TAG MEMBER PROFILES: FIELD SERVICES AND INTER-CULTURAL LEARNING (FSL INDIA)
KARNATAKA
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Background of the Organisation:
FSL India is a non-pro t, charitable, social and independent non governmental organisation with the main objective of promoting global understanding, inter-cultural learning and to work for togetherness encouraged by world peace through youth mobility.
FSL India is registered under the Indian Trust Act and is not inclined to any political or religious groups and it is structured with a constituency- based network. It acts as a support structure for other youth organisations by organising work camps, meetings, workshops and coordinating long term voluntary service. It co-operates with a large number of NGOs all across India in coordinating the international exchange of volunteers and in supporting the volunteer movement in India.
FSL India undertakes projects across India and its head office is located in Bangalore, South India. FSL India is open to receiving committed members irrespective of any social background.
Through volunteering, FSL India aims to offer direct contact to Indian youth, women, farmers, fishermen and other vulnerable sections of society to interact with international youth worldwide to understand
local needs. FSL India places international volunteers in local community projects to support sustainable development and to bring an inter-cultural dimension to community projects. International volunteers can make a positive impact towards local communities, by encouraging them to continue work initiated by FSL India and its volunteers.
Where we Work:
Amongst the various programmes that are run by the FSL office in Kundapur, Karnataka, sea turtle and coastal habitat conservation activities are carried out along the coastline of the North Udupi district.
Objectives:
The objectives of FSL are to:
- Promote international understanding and cultural exchange,
- Encourage voluntary service as a means to encourage peace, equality and democracy,
- Support community development and bring an inter-cultural dimension to community projects,
- To help and conserve our nature,
- To bring global issues to the local community, and
- Self-awareness and personal development for the volunteers.
Activities:
Over the past year, FSL has carried out a Sea Turtle Conservation and Environment Education and Awareness programme. The duration of the programme was six months. The objective of the programme was to create awareness among the fishermen community about importance of the sea turtle population. We were able to create awareness to among fishermen community along 60 km of North Udupi district of Karnataka State. We work in 17 villages. For every 5 km of target area we have managed to appoint fishermen leaders who work as our contact persons helping in this conservation programme.
Support for the Organisation:
FSL India is a non–pro t organisation and does not have external funding. All costs of FSL India are sustained through participation fees from volunteers. We work only with local organisations that need our support.
Plans for the Future:
We would like to close the gap between Udupi to Kerala (90 km) by extending our working area. We would also like to work towards saving other endangered species, along with our sea turtle conservation programme.
Role Within the Network:
FSL India places international volunteers in local community projects to support sustainable development and to bring an inter-cultural dimension to community projects. We can contribute to TAG members by placing international volunteers in their projects by which they can get additional human resources. We are located in a place where only minimal sea turtle nesting takes place and we are a small organisation compared to others. We are therefore ready to contribute as per the needs of the network. As a member of TAG, we gain a lot of technical knowledge and we learn a lot of good practices from other members.
Contributed by Dayanand Salins, Coordinator – Sea Turtle Project, FSL India.
Contact information: Dayanand Salins, Coordinator, Sea Turtle Project.
Postal address:FSL India, East End residency, East block road, Kundapur, Udupi district – 576201, Karnataka
Phone: +91 8254 231811
Email: daya@fsl-india.org
Website: www.fsl-india.org/kundapur_center.html