Education India Project #3754

Empower Vulnerable Young People with Life Skills

by Dream A Dream

Empower Vulnerable Young People with Life Skills

Project Report | Mar 26, 2019
Life Skills to overcome failure

By Vishal Talreja | Co-founder

“ Everyone especially my family saw me as a failure, even I saw myself as a failure, I was very dejected and didn’t believe I could do anything in my life; the sessions at the centre helped me calm down and think of my strengths”, says Aniruth is 20 year old and has been part of the Career Connect programme for the past 2 years

Aniruth had failed his Senior Secondary (12^th STD) exam 2 years back and consequently had written the supplementary exams twice but failed to clear his papers. Aniruth has held a string of odd jobs but never stayed in anyone for these jobs for more than 3 month; while working at one such job, he learned about the Career Connect Center from his friends; already bored with the present job, Aniruth decided to join the Career Connect Programme and was a part of the Life Skill Development module that used basic computer as a medium to facilitate life skills.

The life skills sessions impacted Aniruth to a great extent.

Sharing his experience of having a safe space at Career Connect Centre, Aniruth says “ The importance given to me by the staff at Career Connect helped me believe in myself, they gave me many opportunities to facilitate sessions which gave new meaning to what I was doing. I started liking facilitating sessions to my peers and became good at it; the safe space created for me helped me explore my strengths as a facilitator”.

Aniruth not only shares a passion for facilitation but is also a music lover. He says, “I wanted to combine my love for music with my passion to facilitate. I came across videos on you tube which used musical instruments to facilitate sessions, so I spoke to Shivu anna (Career Connect Facilitator) about it. Shivu anna then spoke to me about a training institute called Community Drum Jam Foundation that trained people how to facilitated using drums. I was very keen to take up this course and approached my facilitator for applying for a scholarship. I received the scholarship from the Career Connect Centre to attend the training. Today, thanks to Dream a Dream, I am a certified Drum Jam facilitator and can’t wait to start faciliating sessions using my new skills”.

Aniruth facilitates Drum Jam sessions at a place in MG Road, Bangalore on weekends and is looking forward to a bright facilitation journey ahead.

This is one such stories of transformation of the young people who are part of Dream a Dream’s Life Skills Programmes.

Dream a Dream is a registered, charitable trust empowering children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and flourish in the 21st century using a creative life skills approach. Currently, we work with 10,000 young people a year through our two innovation labs – After School Life Skills Programme (ASLSP) and Career Connect Programme (CCP); have trained over 5500 teachers/ educators from 157 partners through our Teacher Development Programme (TDP) impacting over 137,500 children and young people and sensitize over 2500 volunteers through our unique Life Skills Development model. We work on a strong collaborative approach with local charities, corporates, volunteers, governments, expert consultants and a host of national and international strategic partners.

At the centre of Dream a Dream’s approach is the child who we believe, has the potential to overcome adversity and develop life skills. This is followed by their closest influencers. Next are parents, teachers and volunteers. The outer key influencer is community. Eventually, they make the universe that the young will inhabit, and hence need to be made aware of the challenges.

Dream a Dream addresses these challenges through 3 key programmes that is, ASLSP and CCP directly impacting the young people and TDP indirectly impacting young people through teachers and thus unlock their potential. In ASLSP and CCP, we use a life skills approach where young people are able to make choices and get meaningfully engaged. While the TDP uses the life skill approach to nurture empathy, expand their creativity, develop listening and validation skills and the ability to share with authenticity while also learning facilitation skills.

Over the years, Dream a Dream has received recognition for its innovative model and work. Dream a Dream has been awarded the Transparency Key by GuideStar and a Platinum certified NGO (2017-18), 3-time winner of the Outstanding Annual Report Award, 3-time regional finalist of the India NGO of the Year Award, Runner-up at the GDN Most Innovative Project Award and has been recognized by Lego Foundation and Ashoka as a Champion (out of 630 global organizations) in the space of Re-Imagining Learning in the world. These videos talk about our work - https://vimeo.com/124809296 and https://vimeo.com/124817309.

Dream a Dream’s cofounder is also an Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow and also awarded the Heroes of Bengaluru Award in 2018.

The Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS) developed in-house is a first of its kind, published and standardized scale that is being used by NGOs/Schools to assess improvement in life skills - http://globaled.gse.harvard.edu/files/geii/files/dream_life_skills_assessment_scale_final_2.pdf.

Our strategic intent is to build a supportive community (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEgEkO8VxKM) that equips millions of young people from vulnerable backgrounds with life skills to overcome adversity and flourish in the 21st century. By 2021, we aim to scale the impact of our work to over 5,00,000 young people in India.

