Stewards of Spoorthi
Spoorthi, Part III: Recruitment Session to Recognize Agents of Change
This blog is part of a series mapping the journey of IT for Change’s community intervention project in G.Baiyappanahalli called ‘Spoorthi’. Spoorthi aims to build a spatial data platform, train community youth to engage with it, and strengthen their claims-making capabilities.
An eager group of 24 youngsters showed up at Spoorthi’s third meeting held at Drishya Kalike Kendra in March 2018. The young men and women hailed from different localities such as G. Baiyappanahalli, MRS Palya, Chickaballapur, and Sanyasikunte and were either students, working professionals, or both. They had been chosen for Spoorthi’s recruitment session as stewards of the program, as they had shown potential to be leaders while previously working with our field partner, Association for Voluntary Action and Service (AVAS).
In our previous interactions with the community members of G. Baiyappanahalli, it was clear that they had nurtured development through self governing mechanisms. Our team at IT for Change aimed to support these developmental efforts by introducing and strengthening data-supported decision making and usage of online grievance redressal mechanisms among the community of G.Baiyappanahalli. In order to achieve that goal, one challenge to overcome was the inadequate digital literacy of population, especially among the elderly. Hence, we planned to recruit and train youth from the community who could work with the community and enhance their capabilities Stewards from the project would be trained to collect, update and make sense of local spatial data sets to facilitate claims-making and monitoring of community development goals.
Session One
The first session required the candidates to answer questions about their use of technology. Candidates were quizzed on their comfort levels while using Facebook, Whatsapp, Email, smartphones, laptop or computers, browsing the web and using Google Maps. This session was meant to provide our team with an understanding of the digital literacy levels of the group in order to design an appropriate digital curriculum.
An analysis of their responses revealed that usage pattern was gendered with more males using digital applications compared to females.
While social media or recreational apps such as Whatsapp and Facebook was popular among the community youth, the usage of web search and Google Maps was quite low.
Session Two
For the second recruitment session, the candidates were divided into six groups. Each group was assigned a question illustrating a civic issue in Bangalore. The scenarios included dysfunctional street lights, irregular garbage collection, drainage overflow, irregular water supply, pending road construction, and a lack of toilets for girls in the public school. For the next 20 minutes, teams deliberated over the perceived impacts of these problems, the steps they would take to solve it, and the reasons for choosing a particular approach to tackle the challenges they foresaw. Candidates were then asked to assume that their first approach failed and to list a Plan B, along with its pros and cons.
Session Three
After the group activity, we continued to brainstorm on the community’s civic challenges. Each candidate was asked to explain whether they saw any connections, similarities or differences between the scenario they were given and the issues in their locality. They were also asked to describe a personal, family, or social challenge they faced and possibly, overcame. Their experiences indicated that they were personally invested in improving the current civic context of their localities as well.
The stewards displayed a good understanding of the workings of local government such as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and services such as Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Some also echoed the criticism expressed by the broader community that politicians engaged with the low income communities only during election time. The chosen candidates were enthusiastic and interested in improving the social and civic infrastructure of their locality. The third interaction with the community ended with our team borrowing their energy and optimism towards development and change.
