Annual National Development Forum Meet was held at Auxilium Reach out Guwahati from 17 -19 December 2018.  On 15^th, a warm welcome was extended to the participants of  NDF. In the evening the Holy Mass was celebrated by Fr. Joseph Xavier SJ. During homily he invited the participants to live the present joyfully and not to waist life in waiting for the life to come.

On the first day Kolkata province animated the Liturgy. On the onset of the meeting the hosting province symbolically welcomed the participants as per the Assamees culture. During inaugural session the lighting of the lamp and invoking God’s presence lead the participants to surrender the event in the hand of God and be open to his inspiration. Sr. Annie the directress of Auxilium reach out centre and the social development coordinator of ING gave official welcome on behalf of the province. In her inaugural message the chief guest Ms. Ishanu Shah the deputy commissioner for labour of Assam emphasized the importance of education for social change and nation building. She appreciated the formal and non formal educations imparted by Salesian sisters. Second resource person was Ms. Ananya Goswami the child line member of Assam. Being the past pupil of St. Mary’s School Guwahati she appreciated a lot the value based education imparted by Salesian sisters and all that are being done for the upliftment of the poor and marginalized.

Sr. Alphonsa Kurisingal the provincial of Guwahati province appreciated the noble works being carried out by the social development sector in order to bring smile in the faces of poor and marginalized. She challenged the participants to stand alone and do something different, because it is easy to move with the crowd which may be a hindrance in achieving the goal. During first session Sr. Manisha fma from Mumbai province enlightened the gathering through her presentation and explained the types of education. The next session was group work and discussion based on building education strategy guided by Fr. Joseph Xavier the consultant of NDF.

On second day during the first session there was the review on the Child Protection Policy and drawn some conclusion for its amendments. Fr. Joseph Xavier explained the implication of last year’s report and how it should be focused to present to the outsiders. The annual report presentation by NDF, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata provinces made the group to understand the various activities carried out by social ministry in the different provinces. Fr. Joseph through his able guidance commented on the reports and gave guidelines for good report writing and taking photos.

On the third day Trichy, Shillong and Guwahati provinces presented the annual report. Based on education for social change and nation building Fr. Joseph framed some questionnaires which enabled for the annual planning for 2019-2020. Fr. Joseph invited the group to discuss and give concrete suggestion as God inspires and not to be led by the emotion. Four different groups gave their valuable suggestions then during presentation all the suggestions were compiled and taken as action plan for the coming year.

The day’s programme ended with valedictory programme when Chennai province thanked the organizing body and participants for all the sharing and contributions towards the successful completion of the 15^th NDF meeting. During good night Fr. Joseph appreciated the efforts made by different provinces and invited the participants to be always motivated and daring in bring about social change. Finally visit to Tapesia the Don Bosco University was part of the programme.

Participants

On 02 December 2017, Mr. Anthony Prabhu from NDF Office Chennai came on an official visit to see the performance of the teachers, students as well as the functioning of the evening coaching class. The children welcomed him with kathas and a welcome song and showed their talents of dancing and singing. Mr. Anthony was happy with the performance of the children. He also met the teachers of the evening school, encouraged them to be motivated and aim at helping them to be better persons and educated so that their future will be brighter.

He also gave some tips to Sr. Mary P. who is in charge of the evening coaching class, about the documentation and  records to be maintained systematically and informed her of their expectation from this session. He also had the opportunity to see the surrounding town, village and homes in which children live and their circumstances. His visit encouraged the students as well as the teachers and boosted all to perform well.

A workshop for drafting the FMA- INDIA SOCIAL POLICY was held in Yercaud, Chennai from 29^th June to 1^st July 2017. The main purpose of the workshop organised by NDF was to give guidelines for the social ministry as well as for the better coordination between the different realities operating in the FMA Institutions. There were 17 participants from all seven provinces. Rev. Fr. Joseph Xavier SJ, the NDF consultant resource person facilitated the group.

The workshop commenced at 9 a.m. with a prayer, invoking God’s blessings and light on the participants. Sr. Isabella welcomed the Chief Guest Sr. Manoranjitham, the province delegate of INM, Rev. Fr. Joseph Xavier the resource person and all the participants.

Sr. Manoranjitham in her inaugural talk emphasized the importance of Social Work and various realms of social work carried out by the Government, NGOs, Social Activists, etc. She motivated the participants by citing relevant example of a woman entrepreneur who trained (Security guard) unskilled women for gainful employment and was able to get 100% placement. She exhorted the FMA to utilize every opportunity to serve the poor and work with strong will, faith in divine providence, and in cooperation with one another, in order to build a new and better world.

Fr. Joseph Xavier put forth four relevant questions to the participants for the preparation of the introductory draft of the Social Policy. They are:

1. Why does FMA India need a Social Policy?
2. Who should be the audience for these policies?
3. What should be the nature of the policy?
4. What are the various dimensions the policy should cover?

This brainstorming session geared up the participants for preparing the draft for the future social policy. Subsequently, the participants were divided into three groups consisting of different provinces.A rough draft prepared in 2011 was given for reference. All worked seriously and so after three days of hard labour, a draft copy of the policy was prepared.