Sutradhar, an NGO in Bangalore is doing path-breaking work in the area of
designing and dissemminating education materials and toys throughout the
country. The idea of a resource center is very powerful (enclosed below).



Sutradhar is a resource center which aims to provide access to educational
innovations to several schools. I'm forwarding a description of their work
and plans. It will give a good idea on why resource centers are necessary
and what they could potentially contain. This should serve as a good intro
to resource centers.

Also, Sutradhar is reviewing in detail the work by 50 NGOs in government
school intervention techniques - how effective they are. This work will be
completed over the course of next year. They are reviewing several groups
such as Avehi Abacus, Suvidya and several others. They will make this
information available to anyone wanting to see how effective government
school intervention is. This should be of a lot of interest to Asha.
Thanks,


SUTRADHAR Educational Resource Centre, 2000-2002
AIM To support and multiply the impact of educational innovations, leading
to a qualitative improvement in the state of children's education.
CONCEPT Distillation and dispersal
Sutradhar opened in November 1995 in Bangalore. It is set up as an
open-access resource bank of creative educational ideas and materials. Over
the last decade, many innovations have been developed by educators working
in different settings, but these are not widely known or easily available to
others who could benefit from them. By pooling and promoting these
innovations, a comprehensive resource centre like Sutradhar aims to multiply
their impact, thereby minimising waste. While Sutradhar currently serves
Bangalore and Karnataka, it aims to reach out nationwide.

Pre-Project Experience
The idea of a resource centre such as Sutradhar emerged in response to my
experience with CRY. As the All-India education co-ordinator I had the
opportunity to travel and meet with over a 100 educational groups across the
country over a 3-year period. I found that many sincere groups were unaware
of curriculum documents, manuals, and creative learning resources that would
have been useful to them. Both ignorance and duplication seemed to stem from
the lack of an organised, easily available access. I had worked with
resource centres in design, during my stints with Parisar Asha, ABACUS and
CRY, and knew the effort that went into design. I had also seen the
duplication of materials developed by resource centres such as Parisar
Asha,CLR and Vikramshila. Sutradhar was born out of a desire to share
available materials/knowledge more widely.

PART 1

1.0 BACKGROUND AND NEEDS ANALYSIS

1.1 Innovations in Education: the need to distil and showcase

In the current scenario, there is a critical need to improve not just access
to education, but also quality, so that the investments made in providing
schools are not wasted. Most schools have large numbers of children and
overstrained teachers, making it difficult for them to improve their
curriculum or practices.

Change-makers in education - working at a single school or cluster level
-are scattered in different contexts throughout the country; involved with
research, design, and field-level implementation. They design contextually
relevant curriculum and develop creative learning material. Many innovators
have received support for research and development, but lack the mandate or
wherewithal to distribute their materials. Consequently, their work does not
influence the larger community of parents, teachers and children it could
benefit, and wheels are often being reinvented. For instance, in the
interests of economy, every educator working in any part of the country in
primary education should have access to the curriculum developed by Eklavya.
From the ECE materials prepared by the Children's Media Lab, NCERT, to books
on Nai Talim, there are many materials relevant to the education of the
underprivileged that languish in government departments, funding agencies,
NGOs and small publishers. Books like Nai Talim, Divaswapna, The Blackboard
Book, Teacher, and Preparation for Understanding offer inspiration and
low-cost ideas for the education of the underprivileged, and yet are not
widely known or easily available under one roof.

1.2 "Relevant" education - contemporary and contextual
1.2.1 The curriculum framed by NCERT is revised every ten years. In the
interim, the gap between textbook knowledge and the outside world widens in
a dramatically rapid way. On the other hand, many NGOs and GOs develop
materials that challenge existing paradigms, in areas of contemporary and
social concern. These include the FPAI book on Human Sexuality, the VHAI
booklets on AIDS, or the DSERT books on gender. Promoting these is critical
in our movement towards a more humanist society.