The Urgency of Life Skills

Young people from vulnerable backgrounds come from various experiences of adversity. Adversity affects their ability to engage with the world, make healthy life choices and their inability to thrive in the fast-moving world.

At Dream a Dream, we believe that the 21st century skills provide an excellent opportunity to young people from vulnerable backgrounds. Young people are able to adapt to this new, fast changing world through life skills and thus achieve positive outcomes in life.

Dream a Dream Life Skills Impact-2017-18

59720 – children part of the life skills programme
94.4% children are meaningfully engaged
97.4% children showed positive change in their life skills

CAREER CONNECT PROGRAMME

The programme equips 14-23-year-olds with information, skills and access to opportunities to make a healthy transition to adulthood. We conduct career awareness workshops, run short-term modules in English, communication skills, money management, and career guidance and provide access to internships, scholarships, vocational training and jobs. The programme is delivered in two learning centres, based in Bangalore. The two most important insights that we have learnt over the years; the first is that turning 18 is no guarantee that you are actually prepared for a career; the second is that just because you are younger than 18 and can’t get a formal job, doesn’t mean you are not expected to be the bread-winner for your family. Career Connect is focussed on developing the life-skills that young people need to navigate this complex phase of adolescence and ensure they are prepared for life.

Our modules include career awareness workshops, communication skills workshops, English communication workshops, money management and career guidance. At the next stage, young people can choose various skilling programmes as per their interest and need such as Beautician, Hospitality, Painting, etc. We close the loop by providing youth access to internships, scholarships, vocational training and placement. Each of these modules are strategically categorized into

Career Awareness Programme - creating awareness about the career options available for them
Life Skill Development Programme - equipping them with necessary life skills to face the real world and
The Last Mile Support Programme - providing them a platform to engage in skill development trainings, vocational training, placement and internship opportunities, scholarships, entrepreneurial skills and mentoring support for those in need.

With the introduction of the skill development programme last year, we had many young people showcasing skills that had the makings of a venture and independent career paths which led to piloting the entrepreneurship programme this year.

Insights:

84.7% of the participants had a baseline score below norms (<2.5 points) and thus showed the urgency to develop critical life skills in young people to face the challenges in life
80% of the participants who joined LMSP as dropouts are engaged that is made meaningful choices in life
96% participants who have undergone the computer training programme are now more confident to share ideas with others (Dell Survey 2017-18)

Impact Analysis: Life Skills Assesments - 2017-18

Life Skills Assessment analysis presents the LSA data sets of 1458 participants who were a part of the CCP. Among them there were 665 male and 793 female participants. The age group of the participants who were assessed is between 12-23 years.

Impact:

4884 out of 5301 graduates are meaningfully engaged (92.1%)
50 participants placed in jobs

Outcome:

99.7% of participants showed a positive change in life skills

Output:

1470 Participants completed the life skills development programme

90% Attendance
92.6% Retention
1458 Participants assessed (DLSAS)
14 Stories of change
201 participants received scholarships
23 participants enrolled in entrepreneurship programme and 4 business modules developed

764 Participants completed the skill development programme

86.7% Retention

Input:

881 Participants enrolled in the skill development programme
1587 Participants enrolled in the life skill development programme

“Career Connect programme is very useful to the students of this generation. It is not only important for students to be academically good but also to face challenges in the world outside that is in workplace, handle peer pressure etc. Career Connect Programme help students with this”.

Academic Head, Sharada Vikas PU College

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Dec 27, 2018
"My outlook to life changed" says Seema *

By Vishal Talreja | Cofounder

Navanita-ASLSP graduate in action

“Life skills have taught me how to lead sessions, manage team members, and make decisions on my own. I have also learned to respect others while working in groups. I am very happy that Dream a Dream has given me this opportunity.” – Seema*

Seema is a 16-year old girl studying in Mount Everest School in the 9th standard. Her father is a mechanic and her mother is a housewife. She has an elder brother studying in college. Seema is a participant at Dream a Dream’s After School Life Skills Programme, pursuing football.

Seema is regular to school and gets along with her classmates, but was quick to lose her temper. In this fit of anger, she resorted to hitting her classmates and using foul language. She was rude and disrespectful to her teachers and did not pay attention to them or follow their instructions.

One of our facilitators noticed Seema’s short temper and decided to have a candid conversation with her to understand her behaviour. T o make her feel like she was in a safe space, the facilitator narrated a personal story about how his anger affected his life. Moved by his story, Seema began to reflect on her own behaviour and shared her story with the facilitator. She told him that her father was an alcoholic who often abused her mother. Being exposed to abusive behaviour left her feeling lost and confused, making it difficult for her to concentrate on her studies or be at peace with herself. She bottled up her feelings, which led to her being rebellious and aggressive.

