The Katchipedu Nook is a fully operational self- learning space in the Katchipedu village of Sriperumbudur in Tamilnadu. The space began its operations in the Month of April 2022. The nooks are always a place for the learners to find themselves through the pathways of self-learning and community building. Since the beginning, we have completed the induction phase in the nook. The induction phase is like kickstarting the learning processes by starting the induction for the cycle.

We particularly want to thank our partners IFNB and Hans Hermann Voss-Stiftung for their support and hope you will find this report informative and fruitful. We also thank our Partners for Change, IGCS (IIT Madras), and RGNIYD and look forward to some exciting collaborations in the future

The Katchipedu Nook is a fully operational self- learning space in the Katchipedu village of Sriperumbudur in Tamilnadu. The space began its operations in the Month of April 2022. The nooks are always a place for the learners to find themselves through the pathways of self-learning and community building. Since the beginning, we have completed the induction phase in the nook. The induction phase is like kickstarting the learning processes by starting the induction for the cycle.

We particularly want to thank our partners IFNB and Hans Hermann Voss-Stiftung for their support and hope you will find this report informative and fruitful. We also thank our Partners for Change, IGCS (IIT Madras), and RGNIYD and look forward to some exciting collaborations in the future

“New place, new people. Excited to start the work. But it was not what I expected. More challenges. Most of the people I talked to them didn't have a good opinion about katchipedu. I was more curious about that place to know more about the community. During the training I got a basic idea about how to do outreach but implementing it in the field it's quite difficult. I found my room 3 km away from katchipedu.

The first few days nook space was under construction work I had no place to go. I just started exploring the katchipedu. Every day I tried to cover a few streets to understand more about the community. The problem I faced was space it was so difficult in that temperature to walk around the villages. Sometimes I felt dehydrated and couldn't find a place to take a rest. So I started going to a juice shop and ordering some juice and taking a rest for some time and again going back to the community. Then I became friends with roadside sugarcane juice shop Sekar anna.

He is my first friend in that area. so I started helping him to collect money and give juice to the customers. so finally I found a place to take rest and unlimited sugar juice. At that time I did 't know where and how to start. Then I decided to visit Anganwadi to get more details about the community, I visited a few Anganwadi but I couldn't get more details from them.

Then I planned to visit the ward member and finally, I got the appointment and met him. Indhumathi (a ward member)and her husband Naveen Kumar, it was quite new to me to have a meeting with the political person, I explained about our projects, and they also explained about some community problems and promised me to do whatever help I needed."

The nook in order to facilitate the self-learning of the learners has the basic tools and materials in a space not limited to but consisting of computers, internet, basic power tools, hand tools, art supplies, and so on along with the Nook manager and innovation lead. The physical learning space in the case of katchipedu nook is a rented 400 sq feet space in a building on the pattanul Chathram state highway near the Katchipedu village. The space is on the first floor. We also have access to the roof above which also has the washrooms. The roof above is also used for gardening purposes.

Initially, we had only Venkatesh S as the nook fellow. He had already attended the nook manager training program. After the partners had found the place for the nook, Venkatesh went to the location and started the outreach. He tried to understand the community and its needs and talk about the nook in that way. The outreach was a success. Lots of people were interested in joining the nook to fulfill their learning needs. Every time outreach was done we took down the names and numbers of the people who showed interest and then we called them all on the 25th of April 2022 for the opening day. We hadn’t launched but we started the operations of the nook on the day. The first day was quite motivating for us seeing the number of people who turned up

First Day

“We had already done the outreach and we had around 50 people interested in coming but we needed only 20 people to come for the early projects initially. So to be on the safe side we invited around 30 people for the day and planned an orientation session for them.

The batch was from 6-8. In the evening people started coming in and we were taken aback a little since lots of people were coming in. By the time of starting we had 40 people in the small room of the nook. It was super noisy.

Second Day

“This was again a very noisy day where we got some 35 people in the nook and 15 more were interested in coming. We weren’t able to have a starting and ending circle owing to the pandemonium. We just began with the paper tower challenge where people have to build a tower out of paper and tape which should be upright on its own. The one team with the highest upright tower wins.

Today we began with making heterogeneous gender groups and they all agreed to be in their groups which were pretty nice. We gave 20 minutes to the teams to build their tower. The participation was a mix of people aged 9- 15 years.

