BHUMI

BHUMI offers a unique leadership development program which pairs needy children from underprivileged backgrounds in city slums and rural villages with university students and working professionals who act as their mentors, role models and tutors. The care, personal attention and encouragement which the children receive from their mentors/tutors, but rarely from their parents and community, helps them realize their potential and take responsibility for their own lives. The personal mastery and leadership program coupled with the experience of mentoring/tutoring makes the university students and working professionals into more socially aware leaders.

DnE Vision 

The vision of DnE leadership development program is to fundamentally transform children from economically weaker sections and develop higher emotional quotient, leadership skills and values of social responsibility among the youth to reduce growing inequities, fulfill human potential and achieve sustainable development.

DnE Mission 

• To Enrich and improve the lives of children from underprivileged backgrounds through a warm and caring relationship with a personal mentor/tutor who will support, encourage and build their self-confidence and provide supplementary tutorial help to dramatically increase percentages of high school completion, college education and employment in the organized labor sector.
• To awaken the sense of social responsibility and leadership of university students and working professionals, our country's future leaders, by exposing them to some of the most pressing social problems of our country. In the course of their mentorship and tutorship work, provide certified training to improve their communication, systems thinking and leadership skills and ultimately their employability, productivity.
• To create One India by integrating the two groups from widely disparate societal and economic back grounds to promote tolerance and understanding through joint activities.                                                                                                                                                      

Background and Need

DnE has four years of experience of mentoring/tutoring at 9 government schools across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The current proposal builds on past experience as well as research of and visits with some of the centers of excellence in mentoring.

India, despite its recent economic growth, is a country with 25% of its population living in abject poverty which is driven by high levels of girl illiteracy, drop-out rates, and child labor. Statistics that support the need for our work come from a working group report on the development of children in 11th five year plan.

(http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/11thf.htm)

Our experience over the last four years has opened our eyes to the inherent difference in enthusiasm for pursuit of education between children from slums and children from more privileged backgrounds. Children from slums/villages grow up amidst semi-literate parents who disbelieve that schooling will give their children jobs, pressurize girls to quit school to take on low-paying work in un-organized sector to alleviate their financial burdens and look after younger siblings. The natural consequence of such an environment is that the children stop believing that they can succeed in life, lack basic life skills and pick up negative personality traits. This is a sharp contrast to middle class families that support, encourage and push their children to excel in their academic pursuits.

Our experience over the last four years has led us to several observations. Mentors/tutors often lack skills to listen and empathize and are often unable to reach out to the children from these under-privileged communities, e.g. patronizing attitudes and prejudices. We identified a dire need to enable mentors/tutors in learning effective communication and problem solving skills, realizing their own potential and making them more socially aware and responsible.

 

The Program

Mentors (university students and young working professionals) are paired with Mentees(govt school children) to serve as friends and role models, helping them gain greater self-confidence and basic life skills while Tutors (university students and working professionals) are allotted to small batches of eight-ten children to help them with studies by conducting special classes in Maths, Physics, Biology and English each week. Mentors are tested for their inclination and attitude. Tutors are screened for their grasp of the subjects they will teach.

Mentors/Tutors go through a BHUMI certified personal  mastery and leadership program and will be given a DnE tool kit, and coaching sessions developed by the BHUMI's Learning and Development board consisting of highly experienced trainers from across the country. 

The entire program lasts for 8 months, where mentors and tutors are expected to contribute 3 hours and 5 hours respectively on a weekend and participate in 4 learning workshops spread over the 8 months. There are two parts of the program:

Workshop Learning - Over the 8 months program for mentors/tutors, there will be 8 days of training in the form of 4 workshop interventions. These interventions are day long. The training is designed by professional trainers with vast experience and will be delivered by BHUMI’s in house trainers. Key focus areas of the Learning tracks include: 

Personal Mastery

Transformational Communication

Problem Solving and Critical thinking

Creative Entrepreneurship

There will also be a mentor/tutor induction at the beginning of the program to induct participants and sensitize them towards the role they are taking up.  

Action Learning - The participants will practice the concepts and tools learnt in these workshops while mentoring  or tutoring govt school children. Mentors meet mentees for duration of two hours each week in a structured format and act as their role models. The care, personal attention and encouragement which the children receive from their mentors, helps them realize their potential and take responsibility for their own lives. Tutors conduct classes for small batches for four hours each week, helping them build a strong academic foundation for future classes and providing an impetus to continued education through improved academic performances. 

The mentoring/tutoring interaction is followed by a 1 hr facilitated Learning Circle where the reflection of mentoring/tutoring experience and assimilation of the learning happens by learning to see the connection between what is taught in the workshops and what is being practiced on ground. The mentors/tutors also design mentoring/tutoring session for the next week in accordance with the guidelines provided by BHUMI.

In the process, the participants develop their leadership abilities while simultaneously helping a child realize his potential. 

 

Uniqueness of DnE

Our program turns the conventional approach to mentoring/tutoring on its head by pitching mentoring/tutoring as an experiential learning platform to groom oneself and improve one’s leadership potential and communication skills. We believe this will instill a greater sense of responsibility in potential mentors/tutors hence rising above mere charity.

 

Three innovations enable DnE to produce lasting results:

• DnE is the only program that provides a support-system for Government School Children (Mentees/Ekalavyas) while developing leadership and communication skills of the university students and young professionals (Mentors/Dronacharyas) who will be mentoring them.
• Get recognition from Local Companies for the Mentors’ and Tutors' personal mastery and leadership development program, as this certificate program develops Mentors/tutors as socially responsible leaders with better communication skills, hence improving their employability and productivity.
• Mentees ‘pay back’ through a ‘time bank’ concept by acting as ambassadors for education, convincing other parents to send their children to school, not into labor or allow them to drop out.

 

Expected Outcome and Measurement

On the mentee’s side we measure self esteem, life skills, clarity on future goals, sense of responsibility.  

On the Mentor’s side we measure communication skills, leadership skills, team skills, awareness of social issues,etc. 

 

DnE V: The program in 2010

DnE targets mentoring and tutoring 300 government school children studying across 3 government schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad this year. DnE V is being launched on Aug 1st 2010 and will run up to March 2011. These children will be attached to 300 mentors and 30 Tutors.