1.2.2 In the age of globalisation, where children's playthings, books and
textbooks are divorced from their lives, there is a need to look for
educational solutions relevant to our setting. The perspectives of Gandhi or
Tagore offer insights that are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago,
but these writings are not easily available. Similarly, folk toys and games
have cultural relatedness, are low-cost, crafted from natural and waste
materials; and often based on a scientific principle. Folk toys and games
with the values they embody need to be promoted in education. There is also
a concommitant need to work with traditional toymaking industries such as
Chennapatna, finding a place for their toys in education.

1.3 Need for alternative dissemination channels

As alternative materials are low-cost, sometimes in the vernacular, and
produced by individuals or small NGOs who cannot promote their materials,
they do not find their way into commercial bookstores and are therefore not
"visible". Commercial bookstores prefer to market high-profit margin,
popular books, exercising little discrimination in the quality of materials
they stock. It is unfortunate that almost no bookstore in the country has a
section on "Education". Nor is there a national level clearinghouse for
children/education such as the ones in health (VHAI), science and
environment (CSE, CEE), and women's studies. Conventional toy stores do not
like to promote low-cost teaching aids that
require "interpretation" at the point of sales. "Interpretation" to explain
the educational value of a teaching aid or to understand the requirements of
children with special needs requires trained personnel and is intensive on
time.

Alternative learning materials that promote a different ethos need
alternative, non-commercial channels for dissemination.

1.4 Plurality of thought -- developing a critical frame of reference
Given the heterogeneity of learners and learning settings, there is no one
educational solution appropriate to all. On the other hand, there is a need
to promote a variety of educational practices (Montessori to Gijubhai),
media (books, toys, games, folk toys, teaching aids), and materials (print,
plastic, wood, coir), regardless of their source (individual, GO, NGO,
manufacturer, craftsperson).

Presenting a range of approaches and materials under one roof helps
educators develop a critical frame of reference. It enables them to
accommodate ideas that they find relevant, and pick and choose complementary
materials suited to their needs.

1.5 Lastly - why educational materials?

1.5.1 Toys, teaching aids and books are vital in mediating a child's
learning. At the grassroots level, teachers do make learning material from
waste. However, given the number of areas that require a teacher's
attention - from teaching to healthcare and community links - an area where
relief can be provided is in materials support. Many NGOs working with urban
poor such as Mobile Creches no longer find it cost-effective to make
materials from waste.

In the context of our country, Early Childhood Education prepares children
for schooling and reduces the wastage at the primary level. Good quality,
tangible manipulatives can be crucial at this stage.

1.5.2 There are few people working in the inter-disciplinary domain of
"educational media", which requires strengths in both design as well as
education. Design can bring a much-needed focus to the visual, aesthetic,
contextual and cultural dimensions of children's learning resources. Design
with a non-commercial impetus ensures that materials being designed are
need-based, contextually and culturally sensitive to the needs of
marginalised children, and multi-purpose in use.

1.6 Dissemination of ideas - platforms for exchange

Educators today lack a forum where they can present their work, thus
inviting critical peer response that is crucial to growth. Equally, the
world of educators is essentially divided. There are few platforms to
catalyse encounters between constituencies that do not normally interact,
such as non-formal and formal school teachers; researchers and
practitioners; GOs and NGOs; educators and teacher trainees; parents,
professionals, and teachers. A public forum can help to broadbase public
awareness and participation in education.

1.7 Media-in-Education: Towards Joyful Learning

From Gandhi and Tagore to Sri Aurobindo and Krishnamurthi, Indian educators
have all emphasised the need for creative expression. It is unfortunate that
educators since have considered the arts less important to underprivileged
children. The arts need to be promoted as they provide a deep and playful
way for the development of expression, cognition and self-esteem - three
critical aspects that traditional schooling does not foster.

The NCERT has been seriously looking at how to frame an Arts Education
curriculum - an area mandated by the MLL document that has not been
implemented. In the revised curriculum, the arts enjoy equal weightage as
language, math and environmental science. But there remains a need to
develop an arts curriculum and introduce the arts in the government school
system.

