A field visit to the Nanhi Kali Programme

The Nanhi Kali program of the Naandi Foundation is about ‘changing girls lives’. I have been working on promoting this program since the beginning of 2009. Now, a year later, the time has come to see which lives are changed, how they are changed and by whom. In both Mumbai and Hyderabad I have the opportunity to see how the Nanhi Kalis live, eat and most importantly go to school. A detailed schedule has been set up, all I have to do is be available. The people from Nanhi Kali will take me to schools, an orphanage, hostel and slums to show me what needs to be shown.

12th of March, Mumbai – Worli Naka school

Nanhi Kali Program officer for Mumbai – Sneha Senapati – picks me up from my hotel to take me to the Worli Naka Primary School. This school is located in the middle of busy Mumbai. Most children are doing their end of year exams, so it’s difficult to interact with them in the classroom. Instead we walk into the nearby Prem Nagar slums to see how these girls live. In this slum most people are Rag Pickers. The people that scavenge garbage dumps looking for stuff that can be reused.

One of the Nanhi Kali girls escorts us. She knows where the girls live and more importantly knows her way in the slum as well. We are considered to be important guests and on most occasions either or both parents have stayed home from work in order to see me. Home is often limited to just one room where the whole family eats, lives and sleeps. Washing and sanitary needs are outside, in the communal facilities of the slum. Things we cannot imagine in the Netherlands are part of the day-to-day routine here. The parents are grateful that Nanhi Kali takes some of the burden of their shoulders by sending them to school and very proud of the performance of their girls. The future looks brighter, all girls are positive that they can become doctors or teachers.

Back to school.. The girls have finished their exams so I’m allowed to enter class. The teachers show me their administration of every Nanhi Kali girl. It is impressive. Presence in class, performance on all exercises are captured. I’m still very much the interesting guest of honor, so I’m glad I’ve come bearing gifts.. And the girls in turn are very willing to receive the gifts from Capgemini especially the chocolate that I brought. It’s sometimes difficult to see who’s more excited to see whom. Being tall, blue-eyed and Dutch makes me so completely out of this world that at times we are all lost for words. However it feels really good to be surrounded by girls that have the chance to grow up and do something different than picking rags.

19th of March, Hyderabad – Yusufguda State Home / Bholakpur Girls Hostel

After taking courses for a week in the well-protected environment of the Novotel Hotel in Hyderabad Naandi gave me another opportunity to see a different face of India. Smitha Chakravarthula, head of National Head of Nanhi Kali Project, has set up a program for me to visit an orphanage and a girl’s school.

The orphanage is a place where girls stay from their fifth until they are fifteen. There are almost 70 girls in this home. Strangely enough the other part of the population of the home is formed by a group of elderly women. For both groups I seem to be equally alien. I’m welcomed by a group of about 30 girls. They sing a song for me and, of course, request a Dutch song in return. Feeling really lost and shy I end up singing the National Anthem (..at least the first two lines…). Even bringing chocolate doesn’t save me from this.

Later on the girls show me the uniform, the bag and what’s in the bag that they receive from the Nanhi Kali program. When I ask them what they want to become when grown up, they tell me that they want to become doctors, teachers or dancers. Just like all over the world. Smitha tells me later that this is very unlikely, even with the support they are getting from Naandi, because going to college costs a lot in India.After a short tour of the orphanage we move on to the Bholakpur Girls Hostel. When we get there the girls are in the middle of extra classes that the Nanhi Kali program provides. In the morning every child takes the regular classes from the government school. In the afternoon the Nanhi Kalis receive extra training from mostly female teachers that are employed by the Naandi foundation. This could be any of the following subjects: Hindi, English, Telgu, Maths, Sciences and Social Studies. Every class is split up into groups of five where one of the girls is in charge of teaching the rest. This way of teaching is based on the cooperative reflective learning model.

India is a very competitive country in terms of school results. Children take exams at least every year and results are logged throughout their education. Because of this it is possible to benchmark the Nanhi Kali’s against their peers. The extra effort that the Nanhi Kali programs provides pays off: Nanhi Kali’s score significantly higher. Empowerment of Indian women is on its way!

20th of March, Hyderabad – Midday Meal Kitchen

The Indian government has pledged that they will provide every school going child with one warm meal a day. For many children this is the most important and nutritious meal of the day. There are some areas however where the government struggles with this promise. Preparation, budget or logistic problems prevent children from getting a good meal. The Naandi Foundation stepped in to resolve this problem and now creates up to 1 million meals a day across the country. The government provides rice and 3 rupee (€ 0,05) per meal and Naandi executes.

