Mathematics, psychosocial work and human rights: a unique partnership between technical consultants and community organizers in India

Martha Bragin¹, Vrunda Prabhu², Bronislaw Czarnocha^3
1 Department of Social Work at the School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, California State University San Bernardino
² professor of mathematics at the BronxC ommunity College, City University of New York
³ professor of mathematics at Hostos Community College, City University of New York

Correspondence Address:

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

Best practice in psychosocial work with marginalized populations emphasizes the importance of community participatory approaches. However, the majority of field reports on psychosocial support with marginalized children describe donor initiated projects in which the goal is community empowerment, ownership and control, rather than reports about collaboration with activist movements arising from the communities themselves. This paper addresses one recent example of the latter form of collaboration, in which activists of a social movement in Tamil Nadu, India requested brief, targeted, external psychosocial assistance, following the tsunami of December 2004. The focus of the assistance, at the community's request, was to increase cognitive capacity among children and volunteer teachers in a community education program.