Ready Joot

The COVID-19 pandemic had posed unprecedented stress to adolescents. It has had far-reaching consequences on the physical and mental health of individuals. Addressing early signs of mental health challenges such as worries and negative emotions in adolescents was an urgent priority to ensure better outcomes in the foreseeable future. Adolescents from disadvantaged sections are at a higher risk of suffering from emotional disturbances. Coming from dysfunctional homes, they are prone to abuse and violent behavior.

Adolescence is a stage in which the individual experiences numerous associated developments in the physical, cognitive, psychological, and social domains of the self simultaneously. Physical development of the brain and body is one of the main characteristics of adolescence. The adolescent brain is still developing. The brain systems responsible for emotional control are also undergoing development. Often the development trajectories of both the systems are not the same. This differential development can result in imbalance in the emotional systems thus leading to heightened emotionality.  The pubertal changes in the body also take place during this period.

Based on the Census 2011, 1 in every 10 Indians is between the ages of 14 to 18 years old, this numbers to nearly 125 million individuals. In the state of Tamil Nadu, the projected population in 2016, for ages 14-15 years stands at 2,404,153 (Male - 1,255,352, Female - 1,148,801). By reaching out to children at this age group, an impact can be made on helping the children navigate adolescence and make constructive decisions that will shape their life trajectory. 

The prevalence rate of psychiatric disorders in India is 12% in children aged 4-16. The burden resulting from depressive and anxiety disorders is greater in adolescents. The continued and unattended mental health concerns may also result in incidences of suicide. Among individuals below 18 years of age, more than 8000 individuals died by suicide in the year 2015. Failure in examinations and family or marriage related issues were leading known causes of deaths by suicide in that age group.

Major contributing factor towards occurrence and sustenance of mental health conditions among children and adolescents was found to be instability at home. The influence of the factor was found to be greater even after providing individual interventions (Gaur & Ram, 2016). Children and adolescents living on streets, with broken families, in juvenile or care homes are at the highest risk. 

Children from disadvantaged sections in urban slums are at a higher risk of suffering from emotional disturbances. Coming from dysfunctional homes, they are prone to abuse and violent behavior. They often fare poorly in school, ill equipped to handle social conflicts and are highly likely to engage in risky behaviors such as alcohol and substance use as they enter adolescence. Their homes, neighborhoods and schools often lack the capacity or “collective efficacy” to develop their positive mental wellbeing. 

Our game-based intervention aims to empower adolescents from urban slums by building self-awareness and coping skills, sharpening metacognition, and cultivating compassion and hope leading to enhanced wellbeing and civic participation.

To understand the unique experiences of adolescents, their families, and the community, a Need Assessment study was conducted in four communities in urban Chennai. The outcomes of the need assessment led to the content framework through brainstorming sessions. A game-based intervention involving art-based activities and peer-learning was conceptualized to address and benefit the adolescents from the above at-risk communities. 

The key elements of the framework are as follows -

Themes

• Navigating adolescence
• Nurturing Emotional Wellbeing 
• Science of Learning

Indicators

1. Reduced anxiety
2. Increased self-worth
3. Increased intrinsic motivation to learn

Outcomes

1. Students would experience enhanced wellbeing as adolescents
2. Find joy in the learning process and become a motivated learner 

The game ‘Ready Joot’ is based on the philosophy of how each choice can make a difference. The game is inspired by the five elements of nature. The game has a pack of 75 cards, divided into 5 suites of Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Ether. The game can be played in groups of 4 or 5.

The game is to encourage adolescents to have conversations among themselves and break away from the stigma on certain taboo topics, especially on changes in adolescence and emotional well-being.

Earth Cards represent the self - who am I?, the basics of name, age, etc. and could over time a route to understanding the self.

Wind cards represent change - could be physical change, as in puberty, menstruation, sexual desire, etc. or goals, from a child to a teenager, increased responsibility, seriousness, need to focus etc.

Fire cards have the potential to destroy - anger, tendency to be lazy or get frustrated, both positive and negative traits, or a positive trait that tends to overwhelm or destroy.

Water cards are those that nourish and heal - music, art, Interest in sports, family ties, strong sibling equation, a group of balanced friends and so on.

Ether cards represent the environment- family, home, community, city, world and the role it plays in day-to-day life. No child lives in isolation, understanding that and the relationship between self and the environment is critical.

