Slam Out Loud on Grove | Introduction and Updates

[Suruchi]

Hello Grove members!

Greetings from Slam Out Loud.

This is our first post on this platform.
Going forward we’ll be sharing monthly updates (highlights, learning, challenges) from across our programs, to learn and grow together.

Briefly about us and our work with Climate Action:

[Slam Out Loud](https://slamoutloud.com/) (SOL) is a non-profit that uses the transformative power of the performance and visual arts to help build Creative Confidence (a combination of six 21st-century and socio-emotional skills) in children from disadvantaged communities.

We work with professional artists and e-learning resources to help children build the skills needed to achieve greater life outcomes and create mediums for them to be aware of issues like climate action, gender and social justice - in the hope of creating more positive futures.

The problem
India today is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, with both low coverage from and low potential to respond to climate risks (ICC, 2021), such as extreme weather conditions and toxic air and water quality.

Continued climate inaction will lead to more negative systemic effects, and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are already vulnerable, are likely to be the most impacted. The India Climate Collaborative predicts a 35% increase in malnutrition, lower access to safe drinking water, and a 15% fall in income due to crop failure, which could lead to increased school dropout rates for children.

India is among the few countries that have made environmental education compulsory at all levels of formal education. Yet, there remain several issues at the implementation level: lack of teacher training and academic value given to the subject, meaning that the compulsory 2 learning hours per week are often replaced with other subjects; and largely theoretical learning opportunities, which fail to encourage critical thinking and problem solving (GEEP). As a result, children are not equipped to understand how climate-related issues extend beyond the classroom, and therefore how they can act upon them.

Slam Out Loud aims to solve these problems through a scalable intervention that enables children to build climate awareness and take informed steps towards more sustainable living.

Our solution: climate education and social-emotional learning through art
With the support of the Rainmatter Foundation, we have integrated arts-based climate education into our facilitator-led programmes, The Jijivisha Fellowship and Arts For All 2.0. Further, we also plan to add climate awareness metrics in our M&E frameworks to evaluate SEL and report back on data generated through this program.

Our existing work in climate education: Gen eARTh & Artivism For Nature
In collaboration with UK-based organization World’s Largest Lesson, who shared their expertise in creating climate action resources for children, we have created Climate Action curriculum and resources through two packs: Gen eARTh - Creative Climate Action for Young Learners, and Artivism For Nature.

Gen eARTh is a self-paced, self-directed 16-hour course for learners aged 8-14 years. Since the launch of our GeneARTh program in June 2021, we reached 53,880 people across our channels. The content was engaged 3,102 times across these channels (likes, comments, shares).

Artivism For Nature is a one-hour self-paced lesson plan for young learners aged 8-14 years, created in collaboration with World’s Largest Lesson and UNICEF to inspire children to be nature positive.

The resources are available in Hindi, English, and Indian Sign Language. They are hosted on online platforms like DIKSHA, World’s Largest Lesson resources library, and Katha’s 300M platform.

We look forward to learning more about all your achievements and challenges.
Very grateful to be part of this community!

Warmly,
Suruchi
Senior Manager, Partnerships and Development
Slam Out Loud

[Suruchi]

As we near the end of the first year of our partnership with the Rainmatter Foundation, we are super excited to share progress against goals for this year:

Of the 9 milestones, we have successfully accomplished 5 as of Jan 31, and we are in the process of achieving the rest by April 2023.

Summary

1. Goal: 2,000 (children) direct beneficiaries as part of the Arts for All (AFA) Program
   Progress: We have reached 3,200 children under this program
   
   

2. Goal: 1,000 direct beneficiaries as part of The Jijivisha Fellowship (TJF)
   Progress: We have reached 2,878 children through this program

3. Goal: 10,000 indirect beneficiaries of our climate education resources
   Progress: We have reached 5.8+ million students through our resources made available on DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) and DIET (District-level Institute offering Teacher Education program to the Elementary Education) platforms

4. Completed 17 hours of climate education learning in TJF curriculum
   

   

5. Goal: Train 100 teachers and facilitators
   Progress: Trained 54 fellows and 94 teachers, a total of 159 educators.
   

   

6. Will complete 8 hours of climate education learning in AFA curriculum by Feb 28.

7. In process of developing an M&E tool that defines and tracks key climate education metrics

8. Will evaluate 100% of direct beneficiaries (3,000 students) by April 2023.

9. Engage with Rainmatter’s partners for curriculum distribution - we are in conversation with Current Conversation and PRISM in Kerala.