2.O OBJECTIVES

· To select good quality, diverse educational media relevant to the Indian
culture and context and make them conveniently available under one
"umbrella"
· To disseminate materials produced by educational NGOs
· To design materials and programs sensitive to the needs of marginalised
children
· To promote the use of media-in-education
· To allow for the continuing growth of educators by providing opportunities
for interaction, reflection and debate
· To invite greater public participation and to converge community resources
in meeting children's educational needs
· To lobby for improved access and quality of education

3.0 PROGRAMMES

3.1 THE SHOP: a node for interaction

In November 1995, Sutradhar opened a shop of learning materials.
Strategically, the shop was designed to be a storehouse, and an interactive,
public node around which other activities would spin-off.

Though it primarily serves users in Karnataka, it also works as a "living
laboratory." Considerable time is spent with each user that visits us -
from special educator to NGO -- trying to meet their specialised needs from
materials at the shop or library. Exposure visits at the centre are hosted
for GOs, NGOs, and TTIs.

Why a shop ??
· Makes difficult-to-get, alternative learning resources
conveniently available
· Provides marketing support to NGOs, small producers and
craftspersons
· Builds awareness about early learning. Staff "interpret" the
educational value and multiple uses of teaching materials, as these are not
explicit.
· Creates a feedback node around which other activities spin-off -
the design of need-based material; teacher training; and communications.
· Interfaces educator and designer, thus promoting good educational
design.
· Has the potential of being self-sustaining. A cross-subsidy
strategy allows wooden toys to offset keeping low-cost material.

What do we keep?
Teaching aids puzzles, beads, lacing boards, math and language aids, sorting
sets etc, arranged according to developmental areas.
Toys scientific toys, folk toys, free play materials, music, musical
instruments
Children's literature select, low-cost, well-written/illustrated books,
English/ Kannada
Books on education philosophies, theories, experiences, as well as practical
guides.
Games and puzzles Tangram, Soma's Cube, T-puzzle, Halaguli Mane,
Chowkabhara

The toys are selected on the basis of a checklist of educational, monetary,
technical, contextual, cultural and aesthetic considerations. There is a
special promotion of materials Indian in image and content, that are
educationally imaginative, embedded in a context such as a game, activity or
story.
Who supplies us?
NGOs/GOs ( Eklavya, CLR, Mobile Creches, Life Help Centre, CSE, CEE, MESH
etc)
Craftspersons ( traditional toymakers, crafts co-operatives)
Publishers ( Sage, NBT, CBT, Navakarnataka Press)
Individuals and manufacturers ( Arvind Gupta, New Wave)

(See Annexure 1: Suppliers' Profile)

Whom do we serve through the centre?

Over 1000 Anganwadis/preschools across the state
Parents, including parents of children with special needs
NGOs working with children - preschool/NFE
Schools, particularly pre-schools and special schools
Special educators and children's hospitals
Teacher training institutes
GOs and institutes

As we are a very small organisation it has not been possible to track the
users quantitatively. The user groups include people in Bangalore and
Karnataka. The centre has about 125 visitors a month, the annual sale has
about 5000 visitors.
The process
Phase 1: 1996-1998 - Distilling good quality material
The logical way to start the shop - which served as a mapping exercise --
was to gather and review "alternative" materials from across the country
whose impact was being undervalued. This approach, more top-down, provided
useful lessons in the properties of different materials, their educational
design, comparative costs, multipurpose educational use, as well as gaps in
the existing scenario. It also provided valuable links with a range of
reliable and empathetic suppliers.