My visit is to the Hyderabad midday meal kitchen which feeds up to 125.000 children a day. I arrive at the kitchen just before 6 in the morning, a time when the meals are still being prepared. Meals in the midday meal kitchen are finished by eight to make sure that the children eat at lunch time. A restaurant of this size must have a tremendously effective process in place. I expected a very big place, but in fact it’s a small but highly efficient food factory.

There are 12 different meals on the menu to give the children variation in their food. Once a week extras like an egg and a piece of fruit are added to the meal. What strikes me most is the simplicity and effectiveness, everything seems to be for a reason. No meat is used in the curry because it costs a lot, takes more time to prepare and most people are vegetarian anyway. No fridges are necessary because ingredients are bought fresh every day. Brilliant! Because of this highly effective process Naandi manages to prepare all the meals within the budget serving one million happy kids a day. Barely awake when the tour started, I can only be impressed and hungry caused by the smell of great food! And the tastes only reconfirms: this midday meal kitchen is doing a great job!

Written by Wouter van Twillert, Capgemini Netherlands

PROJECT REPORT BY INTERNS

Our previous conception of the NGO Naandi foundation based in Hyderabad (with whom we would be interning) was that it is a charity which helps impoverished young girls achieve their right to an education. However, the sheer magnitude and the scale of the social enterprise was evident from the CEO Manoj Kumars’s ambition to take over the responsibility of government education within five years. Our main focus throughout the 15 day internship was on Project Nanhi Kali – for the girl child.

On visiting one of the girls who was unable to attend school as a result of an accident, the enthusiasm and determination to get back to school was vividly apparent through her obvious discontent and frustration at having to stay at home, which is a testament to the enthusiasm of the coordinators whose passion for the job is clearly infectious. We were thoroughly impressed, on the whole, by the level of mathematics upheld in most classrooms. However, there was a disparity between those adept at the English language who have a natural tenacity and those in whom this is absent. One other potential problem may be a flaw in some teaching methods followed by school teachers. We found that some children were reciting their work without an understanding of its true meaning. The Nanhi Kali coordinarors work to change this rote learning. This problem could be diminishing now that the children are beginning to learn English from a much younger age and therefore appear to be developing a stronger sense of the language. The huge cultural diversity of this country came through in a variety of performances which we were treated to. The fact that the children demonstrated such confidence and desire to impress in their performances was extremely encouraging.

The vibrant and jovial atmosphere of the S.C Hostel Bholakpur we visited was illustrated through an incredible dance which they were preparing for the children’s film festival. The head teacher, Madam Radha Rani, is doing a remarkable job in maintaining both a sense of order and high spirits. Our most engaging visits were to individual homes of the Nanhi Kali where we were able to interact with the families and children on a more personal level. One girl, who suffered from both a leg injury and polio, walked an hour to school; such was her enjoyment of studying. On meeting the parents it was clear that the Nanhi Kali coordinators have been successful in shifting the mindset towards the significance of their children’s studies, which was conveyed through their determination to provide enough income so that their children can focus solely on school.

The Nanhi Kali Coordinator’s responsibilities range from overlooking tutorials to supervising the welfare of over 400 children and their families per week, but they sensibly focus on the families which require the most attention. We were also impressed by the Naanhi Kali teachers who make it all the more worthwhile for the pupils to stay on after school through their expert tuition. From all accounts of the students, it appeared to be making a marked improvement on their grades and consolidating the flaws in the school teaching. In addition, the Midday Meal program has helped the health and wellbeing of the children which in turn helps their ability to learn more efficiently. The skill of independent learning was also rightly promoted as group leaders held their own mini tutorials, which provided both the chance for them to consolidate their own learning as well as improve that of their peers.

This is a truly remarkable programme which quite rightly focuses on the source of social problems which is ultimately education. The most interesting side of the program for us was that the NGO Naandi foundation is less of a charity in the original sense of the word but run more in the proffessionaly fashion of a business which ultimately leads to a far greater and sustainable impact on their market which in this case is the social problems associated with poverty and illietracy in India.

Written by: Hamish Badenoch, Edward Morrison and Henry Lebus.
Interned at Project Nanhi Kali, Naandi Foundation, Hyderabad.
November 1st-15th, 2009.