Details:

Goal: Our goal was to reach 1000 children through our flagship program directly – The jijivisha Fellowship, to give access to 17 hours of climate education learning

We have successfully completed the climate curriculum with 2,878 children in low-income schools of Pune and Delhi.

About The Jijivisha Fellowship

This is our high-touch program which places artists into classrooms for a year-long fellowship cycle to help build Creative Confidence (6 SEL skills) in students from underserved communities.

The year-long fellowship cycle ends with platforming opportunities (open mics, performances, exhibitions), designed to enable students to showcase their creativity and learnings.

So far, we have brought The Jijivisha Fellowship to more than 10,500+ children, and 100+ artists, working across Delhi NCR and Pune. 75% of the students growing at least 1 level on SOL’s Creative Confidence scale.

Post-pandemic, we are implementing the offline fellowship in Delhi and Pune, impacting ~3,000 children, 54 fellows and 9 partners. As long-term strategic planning, from 2023 onward, the fellowship is going to be full-time, offering a world-class arts education program to our children. In 2023-24 we are expanding the fellowship to Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Goal: Our goal was to directly reach 2000 children through our Arts For All program to give access to 8 hours of climate education learning

We have successfully completed the climate curriculum with 3,200 government school students in Mohali

About Arts for All:

This is our at-scale program which involves training Government school teachers to implement the curriculum built by us. This program utilizes the weekly art classes in the government schools to bring arts based socio-emotional learning with gender and climate-action elements to the classrooms.

In September (2022) we piloted this program under the name Project Avaza in partnership with the Punjab Government. For the ongoing program, we trained 100 government school teachers who are conducting sessions with their students, reaching 3200 children.

We will be executing pilots of this program in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra in the upcoming academic year 2023-24.

Goal: Our goal was to indirectly reach 10,000 children through our climate-change-informed SEL curriculum

We uploaded our content on Punjab Government’s DIKSHA platform, reaching 5.8 million students and 0.2 million teachers. This, along with our successful partnership in Mohali, led district officials in Punjab’s Mansa district to upload and use our content in their DIET program, where so far, ~10,000 students have enrolled in it.

[Suruchi]

Slam Out Loud X Rainmatter Annual Report | 2022-2023
Transforming Arts Education and Socio-Emotional Learning in Indian Classrooms

I. Introduction to Rainmatter X SOL partnership

In 2022, Rainmatter Foundation and SOL entered a 3-year partnership with the following objective:

• Integrate arts-based climate education into Slam Out Loud’s facilitator-led programs: the Jijivisha Fellowship and Arts For All with an aim to solve the problems around the lack of climate education in India.
• Reach 2000 children via Arts for All and 1000 children via the Jijivisha Fellowship in Year 1 to enable children to build climate awareness and take informed steps towards more sustainable living.
• Incorporate 17 hours of climate education learning into the Jijivisha Fellowship and 8 hours into Arts for All.
• Provide end-of-year showcases and platforms for children and facilitators to display their learnings and understanding of climate issues.
• Extend Slam Out Loud’s resources to other organizations in the Rainmatter Foundation ecosystem.

An overarching outcome for both students and facilitators involved in these programs was a clear demonstration of climate-sensitive dispositions and behaviours, such as concern towards the environment, assumption of personal responsibility, motivation, and intention to act.

II. Year 01 Milestones achieved:

1. We impacted 3,200 children (1200 more than committed to for year 01) as our direct beneficiaries under the Arts For All Program (Project Avaza in Mohali, Punjab).

2. We impacted 2,878 children (1878 more than committed to for year 01) as our direct beneficiaries under The Jijivisha Fellowship Program (in Pune and Delhi).
   
