Building a Better World - The IDEX Way

Originally written for IDEX and published at http://commonthreadx.ning.com/blog/building-a-better-world-the-idex-way

Excited to be a part of IDEX Cohort 2013. As this is my first step to explore the world of opportunities wherein I can challenge myself and look out for a unprecedented learning experience.Today even after six decades of independence, the challenge for our nation would still remain the rural development as a whole and people of the villages remain unreached. The rural people have been deprived of education, health care, employment and over all welfare. Bridging this gap by making accessible the education and spreading awareness about the importance of education and hygiene among the community which will definitely lead to reduce the gap if not bridge it completely.It is difficult to bring about change. IDEX will help me work on real life projects and also connect to professional experts who are motivated to make the world better. I feel I'm at a right place to explore this world of opportunities which can help me build a better society by impacting the lives of people around who need support.

Day 1

Orientation at Tata Institute of Social Science gave a holistic beginning to the journey. Having entrepreneurs share their experience as to how they are successful to start on their own was really inspiring. Beginning with Ms.Aparajita Agarwal, Director Sankalp Forum could give an useful insight as to how one can create a space for themselves in the industry you desire to work. Shalab Sahai, Co-founder iVolunteer shared his personal experience which come up with a learning that say - "Ideas are just next door, watch your step, step ahead & never look back". Also talk by Mr.Pradeep Sharma, Country Director GMC told us about how to make the best out of this fellowship & gave us some insights on social entrepreneurship. Mr.Krishna Sree Kumar, CEO AgSree with his enormous experience & exposure in the field of social enterprise was boon for the day. The amount of energy & the passion he carried moved the fellows to be more interactive & discuss on issues which can impact business. The corner games which helped us discuss on various issues namely, education affordability, health care system, women empowerment etc., helped us think on the existing scenario across globe as we had fellows from India, US, Egypt, Nigeria. This turned out to be a debate as everyone tried to share their experience based on the demography & it was amazing to see that every single aspect has a different impact on a particular issue.By EOD few things we could reflect on are mentioned below:

• What does social enterprise focus on : Social impact, Profit margin
• What domain of social enterprise you are passionate about to work for
• Do you have any idea in place to give it a game plan
• How does BOP community survive with <$2, what do they exactly need, what are the challenges they face etc.,
• How do you define a social enterprise : Sustainable, operate in critical need sector

Checking if blush can pull me, Yana and Troy

More importantly the first day at orientation exposed us to this world of social enterprise by helping the fellows across globe to join hands together to work for the society & wonderful people around. Having an impact even on one life is difficult & we could know what aspect of one's life we are going to touch upon. The day leaves us with a network of professionals.

Day 2

Second day at orientation had in store lot of exciting things for the fellows. An awesome start by ex-fellow Averil Spencer, Co-Founder - Voice4girls. Her personal experience at IDEX & the work she has done was just splendid. It was amazing to know that the number of lives she touches upon in spite of the cultural difference she come across. There was an interesting session my be none of the fellow could think about it & that some awesome tips on blogging by Nelson Moses from Billionbulbs. We could learn that yes, the stronger you convey your message the stronger s the impact. Another ex-fellow Zoe took us through the importance of having a mentor & how this relationship can help you build leadership qualities that can drive your career path. Another interesting session which help us understand the hustle that goes between the head & heart. This could help us know what we are are passionate about & what skills we possess to accomplish the same. Second day was a blend of fun & activity.

Finally, orientation comes to an end with lot of learning & network building. And according to orientation comes into play when an individual is exposed to the new environment. Orientation is aimed at providing all the required information to the beneficiaries, enabling them be in the comfort zone in the new environment. Orientations aim to provide basic information of about the prevailing atmosphere, culture and etiquette that are predominantly followed, possible challenges to be faced, solutions so on. Overall, it aims to ensure that an individual is prepared to take up the challenge and thereby help him sustain by further guidance. Well, I must say the orientation program did do justice and covered all aspects by which one could be familiar before jumping into ground realities.

City Orientation Day 1 was just amazing. Scavenger hunt. I must say this one was just crazy. Explored the city with many different perspectives known & unknown. Kick started with triple ride on a bike. Getting to know how to make a dosa turned out into business talks with complementary coffee in royal silver glass. Headed to the Yana's workplace. The task of getting defined the word "social enterprise" in 8 different languages. Then a drive to Lalbhag to get people crazy & say how much they love Bengaluru with some yummy mangoes tasted. Then drove to Jaaga with all smiles & feeling satisfied for having accomplished all the task on time. Woooo...... That was a lovely day for me just because Yana & Troy were just wonderful. All these task helped us get acquainted to the new place to some extent. Especially the Hindi/Kannada crash course, role play how to choose on the mode of transport, recognizing the food items on the menu was just amazing day.

