Coastal Voice - Pilot Edition | Versova | 15 Young Participants

Coastal Voice is a Bhoomiputra Foundation initiative designed to bring young people into conversations about Mumbai’s coast and the communities whose lives and livelihoods are connected to it.

The Versova Edition was conducted as a pilot with 15 young participants at Starbucks, Versova. The group included post-graduate students and young people connected to Oceanology, Fisheries, Marine Studies, Product Design, Psychology, Film Making and Research.

The session was moderated by Vikas Motiram Koli, Founder & Chairman, Bhoomiputra Foundation, with Mr. Gopal Jhaveri joining as an observer.

The purpose was not to give participants a lecture on coastal issues. It was to create a space where they could listen, question, challenge each other and discover what they actually know about the coast.

Mumbai is closely connected to its coastline, yet many coastal issues and community concerns remain outside everyday conversations among young citizens.

The pilot started with one simple question:

How much do young people really know about what is happening to Mumbai’s coastal communities?

Even among participants with academic and professional connections to the marine and coastal space, several issues were unfamiliar.

There was also a clear information gap. Participants felt that many coastal issues need:

• More media attention

• Better and accessible data

• Strong baseline studies

• Information available online

• Greater public understanding of fishing communities

• More direct interaction between young people and coastal communities

The challenge was therefore not only lack of awareness. It was also the lack of an easy way for young people to enter the conversation.

Instead of conducting another awareness session, Bhoomiputra Foundation designed the pilot around conversation and participation.

The session began with registration and introductions between 9:30 am and 10:00 am. Every participant introduced themselves and shared one point about their association with the coast.

The core strategy was to let the participants themselves drive the conversation.

No participant was expected to be an expert.

They could know the issue, have heard about it, disagree with it or simply say:

“I don't know about this.”

That was an important part of the exercise.

The format allowed young people to discover gaps in their own knowledge while learning from one another.

Each participant picked a card and read the issue aloud.

The group then discussed:

• Do you know about this?

• Have you heard about it?

• Do you understand what it means?

• What do you think can be done?

• Who needs to act?

The activity quickly moved from a simple card game into an open discussion.

Participants challenged each other, shared knowledge and suggested possible solutions.

Some of the ideas raised included educating communities before starting projects, creating proper baseline data, using media to improve public understanding of fishers, promoting responsible tourism, limiting reclamation, regulating protected ocean beds and providing stronger compensation to affected communities.

The session then moved to two final exercises.

Pressing Issues

After all the cards were discussed, participants identified the issues they felt were most pressing. Each participant selected two or three issues.

Message to the CM

The participants were then asked to write one message they wanted the Chief Minister to notice.

The messages included:

Fisheries policy making
Inclusion of coastal communities in policy decisions
Better wastewater disposal
Protecting community heritage from over-commercialisation
Addressing the loss of Koli identity
Promoting scientific temperament among citizens

The creative idea behind Coastal Voice was to turn a serious subject into a simple social conversation.

The playing cards were the entry point.

Instead of presenting 18 issues through a presentation, report or speech, the issues were placed directly in the hands of young people.

• The card created curiosity.

• The question created discussion.

• The discussion created disagreement.

• And the disagreement created new thinking.

The format also made it possible for the Foundation to observe which issues participants already knew, which issues surprised them and which subjects generated the strongest conversations.

Mr. Gopal Jhaveri, who observed the pilot, also spoke with the participants about Mumbai and its relationship with the coast. His observation that everything in Mumbai is connected to the coast gave the discussion a wider context.

The biggest outcome of the pilot was not the number of issues discussed.

It was the change in awareness inside the room.

Many participants discovered coastal issues they had never heard about before. They also recognised that information about coastal communities is often difficult to find, understand and connect with.

The participants suggested that coastal issues need more visibility, better data and stronger storytelling.

The group also moved beyond identifying problems. They questioned each other, discussed solutions and looked at the roles of government, media, researchers, citizens and communities.

Participant video testimonies collected after the session reflected that they enjoyed the format and found the experience meaningful.

The session ended with snacks and informal conversations. The participants then left with something more than the information they arrived with — a new set of questions about the coast and the people connected to it.

For Bhoomiputra Foundation, this pilot showed that young people do not always need another lecture about the coast.

Sometimes they need a reason to start talking about it.

Coastal Voice will continue through more editions, bringing together young people from different backgrounds and coastal locations to listen, learn, question and speak.

Because when a community is slowly losing its voice, the first step is to make sure someone is willing to listen.