   

   

3. Our climate education resources have reached over 5.8 million indirect beneficiaries through Punjab DIKSHA platforms (DIKSHA stands for Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing. It is a National Teacher Platform which is currently being used by teachers and students across the nation to provide school education through distance mode.)
   

   
   
   

4. We completed 17+ and 14+ hours of climate education learning TJF and AFA curriculum respectively.

5. We trained 149 teachers and facilitators – 56 TJF fellows and 93 AFA government school teachers (49 more than the agreed-upon milestone).
   

6. We developed an M&E tool that defines and tracks key climate education metrics - this is currently under review by the Rainmatter Team.

7. We finished evaluating 100% of direct beneficiaries agreed upon as per year one’s milstones, the analysis is underway, and we’ll share key findings from the annual report by June 2023.

III. Climate Action Learning Highlights

1. Implementation of the climate action curriculum:
Number of climate action sessions completed: 12 sessions in TJF Delhi and Pune and 7 sessions in AFA completing 17+ hours and 14+ hours of climate education learning in TJF and AFA respectively.

2. Curriculum sessions with artworks:
Our climate action curriculum uses activities involving different art forms to build awareness and understanding of the impacts of climate change and advocate for climate action. For instance, students were prompted to compose a Haiku in one session, drawing inspiration from nature and advocating for climate action. The picture below captures a student proudly displaying their Haiku. Link to more climate action lessons

IV. Partnerships with Organizations from Rainmatter Ecosystem

1. Current Conservation and Slam Out Loud intiated a conversation to explore a collaboration that includes sharing and promoting each others work on social media, contorbuting to theCC magazine, using CC’s artworks and educational resources in SOL’s curriculum and vice versa, encouraging SOL students to submit articles for CC’s Emerging Voices section, and hosting info kiosks by CC at SOL events.

2. The Habitats Trust: we contributed our climate action resources to a twitter thread put together by The Habitats Trust along with resources from Biome Environmental Trust
   

   

3. We initiated a conversation with the Samagata Foundation to explore possibilities of integrating our at-scale government program with Kerala’s PRISM program. The conversation is ongoing.

V. Outcomes from the programs
1. For students:
A. Growth in creative confidence, specifically the skills of communication, creativity, critical thinking, self-esteem, and empathy;
Through a structured art-based socio-emotional learning program, we have been able to successfully improve the students’ creative confidence skills. They are now more willing to express their opinions, cooperate with their peers, and have gone on to perform at stages like the Kala Ghoda Festival. Bharati from our TJF-Pune program shared, "Performing in front of people at Kala Ghoda for the first time gave me so much confidence; now I am eager for more opportunities like this to showcase my skills. Pari from TJF-Delhi who was hesitant to interact with her peers in the beginning of the program used the pencil sketches she created during Jijivisha sessions as a means to collaborate with her classmates.

B. Increased ability to identify and analyze climate-related issues and topics such as issues related to our use of natural resources and environmental quality and health, and Nature-Positivity;
The students have started requesting their parents to refrain from using plastic bags when shopping, planting greenery in their local areas, and segregating waste in their homes, and expressing their concerns about the adverse effects of plastic pollution on the environment during sessions.

2. For facilitators:
A. In-depth understanding of arts-based SEL through being given access to resources and training (13-15 hours);
B. Growth in arts-based facilitation, specifically, skills of planning, classroom management, communication, and sensitivity towards student artwork;
C. Increased ability to analyze and explain climate-related issues such as those related to our use of natural resources and environmental quality and health.