The Day 2 of city orientation could give us a new world altogether. We could connect to so many people in fact build a network. This was a perfect blend of professional & personal space. Starting with details on EAP the moving on to explore the world of start ups at IIHS & the wonderful evening at Crescent with placement enterprise.

To describe the experience till date was just perfect to get acquainted with the new world of IDEX.

School Chaley Hum - Silver Spoons for the ones not born with it

This blog post 
won 
 the "ISB iDiya for IndiChange"! 
blogging competition.

The Background

Very recently, I came across children playing along the road side. While I stood there to grab a lemon juice, these kids were running around merrily. They didn't seem to be localities  I happened to smile at them and they responded. We struck a conversation and it went on for long. I learnt that their parents work at a construction site nearby. When I asked them if they went to school, I was puzzled with their response, "Didi, gaon mein jaathe the. Jab shehar mein aaye, toh chod diya", meaning, "When we were in the village, we went to school. From the time we came to the city, we stopped". It left me with a big question mark. In a world where people move from villages to towns to cities to metros to foreign destinations for education, here's someone saying that they are losing education for having moved up. I smiled, with a confused mind, and left.

I have always been passionate about the education sector as education has worked wonders in my own life. I feel energized when I see education reach the underprivileged as it is one such tool that enables individuals to participate in the growth story of the nation, contribute even more, access opportunities and work towards a better society. It is this passion that made me quit my banking job and volunteer with Youth for Seva (YFS), an NGO that works for a numerous social causes (For a brief description, read towards the end of this post). I have learnt that value education (not mere literacy) is by far, the greatest and the most commonly spoken of solution to almost every problem that the world faces today. I am running with a goal to ensure that kids are not mere English readers, Orators, Number Cruncher. They should be groomed into responsible adults with sensible definitions of all factors that affect their journey on earth.

Today, even after 6 decades of independence, the challenge for our nation still remains the rural development as the people of the villages remain unconnected to what the other side of the nation has been progressing towards. The rural people have been deprived of education, health care, employment and over all welfare. According to the latest World Bank estimates, nearly 40% of the Indian population falls below the poverty line and every third poor in the world is from India. On the contrast, India has as many as 69 billionaires which is fourth largest in the world. These statistics give a clear picture on social imbalance in India which consequently has affected India's over all development. The gap can be bridged by making education accessible and spreading awareness about the importance of education to a large extent. Further, we also need to work on making basic necessities of life like a clean environment, healthcare facilities, safe drinking water and food, etc. available for everyone in the nation.

The Revelation

After the construction site incident that left me dumbstruck, I narrated the incident to my mentor at YFS. Surprisingly, YFS had already been working on this cause along with NGOs like Surabhi Foundation, Shalaya, etc. (For a brief description, read towards the end of this post) and with the support of organizations like the Government's Education Department itself, ISKCON's Akshaya Patra and several other large-hearted people. It felt great to note this. We discussed further to understand how rapid industrialization, most of it unplanned, helps some people and affects some others. Building replace open spaces in no time in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Namma Bengaluru (our Bangalore). Over the last many years, we have seen huge urbanization as people moved to cities for education, job and a, so called, better life. We also saw a large people moving in to run services for these people - cooks, hoteliers, laundry boys, grocery sellers, vegetable vendors, bakers and construction workers. While there is one category of people who settle in cities, there is another category that hops from place to place in search of work. Construction workers fall under the later. Thus, the children either continue to work along, until somebody in the area is seriously opposed to child labor, or while around till they find something to do. If the parents wish to send them to school, the high costs of education and living in cities as well as regular move from one place to another discourage the children.

For the past two decades Bengaluru has been the fastest growing city of India. Bengaluru’s residential market interests all stakeholders – developers, landowners, double income households and growing migrant population. Many prominent national and international developers have entered Bengaluru's residential market and many more to enter in the coming years. Bengaluru’s residential market is likely to grow annually at 15% for the next 3 years. The economic outlook for the city remains strong in coming years as many large IT/ITeS, Engineering and automobile MNCs have aggressive growth plans for the city which will ensure healthy growth rate.

