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Movement for Alternatives and Youth Awareness

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Right to quality education | Issues of labour & livelihood
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Central to this process, in MAYA's understanding, is the need to facilitate institutional learning and experience of communities. In working towards this across different communities, processes aim at avoiding generalisations and a universal concept of 'best practices'; rather directing efforts towards discovering and sharing cultural differences. It is recognised that it is essential to start from where the communities are, and not from a predetermined standpoint; since communities can only build their learning from the point at which they relate to the need for new institutions. Simultaneously, there is a realisation that the context of the communities needs to be perceived within the overall framework of society and development and the nature of new institutional arrangements envisaged.
 
Also inherent to this approach of the organisation is the facilitation of institutions that are engaged in a process of self-directed learning. The ‘self’, in this context, refers to a collective rather than an individualistic interpretation of the term, that takes into account the immediate environment of the community within the larger context of societal realities. Perceiving the possible limitations of interpreting self-direction in an atomistic sense, the organisation facilitates the building of an institutional framework that supports a collective and empowering interpretation of self-direction. This the organisation facilitates through sharing new possibilities with communities but enabling them to determine for themselves the need and aspect for change. Though this process of dialogue and praxis may appear slow and the outcome seemingly insignificant in the short-term, it is essential that communities steer the agenda and process of change, in order that it is a truly democratic process. For MAYA, efforts to institutionalise this complex process involve working through definitive action with the existing establishment and its inherent inequities of caste, gender, resources, etc; rather than be limited to a mere commentary or debate on the issue.
The organisation believes that such an empowering interpretation of self-direction can only be ensured through a process that facilitates communities to build, own and steer the vision for their institutions. By its very nature, such a process of facilitating ownership would organically address aspects of quality and learning that are in congruence with the status and needs of the community. Conversely, it is seen that mere enrolment to institutions with a preset objective and purpose would render the structures inactive and ill-equipped to facilitate a dynamic learning process inherent to communities.
 
Over the years, comprehending these different aspects of development has also implied strengthening processes within MAYA to enhance its own skills and capacities as an institution; whose primary object is to build empowered human institutions of the poor. In effect, this has meant gaining an enhanced understanding of facilitation and learning, not only as a process for working with communities, but as an integral part of the organisation's functioning and its learning-experience.