Today we began with making heterogeneous gender groups and they all agreed to be in their groups which were pretty nice. We gave 20 minutes to the teams to build their tower. The participation was a mix of people aged 9- 15 years. It was quite satisfying to see them all use their brains, thinking and discussing ideas and then implementing them there. Finally, it was time for some end discussion on how and what they thought could have been done better. But there was again pandemonium. So today we decided to take only people above 13 years of age. “

Third Day

“Day 3 of the nook was a day oscillating between chaos and order with more order than chaos. In any new nook, it is very important to set the culture of the nook to make the learning experience awesome for everybody involved. From this day on we had only called in people aged 13 and above. This demarcation was done so that we could begin with people who had relatively better language skills and we could communicate with them with much more ease than others and set up the culture of the nook. We had 25 people that day.

We had a super day with good discussion with learners doing the nameless introduction and then talking about their community. To promote a culture of listening and speaking we have begun storytelling where each day one of the learners tells a story. We have also divided the people into two groups where one group will paint a pillar strip in the nook and another one will do gardening in the nook and on the terrace.

After three days of getting used to the space, we finally started out with a little bit of work on this day. The teams for gardening and painting were already divided so we began with the work. So the first step in doing either of the work is designing. We had three people on the gardening team and 13 on the painting team. So we split into teams and started the initial design phase.

The gardening team started planning on what plants will be planted and where plants will be planted with proper design. In the same way, the painting team decided what theme will be for the painting and in that theme what all elements will be drawn and painted along with their position on the wall. We ended the day by finalizing the design. The Painting team decided to have a space-themed painting on the wall.”

Launch day was an outreach event for the nook. The day was designed to give the experience of the nook to the people who come for the event. A nook is a place where people can come to learn, earn and have fun.

Initially, the people who came to the nook were given a tour of the place by the learners themselves, letting them know of the various things the learners learned and the guests could learn. The guest also had the option of trying out the various projects done in the nook. Then they were taken to the next level on the roof where we had made some different mocktails consisting of mango, nannari juice, ice apples, and various other ingredients. It was super fun seeing all making their own version of mocktails.

We had already distributed the poster and We had already distributed the poster and invitation for the launch day to the community and other people in and around Chennai. We had lots of guests from other alternative learning spaces

Designed by Project DEFY, the main aim of the Induction Program is to introduce the idea of self-designed learning to the learners. Every new learner will go through the Induction Program when they enroll in the Nook. Apart from project making, the induction program tries to encourage learners to try out new areas of skills, gather confidence and make the choice of what they wish to learn. With facilitated learning sessions, we introduce new avenues of learning and skills areas to the learners that they have never explored before. With discussion and deliberation sessions, the program is intended to break the mental barriers of the learners to decide on their own learning journey instead of making choices based on family pressure and societal influence. We tried to invoke curiosity, encourage them to keep an open mind to do things outside their comfort and have fun with them

Initially, the people who came to the nook were given a tour of the place by the learners themselves, letting them know of the various things the learners learned and the guests could learn. The guest also had the option of trying out the various projects done in the nook. Then they were taken to the next level on the roof where we had made some different mocktails consisting of mango, nannari juice, ice apples, and various other ingredients. It was super fun seeing all making their own version of mocktails.

From this phase, we followed a semi-structured routine in the Nook where the team hosted discussion sessions and various activities like team-building activities, watching movies, playing games, etc. We also conducted opening and closing circle discussions where learners shared their thoughts, ideas, opinions, and questions. In these circles, we also do a daily check-in on the progress of their projects with the larger groups. We did topic discussions, and various ice-breaking sessions and talked about challenges faced in the community. It cultivates the culture of questioning, sharing ideas, teamwork, bonding, and helping each other in the Nook. Some of the learners started leading and facilitating the discussion session even. The discussion and activities cover many topics which are beyond Nook and education. So, we encouraged learners to ask about anything and everything concerning their life, curiosity, and various societal problems.

There are Four Phases in the Induction Program with specific purposes; Early Projects, Exploration, Goal Setting, and Design Week.

Early Projects

The idea behind the Early Project is to invoke interest and create a buzz about the Nook in the community. Before we enrolled the learners and started working with them, the Nook is just an empty physical space with tools and laptops. Even if we talked about the problems of education and explained the concept of the Nook to the community, they will not remember it. So, we invited a few people to work on projects based on the criteria set out by Project DEFY where one would make people say “wow” when they see the outcome of the project, second “it should be a new or innovative project for the local community”, or “the project should be useful for the Nook”.

Based on these parameters and the challenges faced during the pandemic, we decided to work on the following projects:

1. Heat beating Hat

The time during the early project was the hottest time in and around Chennai. It was really hard to be outside those days in that heat. That is why at that time the team came up with the idea of a hat that could be used to beat the heat. The hat was supposed to have a fan attached along with some cold juice with a sipping pipe attached. Then we added the idea of putting a mystifier in that so that the water could be turned into a cold mist. All of that was put on the hat. It was fun to wear that in the community.

