As part of the three months campaign of Islahi Center the All India Islahi Center Jeddah (AIICJ) organized "My Mohalla My Dream" program. Mohalla is defined as an area of a town or village; more intrinsically a community. The program was held to enhance the ongoing activities of All India Islahi Center (AIICJ) In the field of education and social upliftment. The interactive session, where more than 100 prominent leaders from different Indian organizations, discussed success models in the fields of educational empowerment of the society and grass-root empowerment, at the Islahi Center Auditorium here. The program was very successful in giving a blueprint for a successful "Mohalla" and all the attendees interacted well and appreciated. The program began with recitation of verses from the Qur'an. Mohamed Aliuddin and Mohamed Nisar and Abdul Lateef coordinated the program. Three resource persons from Center for Information and Guidance India (CIGI) addressed the audience. Indian Islahi Center National committee President Salah Karadan initiated that the Mohalla Empowerment program should be for the overall development of the society and to enhance interdependency with all class of people. All India Islahi Center President Mohammed Siraj requested the audience to take the message to their Mohalla and explore implementation at various levels — education and social upliftment. He offered support and guidance to any individual or group who hope to help in upliftment after hearing about the "My Mohalla My Dream" program, specifically making their dreams a living reality in their Mohalla. Mustafa KM, president of CIGI Jeddah Chapter, appreciated the initiative of All India Islahi Center to start such a discussion on social commitment. Sajid Ahmed Parakkal, CIGI resource person, introduced the simple start of the career guidance activities in Kerala under the leadership of Dr. K.M. Aboobacker, a retired scientist from Baba Atomic Research Center, in 1996 with a dream of educational empowerment of Malabar. Career guidance, which was initially available only for elite students, was made available to rural students almost free of cost. This helped thousands of students to get educational guidance. Research & Analysis Wing of CIGI successfully introduced a Psychometric Test named C-DAT (A Differential Aptitude Test) to identify the aptitude of students and choose the career based on aptitude rather than parental pressure or peer influence. Sajid also explained about other programs like STEP and REVIVE. These two programs were focused on the quality improvement of orphanages' operations in Kerala. Rasheed Ameer gave an insight to various success stories on grass root empowerment projects executed in Kerala. Vijaya Bheri project of Malappuram District Panchayat was a landmark project to improve the result in Kerala matriculation. Through regular motivation and training to students, teachers and parents in various schools there was a leap in educational standard at Malappuram district. Rasheed also explained about Social Action for Grassroot Empowerment (SAGE) program. In this project some Mohallas, Villages and Coastal Areas were taken as a model for improvisation. Detailed surveys were conducted in those places to get a clear picture of educational and employment statistics of each family. Guidance and empowerment trainings were given to various sections of the people to increase their competence level and to apply for competitive examination. Awareness of health and cleanliness were also increased in those places to turn them into healthier society. Center for Competency (C4C) is another program in which regular training is given to students and youth to improve their competency level and to perform better in the competency examinations. A program named "Talent Tree" under C4C gives three years of soft-skill development training for students from 8th standard, which is aimed for the overall development of students in that neighborhood. Any Mohalla, Village or Social Group can start C4C in their places. Necessary educational materials and trainers can be arranged. Another focus is to train the Imams of Masjids. In this program Imams from several masjids were given awareness and training to lead the people in their Mohalla in the context of highly competitive Indian education and career sectors. He also highlighted about several Mohalla Empowerment Programs facts including microfinancing, starting of small united business models, health awareness programs, anti-drug campaigns, traffic safety awareness, early detection of breast cancers and kidney diseases, etc. Eng. Abdul Azeez Thankayathil spoke at a session entitled "moving forward with a vision". For a society to move forward, it is required to think in four dimensions, he said. A society can become empowered, only if they have participation in governing and hence required proportionate representation in decision-making positions including Civil Services and Judiciary. To achieve this the competency level of students must be increased and require more coaching centers in rural areas, which could be initiated in social entrepreneurship model. To become a self-sufficient society, it is required to increase Entrepreneurial and General Employment participation. For that overall education level of the community must be improved and we should prepare qualified youth to their most fitting careers. These could be addressed at grass root level if career guidance and encouragement could be offered at Mohalla level. There should be efforts for post-career development to improve the quality of workforce in public and private sectors. Also, there should be efforts for utilization of qualified but unemployed women. He also highlighted the requirement of channelization of expertise of successful people in government jobs, corporate positions, business, industry and agriculture along with best utilization of retired service people in the society. If projects like "C4C" are started in rural areas, we can realize the dream of community self-sufficiency. The third dimension needed for a vibrant society is intellectual presence in the media and research is essential. Efforts should be done by Mohallas to identify high caliber students and support them with long term scholarships. The fourth dimension is community influence, which could be achieved by character building and cultural redesigning. It is required to implant values in the children through proper parenting and moral education. Ethics, values and cleanliness should be imparted to young generation for which Mohalla Imam should become transformation leader. Scientific approach for Zakat and Sadaka could help to move the society from poverty to prosperity. Always best efforts should be done to hold the secular fabrics of the country and there should be friendly attitude towards the people of all religions. Mohalla should take the social parenting role looking after the emotional well-being for stable family units and neighborhoods with a motto of clean, healthy and peaceful society. All India Islahi Center executives members; Moidu Valliyencheri, Khalid Farooq, Samir Veeran, Mohammed Anees, Mushtaq Mir and Dr. Ismail Maritheri ensured smooth functioning of the event. — SG
