As explained by Dr, Kiran Modi, Managing Trustee of Udayan Care, “Udayan” is a Sanskrit word meaning “Eternal Sunshine”. Udayan Care provides wrap-around support for orphaned and separated children (OSCs) and their caregivers, and aims to bring support, advocacy and implementation services to the forefront for underserved sections of society.  Registered in 1994 as a Public Charitable Trust, Udayan Care works to empower vulnerable children, women and youth, in 19 cities across 11 states of India.

Starting with the establishment of one small group home or ‘Ghar’ for OHC (Out-of-Home-Care) children in Delhi in 1996, Udayan Care has expanded to 17 OHC across various states in India.  They have an ecological model that strives to takes into account the multiple needs of developing children and young adults and have developed a variety of service and policy goals including: Aftercare Transition Programs for youth leaving care; Girls’ empowerment and higher education; Vocational training and livelihood; and policy advocacy on better standards in institutional care. In 25 years, they have directly impacted the lives of about 25,000 children, women and youth as beneficiaries as well as thousands as indirect beneficiaries through their training programs and advocacy efforts.

http://www.udayancare.org

PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES

Through the Duke India SRT, students will gain experience learning about Orphan and Separated child health issues in India and the Udayan care model and will continue to work on two key, broad areas:

1. Support core mission goals by providing mental health screening for various resident populations, including care-givers and social workers, in order to help Udayan identify areas of MH risk and resilience, and will work with leadership to support core research activities. 
2. Students will also be instrumental in recommending interventions and new program directions, developing processes for Udayan to apply those recommendations, and to help implement and evaluate clinical services and MH interventions.

Activities for summer 2023 may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Recruit and collect longitudinal and cross-sectional data using current tools on bio-psycho-social health, including depression, anxiety work burn-out, coping style and agency, attachment, risk/resiliency, trauma, physical health, growth and nutrition
• Recommend service support programs and key interventions that have emerged from quantitative and qualitative data
• Develop Evaluation and Assessment protocols for intervention, collect and analyze results.
• Develop sustainable collaborations around research methods and service capacity with Udayan Staff
• Develop and implement strategies for key child and caregiver health research questions that are important for Udayan leadership.
• Distill findings from previous years, combine and help analyze past and current physical and mental health data, write reports to disseminate results for professional staff, children, caretakers, and larger NGO community and for research journals.
• Explore, develop, and help investigate new tools for the Indian OSC population and their caretakers.
• Engage with mentoring children and transitioning youth at Udayan Care
• Interact with health workers, policymakers, and child guardians to better understand solutions to promote optimal care and development.
• Examples of Work done this past summer:
  • Comparison of mental health needs, challenges and strengths across different Udayan Populations.
  • Identification of a set of Alumni who have been out of Udayan anytime from 1 month to 10 years.  Engage in the following: a) MH screening for depression, stress and anxiety (DASS21, PHQ9, GAD) b) Qualitative questionnaire asking about 1. Retrospective impact of Udayan, 2. challenges they have faced as former OSCs, 3. current life situation, and 4. successes and areas for growth, 5. Youth identified needs and suggestions.
  • Care-giver perceptions of Mental health, knowledge, and needs. Exploration of the kind of support caregivers need or desire from the mentor parents, social worker and counselor in their Udayan Ghar.

PROJECT APPLICATION PROCESS

Students must fill out and submit a project application, CV and recent transcript to GH-Education@duke.edu by October 14, 2022 at 5pm ET. Applications open September 29. Students may apply to no more than two project opportunities and a separate application must be completed for each SRT project site.  Program interviews are scheduled to take place between October 31 and November 9. Any questions regarding the application, interview dates or general project information should be directed to Lysa MacKeen.

Selected students will need to complete the Udayan Care volunteer application form which includes a background check and ethics protocols. 

PROJECT SELECTION CRITERIA

Language

Hindi oral and/or writing skills very useful but not required.

Area of Interest

• Interest in mentoring and working with children and young adults, in person or virtually
• Strong interest in social science research. Knowledge (course or experience) in research methods, data collection and statistical analysis useful
• Strong writing and communication skills required
• Interest in policy and advocacy, including developing policy briefs.
• Interest or experience in program development, in supporting capacity building, and sustainable transfer of research and applied program skills to local students and leadership.
• Passionate about GH ethics and interest in applying ethical principles to personal and professional work. Strong work ethic and selfless commitment. 
• Self-motivated learner with excellent project management and organizational skills
• Professionalism, maturity and respect, and cultural sensitivity in working with care-providers, health workers, and NGO and faculty supervisors and mentors.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team of peers, in an intense social and work environment, especially if traveling on the ground in country.
• Course work and/or experience in developmental psychology, child/maternal health, and global mental health
• Experience with India and/or Hindi very helpful but not required. Of primary importance: Cross-cultural sensitivity openness, interest in self-reflection
• Team members will be required to participate in weekly team training meetings and engage actively in post-fieldwork follow-up tasks, Fall 2023.  Students will have the option for signing-up for independent study credit for post-fieldwork tasks.

Read more about the previous team’s work here. You can also read about the 2021 team’s time in their blogs here and here.