Keystone Institute India (KII)
Operations Report to KHSI Board of Directors
January – March 2024
This 3-month period was very fruitful in creating new exit pathways from institutions for people held in such places, and for expanding the influence and reach of Social Role Valorization in the Indian context. We welcomed a new team member and have continued to find ways to support the development of the CAFT project during its formative period.
New Service Models and Expansion Uttarakhand
The Chief Minister of the state of Uttarakhand approved an MoU between KHSIA as implementing partner and KHSILO as technical partner to expand our Unity Uttarakhand program to all 5 Department of Woman and Child Welfare-run institutions. This MoU was signed by all parties in February. Geeta Mondal and Rishab Anand traveled the length and breadth of the state to begin the essential work of creating trusting relationships with the management of the institutions at Pithoragarh, Almora, Halwani, and Kotdwar. This was a first successful first step, and they are very excited and ready to work with us. We have been recruiting for two new Reunification Associates, and it is a challenge in these rural and farflung areas of Uttarakhand.
This MoU includes service development of Supported Living, a new semi-independent living exit pathway from the institution. For this service, Ms. Rosy and Ms. Sumitra, each currently living in one of two Community Lives’ houses, will take on the exciting move to their own place, with support. The government has agreed to take on the costs of occupancy, and Rosy and Sumitra will be the leaseholders. Once they settle in, eventually two more women from the institution will be liberated to share community with the other 6 women already living within the Community Lives program. The growing competencies and confident of Rosy and Sumitra are allowing them to take this exciting next step of independence, which they could hardly imagine during their years of institutionalization. The expected move date is July 15th, and they are preparing, along with the KII team.
Purplefest 2024
The international phenomena of Purple Fest, a massive gathering of people around the ideas of disability inclusion, was held for the second time in Goa, and KII had important roles in this mega-event. Over 15,000 people attended, and there was a wide range of entertainment, informational booths, displays, and
live educational events. KII provided 4 educational events, and, perhaps most creatively, hosted a pop-up café with “Conversations on Inclusion” graphically captured over the course of a crowd-sourced two-day discussion participated in by literally hundreds of people. We launched the new textbook on disability studies, which has a chapter on Social Role Valorization there to a receptive audience.
Leela Raj assembled a most excellent group of employed people with disabilities, employers, entrepreneurs and job coaches from across India to field a panel in her event: Championing Inclusivity: Sharing Experiences in Employing Persons with Disabilities
Dr. Thomas Neuville gave a fascinating presentation on Frontiers of Inclusive Practice: Integrated Studies at Millersville University, stretching us to consider how people with intellectual disabilities might participate in higher education in the valued role of University Student.
Betsy Neuville, Grace Daniel, Percy Cardozo and Geeta Mondol presented multiple sessions introducing attendees to the powerful foundation of Social Riole Valorization, and our pop-up inclusion café was a great meeting spot for many. You can view of brief video showing some scenes from our work here.
Rural India Supporting Trust
We were pleased to host a two- day visit by Ashira Khera, Senior Program Manager and Christina Zanzinger. They met with Team KII in Delhi, and we were so pleased to have most of our employees present and also presenting on our work. It made us all realize how much we accomplish and how rich our work is. Afterwards, Ashira and Christina traveled to Dehradun and met informally with our Unity Uttarakhand team, also a really good experience for all.
We were notified that Shweta Rawat is stepping down as Chairperson of the Rural India Supporting Trust, although she will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees. Shweta has been a champion for inclusion, de-institutionalization, and responsible for RIST’s commitment to disability as one of its major helping initiatives in India. She will continue as Chairperson of The Hans Foundation, a sister concern of RIST.
