Shishir Srivastava born at Lucknow, India on 26 September 1977 is a peace educator, motivational speaker and prolific writer. He is currently serving as the Head of the Department of Personality Development and Career Counselling and also as Head of World Movement for Rights of Children of City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, India. CMS, is Shishir's alma mater where he imbibed the values of peace and non-violence for 15 years (1980-1995). It is recognized as the 'world's largest school with over 39,000 students and is the recipient of the 2002 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education for ‘the promotion of initiatives that seek to improve public awareness and to mobilize opinion in favour of peace.’

Shishir has travelled widely and has visited several countries including USA, Japan, Germany, Singapore, Mauritius, Malaysia, Spain, Russia, Maldives and Seychelles. He and his wife, Sophia, have a seven-year-old son, Srijan.

Vision & Mission
Shishir considers himself as a Citizen of the World and has a global vision to create 'a loving, united and peaceful world where people cooperate in a win-win environment in harmony with Nature.' Shishir is keen on developing human potential and his mission is 'to empower people and help them develop their potential.'

Brief Biography

A Warrior Turns Peacemaker: After his grade 12, Shishir was selected for the defense services and was an executive officer in the Indian Navy (1995-1999). However, his inner call to serve the people of the world led him to quit the Navy in September 1999. Thereafter, he joined the CMS team on 1st January 2000 and since then his ongoing commitment and concrete activities in support of the culture of peace at the local, regional and international levels have demonstrated unflagging determination and devotion.

Educating Peace for over a Decade
As a peace educator, he has taught tens of thousands of children that peace is a way of life and thinking, holistically and humanely, and has involved students in several peace educational activities for over a decade now. He advocates that while inner peace is cultivated through meditation, outward peace is the result of dialogue between cultures and international understanding. As a trainer, he has traveled all over the world delivering meaningful lectures on creating peace.

Taking Children's Voice to UN
In 2005, Shishir was invited at the UN Headquarters, New York, USA to participate in the Global Conflict Prevention Conference and in the General Assembly hall he appealed that a 'Right to a Safe Future' be included in the UN Declaration for the Rights of the Child for safeguarding the rights of world's children and safe future of generations yet-to-be born, a plea that was much appreciated.

 

 

Empowering children through Child Rights Education
Since 2004, in the capacity of India Coordinator of the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child, Shishir has strengthened the voices of students and young people in schools and organizations all over India, thereby promoting their 'humanitarian growth' into global citizens. Through this project, which is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, he has empowered over 1.2 million children in 4,078 schools in India to demand respect for the rights of the child.

 

 

Awakening Global Consciousness
He is the Organizing Secretary of 'Global Symposium: Awakening Planetary Consciousness', an annual gathering of civil society activists which he conceptualized in 2004 and has, since then, been able to bring together 220 organizations from 61 countries to create awareness in the masses about issues such as nuclear disarmament, global warming and sustainable development in the past six annual Global Symposia.

Shishir is also the Head of World Movement for Rights of Children and has travelled to several countries attending conferences and giving lectures on importance of child rights education, spirituality, interfaith dialogue and sustainable development. His activities have shown ongoing commitment towards United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

 

Motivating students to enhance their performance
As a motivational speaker, Shishir has helped several under-performing students become extraordinary achievers in life by helping them discover their true potential and urging them to set high goals in life. Through his life-skills training and counselling, he has empowered students and guided them to make right career choice and wise decisions and judgements.
His book, 'The Eight Powers within You: Your Guide to Success' (Penguin Publications) has been described by Brian Tracy, America's leading author and speaker, as 'wonderful, inspiring, practical book with the eight most important strategies for success ever discovered'.

Educating Millions through Television
He also appears weekly on television in an interview-show called 'Sangini' (Your Friend) on ETV and delivers powerful and life-transforming messages to millions of viewers on topics related to stress busting and self-improvement.

 

 

Awards and Recognition
In 2009, the Mayor of Lucknow, Dr Dinesh Sharma, honoured Shishir with the 'Young Communicator Award' constituted by Symbiosis Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication (SIMC), Pune for 'his decade long efforts in the field of peace and child rights education.'

