and influencing a wide audience. Check out our map!

 

We had our first information session of the spring term last week! We would like to thank all those in attendance and look forward to all the help we can get. Membership is also not just limited to GSPIANs. We highly encourage participants from other Pitt professional programs and undergraduate students.

 

In case you missed our meeting here are a few way that you can get involved!

• Writing grants
• Researching Foundations
• Consulting Daya: Center for Peace
• Planning the peace building conference
• Calling specific scholars that are involved in ethnic violence and conflict transformation
• Interning in Hyderabad, India

GSPIA students previously have interned at Daya: Center for Peace, and so we launched the summer application for the internship program. We have several internship positions including:

• Teaching in School
• Fund Raising/Writing project proposals
• Helping/Co-facilitating peace and leadership workshops and determining when the workshops are conducted
• Designing for Daya Magazines
• Tech related work
• Website updates
• Writing articles based on interviews conducted
• Video documentary
• Blog updates
• Working on creative projects

 

If you have questions or concerns about any one of these aspects of our organization, Daya: I.C.P.I, or Daya: Center for Peace, in India, please contact us on INGOClinic@gmail.com. You can also visit the Facebook Group or Website.

You could also contact any of the executive members or past interns below!

• Yuman Rathore: Co-President (yar5@pitt.edu)
• Galata Tona: Co-President (ggt4@pitt.edu)
• Janet Guo: Treasurer (xig14@pitt.edu)
• Sree Kodavatiganti: Secretary (srk37@pitt.edu)
• Camille Gockowski: Events Coordinator (ckg9@pitt.edu)
• Dan Shetler: Founder of Daya I.C.P.I and Past Intern (danshetler@gmail.com)