As adolescents pick each of the cards from Fire and Wind, there will be questions representing the challenges and confusions faced in adolescence, ranging from topics of peer pressure, death and loss, substance abuse, bullying, difficult emotions, relationship with friends and family, learning styles and so on. When a player picks the card, they will discuss their perspective and experience for the question and every member playing the game will express their point of view. The element cards of water and ether will have a suggested resolution for the questions.

Thus, the game facilitates adolescents to come together in a safe space, connect with each other, share their thoughts, feelings and emotions to address their challenges, enabling enhanced togetherness. The activities ensure that the adolescents engage with their parents, community members and civic leaders leading to larger cohesion and collective civic action in the communities. 

Four of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in Chennai were identified for the project viz. Vyasarpadi, Semmanjeri, Saidapet and Ennore. This was based primarily on the economic status of the residents and resettlements allotted by the government. Almost 30% of Chennai residents live in such settlements.

The prevailing societal issues include poverty, substance addiction and having multiple sex partners. Caste discrimination prevalent in these communities made it difficult for adolescents to gather in one place. Among adolescents, a major problem is drug addiction, especially intake of marijuana and tobacco chewing. Among adolescent girls, eloping is a major issue. There is a very low awareness of wellbeing and behavioral problems tend to be a major concern. 

Post pandemic, the learning of these adolescents declined to the point where they could not read a basic sentence. Dropouts increased and adolescents started to engage as child laborers. Since most of their parents work as daily wage laborers, they receive very little emotional support and attention.

NalandaWay Foundation stepped in address the above issues through its game-based Ready Joot solution. It helped the adolescents in the above four communities in the following ways - 

Motivation - participants mentioned that they enjoyed the scoring points in the game and it was exciting. They felt happy and satisfied when they scored points in the game.

Attitude - the participants found the game thought provoking and reported learning about many new things. They reported experiencing a sense of joy and happiness by playing the game and majority perceived the content as being relevant and useful in their daily lives.

Engagement - getting to learn new things kept their engagement and interest levels high throughout the game. Some of the participants mentioned that their ability to focus on and pay attention has improved after playing the game as it required them to be present in the game and listen to each other.

Participants understood that hormonal changes are responsible for the physical and emotional changes in their bodies. They started to accept these changes and treat them as a normal biological process. The awareness on the ill-effects of drug usage was observed to have increased. The adolescents were now putting efforts to stop their peers from using drugs.

Awareness of the emotional changes and the role of hormones have helped many adolescents understand their moods and emotions. Most of the participants reported having issues with anger management earlier. Many also noticed reduced experiences of anger. 

Adolescents also reported being more hopeful and confident about themselves than before after realizing their true potential. The participants were able to become aware of their thoughts, feelings and values. There has been a positive impact on the adolescents’ ability to deal with anxiety and stress due to the game. The game also helped them in knowing about and learning new techniques to learn effectively, resulting in an increase in their confidence as learners.

NalandaWay Foundation uses art, both visual and performing, as the primary lever of change to address learning and wellbeing gaps that are faced by children and adolescents from the most underserved and vulnerable communities in India. Over 17 years, we have gained robust experience in end-to-end project management and delivery of large scale programs in several Indian states, impacting more than 5 million (5,000,000) children so far. Art has been our catalyst to channel and build our projects with the lens of inclusion, gender, well being and intersectionality.

We ensure that the voices of the children we work with and all major stakeholders are taken into account and their needs are addressed through our projects. As with all our projects, in the Ready Joot project, we conducted a needs assessment in all the four communities before finalizing the goals and outcomes.

We also ensured that the specific challenges faced by the populations in the above communities are addressed and respected and thus, making sure the project is sensitive to the context of our beneficiaries. We rely on extensive research and follow evidence-based approaches to create specific Monitoring and Evaluation tools for analyzing the impact of the Ready Joot project.

The Ready Joot program design is extensively derived from UNICEF’s proven ‘Comprehensive Life Skills Framework’, which is Rights based and uses a life cycle approach to building skills for empowerment.

The Project Manager hails from one of the target communities viz. Vyasarpadi. He has grown up in the community from his childhood days and did his schooling there. He lives with his family in the same neighborhood. Therefore, he has acute and deep familiarity with the cultural mores and ethos of the community as well a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by the adolescents, their behavioral patterns, dreams and aspirations.

We also partnered local Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in each of the four communities for implementing the project effectively. Their active experience of having worked in the respective communities for several years over multiple projects, in-depth understanding of the demographics and socio economic conditions of the families and adolescents, extensive relationships built through their course of work have helped us immensely in the implementation. We were able to source the communities’ input, ideas and aspirations which informed in customizing the project design and implementation.