2. Foldable backpacking chair:

The current nook space is very small. A bigger space was needed but it could not be arranged. So naturally, we had to use creativity to manage the space and place materials in it properly. So we made a foldable backpacking chair that could also be carried like a backpack and help us during the outreach, and of course, solve the problem of space in the nook.

Explorations

The explorations are a method to introduce new learning and skill areas to the learners. In the katchipedu community, the people are still living with the conventional thought of learning i.e. what a boy should and can learn and what a girl should and can learn. Even that list is very limited in their minds. The explorations help them broaden their horizons, try new things and boost their confidence that yeah they can do new things and learn it actually. It is kind of the stepping stone through which people move to find what they really like to do. The explorations have fast-paced facilitated sessions which are designed to invoke curiosity and enable the learners to pursue a broad range of new and exciting hands-on activities and projects every two to three days. This helps learners to make better choices about what they want to do in the next stage which is goal setting.

Based on the inputs from the learners about their interests and the intent of creating exposure to new fields the team decided to facilitate the following sessions :

1. Basics of Computers and email

Most of the learners were new to computers and were using them for the first time. It was a good call to take them through the basics of using the computer and setting up their email accounts. Now all of them have emails and can register for other services too using those mail IDs. So this was a good beginning.

2. Story Writing

In a marginalized community being self-expressive or even expressive at all is a big plus for the people so that they can understand how they and others around them are feeling and be able to convey it to themselves and others. This helps a lot in fostering communication. Of course development of language is also an important part of this. So we did a session on story writing where learners wrote a story in a team of two in the language of their choice and then they had to read the story to everyone else.

3. Toy making

Nook is all about fun, learning, and earning. So we wanted to combine the fun and learning part in a session together in beginning. What is better than making your own toy all by yourself and then playing with it? So the learner learned about various kinds of toys and then proceeded to design their own kind of toy. Finally, they built their version using various materials like cardboard, wood, waste materials, and electronics. It was fun.

4. Oyil atam and parai

The katchipedu community is a music-driven community. So it was only natural to have some dance and music in the exploration phase. Oyil atam is a traditional folk dance of Tamilnadu and Parai is a traditional drumming art form mostly used for protest and street plays. So for 5 days learners learned the oyilattam and parai and then performed in the nook itself.

5. Jewellery making

The art of making beautiful things from things around us is always a happy endeavour which leads us to new discoveries about our surroundings and makes us more aware. So we facilitated a session on jewellery making using items around us which are not being used at all. The happiness on the face of the learners was priceless.

6. Introduction to electronics and Arduino

Exposure to new tech which people are generally not able to see around is also important. Thus we added an introduction to electronics and Arduino session in the explorations where the learners learned about the basics of electronics and Arduino programming and understood the possibilities that they could explore with these new learnings.

7. Carpentry

This was another hands-on session that was much required in the nook. One the most active sessions where everyone got to use machines. The session was done in a client-designer sort of way where one person becomes a client and another becomes a furniture designer. The designers then go on to build a small prototype of the furniture the client wished to have. This session was an action-packed 3 days session for the learners.

Launch day was an outreach event for the nook. The day was designed to give the experience of the nook to the people who come for the event. A nook is a place where people can come to learn, earn and have fun.

Initially, the people who came to the nook were given a tour of the place by the learners themselves, letting them know of the various things the learners learned and the guests could learn. The guest also had the option of trying out the various projects done in the nook. Then they were taken to the next level on the roof where we had made some different mocktails consisting of mango, nannari juice, ice apples, and various other ingredients. It was super fun seeing all making their own version of mocktails.

We had already distributed the poster and We had already distributed the poster and invitation for the launch day to the community and other people in and around Chennai. We had lots of guests from other alternative learning spaces

The learners were exposed to various learning areas in the exploration phase and now the next phase was goal setting. Goal setting phase is the time when the learners have to start thinking about their self-designed learning journey and make choices about what they want to learn based on their needs, aspirations, and curiosity.

The learners have to decide on their learning goals which are mostly projects for the next three months. The phase took 10 days to complete. The learners had to think about what they wanted to learn in the nook based on the concept of the ikigai. We asked them to list down areas they want to work in and then we proceeded to make teams of 3 people having similar areas.

Once the teams were formed, we moved on to setting the SMAART goals ( Specific, Measurable, Aspirational, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) for the teams. This was followed by intense discussion and brainstorming with the teams and the facilitators to make sure that the projects are indeed SMAART and something which the teams and the individuals really want to do. All this questioning, research, and deliberations made learners think a lot, and get better clarity on their projects and their way ahead.

