### Journey - Before ViKa - Moved back to Bangalore with a view to work in the education space - Volunteered at a few non profits but felt that something was amiss - Child centric spaces similar to customer centric products in the bay - Met with a few AIDers including Prasanna and decided that we should start something - Early Days - Almost a 100 children came and it was scary the responsibility we had - Lots of experimentation and learning on the go. - We got a lot of critique from the parents and the community but we focused on the children - Over time we went from Those people are running a centre to this is our centre - Covid - Covid was a huge challenge and we learnt a lot during this time. We were just not prepared for something like this - The glaring lack of local leadership got exposed - Post Covid - Lots of communities had leadership where centres had organically opened. - Decided to work with these communities and see if we can replicate and scale some of our ideas - Been almost a year and we are in 6 areas now. - It's mostly been firefighting and building a rapport though in these communities - Today Where We Are - 1 mature space. Lots of peer learning. Good response in community. Solid volunteer base and it's almost self running. - 3 spaces that are getting there. Space and facilitators present and resources also present. Working on building a rapport with the community and finding a volunteer base. Teachers need to be better trained and equipped. - 1 space that is regular and running but not much growth happening in those. - 1 space that is in and out due to some conflict with local leaders and lack of room. - 3 spaces that we are scouting out. 2 have an MoA to get us a space. ### Learnings - The importance of safe spaces and healthy relationships. Childhood trauma is a huge challenge and has a ton of implications in future life. We want to be the buffer - Joy and happiness - this is the key to learning. Most children have a fear towards learning. Need to make it enjoyable. - Learning What it Means to Learn - Just knowing what it means to learn and understanding that they too are capable of it can go a long way. - Agency - It's impossible at scale to take responsibility for all the children. While it may seem like children would get aloof the only way to make this work is for children to get a sense of responsibility. It takes time but when empowered they do. Spider Man quote always is with great power comes great responsibility but I actually think the reverse - with great responsibility comes great power. - Community Leadership and Ownership - Covid completely wrecked us. This initiative can only thrive if the community embraces and owns it. Especially as we scale we need to be accountable and responsible to them. - Social and Emotional Learning - Emotional regulation and understanding how they're feeling and processing is something the children need help with. - Silver Bullet - It doesn't exist. This is a slow and steady process that requires time and effort. - Putting resources and enough games and play material makes a big difference. It's a small and obvious thing but it matters a decent bit. Just games and material won't do though. Without a facilitator it really doesn't mean for much. - Short duration individual attention works really well. Even if we spend a little time giving that individual attention goes a really long way. - Children have a strong sense of fairness and justice - Learning scaffolds need to be accessible but also sufficiently exciting - encyclopaedia rather than internet for discovery of new topics is an example of a wide space but with good boundaries ### Challenges Ahead - Can we really replicate without us being physically present each and every day? - How to empower the local facilitators and have them buy into the ideas? - Addressing sensitive topics that come up and creating civic and social consciousness in the children - Making the project sustainable in the long run without the need for constant funding ### Anecdotes to Use - Lots of abuse and fights at home and in the community. So many cases of just people shouting at them for just playing and being children. One boy came to me and told me his father had died. I was shocked to find out later that he hadn't. Even more shocked to learn that he had smashed a TV and had glass in his hands. - One boy refused to go to school but always came to centre. When we talked to him we learnt that there was no water at home and he didn't want to go to school with smelly clothes cause others would make fun of him. At centre we had a tap where he would often come and wash up. - Circle time and how effective it has been. Children reflecting and setting goals has been really effective. Simple sorry and thank you also going a long way. - Constantly stealing child who was completely ostracised. We realised he was doing it only for attention and nothing else. Now he's the one who looks after all the material at the centre. - Election anecdote from T R Nagar - Exposure to Imti volunteer for the north east - Priya questioning why we cut cake on my birthday