Running a dynamic shop is a time-intensive, ongoing process, involving
sourcing and continuous review of new materials, phasing out of old ones,
refinement of materials, developing instructions, upgrading administrative
systems etc. In 1998, we developed instructions and 30 communications
posters for many of the resources, to help us interpret the materials to
teachers/ parents more easily.
Phase 2: Specialised services 1998-2000

In the second 'bottom-up phase", we were ready to serve specialised needs.
The 40,000 state anganwadis were an opportunity to reach out to large
numbers of underprivileged children through a system, at a stage when
materials are most cognitively beneficial. It was the linkages with
suppliers and the lessons provided by the shop that were put to use in
designing an early learning kit. The kit contains materials made from wood,
plastic, cloth, paper, masonite, rexine - a range of durable materials that
only a multimedia resource centre such as Sutradhar has experience in.
Marrying the strengths of economy, quality, and educational relevence, the
14 kit items were developed with a range of suppliers -- 3 NGOs, a
craftsperson, 2 quasi-commercial manufacturers, and 1 commercial plastic
manufacturer.

(See Early Learning Kit Flyer)

In a similar way, we saw that a large number of users at the shop were
special educators or parents of children with special needs. This has taught
us the importance of materials for children with special needs and led to
the development of a project on design for disability. From the repertoire
of materials at the shop, we have also put together materials, primarily
books in Kannada or with low-cost ideas, that are suitable for NFE groups.

Phase 3: "Replicating" the shop: 2000-2003
Having put together a repertoire of good quality materials, we would like to
multiply the impact of the shop by linking up with other like-minded groups.
As a start, we have formulated the terms of trade and wish to keep a select
range of our materials at other non-commercial outlets in Bangalore, such as
DESI, a shop of rural artisans; and SABHA, an Action Aid shop. Having tested
the waters, we could explore keeping toys at Goodbooks, Chennai.
As we relocated the shop in 1999, many people in the city are not aware of
our new location. We need to keep publicising the shop through press
coverage/advertising, particularly as the sales figures at the shop and
drop-in rate appear to be static.
As many NGOs in Bangalore work with Tamil speaking children, we also need to
proactively seek out Tamil materials for the shop.
3.2 DISSEMINATION

3.2.1 Niche marketing
Sutradhar started in Bangalore and is physically a young, urban NGO; but is
committed to the needs of underprivileged children, in Bangalore, Karnataka
and elsewhere. Strategically, to reach out to larger numbers of
underprivileged children, it is easier to design customised, smaller bundles
that can feed into large systems.

As the first step, we chose to intervene in the ICDS setup, a large network
serving preschool children. Though play materials are vital to early
learning, most anganwadis are sorely lacking in materials. Drawing from an
NCERT guideline, we developed an Early Learning Kit that is comprehensive,
cost-effective, aesthetic, durable, playful and multipurpose; and within the
budget of Rs 625 per kit. We also developed a teacher's handbook in Kannada.

We used our links with suppliers to leverage prices and quality, and
provided crucial design inputs. With the partnership of 25 GOs/NGOs and the
support of CRY, the kit has been field tested in 1999 with a 1000 balwadis/
anganwadis across 19 districts of Karnataka. Teachers have been oriented to
the kit, and we have revisited the areas for feedback.
We plan to use this experience to refine the kit and lobby for its further
use. We have sent out Kannada flyers to local NGOs and to DPEP offices
across the country.

( See Annexure 2: Early Learning Kit project )

For non-formal educators and special educators, we have put together a list
of materials suited to their needs. We plan to do a more focussed and
proactive mapping of materials being used by them and their needs. This
could be initiated with the NFE training/design for disability projects to
be undertaken in 2000.

3.2.2 Networking To build a network for underprivileged children in
Bangalore, we developed and released "Fingertips - A Child Resource
Directory for Bangalore" in March 2000. The directory profiles 400
organisations in the city.

(See Directory)

We have also begun work towards initiating a chapter for FORCES -- a
national network for underprivileged children, 0-6 years. Unlike other
states, there is little awareness on early learning in Karnataka, and few
large-scale NGOs working in the area. We hope that a FORCES chapter could
build a network and solidarity to promote child rights.