In 2007, the CEO of World's Children's Prize Foundation (Sweden), Mr Magnus Bergmar acknowledged Shishir's contribution in the field of child rights education and honoured him at a ceremony held in Mariefred, Sweden.

2. PEACE EDUCATOR AND CHILD RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Activities at Local, Regional and International Levels:

As a peace educator Shishir Srivastava holds firm faith in the vision of Mahatma Gandhi who said, ‘If we are to reach real peace in this world, and if we are to wage a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.’ His activities have been wide-ranging and diverse, here is a glimpse:

(i) Building Defences of Peace in the Young Minds
Activities at Local Level:
In the year 2000, after his graduation and leaving Indian Navy, Shishir joined his alma mater City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, India – a school known for its outstanding work to promote peace education. Throughout his decade-long career as a peace educator and motivational speaker, he has involved students in peace building activities and has facilitated learning opportunities for them.

To build defences of peace in minds of young and adults alike, Shishir has taken a leading role in organizing several seminars, workshops and conferences on topics such as: conflict resolution, interfaith dialogue, nuclear disarmament, global warming and sustainable development.

From 2000 to 2009, he has led and actively contributed to numerous peace education projects such as:
a) Million Voice Choir b) India-Pakistan Pen Friends Club c) Global Vote for Children d) Sadbhavana (Harmony) Club e) Gandhi Bridge of Understanding Project f) World Citizenship Project g) Companion Flag Project h) School and Classroom Program by People to People International i) Anti-Cracker Campaign j) World Unity and Peace Education Seminars.

International Days:
Over the years, he has created massive social awareness by organizing peace marches, interfaith seminar, discussions, poster-making, speech & writing contests and over the years he has coordinated several activities on following international days such as: World Water Day (22nd March), Earth Day (22nd April), International Day of Family (15th May), World Environment Day (5th June), Hiroshima Day (6th August), Nagasaki Day (9th August), World Ozone Day (15th September), UN International Day of Peace (21st September), International Day of Non-Violence (2nd October), UN Day (24th October), UN Day of Child Rights (19th November) and UN Human Rights Day (10th December).

He has facilitated in organizing a joint workshop of UNESCO & WHO at Lucknow from 16-18th September 2009 on the theme of ‘Climate Change and Possible Solutions’ in which 70 participants from 20 civil society and research organizations participated.

His training in personality development has inspired children to develop positive attitude, healthy self-esteem and encouraged them to become active agents for profound social transformation. For the underprivileged children, he has organized book donation camps and warm clothes donation camps during winters.

(ii) Empowering over a Million Children
Activities at Regional Level:
As the India Coordinator of World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child since 2004, he has educated and empowered children in India about their rights through the ‘Global Vote Project’. Till date, he has coordinated the participation of 4,078 schools with 2.3 million (2,333,144) students who have become aware about their rights. In 2009, 1.2 million of these students participated in the Global Vote, in which 7.1 million voting children worldwide elected Mr Nelson Mandela and Mrs Graca Machel as their Decade Children Rights Heroes. Shishir coordinates the Global Vote for children in India, as well as the Children’s Press Conferences for the rights of the child in many Indian cities, teachers’ education and media contacts.
For over a year now, he has been appearing on a weekly interview called ‘Sangini’ (Your Friend) on guiding and empowering children, youths and adults on India’s popular television channel, ETV Network India which reaches millions of viewers in six different states of India. In these interviews, he has advised viewers on issues such as ‘how to resolve conflicts in family’, ‘how to develop a positive attitude in children’, ‘how can parents motivate their children’, ‘how can power of love help one succeed in life’, ‘spirituality in daily life’ and many such topics.

(iii) Awakening Global Consciousness
Activities at International Level:
One of his significant contributions to create awareness in the masses has been the annual Global Symposium which he conceptualized in 2004. Global Symposium, initiated under Shishir’s leadership in 2004, is an annual gathering of civil society organizations working at grass roots to bring about a breakthrough in thoughts and actions of people all over the world. Global Symposium also aims to build a network of people and organizations that are actually capable of developing, implementing, and carrying out the Global Action Plan for ensuring sustainable development for present and future generations.