Finally 13 learners in 5 teams set the following Smaart goals for the first goal cycle of the katchipedu nook

We started the countdown of 90 days to achieve the goals set after setting the goals. The counter is maintained by writing the number of days left on the whiteboard in the nook. It shows the learner how much time is left and motivates them to keep marching towards their goals.

Design Week was the phase to help learners understand their projects from the lens of the community. Earlier this the learners already worked on finding what they like to do and made it into the SMAART Goal. Now the task at hand was to understand the communities' take on it. How people in the community saw this and did it solve any issues or would they take the project if completed? This is also a phase when learners try to get feedback from the community before starting the project.

• Step 1: Empathise

It went on for two days when we discuss empathy and sympathy and the difference between them. Then the learners found out and wrote about the target audience for their projects. This was followed by a role play on how to go talk to the target audience taking care of empathizing. All this prepared the learners for the next thing to do which was going to the community and talking to the people about their projects and getting feedback and insights.

The act of going and talking in the community was a real deal breaker in terms of learners taking lead and ownership over their projects. After the first couple of people, we didn’t even have to prompt them to speak, they just went themselves to people and spoke about their projects. They answered all the questions that were thrown at them. We were so happy to see that change in them. Venkat and Sona realized the impact of the nook to a great extent that day

• Step 2: Prototyping and user feedback

Ideally, the next step would be to sit down ideate, find the problem associated with the project and consecutively find the various different ways other than the project to solve the problem. But since we have been dealing with kids in the age range 10-14 who are also impatient, we had to skip that part. The community people during the last visit had expressed their desire to see the samples or prototypes of the projects, so we spent the next 4 days making the prototypes, and then we went back again to the community, showed them the prototypes, and got more feedback from them. The learners were happy with the encouragement and suggestions received from the community.

Regular community visits and trust building

One of the most important activities we have been doing in the nook is continuous community engagement through various different means mostly involving dialogues and hanging out with the community members. The key to doing this is consistency. We go to the community every Tuesday and Thursday and hang out with various community members. This activity can be broken down into :

• Interaction with new community members who do not know about the nook.
• Interaction with parents and family members of learners who come to the nook.
• Interaction with community members who know about nook but are not able to come.

This is making the nook totally a part of the community and the trust of the community members is being built up

Saturdays Potluck

The learners have a maximum of two hours on weekdays to come to the nook. So to compensate for that we opened the nook for a full day on Saturdays from morning to evening. This gives the learners enough time to catch up with their weekly milestones. We also introduced Saturday's potluck where we all bring our food from home and we all eat together in the nook. This has been a ritual that has brought everyone really together and fostered a sense of community

We had already distributed the poster and We had already distributed the poster and invitation for the launch day to the community and other people in and around Chennai. We had lots of guests from other alternative learning spaces

Completion of the 1st Goal Cycle and Exhibition week

We are looking forward to completing the first cycle in 2nd week of October by achieving all the goals set by the learners. We are closely following up with all the teams with regular check-ins and problem-solving. The nook fellows are closely working with the teams providing them their full support.

The completion of the cycle will give way to exhibition week where we will invite the community members and local people. Parents of learners, government officials, and friends of the nook a grand showcase of the projects made by the learners. This will provide a platform for learners to get feedback and improve their public speaking skills and of course, get a confidence boost..

Creation of the GAIA Garden

We Plan to use the terrace on the first floor to develop our GAIA garden. We have already set up some plants which are growing. We plan to put even more vegetable and ornamental plants by making our own pots using materials thrown around the land from the garbage. Slowly we are planning to integrate sustainable concepts both in the nook and the community at large

Aari Workshop

Currently, we have only young learners in the nook, The notion in the community a lot is that the nook is for the children only. So to break that barrier we are working on facilitating some aari workshops in the nook through the help of a professional and then taking those old learners in the nook. This is also going to help create some direct earning opportunities for the learners

Aari Workshop

Nook is a different approach to learning and as expected it has a lot of challenges. Some of the major challenges we have faced here in Katchipedu nook are:

1. The disinterest of older learners in the nook process. To date, we have been having learners of the maximum age of 15 years in the nook.
2. Lack of trust initially among community members for the nook. This was resolved later
3. The distance of the nook from the village is about half a kilometer and the way goes hrough a state highway with high traffic
The learners have only a 2-hour window in the whole day when they can come to the nook. The rest of the time is blocked by the school and mandatory tuition.