3.2.3 Marketing: To reach out to larger numbers of people, we need to
search for different ways of marketing - through flyers, the net, write-ups
in NGO journals, press coverage, tie-ups with NGO shops/ resource centres
etc. We would like to publicise our collection of teachers' books, books for
non-formal education, the early learning kit, the child resource directory
and the flashcards.

3.2.3 Web marketing: In a rapidly changing environment where
NGOs/nodal NGOs across the country are going to have greater access to
computers, we would like to put our resources on the web. We have already
submitted information on Sutradhar for 5 online sites, and would like to put
"Fingertips" online. We would also like to put up our own website/shopping
mart.

We see this as a time-intensive area involving risk-taking and learning, but
necessary in the years to come. We are exploring the option of tying up with
an existing Charity Portal such as ICICI.
3.3 PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS
We have exhibited our materials at local and national level educational
meets, both in and outside of Bangalore.

In addition, every year we conduct a 3-day annual exhibition at a
well-known, centrally located place; as our shop is not commercially located
nor can we afford advertising. Through corporate sponsorship, volunteers
from TTIs and free ad design, this becomes a well-publicised event attended
by over 5000 visitors from a cross-section of the public. To encourage
awareness and not just sales, we display our mobile exhibition of eight
handpainted panels on early learning.
We plan to continue holding the annual exhibition as it serves our twofold
objectives - of earning while building awareness.
As we are partners of CONCERN India, we plan to participate in their NGO
mela to reach out to Bombay.

3.4 DESIGN AND REFINEMENT OF LEARNING RESOURCES

Phase 1: Refinement and Design As a centre involved in the review and sale
of learning resources, feedback from our end-users helps us identify areas
for improvement as well as gaps in the existing range. Through the first
phase, we have been giving producer groups feedback, and working with them
in refinement. We also developed designs to fill in the gaps, a process that
took up considerable time and energy.

In response to feedback and observations in balwadis, we undertook the
large-scale production of flashcards of commonly found fruit and vegetables.
As these could be used by balwadis and preschools across the country,
production could be taken up on a cost-effective scale. The flashcards were
released in April 2000.

Phase 2: Focussed design The design and refinement of play materials for the
early learning kit, though intensive on time, was more cost-effective and
gratifying in view of its larger impact.

In 2000-2002, we would like to focus our design on two areas of concern --
design for special educators and design of materials with an "Indian" focus.
Though we acknowledge that design in these areas will be time-intensive with
a smaller market, we see these areas as critical gaps in the scenario that
need to be filled in.

3.4.2 Materials for children with special needs

Over the last five years we have realised that a large number of our users
are special educators or parents of children with special needs. Many are
referred to us by NGOs/Counsellors/ hospitals. Bangalore is particularly
well-placed as several groups work in disability.

To better understand the needs of special children, we had called for a
meeting in February 1997 with educators working in different disabilities;
with spastics, in visual disability, autism, hearing disability, and
learning disability. The purpose of this meeting was to identify additional
materials that we could both stock as well as make.

We subsequently had more detailed meetings with individual special
educators. Based on these interactions, we have identified a few products
that we would like to develop. Strategically, we have decided to work on
ideas that would be beneficial to normal children as well as children with
special needs.This will make the marketing of these products more
broad-based and easier. It will also provide the basis for designs for
specific disabilities.


3.4.3 Materials with an Indian focus

During the national level folk toy seminar that we organised we were able to
interact with the senior educationist Ms. Indira Swaminathan. We feel that
her contribution to designing learning resources that are truly embedded in
an Indian context is quite singular and culturally important.
Unfortunately, the materials she has designed remain as individual pieces,
and are used at her children's centre, Akshayam.

We would like to take some of these designs into scale, by getting a
producer group to make them in a quantity that can be marketed, and
according Ms Swaminathan the credit she deserves.