Keeping in mind what Seema is going through, the facilitator thought of a more suitable way for Seema to express herself. Through a role play activity called ‘Wrong Behaviour’, the facilitator made Seema play the role of a drunken driver. After this activity, she reflected on how making others in the family unhappy was wrong. She soon began to piece together how her own behaviour was causing unhappiness amongst her classmates. The role play activity and discussion that followed helped her relate to her own situation at home.

Over the next few sessions, her reflections deepened, thus helping her solve problems, come up with new ideas to control her anger and be happy. She became actively involved in football warmup sessions with her classmates and friends. Seema gradually opened up and seized opportunities.

Seema’s participation in the life skills sessions gave her the courage to talk to her father and address the adverse effects of alcoholism on the family.

Seema was selected for a workshop organized by BFC (Bangalore Football Club) and got an opportunity to play with the captain of the Indian football team, Sunil Chhetri.

*Name Changed

Dream a Dream is a registered, charitable trust empowering children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and flourish in the 21st century using a creative life skills approach.

Currently, we work with 10,000 young people a year through our two innovation labs – After School Life Skills Programme and Career Connect Programme; we have trained over 6,728 teachers/educators from 191 partners impacting over 1,68,200 children and young people and sensitize over 2,500 volunteers through our unique Life Skills Development model. We work on a strong collaborative approach with local charities, corporates, volunteers, governments, expert consultants and a host of national and international strategic partners.

Presently, we deliver life skills interventions through three programmes: After School Life Skills Programme, Career Connect Programme and the Teacher Development Programme.

10,000 Young People In Direct Delivery Programmes - AFTER SCHOOL LIFE SKILLS & CAREER CONNECT PROGRAMMES
6,728 Teachers Engaged Since 2012 In 5 States & 19 Districts Impacting 1,68,200 Young People In The TEACHER DVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
2,500 Volunteers Sensitized Through Our Unique Life Skills Development Model

Dream a Dream has been recognized and awarded for innovation, transparency and accountability over the years by Ashoka, GDN, Harvard, Rockefeller Foundation, Resource Alliance and others.

Two years ago, we unveiled our five-year strategic plan, which outlined our vision for 2016-21. Since 2016, we have continually invested in research & advocacy to build momentum around our vision of equipping young people from vulnerable backgrounds with life skills. The journey so far has been very exciting, and we believe we are on the right path. With this report we would like to share some key highlights from the first half of 2018-19 as we move closer to our 2021 vision.

AFTER SCHOOL LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMME

In our After School Life Skills Programme, we use creative arts and football as mediums to engage and develop critical life skills among young people between the ages of 8 to 15 years. This programme is an innovation lab where new approaches to life skills development are introduced, demonstrated, documented, evaluated, and fed back into a larger framework for re-imagining learning for young people in the country. To measure the improvements in life skills amongst the young people, we use the Dream Life Skills Assessment Scale (DLSAS*).

The programme’s goals for the next three years (2018-21) are as follows:

Engage 5,000 young people annually
Ensure 90% of the young people enrolled in the programme demonstrate an improvement in their life skills
Commission one new research study every year and an external programme evaluation

Key Impact Indicators –

5,658 young people engaged in the After School Life Skills Programme

2,383 engaged in the Life skills through Sports and 3,275 in the Life skills through Creative Arts programme
48.63% of the total enrollment are females.
We continue to retain and foster good relationship with 22 partners across Bangalore to deliver the programme. Apart from this we have 6 partner school for Research study

IMPACT ANALYSIS 2017-18

92.6 % of the participants showed a positive change in their average life skills scores*
81.4% participants improved in at least 4 life skills and above.
96.9% of participants are above norms (>=2.5 points) by the end of the programme
96.6% of graduates were meaningfully engaged i.e. have made meaningfully choices in life

For a detailed report on our programme and impact, kindly visit our website www.dreamadream.org

You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

Goals For Girls Event

Graduation Day Celebration

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Oct 2, 2018
Give our young people #aChanceToThrive

By Trisha Chaudhary | Associate Manager

About us…

Dream a Dream is a registered, charitable trust empowering children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and flourish in the 21^st century using a creative life skills approach. Currently, we work with 10,000young people a year through our innovation labs - the After School Life Skills Programme and the Career Connect Programme. We have trained over 5,500 teachers/educators from 157 schools impacting over 137,500 children and young people people and sensitize over 2500 volunteers through our unique Life Skills Development model. We work on a strong collaborative approach with local charities, corporates, volunteers, governments, expert consultants and a host of national and international strategic partners.