Service Quality Evaluations
Ranjana Chakraborty and Manisha Bhattacharya, who manage our evaluation projects, have scheduled two collaborative evaluations for this year. In May, an evaluation team who speaks Bangla/Bengali will conduct a site-based assessment at the Foundation for Autism Research and Evaluation (FARE) in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Under the leadership of Dr. Fahmida Islam, FARE has been implementing SRV and other inclusive approaches at their school and vocational center and are seeking ideas and assessment. Our evaluation team consists of Ranjana Chakraborty, Dr. Manisha Bhattacharya, and new evaluator-intraining Dr. Shabnam Rahman, with Betsy Neuville in the lead. The team is still being composed for Diya Foundation, another leading-edge organization working for change, which has requested an evaluation of their employment program over the summer. We care hopeful that Mildon Tyree can serve on this evaluation team, and he has agreed to do so on a voluntary basis.
Welcome to the newest member of the KII Team
Grace Daniel is well known to KII after serving as Associate Faculty for several years, and as an active member of the All-India SRV Association. Grace joins us on a fulltime basis as Program Lead for Inclusion and Communication. Grace is a brilliant graphic facilitator, a committed inclusion practitioner, excellent collaborator, and creative engine for change- please join us in welcoming Grace to this fuller role in our shared work.
Jhalak
We are thrilled to have launched our annual volume of Jhalak – a yearly magazine to highlight the small but potent changes happening across India and neighboring countries in full, meaningful, rich lives for people with disabilities and their families. The 2023 issue is published here, and downloadable into a pdf version for those who use a screen reader.
Person Centered Planning Tools in Hindi Language
We made progress in providing ideas and trainings in mother tongue. In March, we were thrilled to offer the two-day “Tools for Inclusive Practice” event for three leading Uttarakhand organizations – Arunima, Latika Foundation, and Raphael Ryder Centre. It was a great success, and a good stretch for trainers Geeta Mondol, Shalini Bisht, and Ranjana Chakraborty, with Betsy Neuville coaching and supporting.
Helping Organizations Change
Betsy facilitated two PATHS to assist forward thinking organizations plan for more inclusive services and futures. In early March, she and Grace assisted Leap Years School to think about their future as their student’s grow into adulthood, and families, founders, and teachers shared their ideas for meeting the needs of young adults in a personalistic, individualized way.
The colourful and expressive planning graphic helps them capture their vision and love towards it in a systematic way. An equally potent planning session occurred just a few weeks later AllInclusive Foundation, a partner organization pioneering customized employment as well as many other inclusive projects.
Upcoming First-Ever Social Role Valorization Academic Conference
Workshops and Events
As a capstone to the close of our three-year MoU with the University of Lucknow, we are pleased to be invited to co-convene the first ever academic conference. Over 100 papers have been submitted for juried selection. Betsy Neuville will launch with a Keynote address entitled “The Hidden Apartheid”, and Geeta Mondol will present a Keynote bon “Growing the Tent: Community Lives for All”. The conference will be held April 3 & 4 at the University o9f Lucknow. At that time, the Vice-Chancellor Dr. Alok Rai will request to continue the MoU with Keystone Hunman Services International’s KII for ongoing partnership with their emerging disability studies programme.
Keystone Institute India provided nine events, conferences and workshops during this reporting period continuing our work towards inclusive practices in India and other parts of Southeast Asia. Two events were held online and seven were conducted in-person to engage wider network throughout Southeast Asia and balance the best use of our resources.
January 2024
8 January 2024: Championing Inclusivity: Sharing Experiences in Employing Persons with Disabilities held in Goa
10 January 2024: Frontiers of Inclusive Practice: Integrated Studies at Millersville University held in Goa
12 January 2024: Towards Authentic Inclusion and Belonging: A Glimpse of SRV Theory Session-1held in Goa
12 January 2024: Towards Authentic Inclusion and Belonging: A Glimpse of SRV Theory Session-2held in Goa
19 January 2024: Foundations of Inclusive Practice: A Glimpse of Social Role Valorization held Zoom online.
March 2024
4 March 2024: Disability and Inclusion in Health Services held in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
6 March 2024: Disability and Inclusion in Health Services held in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
20 March 2024: Foundations of Inclusive Practice: A Glimpse of Social Role Valorization held Zoom Online
22-23 March 2024: Planning Tools for Inclusive Practices: Dynamic Processes for Change held in Dehradun, Uttarakhand
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Respectfully submitted by
Elizabeth Neuville Executive Director