3.5 DOCUMENTATION CELL

Some of the materials we have gathered are not priced publications and
therefore cannot be sold. These are available in our documentation cell. The
materials include publications that were brought out in limited edition,
materials in other languages, xeroxes, research and policy documents,
videotapes, toys and games that are useful for design etc.
MEDIA1999-20001998-19991997-1998
documents1078976715
videos on education22138
journals11 + 17free2516
toys & games453379270


Due to our limited space/manpower, we have not built up or publicised our
cell as a reading room/library as was originally planned. We find that there
is a cost-effective, organic increase of materials on themes linked to the
other programmes that we undertake, such as our open fora, early learning
kit or schools programme. This makes the materials relevant and useful to
our own needs and the process of review easier.
In 2000-2 we would like to cross-index our books and computerise the system.
3.6 OPEN FORUM -- Public platform for showcasing innovations

While promoting materials is one way of sharing ideas, Sutradhar's objective
as a resource centre is to create platforms for cross-fertilisation that
will lead to greater dissemination, better understanding and improved
educational practice. Towards this end, we initiated the "Open Forum" series
in September 1996. We plan to conduct 3 such fora every year, in keeping
with the school calendar.
We have conducted 9 such fora so far, on issues ranging from "gender and
education", to "children and sexuality". The structure is to invite 4
educators who have worked on the issue from different perspectives to make
short presentations, followed by an open discussion. The session is
moderated and the proceedings documented. We also identify and make related
material available at the forum including books, reports, films, clippings
or curricula. A journalist or an educator is motivated to refer to these in
the wake of the discussion.

The fora are attended by about 80-100 people. We invite teachers from formal
and non-formal schools, TTIs, funding agencies, GOs and research agencies.
We advertise the fora in the papers, as a way of inviting greater public
participation in education.

Occasionally the forum may require a longer time for exploration. In Oct
1996 we held a day-long forum on Arts Education attended by 40 participants,
including artists, teachers, educators and funding agencies. Additionally,
in Jan 1999 we held a 2-1/2 day national level seminar on folk toys, with 40
participants drawn from crafts, education, arts and design. This was perhaps
the first time that a group had come together to explore the cultural
dimensions of children's play materials.


3.7 EDUCATIONAL FEATURES SERVICE: Making educators reach out

To meet our objective of disseminating creative educational ideas among the
public, we initiated the Education Features Service in 1998. Our strategy is
to develop good quality features that we can feed into the mainstream press,
thereby reaching out to more people for wider impact.
We have commissioned both freelance journalists as well as educators to
write on educational policy, philosophy and practice. We find the need to
rework the articles to ensure that they are reader-friendly, as well as
local and culture-specific. We also liase with editors, photographers,
translators and writers to ensure the quality of the articles.
We send these articles to the Kannada papers. We later carry them in the
English press. We also plan to carry them through other teachers'
newsletters so as to maximise the reach; and to collate them as a series.
We commit ourselves to a modest target of 6 features per year that we will
ensure get published, though we commission a larger number. We have
published a total of 21 features so far.

3.8 SCHOOLS PROGRAMME - theatre-in-education

3.8.1 Sutradhar's particular interest is in the use of media-in-education.
In our commitment to improving the quality of education in formal government
schools, we wished to explore the use of appropriate
media/arts -in-education. In October 1997 we initiated a
theatre-in-education programme in 3 government schools. We chose theatre as
a methodology that can simultaneously enhance language, thinking skills and
self-esteem, three crucial areas that the formal schooling method and
curriculum fails to foster.

3.8.2 Theatre encourages children to bring up day-to-day problems in their
lives. Many children come from families where alcoholism and domestic
violence are the norm. Within the government school system, there are no
counsellors, no health education, and no space for children to express their
emotions. And yet children's emotional problems deeply affects their
capacity to learn, and impinges on their well-being.

3.8.3 Phase 1: Dr. Shekhar Seshadri, child psychiatrist at NIMHANS, has
guided the pilot theatre-in-education programme from 1997-2000. During this
period, we developed "Chrysalis", a manual of drama exercises. We translated
2 books on gender into Kannada and have obtained permission to publish them.
We also outlined 13 curricular themes around identity-gender-sexuality.




