Give Children Wings to their Dreams

This is a powerful story of Kavya who was always full of self doubt, fear of what others will say etc. becomes a bright,and outgoing person always ready to take the initiative to take on any challenge thats came her way after attending Dream a Dream's After School Life Skills programme.

Kavya is a bright and talented 12-year-old girl studying in the 7^th standard in Government School Ambedkar Nagar, Bangalore. She has been part of Dream a Dream’s After School Life Skill through Sports programme for the past 4 years. She comes from a low-income family. Her father had abandoned them when she was very young. Since then, her mother has been taking care of the family and is the decision maker. Her mother works as a tailor in a garment factory to provide food and shelter for the family. Kavya’s elder sister also works as a helper in a garment factory to supplement the family income. Kavya’s grandparents take care of her and her elder brother (who studies in the same school in standard 8^th) when her mother and elder sister are at work.

When Kavya’s father abandoned them, she went into a deep depression. She became very quiet and withdrawn; she hesitated to mingle with the opposite gender, she did not speak to or felt very uncomfortable speaking with unknown persons too. She had a fear about what other people will think about her and she felt that the boys always ignored her and did not include her in any activities. She remained in her comfort zone mainly with some of her best friends. If the facilitator divided the team for some activity, she would not mingle with anyone in the group and if a situation arose where she had to interact with the members in the group, she simply will not take part in any activities, even if someone asks her, she will not talk and remain silent.

Observing this, our programme facilitator decided to talk to her but before that he spoke to her class teacher and her mother and got to know the difficult circumstances under which Kavya, and her family were living. Having understood the reason for Kavya’s behavior he started to give her more time and space, he initiated many one-on-one conversations with her. After talking with him, Kavya felt the facilitator’s care and concern and started to respond. The facilitator planed some sessions to make her mingle with others; one such activity was ‘finding the route from the map’, where Kavya took her first step towards mingling with her team, was to helping and guiding her partner to find the way without ending up in a blind corner using the map. She was happy doing this activity and began to slowly mingle with others, not only in the sessions but in her class and elsewhere. Due to the constant encouragement from the facilitator and at the same time watching and learning from him, Kavya learnt how to take initiative, take leadership to do things which would help the whole class. She began to come forward with ideas in the team, rising hand to speak in group, taking attendance and distributing snacks and leading the energizer songs etc. during the Programme.

Kavya is now a very strong and bold girl. She has become the class leader and takes the initiative to look after the class. She has become more active than ever.

This is what she has to share with us, “I thought I won’t be able to mingle with anyone, I will be alone forever in my life, but I am very lucky that I enrolled into Dream a Dream’s After School Life Skills programme where I overcame my fear and hesitation and built my confidence; I have changed myself to another person who is very strong, confident and bold. I feel I can now face anything in my life.”

TEACHERS QUOTES: -

Kavya’s class teacher says that Kavya initially used to be good in studies but she became very silent, preferring to be alone in the class and she would not eat anything during the lunch break and when I asked, she would say she is not hungry or if forced to eat she would sit alone and eat her food silently and not respond to any of my questions. Her concentration towards studies and her grades started going down. Sensing something wrong I spoke with her mother and got to know that her father had run away. I gave some time to her and talked to the Dream a Dream facilitator and requested if he could do something; after that slowly she started concentrating in the class, she started to talk in class. I saw her behavior change - she looked confident, she has started getting good grades and supports her friends also, she takes the initiative to look after the class when I am not in class, she makes everyone to sit quietly and ensures that they are doing classwork. She has changed so much that if she needs any clarification or help, she will directly ask that person. She does not hesitate to speak with unknown people and communicates effectively and confidently. Seeing all these changes I decided to make her the class leader and had turned out to be a very good leader.

PARENTS QUOTES: -

Says her mother, “I was very worried and afraid what will happen to Kavya when her father left us. When her father left us Kavya started to keep to herself all the time, never speaking or asking anything. I would try everything to make her happy and feel safe. I tried to take her for a walk, spend time with her, I tried everything, but she did not come out of the trauma after the incident. I got to know that she was like that in her class and with her friends as well when I spoke to her class teacher.