Till date, 220 organizations from 61 countries have actively participated in these Global Symposia held on themes such as ‘Creating a New World Civilization’ and ‘Awakening Planetary Consciousness’ in past six years. H.E. Cassam Uteem, former President of Mauritius is the Patron-in-chief of the Global Symposium. Key leaders of civil society such as Mrs Ela Gandhi, Mr A T Ariyaratne (Gandhi of Sri Lanka), Justice C.G. Weeramantry, Alyn Ware, Marilyn Wilhelm and many others have actively participated and contributed in these conferences. Prof. Ervin Laszlo, founder of Club of Budapest and author of ‘You can change the world’ considers that Global Symposium as a breakthrough conference.

 

3. CONSULTATION AT GLOBAL CONFERENCES

He has widely travelled across the globe and met leaders of civil society. He has been addressing and attending several peace building conferences, some of which include the European Congress on Peace Education in 2003 (Germany), World Social Forum in 2004 (India), Parliament of World Religions in 2004 (Spain), Commonwealth Regional Training Workshop in May, 2005 (Malaysia), UN Conference on Conflict Prevention in June 2005 (New York), World Peace Camp in 2005 in Shiga, Japan. For building bridges of world unity and peace, he has travelled to Maldives, Mauritius, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sweden and USA.

 

4. CURRENT POSITIONS AND PEACE INITIATIVES

Shishir has been very active in numerous international networks and agencies that promote peace, child rights, human rights, justice and equality. He has been actively involved in projects of several organizations such as:
• India Coordinator, World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, Sweden
• Honorary Co-Chair, A Single Drop, Oakland, USA
• Assistant Coordinator (India), Council for Education in World Citizenship, UK
• Project Coordinator, Peaceful Schools International, Canada
• Member, Global Partnership for Prevention Against Armed Conflict (GPPAC), The Netherlands
• India Committee Member, World Campaign for Reform of International Institutions, Spain
• Project Leader, School and Classroom Program, People to People International, Kansas City, USA
• Project Director, India Chapter of Companion Flag Support International, USA
• Steering Committee Member, Institute on World Problems, Colorado, USA
• Secretary-General, World Movement for Global Democracy
• Head of World Movement for Rights of Children
• Organizing Secretary, Global Symposium: ‘Awakening Planetary Consciousness’
• Member of organizing Committee, International Conference on Freedom of Religions: Promoting Interfaith Dialogue in Multi-Religion Communities

 

5. BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS

Blessed with a keen philosophical insight, Shishir Srivastava started writing poems with depth and meaning and articles at the age of 16 for The Times of India and The Pioneer. Some of his published works are:

Book:
‘The Eight Powers within You: Your Guide to Success’ (Penguin Publications)
Starting with the belief that success is possible for everyone, ‘Eight Powers within You: Your Guide to Success’ shows how you can develop your latent powers and move in the direction of your goals, both at home and at work. The empowering exercises and techniques help you realize your full potential through the powers of imagination, words, self-confidence, goal setting, focus, will, action and love. Making the most of the eight powers within you can create miracles.

Other Publication:
• The Power of Prayer

6. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

• Certificate of Achievement on composition on the theme, ‘Respect for Life’ by the Goi Peace Foundation and World Peace Prayer Society, Japan. (2003)
• Recognition for his efforts to promote child rights education in India from the World’s Children’s Prize Foundation (WCPF), Sweden. (2007)
• Certificate of Honour for ‘inspiring students to develop global perspective and improve themselves and through workshops, seminars and his motivational speeches on world peace and personality development’ by City Montessori School, Lucknow. (2008)
• Young Communicator Award by Symbiosis Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication (SIMC), Pune. (2009)
• Recognition for his services in the field of education for peace from the Montessori Academy of Ufa, Russia. (2009)

 

7. EARLY LIFE

Shishir Srivastava was born on September 26, 1977 in Lucknow, India and is the second son of Mrs Neerja Srivastava and Late Dr Sushil Kumar Srivastava. He hails from a middle-class family.