Phase 2: Having tried out the programme with teachers to ensure ownership of
the programme, we feel it is necessary to have a skilled theatre person who
can model the methodology. We do feel that the programme is worth
demonstrating as we see it as a worthwhile intervention.
In 2000-2, we plan to continue the programme with 2 middle schools,
conducting 6-8 sessions in each school. A resource person skilled in drama
who has worked with children will conduct these sessions. We plan to add on
2 more schools every year.
(See Annexure 3: Schools Programme)

3.9 RESEARCH

3.9.1 Role of Research in Sutradhar programmes

Every project/programme undertaken at Sutradhar has involved its share of
homework, and ideas are incubated for a while before they take shape. The
genesis of the anganwadi project began with a focussed group discussion in
early 1997 involving 20 early years educators, a study of 8 different
balwadi manuals, detailed discussions with NCERT/NIPCCD, and field-trialling
and revisions of the kit/manual/feedback form with 3 pre-schools.
Post-project research involved meeting with the anganwadi teachers and
observations in the anganwadi on the use of materials.

Detailed discussions regarding a formal evaluation of the kit were held with
4 researchers. Information on pre-school research was also obtained through
the Internet. A statistically significant evaluation of the kit was put on
hold as it would involve longitudinal cognitive mapping of large numbers of
children, and would be intensive on time/money/people. As it was beyond the
scope of the CRY project we restricted the evaluation to feedback on the
materials and their use in the pre-school setting.

In a similar vein, before undertaking the development of the Child Resource
Directory, over 40 directories were studied for their formats, and
discussions held with Murray Culshaw, who had brought out an all-India
directory of NGOs. The theatre-in-schools project was borne after a day-long
seminar on arts education held in 1996 with about 40 educators working in
the arts or with the government school system, followed by individual and
group meetings with resource persons.

The interventions of our Open Forum and Features Service are also a way to
learn from the "ethnographic" field experiences of educators, and an attempt
to bridge the gap between research and practice. The learnings at the "Open
Fora" have fed into the schools programme. For instance, three of our "Open
Fora" focussed on children and violence, children and sexuality, gender and
education -- issues related to the life skills programme we are developing
for schools.

3.9.2 Documentation on School improvement

Like us, many groups in the country are committed to change in the
government school system. The dearth of publicly available documentation to
learn from suggests that it is worthwhile to map 50 govt school improvement
efforts that have been made in the last decade. We hope that this exercise
will guide future efforts in designing and understanding the nature of
interventions. We expect the documentation to be useful to funders, policy
makers, corporate houses, and smaller NGOs.

We propose that the project takes two forms - a series of features that feed
into our features service, thereby reaching out to a large number of people;
and also a book to be published by a mainstream publisher.

(See Annexure 4: School Improvement Document)


3.10 TEACHER TRAINING

3.10.1 We acknowledge that training inputs help to animate and complement
the use of learning resources. In the anganwadi project, a social worker
hired for 8 months undertook a ½-1 day orientation with the anganwadi
teachers of all 1000 centres and 25 organisations that we were partnering
across 19 districts of Karnataka. The training demonstrated the use of the
materials, and discussed the accompanying manual.

3.10.2 We have also used resource persons to organise training for local
NGOs, from making low-cost toys to storytelling and the use of
media-in-education. Our theatre-in-education programme in the government
schools has involved teacher training, as well as the challenging task of
developing a methodology and curriculum for addressing issues of
gender/sexuality/life skills.

3.10.3 Additionally, we have been continuously providing linkages and
information on educational expertise available. The idea of the Open Forum
series/Child Resource Directory that we brought out was to make these
resources transparently available, so that NGOs can enhance their
capacities. The Open Forum too serves as a means of continuing, informal
learning.