VI. Key Learnings
1. The Jijivisha Fellowship:
A. Reduced interaction among fellows: In Pune, as we navigated through a part-time fellowship program with bilingual facilitation of sessions, finding common spaces for learning was a challenge. This reduced interaction between fellows in the cohort. To overcome this we hosted 2 in-person training sessions. We also planned various methods of online engagement
B. Multiple breaks in school schedule: Various school holidays, exam preparation downtime, and Diwali breaks caused gaps in the sessions conducted across classrooms. To overcome these challenges we held online sessions and organized a few extra sessions to make up for those classes and ensure that the student’s learning was not hampered.
C. Limited exposure to the subject of Gender among fellows: Gender as a topic was a new concept for many of our facilitators and students. Initially, there were many apprehensions about introducing and facilitating gender-based topics for students. Our Mid Project Reviews in October and January were designed to address this challenge through critical thinking and reflective group discussions.
D. Lack of Classroom management skills: For initial 2 months, our classes were not well engaged or managed, and our fellows were struggling to meet classroom objectives. One of the main challenges was that many of our fellows were first-time facilitators and lacked understanding of classroom behavior management. To address this challenge, Delhi’s learning manager identified common issues and regularly incorporated Behavior Management and Classroom Management trainings in learning circles. In addition, he worked closely with fellows who needed more support, conducting intensive one-on-one conversations to identify specific solutions to their challenges. This reflected significantly in facilitation, and fellows began meeting most of the learning outcomes in the classroom.

2. Project Avaza (Arts For All):
A. Challenge: Low participation from the teachers at the beginning of the program.
Mitigation: Conducting support calls and classroom visits.
Due to administrative work, teachers were not consistent with conducting the sessions. For the first 2 months, only 30% of teachers were conducting the sessions.In order to motivate them to take the session and address their challenges, the SOL team provided them with online support through phone calls and offline support through school visits. We reached out to approximately 10 teachers daily and addressed their concerns to help them conduct the sessions smoothly.With the help of our calling strategy, we increased the implementation rate in such a way that by the end of the program, more than 70% of teachers completed till session 8.

B. Challenge: Sessions exceeding the time dedicated to art periods in classrooms.
Mitigation: We promptly responde to the feedback by creating shorter versions of the sessions and conducting demo sessions to help teachers.
The teachers shared that it takes more than one period (40 mins) for them to conduct the sessions as the lesson plan contains many activities which are not feasible to be completed within one period. To solve this problem, a shorter version of the curriculum was created, which could be completed within one period. To aid in time management during the sessions, a demo session was conducted during the mid-program training where the complete process of conducting a session was enacted. This helped teachers visualize an effective way of conducting the class within the given period.

C. Challenge: Reduced motivation of the teachers.
Mitigation: Innovative incentives and rewards for teachers.
To encourage teachers to conduct sessions, we provided them with incentives such as the star of the week badges, social media recognition for winning art contests, and mid-program training certification. This boosted their motivation and enthusiasm, and they became more active in seeking help from SOL to solve problems. Furthermore, they began to share their experiences and their students’ artwork in WhatsApp groups.

VII. Stories of change:

1. The students have started requesting their parents to refrain from using plastic bags when shopping, planting greenery in their local areas, and segregating waste in their homes, and expressing their concerns about the adverse effects of plastic pollution on the environment during sessions.

2. Students are now thinking of eco-friendly approaches to celebrate their favorite festivals. The image below displays students designing an eco-friendly firecracker brand that does not cause air and noise pollution and can be recycled. The sessions have helped them understand the impact of pollution on the environment and have enabled them to think critically of alternatives for the future.
   

   

3. During the end-of-program showcases, we observed that students have gained a deep understanding of climate change and are able to express their views on the theme through different art forms such as theatre, poetry, storytelling, and visual arts. The below pictures display a group of 5th graders performing a skit to deliver the ill effects of climate change and defining climate action heroes for their classmates.

4. In Punjab, teachers have shared that students are exhibiting a greater awareness of their environment and surroundings following exposure to stories related to climate change, often taking action in response. More than ten schools have shared that their students are now cleaning their classrooms at the end of each day, and many are also helping to clean their homes. Students at GSSS Kurali created a skit independently on the life stories of environmental activists Greta and Gaura Devi, demonstrating a sense of agency. Their skit not only portrayed the lives of these inspirational women but also conveyed an important message about the significance of women raising their voices for social issues as they are equally affected.
   
   

Students also identified specific activities in their region that contr[image]ibute to climate change, such as stubble burning and wastage of water in fields and homes. They expressed these ideas using local forms of art, like kavishiri, giddha and nukkad natak, which reflected the unique and locally-rooted nature of their performances.