Shishir received his early education (1980-1995) at City Montessori School (CMS) and throughout his academic career, he was a brilliant scholar. In 1994, while in grade eleven, Shishir was declared the Best Speaker at school. He was also selected for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE, Mains) and won many contests such as speech, debate, writing, art and quiz. He was the student editor of his school magazine.

(i) Seeds of Peace at an impressionable age
During his childhood, he was actively involved in school’s peace building such as the ‘All Religion Prayer’ and the ‘World Peace Prayer Ceremony’. He was greatly inspired by the speeches of the founder of CMS, Dr Jagdish Gandhi, who spoke at length about ‘oneness of humanity’ and ‘need for world unity to bring world peace’. This developed a feeling of brotherhood, respect for all religions and a spirit of world citizenship in Shishir from an early age. It was at school, that the seeds of world unity and world peace were sown in his young and impressionable mind.

(ii) Small Actions for Rights of Children
During his summer holidays after grade eight examinations in 1991, Shishir noticed some poor children on street picking up rags. Shishir was shocked to find that they had never been to school. This stirred his soul and in his little capacity he decided to do something to raise his voice. He wrote a letter to the then Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Javier Perez De Cuellar to take action for the suffering children of the world.

In 1993, at the age of 16, Shishir made various posters and collages to express his concern over issues affecting children’s rights in India and went to meet the then State Representative of UNICEF in Lucknow who congratulated Shishir and presented him books and reports compiled by UNICEF. These reports developed a keen drive in the mind of Shishir to work for the cause of children’s rights as he grew up. Today, as the Head of World Movement for Rights of Children (WMFRC), Shishir is trying to keep the commitment he made to himself 15 years ago.

(iii) A Wrong Choice of Career
Belonging to a family with modest means, the circumstances limited Shishir’s choice to opt for a career that would not lay burden on his family. At a young age of 17 years and with grade 12 qualification, such a possibility existed with the Indian defence forces as the Government of India would bear all cost of education and training. In 1995, Shishir appeared for the National Defence Academy (NDA) Examination and qualified the written examination and SSB interview; he opted for a three-year academic-cum-training programme at the Naval Academy, Goa.

After successfully completing his training at the Naval Academy (1995 -1998) he received his Bachelor's degree in Science (B.Sc. Special) from the Goa University in first class. He was the Captain of Naval Academy’s Dramatics Team and decided to organize the annual cultural show on the theme of ‘Vasundhara’ (Beautiful Earth) but had no peace songs, so he wrote to his school’s founder, Dr Jagdish Gandhi to send him songs on world peace. Dr Gandhi responded promptly and sent him two cassettes of CMS peace songs. Although he was serving the defense forces, a calling for career in World Peace weighed heavily on his mind. It was the inner voice of the consciousness.

Thereon, he went on to join the Indian Navy for one-year sea training. He was under training as a Sea Cadet from July to December 1998, and followed another six-month tenure as a Midshipman from January 1999 onwards in Vishakhapatanam.

(iv) Warrior turns Peacemaker
In May 1999, during the Kargil war against Pakistan in May 1999, Indian Navy was kept at a high alert. It was during this time that Shishir was greatly perturbed to see that war had emerged as the only option to resolve conflicts between nations. His heart and soul were not at peace and his inner voice constantly provoked him to do something for the larger interest of the people of the world (5.5 billion world population then) and not just those in the Indian Navy (55,000 workforce) .

Back at home, Shishir’s family found that his father’s kidneys had stopped functioning. At home, his mother was alone with his younger sister in Lucknow and the elder brother was struggling in Delhi for securing his career. Finally, Shishir decided to quit the Navy and come back to his home town Lucknow to be with his family and serve his parents.

(v) Search for a Spiritually Satisfying Career
It was in December 1999, three months after leaving Navy, Shishir happened to meet his ideal from school days -- Dr Jagdish Gandhi, the founder of his alma mater – City Montessori School (CMS) in Lucknow. Dr Gandhi urged Shishir to join CMS and work with him for world peace, to which he readily agreed. At age 23, Shishir officially joined CMS on 01 January 2000.
In Dr. Gandhi, Shishir saw a mentor and teacher and continued to work at his level for peace and unity. He involved himself into more and more activities the school could offer. Brimming with confidence and zeal to make a difference in the world, Shishir moved on to look beyond the borders of the organization and went ahead with different and innovative idea’s to promote education for peace.
Since then, he has been conducting several conferences, workshops, training programmes, events and collaborating with organizations to create defences of peace in the mind of young and adults alike. After 10 years of consistent work, his activities to promote education for peace, child rights and self-improvement have been well received by civil society organizations and networks from world over.