In 2000, we wish to take on a senior co-ordinator with some
training/research experience so that we can expand our repertoire of support
and build in-house capacities to respond speedily.


3.10.4 Training For Non-Formal Educators

Bangalore and its environs has a large number of NGOs involved with street
and working children. Many of these groups run non-formal centres. An
essential part of this learning involves the teaching of reading, writing
and math, a preparation both for the formal system as well as an end in
itself. However, most of the groups running these centres lack pedagogical
expertise. The problem is compounded by the fact that the children are not a
captive audience; they come and go for short spans of time. Nor are they
little children; their world of experience makes them quite adult and
engaging them must acknowledge this.

The Rishi Valley Rural School has devised a "School in a Bag" methodology
that has been tried out succesfully by the DPEP in tribal HD Kote District,
where the classrooms are multigrade in their organisation. It would appear
that this methodology could be useful as it offers a multi-entry, graded
level of teaching. Adapted from the Paolo Freire method, it draws on words
familiar to the context of the learner, so that learning becomes meaningful.

The Rishi Valley school was contacted over a year ago, to sound out the
possibility of hosting a workshop in Chitoor, AP. The school is clear that
the kit is not something that can be purchased, rather, it is a pedagogical
method for which the teachers must claim ownership through a process of
"transcreation". Their course fee of Rs 2000 per participant covers the
training fee, board and lodging, materials, and local travel to satellite
schools.

As this is a residential, 3-day training, a nodal educational centre like
Sutradhar can play a role in working out the logistics for such a workshop
for about 20 participants, thus making it cost-effective. It will also be a
chance for Sutradhar to build its in-house capacity in the teaching of
language/math.

(The tentative list of groups who could benefit from such a training
include: Concerned for Working Children, MAYA, DEEDS, REDS, Mythri, BOSCO,
Chiguru, Navjeevana, Chaitanya, Ananya, APSA, Paraspara, Oasis India, KSCCW,
Mithra Foundation, MGRDSC Trust, AVAS, Asha Deep, EQUIP, Sruti.)



4:0 OVERVIEW of programmes 1995-2000

(See Annexure 5: Timeline)
(See Annexure 6: Reach)
(See Annexure 7: Milestones)

5:0 ACTION PLAN: 2000-2002

(See Annexure 8: Workplan)

PART 2: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

The 3 trustees of Sutradhar oversee policy, recruitment, financial audit
and organisational plan; further strategic inputs are provided by an
advisory board of 6 with representation of people from different
child-related backgrounds. The programme staff report to the director; and
3 support staff help to maintain systems.
Director

×------------------------×-----------------------------------×
Senior co-ordinator* Shop manager ®
Accountant-cum-Administrator
× ß
Coordinator
è Shop
Asst -cum-secretary ø
ß
Office Boy
* to be recruited

MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS

At the organisational level, an annual plan with quarterly targets is set.
Programmes are reviewed and reports are prepared on a half-yearly basis. A
monthly plan with organisational priorities is developed and each staff
member prepares their own monthly plan that is discussed and reviewed
bi-monthly. Staff are encouraged to break tasks into quantitatively
achievable goals. A debriefing is conducted after new events. At the end of
the year, a process evaluation of each program is also done. In 1997-8 we
put down a set of indicators to measure the quantitative/qualitative impact
of our work.

After meeting several groups we selected an HRD group, the P & P group, to
help us with an external review/vision building. Though we began discussions
in March 1999 and again in Jan 2000, the review has been on hold as we had
to relocate the shop in June 1999 and hire and induct new staff. We
definitely intend to follow the process through in 2000-2002.

STAFF

Mandira Kumar, Director:
Founder Trustee of Sutradhar, responsible for overall planning and
implementation. Has a Diploma in Social Communications Media and a Masters'
in Educational Media from Harvard University. Has worked for over 12 years
with several educational groups, being involved in research, curriculum
design and design of learning resources. Was the All-India Education
Co-ordinator with CRY from 1991-1994. (see CV)