The aforementioned statistics imply that the construction industry will continue to seek more laborers/ employees. The ambitious metro rail project, road projects towards the international airport, aggressive expansions in Sarjapur, Hennur, Bagalur and in fact, every end of the city calls for many more people to work. These opportunities are definitely going to drive masons from different rural areas to migrate to Bengaluru along with their family in the next few years. The fact that it is not a permanent situation creates the problem for the kids. They lose their connect to school and slowly, the interest in studies dries out. Providing education to these kids at their doorsteps is the need of the hour or else, only after a few years, they will realize/repent on what they missed. We should make efforts to help them learn skills and improve their abilities according to their age so that they continue schooling, irrespective of where they go.

The Initiative

YFS is working on providing non formal schooling at certain locations where such a need is seen. It is an initiative with a mission to educate children by proper resource channelization. It would be very essential to catch these kids young and start training them lest they enter the trap of child labor and thereby, the viscous circle of poverty. Mumbai Mobile Creches is an example of a similar initiative through which, lives of almost 5000 children are touched.

At present, YFS has started non formal schools at three locations in Bengaluru - AGS Layout, Poornapragnya Layout and Raja Rajeswari Nagar. Each of these schools comprise of 30 - 40 kids whose parents are working at the construction site. They migrate very often as their job demands to do so. In this journey their kids get disconnected to the regular schooling. The very motive to come up with non formal schooling is that the kids can have access to education than losing it completely. Each of these schools, though have a single objective of educating the kids, are made up of varied models. School at Poornapragnya layout is run under the sheds of a temple wherein one paid teacher who is associated with Surabhi teaches. Along with this teacher there are two volunteers who are housewives who teach the kids. The main attraction for the kids to come to school is a meal. YFS has tied up with the government school nearby and have made arrangements for the food. The elder sibling has the freedom to get their younger one's to the school along with them. The parents are happy and content and do not stop the elder kid from going to school. The books and other materials are arranged from various sources. The school at RR Nagar is conducted at a room at the construction site which is sponsored by the builder himself. The teacher at that school is again a YFS volunteer. The school at AGS Layout is conducted at YFS volunteers home and she takes the responsibility of teaching the kids.

The Process

The first step towards getting all children into school would be to get to know them informally and persuade them to join a short non-formal education. The purpose is to serve this as a bridge course through which the children and their parents would become interested in the possibility of going to school. The central focus is to socialize children, provide them with some skills, and facilitate their admission to the government school in that locality.

Parents usually tend to send their kids to the school as they do not have time to take care of the kids. However, it is very essential to take their permission and learn about their interests as it creates a bonding and they feel motivated on being involved. Most parents tend to say that they are going to live in the city for 2-3 years and it doesn't make a big difference. However, the impact of these couple of years is huge. These are crucial years and in many cases, these couple of years push the child out of the education path. It is essential to discuss these points with the parents and help them take a decision keeping the long term impact in mind. These discussions are handled very sensitively, especially when the case is pertaining to a girl child, as education is still seen as an unessential burden by most people.

A strong attempt is made to promote the idea with the builder and in most cases, the builders are happy to consider the proposal. In case the builder doesn't agree, a community place like a community hall, temple premises or any place where classes can be conducted is being located. In case, both options fail, a place could be hired on rent. Identifying the location where the construction work is going on and study the profile of the children in the area, categorize them and find who/how many could be helped by the plan, plays a critical role.

On the financial front, each such project could cost up to Rs 1lac per annum (10 months) considering about 40 children in the class. Approximately Rs 30000 is spent to remunerate the teachers (the amount is only paid as a honorarium, Rs 40000 is spent on food, water and related facilities, Rs 10000 is spent on books, Rs 10000 is spent on helpers and another Rs 10000 could be other miscellaneous expenses.

The Workarounds

Kids or even for that matter adults, in general, are motivated by one or the other factor. Motivation, self or external, is one very important aspect of life as it prepares us to face challenges boldly. As the parents are daily wage earners, its difficult for them to take care of every need of the kids. They struggle to even provide a square meal a day. Many studies indicate, and I have observed it myself on interacting with people, that a square meal a day attracts kids to the school more than the opportunity of learning. Food is being arranged in two ways. One, it can be procured in collaboration with ISKCON directly and two, by connecting with a nearby government school, if any, by requesting the school authorities. Books, study materials and stationary are generally sponsored by the corporate and other organizations around. In most cases, the construction sites will be the prospect venue to accommodate such kids to the non formal schools to ensure they live their childhood with all the laughter, joy and happiness. In some cases, the classes are held in temple premises.