Recognized and Awarded for Innovation, Transparency and Accountability over the years by Ashoka, GuideStar, GDN, Harvard, Rockefeller Foundation, Resource Alliance and others

Our strategic intent is to build a supportive community -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEgEkO8VxKM) that equips millions of young people from vulnerable backgrounds with life skills to overcome adversity and flourish in the 21st century. By 2021, we aim to scale the impact of our work to over 500,000 young people in India.

What’s new…

In honor of India's Joy of Giving Week, Dream a Dream has launched a fundraising campaign called #aChanceToThrive. Through this campaign we are hoping to raise Rs. 1,500,000 (~ USD 24,000) to support 600 young people in our programmes for the next year.

The Joy of Giving Week begins on October 2nd and serves as an opportunity for everyone to give back to those around them. We are running this campaign through the platform, GlobalGiving, and during this week, they will provide matching grants to every Indian NGO that raises money. The top 20 NGOs to raise the most money will get matching grants. This is where we need your help!

In the first two weeks of our campaign, we have already raised nearly Rs. 400,000 (~USD 6,152) from both India and abroad.

The campaign saw people from all walks of life and economic backgrounds join hands to donate - Some of the highlights of the campaign have been:

Young people at Dream a Dream came up with interesting campaigns such as ’Chaat’ (a spicy & tangy Indian snacks) counters, art sales, etc. to raise funds. They have also kept a piggy bank at our youth centre and are putting in small change to raise funds. Collectively, they have raised and donated over Rs. 10,000 (~USD 154)
Redamma, who has worked as domestic help at our centre for two years, donated Rs. 500 (~USD 7.69) from her earnings to the campaign because she is so inspired by our work
Our office landlord donated Rs. 25,000 (~USD 350)
Vaibhavi, a young girl of 12 years, made earrings and other trinkets sold them at a weekend stall and donated all her profits of Rs. 500 (~USD 7.69) to Dream a Dream.

More than the amount raised, it is the idea that anyone, irrespective of their background, can donate or raise funds for a cause. This has most inspired us and we want to honor these donors by making a sincere effort to reach our target.

We need your help in order to reach this goal! My sincere request to you is to donate to Dream a Dream as I know I can count on you. Help us be No donation is big or small. You can make your donation at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/achancetothrive/.

Our young people need your support now more than ever. We urge you and your network to join in the Joy of Giving. Become a Changemaker and give our young people #aChanceToThrive!!

Lokesh found his confidence….

Nine-year-old Lokesh comes from a lower, middle class family. His father, Ramesh, works in a garment store as a tailor, while his mother, Malika, is a house wife who looks after Lokesh’s younger brother, Eshwar. Lokesh is physically challenged and has always been very quiet and shy. In school, he never spoke to anyone and always sat alone. He wouldn’t even speak to teachers and if they scolded him for being quiet, he would cry.

Dream a Dream partners with Lokesh’s school for our After-School Life Skills programme, so last year, Lokesh joined the Creative Arts session. Though he did not willingly share his thoughts, Lokesh always performed well in activities and understood all instructions during Life Skills sessions. To understand the root of Lokesh’s shyness, our facilitator, Parimala, sat with him each day and learned about his family, his daily activities, his likes and dislikes.

After a few weeks, Lokesh finally confided in Parimala that he wanted to talk to others and share his feelings, but he was afraid that everyone would tease him for his disability. The following day, Parimala, asked Lokesh to share his thoughts in the ‘reflection circle’ and assured him that she will be there to support him. Lokesh gave a great response and all his peers encouraged and applauded him.

His mother shared with us that, now, after returning home, Lokesh always shares stories about his day and what he learned, and he also revealed his dream of becoming a police officer. His mother is so proud to see him more empowered and self-assured. After just one year, Lokesh has cultivated enough confidence to participate fully and ask questions in our sessions and in his classes.

Impact in our After School Life Skills Programme:

96.8% of the tracked young people were more focused and willing to complete studies and achieve their Dream goals
96.9 % of the participants had an end line score above norms and thus improved their skills to deal with challenges using an in-house, first of its kind The Dream Life Skills Assessment Scale (DLSAS), it is a published and standardized scale that is being used by NGOs/Schools to assess improvement in life skills - http://globaled.gse.harvard.edu/files/geii/files/dream_life_skills_assessment_scale_final_2.pdf.
96% of the young people have seen a positive change after 2 years of reengagement

Links:

Visit this site to learn more about our campaign!

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