India Linkage Program

The aim of South Asia Partnership Canada's India Linkage Program is to promote greater interaction and cooperation between civil society organizations (CSOs) in Canada and India. It will facilitate diverse linkages, and strengthen existing partnerships, between these two sectors, to further dialogue, research, knowledge and coalition building and action towards advocacy and policy change. This new initiative of SAP Canada will focus on local governance and human rights, with gender equality as a cross cutting theme.

The program activities will be designed in consultation with Canadian and Indian CSOs. This program will include Canadian and Indian academics with an interest in progressive social change. In Canada, the program will also reach out to, and work with, the South Asian-Canadian community, the Canadian government, the Canadian media and public.

Activities here will encompass documenting information and showcasing resources on the identified issues, education and communication, conducting campaigns that link up Canadian and Indian CSOs working on these issues and skills building workshops for enhanced North-South partnership and cooperation.

The Program is currently working on two campaigns: Daughters of the 73rd Amendment and an education campaign to support land rights in India. Daughters of the 73rd amendment will facilitate Indo-Canadian partnerships in the area of local governance, particularly women’s participation in local governance.

The other campaign is this education initiative to inform Canadians about the land rights issue in India, with a specific focus on the Bihar Padyatra.

The India Linkage Program is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

For more information please contact:
Veena Gokhale, India Program Manager,
SAP Canada, Ph: 241-1333 ext 231; e-mail: vgokhale@sapcanada.org

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South Asia Partnership Canada

Established in 1983, South Asia Partnership Canada is an Ottawa-based forum for South Asian development issues in Canada. SAP Canada has 22 Canadian members who do international development work in South Asia and elsewhere. It has sister organizations in five South Asian countries: SAP Bangladesh, SAP India, SAP Nepal, SAP Pakistan and SAP Sri Lanka. The SAP family also consists of SAP International, based in Sri Lanka, which brings together the work of the five national SAPs to the regional, South Asian level, and to international levels. It¹s key functions are regional and international advocacy, research, information sharing, and coalition building. The SAP network is unique in that it spans five countries in South Asia, and links Canadian NGOs to NGOs in South Asia.

Over the years, it has built up extensive and diverse on-ground experience and expertise on South Asian development issues, and has worked and collaborated with stakeholders and networks in Canada and South Asia. SAP Canada shares information and resources with Canadian organizations and institutions in order to enhance their human development programming in South Asia. It brings its Canadian and South Asian partners together in four programming areas: forums, linkages and exchanges, communications and South Asian programming. The first three are primarily or exclusively within Canada, drawing on cooperation and experience from South Asia. The fourth encompasses SAP Canada¹s anchoring of and connection to development activities in South Asia.

For more information visit www.sapcanada.org