Many factors are taken into account while appointing a teacher. The most important point is that the teacher must be in a nearby location so that the access is easier. It would also make punctuality and continuity, easier tasks. The volunteers are given an opportunity to teach in these locations. Teachers can also be appointed in collaboration with NGOs like Surabhi. Further, in some cases, the educated housewives in the adjoining areas show interest in spending a couple of hours with the kids, which could be utilized for teaching. As the kids usually are the age group between 4-12 years (LKG to Class 5), anyone with education up to 12th and a passion to teach is in a position to take up the task.

The kids who are deprived of childhood life, the kids who are taking responsibilities more than their age, the kids who have all the innocence to laugh, play and learn are given a platform to help them mold as a better citizens. These kids are being trained on the basic reading and writing skills. In addition, something called as Samskara Shikshana, i.e, life skills on how to behave with various stakeholders in the society, how to lead their life path, the values to be learnt for leading a happy and content life in each aspect, etc. are being taught to enhance their living. All these activities are taught by making use of vachanas (verses), learning from epics like Bhagvadgeeta, patriotic and devotional songs and many other tools so that the kids can experience the holistic learning.

The Result

Once the kids are trained on the above skills they are in a position to be enrolled in the nearby Government school so that they can continue their schooling like any other kid going to school. In case the kid is going to another place, the NGO certifies their eligibility to a certain class/standard. The non formal school acts as a bridge to tap the kids who are not being sent to school due to various difficulties one is facing at home mainly due to the frequent transfer of their parents due to job. One such step will pave way for all these kids to be literate and have a better understanding of life and living.

India is, undoubtedly, the land of resources, resources of every kind, especially knowledge. If we channelize these resources appropriately, we can definitely work miracles. However, despite best efforts, education still doesn't reach a large number of kids. We should be considerate, in fact passionate, to take education to such kids who are left behind. Providing basic literacy to adults who have not been to schools is another mission that can be accomplished from non formal education system. While a value education process ensures that people are not denied of their fundamental rights, the most important contribution it does it that it makes people understand their fundamental duties and thus, evolve them into useful citizens.

Taking this and similar initiatives forward can definitely bring about changes in the lives of many people by helping them write their future, who would otherwise leave it to something called fate, which is yet to prove its existence.

Little drops of water, Little drains of sand. Make the mighty ocean, And the beauteous land.

And the little moments, Humble though they be. Make the mighty ages, Of eternity.

So our little errors, Lead the soul away. From the paths of virtue, Into sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness, Little words of love. Make our earth an Eden, Like the heaven above.

Julia A. Carney

The Passionate

Youth For Seva (YFS) began operations in April 2007 to create a platform for volunteerism for the youth who wanted to take an active part in community development. Through this platform, YFS aims to empower youth to become positive change makers who will enable organizations and institutions to work without a vested interest. The goal of YFS is to support schools, NGOs, government hospitals and other organizations in the social sector through volunteers who can help them mitigate some of their shortcomings and challenges. Volunteering is made easy and customized to the individual’s interests and time constraints. Youth for Seva (YFS) is a project under Hindu Seva Pratishthana. (Source: YFS Website)

YFS has engaged more than 6000 volunteers until now. More than 250 volunteers engage themselves actively to teach kids. YFS has around 60 tuition centres, including many of them in slums. YFS volunteers cover more than 80 Government schools where they toil to build the basic blocks of education, communication, computers and other learning.

Surabhi Foundation Trust is an NGO established in August 2005 with an objective of building capacities of the rural population and empower the development of children and women in rural areas. It strives to bring the children to the main stream of education, empower women by creating employment opportunities, create awareness on health issues among rural population through Health Awareness and Rural Health Camps, address environmental issues and promote Self Help Groups constituted by rural women. (Source: Surabhi website)

Surabhi runs a programme called NRBC (Non Residential Bridge Course) under which they aim to provide Food, Shelter, Education and Medical Facilities to under privileged children like, be it single parented kids, orphans, migrated kids, runaway kids, children of masons, rag pickers, beggars or any child who is in need of help.

One of the best ads promoting education in India under the aegis of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Universilisation of Elementary Education) addresses the needs of the children. It completely changed the way people looked at education in those days and perhaps, today, we see a totally different India due to initiatives like this. There is still a long way to go and this video motivates me each day.

This blog post has been written exclusively for iDiya, ISB's National Social Venture Competition that aims to stimulate, enable and develop high-impact, self-sustaining social businesses in India. The competition is being held as a part of IndiBlogger's new initiative of working for social good, IndiChange. You may participate in the competition by writing a blog about any social cause you are passionate about, and its potential solution. If there are any inspiring people or organizations working towards solving it, blog about them as well. For further details, go to http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=75.