The Ready Joot game is currently in the physical format with the participating children using a ‘Game Kit’ comprising a pack of cards, a tokens pack and an instruction manual. The manual contains instructions for playing the game, as well as a QR code leading to video tutorials. We are in the process of designing this as an app which students can download and play on their mobile phones and/or computers. 

Mentorship for technology - as a development sector organization, we at NalandaWay Foundation have little experience in technology, MIT Solve could guide us tremendously in using accessible technology to scale our solution in benefiting a large population of adolescent students. Solve can help us in reaching this game to thousands and millions of children across the country and possibly expand into other countries as well. 

Many of our target population of adolescent children do not have access to smartphones with internet access. Solve can help in reaching our solution to a vast majority of adolescents in underserved communities in bridging the digital divide. 

Additionally, Solve also provides us direct access to key players in the change ecosystem the world over. This will enable cross-cultural learnings, effective collaborations, resource sharing and bring in global best practices to our project. We will also have the opportunity to share our learnings and findings with individuals and organizations alike in the ecosystem.

We are keen to tap into the MIT Solve ecosystem of grants, funding support, peers from whom we could take inspiration and guidance and join the powerful network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors.

Access to mentorship, coaching and strategic advice from experts, as well as the Solve and MIT networks will be of great help to us as we scale our solution. Receiving monitoring and evaluation support to further strengthen the impact measurement using context sensitive tools is another area we can get support. MIT could help in custom designing effective tools that can measure the impact at scale as we expand the solution across the state and many states.  

The game ‘Ready Joot’ was developed based on the philosophy of how each choice can make a difference in one’s life. This is borrowed from Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s ‘Capability Approach’ that posits that development can be seen as the process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. The game design factored in the needs expressed and elicited from the adolescents in the target communities. The game is inspired by the five elements of nature. As an adolescent unfolds on the journey of learning through the game, they develop knowledge and skills pertaining to the key domains.

The game helps them articulate the challenges and confusions faced in adolescence, ranging from topics of peer pressure, death and loss, substance abuse, bullying, difficult emotions, relationship with friends and family, learning styles and so on. They will discuss their perspectives and experiences and every fellow player will express their point of view. The game also provides suggested resolution for the questions. Thus, the adolescents share and learn from each other, creating a supportive peer group and openness towards communication.

Apart from this, the game also encourages children to engage in activities that involve their peers and family. The adolescents can complete activities individually, and use it as tokens for points during the game. The activities ranged from writing a letter to the family, to helping a parent at home and encouraging them to say no. All the activities used elements of art.

From our pilot implementation, we have observed that the game was able to kindle the curiosity in adolescents, make them reflect upon their choices, emotions and feelings and connect with their peers in a safe space. Peer leaders amongst adolescents emerged organically. The game taps into the intrinsic motivation of players as there are no right or wrong answers.

As this is an out of school program, the adolescents come together in a safe environment without the fear of failure and are driven by themselves. The game provides them with the agency as there is no supervision by adults. Playing the game helps them realize that they are in it together and they are not the only ones struggling with problems of body image, self esteem, physiological changes and emotional turmoil. In the process collective efficacy is organically built in the communities.

The Ready Joot game has facilitated a variety of beneficial learning techniques, such as explorative learning, trial and error and inquiry-based learning and learning by doing. Further, by combining innovative designs and immersive technologies in the form of a game app, adolescents could explore their thoughts, feelings and emotions without concern for success or failure. 

Bringing in technology and making this into a downloadable app will help in scaling this to reach millions of adolescents across the state and nation. Technology will provide us with the ability to use predictive analytics and customize the game to suit the individual needs, challenges and motivation levels.

We aim to scale the solution to approximately 2 million adolescent children in Classes 9-12 across 38 Districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in the next three years. Our goal is to reach 10 million plus children in the next 3 years across many states in India. This we plan to achieve through a collaborative partnership with the Education Departments of the respective state governments.

Process Evaluation

To understand the experience of the process of the intervention, interviews were developed based on the MAKE framework. The MAKE Framework has been used in the past by researchers to test the effectiveness of game based interventions (Haruna et. al, 2018). The framework evaluates the effectiveness of the game based intervention on four domains, namely motivation, attitude, knowledge and engagement.

Motivation refers to the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal oriented behavior. It is one of the most essential indicators of effectiveness, as it directly links to how eager the participant is to engage in the game, and sustain engagement over a period of time.

