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- Sep 22, 2021
- 6 min read

Aarushi Tanwar - Champion - Social Volunteer Awards 2020

I am an environmentalist & climate change educator. Also, the Co-Founder of volunteer - citizen network 'Green Gang Faridabad' which working in the sector of waste management. I have been a panellist for 'Youth Perspective for India's Environment' - a web dialogue organized by CHINAR & Global Foundation. And a member of IUCN Commission on Environment & Communication and a United Nation's V - Force Volunteer. I have written several articles for Let Me Breathe India and have developed informative videos on the issue of air pollution & eco-anxiety. I have worked on diverse projects with UNEP, Clean Air Asia, WWF and Purpose PBC in the sector of environment & social development. And the projects dealt with school kids, college students and residential communities on environment education, air pollution and solar energy respectively.

VOLUNTEERING STORY

My volunteering career started with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Delhi, India; where I worked in environment education department on a project to assess Delhi NCR based schools' curriculum as per that of WWF's environment education programme - Ek Prithvi. It was very intriguing to be visiting number of schools, interacting with kids on how to do vermi-composting, tree tagging,conducting eco - trails and environment surveys etc. As well as, it included a segment of 'training the trainers', where school teachers were built capacity on several themes of environment in order to imbibe the elements of environment education in their respective subjects. Later as a United Nation's V- Force, I volunteered for the India Volunteering Conclave, a two day event organized by UN Volunteers (UNV) & Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports in New Delhi, India. I was selected among the other 15 volunteers from India by UNV to coordinate India Volunteering Conclave 2019 on 8th- 9th August 2019. I was assigned the duty of managing and coordinating with guests. And to help in facilitating the discussion session. Currently, I'm managing an independent volunteer - citizen network called Green Gang Faridabad with a core team of 10 young environmentalists, 100 citizens and 7 stakeholders & supporters working on a mission to make the city & communities of Faridabad clean, green & sustainable. The network works in the sector of waste management by conducting extensive weekend clean up drives in different locations of Faridabad. The team segregates waste at the time of collection in order to be fed to the recycling company and to divert the route of waste from landfills to the recycled product. The aim of such activity is to make actions speak louder than words i.e. we want to make Faridabad win the first position in the Swachh Survekshan Survey 2021 by the active citizen participation and sheer stakeholder engagement in the sector of waste.

VOLUNTEERING JOURNEY

It's been total of six months of volunteering to be counted from year 2019 to the present. I've always been very passionate about doing some action at the grass root level, connecting with different set of audience with difference in age groups and that has always been my inspiration to know more about work on the ground than in literature.

VOLUNTEERING FOR ME

Volunteering is an act of giving back to society in different individual capacities. The volunteers act as catalysts in implementation of the development programs which have been initiated by organizations & governments. According to me, volunteering helps elevate the process of connecting with different communities on a very human level in order to bring greater impact in the society and a sense of individual responsibility with respect to the society.

PROJECT

Green Gang Faridabad

ORGANISATION

Green Gang Faridabad

MISSION & VISSION

Mission: To make Faridabad the cleanest city of India with active citizen & authorities’ participation.

Vision: To make Faridabad’s city & communities clean, green & sustainable.

Belief: Everyone is unique and given a certain capacity in which he/she should contribute their bits in order to save the environment and society.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Green Gang Faridabad, is a team of young citizens who are hard core environmentalists by heart. It is a passionate volunteer network driven to clean the city of Faridabad with a mission to make citizens - the responsible waste management’s stakeholder in every aspect. The Green Gang tries to create a sustainable model of waste management through active citizen participation at ward/ community level; which should be able to reduce their waste, segregate waste and manage their waste from source to end properly. Under its ambit, the Green Gang also considers to build capacity of informal waste workers so that they can earn & live with dignity. The project is simply an action on ground i.e. the team conducts extensive weekend clean up drives in the parts of Faridabad which creates large scale awareness, on ground sensitization and a dialogue capped with interactive workshop at the waste site on the themes like wet waste management, mixed waste, composting, plastic waste, recycling & upcycling techniques and tips to reduce waste. So far, the team of 10 core members have mobilized 200+ citizens & social groups.

LENGTH OF SERVICE

The project was started on the significant day of Global Climate Strike i.e. 25th September 2020 and is currently running. So far, I have spent 6 active hours per week and more than 4 passive hours per week..

ROLE IN PROJECT

I am the founding member of the project & team, thus, my role entails quite much everything. I manage the whole documentation process, social media channels, networking, logistics and team – sponsor – citizen management. My professional experience has really helped me grow the idea for this project and I added my project & people management skills, networking & communication skills as well as my forte of conducting capacity building workshops, advocacy & research have really enhanced the whole process. The project has helped me gain resourceful networks, knowledge of different aspects of waste, and given me a sense of responsibility as an individual to act positively in this society to be able to make greater impact.

IMPACT OF PROJECT

A positive dialogue has been started among the citizenry around the issue of waste in their community and many of them are already mobilized who are taking constructive actions. People have come forward to extend their support in many capacities to help the team & project grow gigantically, which further will aid the people of Faridabad to manage their waste properly. Many of them have started seeing waste as 'wealth' and 'waste workers' as 'cleaning agents' so, quite of their perspective have changed and are taking a good shape. I am planning to work on the project extensively and with various social groups & organizations working in the sector of waste management. So that, the waste collected could 100% be recycled, and we be able to flatten the landfills or to eradicate the mini landfills that have been building up in small localities/ communities.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal

ACHIEVEMENTS

I have been a panellist for 'Youth Perspective for India's Environment' - a web dialogue organized by CHINAR & Global Foundation. And a member of IUCN Commission on Environment & Communication and a United Nation's V - Force Volunteer. I have written several articles for Let Me Breathe India and have developed informative videos on the issue of air pollution & eco-anxiety.

FUTURE PLANS

I would like to continue working in the waste management sector for a while as our country largely demands it. Moreover, my future plan is to be a full time farmer & climate change educator; teaching the mitigation methods for the effects of climate change to the small kids at the permaculture farm while teaching them how to grow their own food per se. To mention the profession plan, I'd like to work under the ambit of climate change & learn all the intricacies to be able to help the communities from its effects at large. And by the support of The Gulmohar Foundation & Institute of Social Volunteering, I'd be more equipped with knowledge of people management, networking, thematic expertise & would be exposed to a number of opportunities which will help me personally & professionally a lot.

REFERENCE:

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Aarushi Tanwar - Champion - Social Volunteer Awards 2020

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