VIII. Testimonials

1. Video testimonial from Sania Saifi (Delhi Jijivisha Fellow, 2022-23)
2. Video testimonial from Bharti’s (TJF Pune) father recorded at a classroom-level year-end showcase

IX. Platforming Opportunities for the SOL Students and fellows

1. We partnered with Dasra for their Youth Ke Bol initiative, where 2 fellows from 22-23 batch – Sania Saifi and Maria Kandekar, and 2 alumni students – Saloni and Chanda, performed their pieces on September 26, 2022. The event was organised on World Contraception Day at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
2. Three of our Delhi Jijivisha students performed at UNICEF World Children’s Day celebration that took place at Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium in November 2022.
3. Bhumi, a TJF Pune fellow, designed and facilitated a poetry workshop representing SOL at the Learning Planet Festival (LPF), an event dedicated to celebrating education and lifelong learning organized by the Learning Planet Alliance. Two of our students performed in the poetry workshop at LPF.
4. In January 2023, three students from TJF - Delhi performed at an open mic organized by Pravah.
5. Marking SOL’s debut at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2023, four students from Delhi and Pune performed at the festival in February 2023.
6. To celebrate the International Women’s Day 2023, two students Anushka and Afreen and a TJF fellow Tanya’s performance poetry was featured on Kommune’s Instagram in March 2023. Watch their performances here: link
7. In Apri 2023, SOL alumni Supriya and Muskan created and performed a commissioned performance in collaboration with Manzil Mystic for SVP Delhi’s annual event.

​​X. Organisational Updates

1. Curriculum Advisory Board formation: In September, we announced our curriculum advisory board, which comprises experts, arts educators, artists, and our very own students and SOL team members.
   
   
   

2. More SOLmates: We are growing! Since August last year to now we have grown into a team of 22 people! We have onboarded teammates in Communications, Partnerships, Curriculum, Programs, and People & Culture teams.

3. In October 2022, for Jigyasa’s work at SOL, she received the ‘Innovator of the Year’ Award at last year’s HundrED Innovation Summit! Catch a glimpse into the summit here.
   

4. Not only that but in addition to being in the HundrED Global Collection this year, we’re one of the four innovations on the planet that have been selected to become part of the HundrED Hall of Fame

5. In March 2023, we received the Children’s Champion Award from the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights in the Arts category.
   

6. In April 2023, Slam Out Loud was featured by CNBC-TV18 as the first in their 2023 line-up of the ‘Changing India’ series of organisations creating impact.
   Youtube
   Instagram

XI. Way Forward and Milestones for 2023-24

1. At Slam Out Loud we are inching closer toward our ambitious goal of meaningfully impacting lives of 25 Million children by 2025 from low income communities through our gender and climate action informed arts-based SEL interventions.
2. From this year, TJF will be a full-time fellowship, expanding to two more new geographies, implemented in the 4 cities of Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru, impacting 3,750 children and 15 fellows.
3. With our at-scale program – Arts for All – we’ll be be piloting in 2 new Indian states of Maharashtra and Haryana, along with entering year 02 in Punjab, training ~300 government teachers across 300 schools, educating ~15,000 children enrolled in low-income government schools.

With the Rainmatter Foundation, we have laid out our year 02 milestones (subject to changed) as follows:

1. 15,000 of direct beneficiaries
2. 10,00,000 of indirect beneficiaries
3. Content: a. Refine curriculum resources as per pilot evaluation. b. Curriculum distribution through mid touch intervention
4. Training: a. Refine teacher skilling modules as per pilot evaluation. b. Create ToT model to execute training in a cascaded model. c.Train 500 teachers and facilitators to implement the program
5. Advocacy: a. Release a whitepaper on the impact of climate action learning through art on students. b. Host 1 end-of year thought leadership event.
6. Monitoring & Evaluations: a. Refine M&E tool as per pilot evaluation. b. Evaluate at least 50% of direct beneficiaries.

Artworks by students

– end of report –