In order to facilitate the senior citizens to re-empower themselves, Nada India Foundation in collaboration with National Institute Of Social Defence (NISD), launched twenty day computer training programmes for senior citizens in different districts in and around New Delhi, under the ambit of Pehchaan. The training programme was conceived with a holistic approach to benefit the senior citizens, by not only sensitizing them but also the people associated with them. This is because it is the society which has made them marginalized. In an effort to cope up with the fast pacing life, people are discrediting the potential of the senior citizens as an important instrument in the functioning of the society. Therefore, a need was felt to sensitize not only the senior citizens but all those who are connected to them, directly or indirectly.

The twenty day programme not only aimed to expose them to computer technology but to help them to realize their potential and act as an initiator to motivate them to build on their identity, foster relations amongst them, re-empower them and ignite the spark inside them so that they take steps to build on their identity, by engaging themselves in different activities. During the training, various activities were undertaken to provide a platform to senior citizens to rediscover themselves and their surroundings, which fostered awareness. The activities included ear acupuncture, counseling sessions, identification of areas of concern, helping them to map their vulnerabilities and available resources at an individual as well as community level.

The unique approach of the programme lied in the involvement of the adolescents and people from the society, who are directly or indirectly related with them. In todays time when the bonds between the senior citizens and the young generation is becoming blur due to generation gap, such initiatives enable the senior citizens as well as the society as a whole to know each other better, to know each others needs better and thus helps in fostering better relations.

According to Mr. Suneel Vatsyasyan, Chairman, Nada India Foundation, The core objective is to bring back the marginalized community of the senior citizens in to the main stream of the society. The senior citizens are resources and stigma attached with old age needs societys attention and this is how we can help them to realize the trap of the isolation and discrimination they are facing.

Each initiative was unique because it was evolved rather imposed. That is the strength of the approach itself which is participatory. This helped the programme to be tailor-made according to the needs of the senior citizens. The participatory approach resulted in smooth achievement of the objectives of the training programme, which included, teaching basics of computer including internet, helping them to build on their identity and fostering better relations with their peers and grandchildren.

The programme resulted in breaking the shackles of isolation among these senior citizens. It led to the formation of committees and forums, which undertook the task of working for the betterment of the group of senior citizens. Thus, the holistic computer training programme resulted in re-defining and nurturing the identity of the senior citizens and provided them with a platform to build on it further. Thus, the initiatives proved to be successful in fulfilling the aim of bringing these marginalized senior citizens into the mainstream of the society.

The initiatives taken during the training programme resulted in the fulfillment of the objectives of the training. It resulted in sensitization of the core members of the senior citizens committees which nurtured initiatives like registration of an Ngo at Mandwali, voluntarily rendering of services in nearby senior citizen forum, actively involving themselves in organization of Mahabharat and Ramayan and sensitization of the members of senior citizen forum about use of Community Radio as a medium to address their needs at individual as well as community level, which may soon result in the nurturing of a proposed neighborhood community radio at NISCORT.
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