Standing next to Charminar 1 Rajesh Cheemalakonda

Standing next to Charminar

Few weeks ago in Hyderabad, on the day of an important festival, there was a sudden outburst of rumors about communal violence in old city. Security was pepped up; police patrolled each and every street in sensitive areas of twin cities and peace messages went rounds on mobile phones. For the surprise of Hyderabadis, no such instances were covered by24*7 news channels or the newspapers the next day. A couple of weeks later one of the top cops of AP police confirmed the stray incidents and detailed how they effectively handled the situation. Behind all their efforts in maintaining peace, there is a well-organized network of NGOs working timelessly in the old city that is COVA (Confederation of voluntary associations). Above mentioned is just an example, COVA played a major role in handling many such issues be it is the bell controversy at Bhagya Lakshmi temple, curfew situations in 2010 or any such incident for that matter. Immersed in bustling energies of old city COVA works diligently to bring together the various voices of the community. The focus of their efforts lies in the advocacy of those in the community who would otherwise have hard times in having their voices heard such as women and children. Today COVAs mission takes shape in the various programs the organization offers. In Hyderabad these programs focus on children advocacy, and empowerment. COVAs youth program lies in education and works to bring together the youth from various communities with the hope that they can share and together build an outlook grounded in peace and social responsibility COVA also works extensively on womens issues offering adult literacy centers, proving family counseling and encouraging self-help groups. The beginning: COVA started as a movement in old city to counter communalism after 1991 riots recalls MR. Md. Turab the executive secretory of COVA. He further says, at that time tensions prevailed between two communities due to vested interest of some political organizations who tried to take political advantage of the situations. Deccan development society took an initiative at that point with the support of a few other likeminded NGOs and formed COVA Network to ease the

Standing next to Charminar 2 Rajesh Cheemalakonda tensions. We believe that communal harmony cannot be achieved just through peace initiatives but development at various levels like health, female education, women empowerment etc. are equally important. and thus COVA decided to address these issues through its programs. Programs and initiatives: Playing a major role in advocating human rights and maintaining communal harmony across the Asian countries, COVA has been serving the community and working for its development in all possible ways. The major strength and the secret behind the success story of this organization is the fact that the contributors to the programs are the beneficiaries themselves. Being self-sufficient does not mean that one is denied of all the rightful things that the government should be providing its citizens to help them lead a comfortable life like clean drinking water, sanitation, health education, and housing for all its citizens etc. to ensure that people are well aware of these governmental policies and to keep a check on their effectiveness in implementation COVA conducted a nationwide campaign called the National Campaign for Right to Basic Services (RTBS) COVA added another feather to its cap when it went beyond its community service and extended itself to contributing to world peace when it took up the Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign in February 2009, marking the end of the war, and promoting anti-terrorism and friendly relations between these nations. Their other initiatives like the PAP or the Peace Alliance Partners have been working effectively in countering overt and covert communal biases within individuals and organization. The COVA is also an active member of the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy i.e. the PIPFPD, CNDP, VANI, and the Credibility Alliance, and is represented on the joint Machinery, Planning Commission, Government of India, and GO-NGO Coordination Committee set up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh along with many other such national and international bodies. Apart from helping in the spread of communal harmony the volunteers also work on educating people about the various disaster management techniques making the people in the community self-sufficient to face any man made or natural calamity. Ever since its conception in 1994

Standing next to Charminar 3 Rajesh Cheemalakonda COVA has been successful in maintaining peace across the society and serving the people. The volunteers claim that more often than not the people whom they work with end up enrolling as volunteers and carry on the chain of service to humanity. Volunteers: The success secret of COVA lies within its bottom up approach. A strong network of volunteers from all sections of societies lead by well experienced and dedicated core team looks after its programs. They conduct periodical review meeting for all their programs to ensure effective functioning. The only criterion for a person to obtain membership in COVA is the willingness to work with the various sections of the society and serve the community. The peace volunteers, as they are called work directly with people through the various programs targeted towards women, children, and youth welfare. Each of these program works under different names and they have designed unique strategies for every initiative keeping in mind their focus group. For instance they have adopted the use of street theater to provide educational inputs that would be beneficial to the children. It can be said the these regions are where democracy flourishes in its true sense, with the voters or the citizens deciding on the political agendas for their constituencies rather than being carried away by the words of the politicians. COVA was successful in achieving this dream by making the Citizens Assertion Campaign a reality where the people are educated about their constitutional rights. COVA has its volunteers spread across the society who work in association with other voluntary organizations and NGOs and work collectively towards the achievement of their common goals. In order to be effective in their attempt the volunteers at COVA have also involved themselves into research for methods that would help them in influencing the diverse sections of the civil societies. Their major establishments in the country are in the communal sensitive areas like the old city in Hyderabad and in Jammu and Kashmir they focus mainly on the citizenship rights and empowerment of women in these regions. Umesh Yadav, an active volunteer who works as a dentist in the evenings says, it is an honor to work with COVA. Now people here live peaceful lives, we celebrate festivals together, we do not fall prey for politicians games. Its proud to see women taking active part in peace initiatives. The recent bell controversy at Bhagya Lakshmi temple near Macca masjid and how a

Standing next to Charminar 4 Rajesh Cheemalakonda common man reacted to that incident can be the best example for the transformation we have gone through. Initial resistance: Like any other organization COVA too faced resistance from political and various other organizations. But COVA made a clear stand by saying we are not here to ask for votes, we do not contest in elections, we only want to ensure women empowerment, better health conditions, education, and basic amenities to all families that live here. Women at center stage: My first impression upon visiting COVAs website is a photograph of women chain standing next to Charminar spreading a message of communal harmony. Mrs. Noorjahan head of womens programs organized by COVA tells us the story behind the photograph with a sense of pride in her tone. During the post Macca Masjid blast tensions in Hyderabad, there were some minor tension between public and police forces. We decided to do something to ease the tensions; we know that once police raise their lathis the situations will further demise. So we decided to stop it even if it cost our lives. That was the time when a large number women most of them house wives came out of their houses daring the situations and formed a human chain between police and public. We neither allowed police nor the angry mob behind us to lose their temper. We managed to convince both the parties. With an Iron will COVA is now focusing on awareness programs on Grama sabhas a forum where voters come together once in every three months to discuss their local development issues.