YASHADA News April-May 2008 Page 1 Volume 1 Issue 1

YASHADA’s renewed vision

The Academy has grown from conducting about 100 programmes for 3,000 trainee- participants annually during 1993-2003, to more than 1,200 programmes for nearly 40,000 participants. Plans for further growth visualized during a session led by Mr. V. Ramani, Director General, YASHADA on the Foundation Day include university affiliated long-term diploma, and multi-language distance education programmes.

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RTI awareness through street plays

Street plays were used as a medium of extending awareness about the Right to Information Act by YASHADA at various districts in Maharashtra. The Academy is ‘State Implementing Agency’ for the Act.

The Government of India (GoI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have provided support to YASHADA to implement a comprehensive capacity building project for access of information (CBAI) in Maharashtra. The Right to Information Act (RTI) Cell at the Academy has been a successful pioneer in enabling the operationalisation of the Act through training processes. The training of information officers and appellate authorities in Chandrapur and Nandurbar helped in dissemination of the RTI Act immensely. Advocacy workshops and an "Information Fair" were conducted at Chandrapur in December 2007. Street plays were conducted in Nandurbar.

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SIUD at MUNICIPALIKA 2008

The SIUD team at the YASHADA exhibit with the PGDUM posters’ display and publications.

YASHADA's State Institute of Urban Development (SIUD) participated in MUNICIPALIKA 2008 to showcase and present the Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Management (PGDUM) programme. The SIUD Faculty also participated in the 5th international conference "Good Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Cities" during 31 January to 2 February. The exhibition focused upon "Municipal Services, Urban Development and Public Works". The YASHADA exhibit presented information about the PGDUM programme and was visited and appreciated by several officials and urban managers, including Mr. T. C. Benjamin, Principal Secretary, Urban Development, GoM and Mr. Jairaj Phatak, Municipal Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).