(vi) On Road to Self-Realization
In 2000, after leaving the Indian Navy and while trying to settle with the new job, his family had a tough to meet the both ends meet as the expenses involved in his father’s treatment were huge. But these difficulties did not discourage him and he kept his hopes high amidst all odds. After his father’s death, he took personal responsibility to turn around his life. Shishir embarked on the journey of constant self-improvement and since then there has been no looking back. Since 2002, he started investing a part of his salary on purchasing book or audio CDs that would help him improve. Shishir not only kept learning, unlearning and re-learning in the field of personal and professional development he also went on to share his expertise with the students who would come to attend his lectures on improving their self-esteem, self-confidence, communication skills and performance.

The result of his training began to show right from the beginning. In 2003, a month after his first motivational lecture on ‘How to be a High Achiever in Examinations’, a student named Prakhar Ravi, wrote in an email to him, ‘Dear Sir, You might not be aware what a powerful impact your speech had on me. When I attended your seminar a month ago, I had just 5-days left for my half-yearly examinations in which I was expecting somewhere between 60 to 65% marks. I applied your ‘expectation theory’ which said, ‘in order to get more, you must raise your expectations’. Following your advice, I raised my expectations by 10% and today the result is in my hand -- I have secured 72%!’ Since then there have been thousands of students who have taken inspiration from his motivational speeches and have acknowledged that his techniques have helped them gain self-confidence, improved their self-esteem and they are much better performers today than they used to be.

Shishir’s special ability lies in his motivational skills and eloquence in speeches which have changed the lives of thousands of students. He believes that it is no great achievement to make 90% achievers clot the list. The real test of a motivational speaker lies in bringing ordinary students come up to the level of 90% marks and this is just what he has been doing. The results speak for themselves and many students have acknowledged that their performance shot up because of Shishir’s ability to help them realize their uniqueness and develop their potential. In 2005, while travelling to Japan to deliver a lecture on world citizenship, Shishir conceived the idea of putting his ideas on self-empowerment into a book and thus began writing ‘The Eight Powers within You’. He is firmly committed to creating peace and harmony and holds view that inner peace is just as important as outer peace for a truly worthy performance.

 

8. PERSONAL LIFE AND INSPIRATIONS

Shishir Srivastava and his wife, Sophia and have a seven-year-old son, Srijan. His inspirations for creating a better world are Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Al Gore. In the field of motivational speaking, he is inspired by Brian Tracy, Les Brown and Zig Ziglar. His favourite inspirational books are The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra and Think Like a Winner by Dr Walter Staples. He likes to pray, meditate and spend time with his family. His favourite activities are writing, listening to music and cooking.

 

9. QUOTATIONS

‘A loving, united and peaceful world is possible only when people cooperate to create a win-win environment.’ ¬
– Shishir Srivastava

‘We all are born to live in peace, prosperity and happiness. Success and good health are our birth rights.’
– Shishir Srivastava


‘We are living in a world where cooperation is more important than competition, where “we can do it” does more miracles than “I can do it”, where possibilities are infinite and impossibilities are none.’
– Shishir Srivastava


‘No one can truly help another person without helping himself first. In order to grow, you must work hard on yourself first.’
– Shishir Srivastava

‘I love all the people and every creation on this planet (including those beyond my present knowledge). I feel a strong spiritual connectedness with everyone that surrounds me as I feel that we all are created by and created in - One God.’
– Shishir Srivastava

‘Each human being is unique and has a special mission to accomplish on this planet. So are you. Once you realize your life’s purpose and work on it, you too, can become great.’
��� Shishir Srivastava

‘All human beings can live in abundance and peacefully co-exist in perfect harmony with the Universe if they share their talents with one another and help each other grow.’
– Shishir Srivastava

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