From scattered to focused: our learning journey continues

We believe that any organization starts with a dream and a passion. There is a purpose which sets the tone while setting up the organization. At PRAYOG, we too went through this stage. During 2013-2018 we were motivated souls willing to do multiple things.

We were clear that we wanted to do library work with children since the very beginning. However, we were very scattered in our approach during this phase. In our geography of intervention, very little had been done in the education space for children. Hence, whatever we tried was well appreciated by the children and by the larger community. This led to a false sense of accomplishment that we were doing wonders.

In early 2016, Avinash from Wipro Foundation visited us in Gopalganj to see our work. That was the early stage of the Wipro Seeding Fellowship. It is now called the Wipro Education Fellowship Program. In his interaction with children, children couldn’t say much about the books, or their readings. This made us realize that sheer enthusiasm is not enough for something concrete to happen.

We realized that our work was scattered. In subsequent interactions with the Foundation team from 2018 onward, we felt the need to invest in our own capacities. We thought it would help us understand deeply “Why we are doing, what we are doing.”

Our first capacity building course around libraries was the one titled ‘Introduction to Libraries’ offered by Bookworm, Goa, in 2018. It was in this course that I got to understand the purpose and possibilities of a library. The course was well designed.

It was facilitated by some of the pioneers of library work – Sujata, other Bookworm team members, and Thejaswi Shivanand. It also offered us the wherewithal to frame our vision for library work.

The fact that we could see a ‘different and unimagined’ children’s library was an eye-opener. It urged me to think – “We, at PRAYOG, should also be practicing such library work in Bihar.”

But was that course enough? And how much investment needs to be done by an organization toward building their capacities?

As a resource organization, I really treasure the efforts that Bookworm made. Sujata Noronha, during the course, asked me to consider applying for their Library Educators Course (LEC English).

I was not very sure. The introductory course had already given me a glimpse. So, why should I apply for a course seven months long?

I was also not sure about spending so much time for another reason. In 2019, we were only a two-member team, including me. We felt that this would affect the groundwork.

But Bookworm made sure to interact further with me regarding details about the course. They shared how participation in the course would help PRAYOG in our library work. They also offered a scholarship.

And by that time, it was Bookworm’s library that had stuck to my mind. I had started dreaming about doing similar kind of library work in Bihar. This helped me take the call to apply. This turned out to be the re-birth of PRAYOG in 2019, after six years of doing some groundwork.

I was mesmerized by the clarity of vision of the Bookworm library and the people around there. I was awestruck by the diverse collection, the ambience and the space, and the interactions and activities around books. There was so much to learn. Bookworm made the library journey of PRAYOG special.

In 2020, we got our first ever institutional donor supporting the library work. One thing that really worked well for us was also the post course visit by Sujata to PRAYOG. She suggested engaging women from the vicinity in our library work.

We listened to her. And this has done wonders for us! Today, we have 33 women in our team working full time, out of a total staff strength of 40.

Bookworm also curated the PRAYOG Library Mentoring Support Program for us. This happened during the Covid-19 pandemic. It continued for two years, between 2020 and 2021. We owe a lot to their efforts in building our capacities and practices.

Focus has to be the buzz word when we are on our way toward a purpose that we have chosen and for which the responses from the children and the community is visible. So, we negotiated with our donors from 2021 onward that we need to invest in the capacity building on a routine basis. It has worked well for us.

Based on our own experiences around the importance of capacity building, it has become an organizational culture to invest in building capacities of each of the team members. We are now working very closely with our library mentor, Thejaswi Shivanand. He supports us in nurturing our team. This mentorship has helped us shape our library work very thoughtfully.

Many from our team have also attended trainings offered by different Resource Organizations. These include LEC Hindi by Parag, Eklavya’s Baal Vikas Course, EdSparks Collective by ArtSparks Foundation, OELP’s Foundational Literacy Course, and many others.

What we always keep in mind is that a team member attending any course must have the ground experience of directly engaging with children. At the same time, we identify the organizational needs for participating in the course very clearly.

We always ensure that at least two members are attending any course. Typically, one team member is someone who directly engages with children. And another could be from the management side. The latter would play a critical role in ensuring that the learnings from such capacity building courses are integrated into our library calendar. They also pitch for ensuring that the financial costs needed in this process of integration are met.

These courses have played a very critical role in strengthening the session designs and library calendar in our day-to-day work. This also ensures effective delivery of what we plan. We conduct weekly sessions with children. Each one has a distinct session plan. It is also well connected to the theme that we are reaching out to.

Our first yearly library calendar was developed in 2021. When we look at our 2024 calendar, we see a growing keenness toward going deep into our practices. Our collection of ~300 books in 2019 has emerged into a diverse collection of more than 8,000 books now. It is growing every quarter. It comprises of books of different themes and genres. The collection also caters to different age groups.

For purchasing books, we have mapped bookstores and publishers from across the country. Our team now travels to places like Bhopal, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and Kolkata, etc., to read and buy books. This is the transition that has happened. Every day is a new day in our learning journey. Our team comprises mostly of people who have seldom gone to colleges. They are now turning into thoughtful library practitioners.

Nothing is more soothing to hear than demands from schoolteachers and principals in schools where we are not even working to start and/or strengthen their school libraries. In a recent process, group presentations were done by children in each of the 25 government schools we work in, post 11 structured session on the theme titled ‘Our World’. These were attended by all the teachers and parents as well.

The most fulfilling voices heard from each one of them were around the way children are able to articulate and speak out with confidence whatever they have read, and from the interactions after the activities conducted in the library sessions. When parents say, “My child didn’t speak much at home. I have never imagined how much she spoke,” it means a lot to us.

And this has been the most common observation across the schools by teachers and parents. It has all been possible by making the sessions engaging for children. This has ensured that children have access to diverse books. They are also able to understand the text and illustrations in a way that makes reading joyful.

The children have started reflecting on complex issues. They have a voice while deliberating on difficult topics like discrimination, gender, caste and emotions. Most of these usually remain left out in the routine discourse of school education.

From scattered to focused – here, we are in our five years journey since our re-birth! Everything has been possible only because of ‘our people,’ i.e. the library educators. And only because we took a call to make ‘learning’ an integral part of the organizational culture for PRAYOG. Thanks to all the resource organizations that gave us a dream and set examples for us in this journey