That is when Kavya’s teacher decided to approach Dream a Dream’s facilitator to see if he could help. All that I know was that the facilitator told me that he will take extra care and give more attention and support to Kavya and after that the change in Kavya was unbelievable!

Kavya started to spend time with her grandfather and grandmother, she started to talk with them and started helping them, she feels comfortable to share her feelings. She started to share about what she did in school, happily mingling with her sister and brother. She started to help me with the household work too. When I come home from work, she comes and happily hugs me and starts sharing what she did at school. Her smile gives me more energy to work hard and build a better future for her. Nowadays she is very happy, and I thank Dream a Dream for changing my daughter and bring back her smile and confidence.

After School Life Skills programme in a nutshell - 

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 Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS*).

*The LSAS is the first standardized impact measurement tool in the world to measure improvement in life skills among disadvantaged children.

KEY IMPACT INDICATORS OF ASLSP: 2020-21

• In the beginning of the year 24 partner school had agreed to engage in After School Life Skills Programme but due to the COVID19 pandemic we could hold our sessions in 20 partner schools.
• Enrolled 3036 young people across 185 batches and 2798 young people completed the life skills intervention for the academic year. It was a very challenging year for both young people and us. We had to move all our programmes online. After much brainstorming we adopted the blended approach to engage young people in teaching life skills. The session was delivered in an interactive and effectively engaging manner throughout out the year. 
• 90% of young people shows positive improvement in at least one Life Skills. – We have collected 1557 baseline and 1557 endline LSAS data. We will analyze and share the improvement scores.
• 85% attendance across the batches. – Despite the challenges faced by us and the young people regarding availability of smart phones or laptop or computer desktop etc., coupled with issues with internet – availability or bandwidth we managed to achieve 70% attendance by way of accommodating various timings suiting the young people or by aiding for internet packs etc.
• 15 session through blended approach across the batches – We conducted on an average 16 session per batch.
• 199 Scholarships was provided to support young people to continue their schooling and learning as due to the Pandemic parents of many young people lost their jobs leading to many young people working in nearby shops to supplement the family income.

KEY IMPACT INDICATORS OF ASLSP FOR APRIL 2020 – March 2021.

• 5,084 young people are engaging through our After-school Life Skills Programme.
• 1,205 in Life Skills through Sports.
• 1,831 in life skills through Creative Arts Programme.
• 2,048 through reintegration sessions.
• We run our sessions in 20 partners schools comprising of with 18 Low-Cost Private Schools and 2 Government Schools across Bangalore city.
• The total number of batches in the programme is 185 of which:
  • 72 batches are in Life Skills through Sports Programme
  • 113 batches are in Life Skills through Arts Programme.
  • Each batch engages 10-20 young people in the core Life Skills Programme.
  • 4542 Session conducted and maintained 70% attendance across the batches.
• We have 33 trained Life Skills facilitators to deliver life skills interventions through blended approach.

Testimonials from Field:

“I whole heartedly convey my gratitude to Dream a Dream organization for their tremendous work, encouragement and support landed to the Parents, teachers and students during the Lockdown. The Pandemic situation has disrupted the living conditions of the people in the society, especially the stake holders of the school are financially and mentally affected during the COVID crisis.  I am extremely happy that during this crisis the Dream a Dream team encouraged and supported us by providing the following facilities:

• Providing online classes and counseling the Students
• Distribution of ART KIT, NUTRITION KIT & SPORTS KIT
• Providing Ration kits to needy Parents & Teachers
• “#Whatif” statement related T-shirts
• Mask, Sanitizer for students & School teachers
• Provided Thermometer (Thermal Screening) for school
• Scholarship for 13 needy students
• Graduation Day Celebrations: Provided KIT”

-          Dr. Keerthi, Principal, St. Mary’s Convent High School

Ameenuddin, a student in Florida English School - “I am studying in Florida English School. I am a reserved person. I was not sharing my feelings or emotions to anyone in the class because I had a fear that someone will tease me if I speak anything by mistake. I was feeling shy to talk with my opposite gender as well.  I was the same even in my family circle too. In Dream a Dream classes I was getting opportunity to share my thoughts in a safe space. I tried to mingle only in that group. In camp I was given opportunity to host in the open mic I felt happy and I had got self-confidence to speak in front of others. I had an opportunity to co-host with the opposite gender which took me out of fear to mingle with opposite gender. Now I am mingling in my family circle also which is creating a bonding between me and them.”

