Moving Upstream: Sindh – Fellowship

The Moving Upstream: Sindh program is a continuation of Veditum’s Moving Upstream fellowship program in collaboration with The Out of Eden Walk.

Our aim is to document everyday life and create data points to improve our understanding of the Sindh river ecosystem. We’re looking at use of water in sectors such as agriculture, people’s relationship with the river and cultural practices.

The Sindh River, a tributary of the Yamuna, originates close to Guna in Madhya Pradesh. While most of its journey is through Madhya Pradesh, the last stretch of about 9 kilometres flows through Uttar Pradesh. Here, the Sindh meets the Yamuna, the Chambal, the Pahuj and Kunwari rivers at a confluence called Pachnada – or place of five rivers.

Through our fellowship program on River Betwa, our fellows have introduced unique perspectives to the larger understanding of the river. They have produced a body of work that is now a detailed resource about the river but also a well documented nuanced relationship between the river and its people.

See this sound piece by Ishan, Zines by Kabini, journalistic writing by Mohit, bird watching by Anup, and a photo book by Shail and Radhika. Examples of the outputs from the Moving Upstream: Betwa fellowship.

We’re now turning our lens towards River Sindh.

Outline:

This open call is for applicants interested in creating archives by walking along parts of the Sindh river. This first phase will start from Pachnada. This activity can be undertaken by an individual or a team of 2.

Applications are encouraged from writers, photographers, cartographers, poets, sound designers, graphic artists, film makers, or any other documentarians. The selection process will prioritise early stage professionals / individuals.

Aim:

• To create a comprehensive grassroots level documentation of people’s life and relationship along the river.
• To document the continuously evolving agricultural patterns and dependency on the river for irrigation, fishing, river bed farming, sand, etc.
• To create evidence that can be used as benchmark – river health, agriculture, fisheries.
• To document cultural practices in the region.

What does this involve?

• Undertaking thorough river related study before the walk.
• Web interactions with fellowships facilitators and experts (post selection).
• Two week commitment – between January & February 2022 – to walk along the Sindh river.
• Interview people living along the river.
• Create documentation (images, videos, notes) – in the fellow’s own style – in consultation with the fellowship facilitator.

Guidelines:

• Notes & documentation have to be shared with us within a 2 week period of returning from the walk.
• Fellows are expected to allot time to work on publishable outputs for Veditum’s website and other publications in the 3 month period after returning from the walk.
• Some of the work created from the walk will be published by Veditum on its own site. Number of items will depend on the style of documentation.
• Veditum will take efforts towards identifying publishers / platforms for work created from the walk.
• Fellows can also independently identify publishers / platforms to publish their work from the walk – in consultation with us.
• Veditum will have freedom to use the material for open archives, creative work & promotions, with credits to the creator.
• Creative content copyright will remain with the creator as well as the freedom to use it for personal promotion (with acknowledgement to the Moving Upstream project if/when used).

Expenses and returns:

• Basic expenses will be taken care of by us – return train tickets (up to 3AC) and on field expenditure.
• A small honorarium will be awarded once the documentation is shared with us.
• Fellows will be compensated modestly for work published on Veditum’s website.
• For work commissioned on other platforms via Veditum, fellows are requested to donate a portion of the returns towards a rolling fund for the Moving Upstream fellowship program.

Applicant Requirements:

• Applicants should be an Indian national, at least be 21 years of age and willing to take responsibility.
• Should own a smartphone and be able to efficiently use different apps.
• Able to interview (converse and understand) people in Hindi.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of documentation.
• Willing to work through the uncertainties of journeys on foot.
• Preferred: understanding or inclination to understand environmental and agricultural topics.
• Applications are solicited from all qualified candidates regardless of age, class, disability status, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

How to apply:

All interested candidates should:

• Create a short note on the Sindh River using information available online (about 1000 words).
• Write a cover letter stating why this interests you and also mention your level of field research experience.
• Send the above to asid@veditum.org latest by 30th October 2021, with subject line ‘Moving Upstream: Sindh’
• Applicants are encouraged to express themselves creatively in the application, and are free to play with different content formats – e.g. videos – for their application.
• Languages accepted for the application – English and Hindi.

If you have any more questions, please reach out to us at asid@veditum.org

Collaborators / Partners

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The fellowship program and work on the Moving Upstream: Sindh program have been executed in partnership with the Out of Eden Walk.