(appropriate consent has been obtained to use names and pictures)

#Whatif young people take the leadership in critical situations

Harish who is 16 years old and a graduate from Pragna Vidyaniketan School shares his experience during the pandemic.

When India announced lockdown lots of people faced so many problems - some people lost their jobs, and some people did not even get food to eat that time he felt very bad and discussed about this with his facilitator Kiran. Kiran in turn spoke with his manager at Dream a Dream. Dream a Dream arranged for food kits which Harish with the help of his facilitator distributed in his community. He spent nearly a month helping the Dream a Dream team distribute the food kits. Harish felt very happy because he was engaged in some social work and was happy to help the community where he lives. He is very thankful to Dream a Dream for the help and building life skills in him which helped him to respond to the difficult times and give back to the community.

 #whatif every young dreamer tries to help other dreamer to reach their success.

Imran is 16 years old and studying in Solomon High School Padarayanapura. He says “when lockdown started, I have faced many problems because COVID19. Initially I thought it might end within 2 or 3 days, but it has been extended till 3 months. When my family faced financial problems, I started thinking about the roadside people who have no home, no food, and no basic needs to live their daily life but I was totally helpless to them considering my family situation.

School got started through online it was very difficult to attend I had to take permission to attend the online class from shop where I was working, I felt difficult to attend class and to work simultaneously anyhow I managed by attending classes

I started working for my education sake because I have 3 sister and 4 brothers; a brother and a sister got married, elder brother is looking after my house and my sister is studying IAS and one more is studying psychology so my father couldn't afford to pay for me because of which I started working to pay my school fees , and my plans is not only to study 10th or 11th or 12th grade, I want to study well and settle in at good position, and my aim is to help the student with the single parent and students facing family problem they should get proper education they should not suffer to get good education.

#Whatif teachers become role model for young people to carry forward their responsibility in society.

Zakir is a teacher in Blossom Public School. He had always been the one among the many others who wanted to see their society being a role model to others.

At the start of lockdown, he was worried about what is going to happen to the people of his society and his family in future due to the difficulties faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His worries got worse when the area he lived in started to be avoided by people due to the rising number of COVID19 cases. He had to do something for his society for its betterment. That is when his daughter discussed with him a plan to control the number of cases from spreading. The plan called "BREAK THE CHAIN PADARAYANAPURA" was to group up with some young people, who also happened to be his students. They were happy to help get rid of the bad name of their society. Shares Zakir – ‘We started out with announcements where we talked about COVID, the importance of mask, and sanitizers etc. We planned about this, in which my students and their families were involved, and took it to their area councilor Mr. Imran who approved of the plan and took us to get the approval of the Commissioner for Bangalore municipality. We were happy with the outcome of the plan, what started with my family of 5 and some youngsters became a community event with these youngsters getting more youngsters to join and help us. They also had their principal Mr. Ayub to help them and encourage them to do this further”. Hence after all the hard work, Zakir and his daughter and her friends got their area COVID free and they are proud to be a part of that area. Zakir is proud to share his story and to being an Indian citizen.

Testimonials from Field:

• "Gratitude Dissolves Negativity” "Decide that no matter what comes your way, you’ll find a grateful heart.” On behalf of the Siri Vishnu School, a huge thank you! Let me take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful "FOOD KIT" gifted by Dream a Dream team. It makes a positive impact on the lives of our family and this will help feed my family over the coming days. Thank you again for your Harvest gift, Interest and Time. I am showing my gratitude through these lines.... "Thankfulness is measured by the number of words: gratitude is measured by the nature of our actions.” - Manjula – Principal

• “Action speaks louder than the words.” In so many places we heard boasting speeches but no help but, in your case, there is action without sound. I do not even have the words to appreciate your humble help. I thank you from the bottom of my heart along with my family, friends, and colleagues. In this challenging times you have done a challenging work beyond your limits. Once again I and the faculty of Solomon High School whole heartedly thank you for your kindness and humanity” - Parveen - Principal.

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, have trained over 9,828 teachers/educators from six states and including 19 districts in Karnataka impacting over 2,45,700 children and have impacted over 1 million children through strategic partnerships with state governments in Delhi and Jharkhand. We work on a strong collaborative approach with local charities, corporates, volunteers, governments, expert consultants, and a host of national and international strategic partners.

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

Four 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 Research team has published one research paper and in the process of writing two more to be published in the coming financial year. Yes, the journey this far has been very exciting as we have achieved all our objectives by overcoming the many challenges reinforcing our belief that we are we are on the right path. With this report we would like to share some of our key highlights from FY 2019-20 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 Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS*).

*The LSAS is the first standardized impact measurement tool in the world to measure improvement in life skills among disadvantaged children.

HIGHLIGHTS OF AFTER SCHOOL LIFE SKILLS PROGRAM:

• • 3036 young people are receiving weekly life skills intervention and continuing their learning through blended approach. The session delivery was interactive and effectively engaging throughout. Young people are proactively participating in the life skills intervention through online and off-line.

• We continued to facilitate reintegration session for 2048 young people from the community and schools across Bangalore to support them to overcome this pandemic situation and to normalizing themselves and their families to the new normal. Due to the pandemic all of us have been stuck with deeply impacting multiple emotions, making it very difficult to cope with and express them in a healthy manner. Given this, Dream a Dream along with our partners at PYE Global (Partners for Youth Empowerment), came up with a design and a session to help each other deal with this situation in a healthy manner- The Reintegration Session. The Reintegration Session helps us understand our emotions and feelings better, the session helps us normalize our emotions and cope up with the situation in a healthy and positive manner.

• Dream a Dream was declared as the Winner of the World Football Summit's in the Football for Good Category presented by Common Goal. The After School Life Skills Through Football Programme has been driving mindset shifts in the community and this award is an acknowledgement for the work Dream a Dream has done to impact over a million young people in India.

• Math Tables book (Maghi Book) were distributed to Sree Sadguru Sai Baba schools for 50 young people to support their academical learning as they requested for it. As schools were not running the school took initiative with help of our facilitator Pallavi to distribute the books so the young people won’t stop learning. There was no resource for the children at their homes to learn as we distributed the books now, they are able to enjoy it and learning each things day by day.

• Nutrition kit was introduced and continued to provide nutrition to young people, keeping in mind that
  young people are not receiving midday meals. We came up with nuts and dry fruits which will be healthier for the young people and will be safer and can be easily reached to young people. So far, we have reached 2226 young people and distributed Nutrition kit. While distributing we have reached out to many more young people and they are part of our program. Our young people are very happy for receiving the Nutrition kits. We will be continuing to reach out to young people as some of them are out of town.

• As Coivd-19 has put many lives under risk, one of our partner school Govt Ambedkar school's young people were struggling to buy books for their school and it was very much needed for their learnings. Usually, they used to get books donated from local political leaders if the parents are not able to afford to buy books, but this year was not usual, and parents could not earn for their living and could not even buy books for their children. When one of our facilitators Venkatesh heard about this he raised this issue our team meeting. To support young people for their learnings we have issued notebooks to all the 209 Young People from Ambedkar Government School. Young people, Parents and Teachers stated that they appreciated the work DaD has done in this critical situation.

• Issued 3000 Face mask for Young People, 20 5-litre cans of hand sanitizer & 1 each thermal scanner to all the 20 Partners schools. Due to the pandemic and low resources the
  schools could not afford to provide safe and sanitized space for the young people at schools as they were financially struggling; we had a request from few schools stating they need requirement for the sanitizers, masks, and thermometers. We could support them for maintaining a safe space for the young people.

• 400 stories and statements. We are able to understand the difference state of mind of young people, teachers, and parents and how they are facing issues and how quickly they are overcoming and how our role has played in them. By collecting the stories and statements it clearly gives us a picture of how young people - School - Family - Community are passionate on getting diversity in their environment and societies. We appreciated everyone for sharing their powerful stories and quotes with us by providing them Souvenirs in form of honoring them for their works.