Attitude refers to the set of beliefs, emotions and opinions towards a particular object. It has been segregated into two components, affective attitude, i.e. emotions towards the teaching method, and cognitive attitude, i.e. attitudes toward the intellectual content, such as the facts and information taught. The attitude towards the overall game is indicative of how useful and relevant the participants perceive the game to be in their lives.

Knowledge refers to the cognitive component of the game i.e the content that the students are expected to learn by the end of engaging with the game. Specifically, the ability to understand the content, its relevance and applicability were assessed. 

Engagement refers to the extent of involvement in the game. It includes the level of investment, inspiration and desire to engage in the game. This is an important indicator of the extent to which the participants are playing the game with interest and investment.

The findings from the interviews with participating adolescents are evaluated using the above framework. 

Impact Evaluation

A contextually relevant paper-pencil tool was developed to assess the adolescent wellbeing related outcomes. The tool consisted of case-vignette based items with only one correct option for each of the items on the scale. Percentage of adolescents who responded correctly to the items on the scale was calculated and a comparison was made between the baseline and endline scores.

Additionally, an adapted version of the Life Skills Measurement Tool (LSMT) - Secondary developed by Young Lives India, based on the UNICEF Life Skills Framework was also used to assess the level of wellbeing in adolescents. The mean scores were calculated and a comparison was made between the baseline and endline results.

The quantitative results attained from both the tools are analyzed. Qualitative data, collected through personal interviews with the adolescents from the treatment group, was also presented along with the quantitative results to understand the outcomes better.

As we scale our implementation through an app based game made accessible to thousands of adolescents across the state of Tamil Nadu and eventually to other states in India, the above tools will be refined and made available online for access by the sample population selected for Baseline and Endline evaluations. 

Analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data thus generated above would clearly demonstrate the impact at scale of our game-based intervention. 

Problem Statement: For students in the ages 12-15 years from at-risk communities, the challenges faced are higher due to multiple issues such as economic and social marginalization, gender based discrimination, exposure to violence and abuse, propensity to indulge in high risk behavior and mental health issues. 

Long-term/ Impact Outcomes:

1. Students would experience enhanced wellbeing as adolescents
2. Find joy in the learning process and become a motivated learner  

Intermediate Outcomes:

1. Adolescent wellbeing:
     • Understanding puberty and adolescence 
     • Practicing self-love
     • Dealing with stress
     • Emotional intelligence

2.  Learner motivation:
     • Growth mindset
     • Tools and methods that support learning

Indicators

Adolescent Wellbeing

1. Navigating adolescence

• Increased understanding of physical, emotional and psychosocial development
• Addressing risk taking behaviours and addictions (positive role models)
• Addressing crime and violence (through boundaries and root behaviours)

2. Emotional intelligence

• Increased emotional vocabulary 
• Enhanced emotional regulation and expression
• Increased empathy

3. Self-love
     • Increased self-awareness and acceptance

4. Dealing with anxiety
    • Increased awareness and understanding of stress and anxiety 
    • Increased knowledge and practice of coping skills 
    • Increase in seeking support 

Learner Motivation

5. Growth mindset

   • Development of a growth mindset
   • Achievement of learning through a growth mindset

6. Tools and methods to support learning
    •  Increased awareness of tools and methods that support learning
    •  Practicing those tools and methods
    •  Habit formation

Means of Verification

1. customized scale based of the following scales

   a. Understanding adolescence - Reduced anxiety; case stories (refer to HEEADSSS - Home, Education/Employment, Eating, Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide/Depression, and Safety)
   b. Nurturing Wellbeing - Increased Hope and Self worth 
   c. Science of learning - Intrinsic motivation to learn; case stories (refer to HEEADSSS)

2. Case stories
3. Assessments
4. Qualitative FGDs with Facilitators

Program Outputs

1. Children (aged 12-15 years) in the selected urban communities

 a. will go through a year long wellbeing program that will help them build their wellbeing, understanding of self and motivation to learn. 
 b. will undergo direct game - based art intervention throughout the year

No Of Primary beneficiaries: Student Leaders, Total Number of students,
No of Trainings 

Program Activities

1. Design

 a. Overall program and curriculum (Wellbeing, Science of learning, Art)
 b. Game 
 i. Art based learning
 ii. Training modules for NW coordinators/ Community Based Organizations (CBOs)/ Teachers
 c. Monitoring and Evaluation system and instruments. 
 
 2. Conduct
 a. Game based art intervention
 i. Curricular program
 ii. Training sessions for NalandaWay Coordinators and Teachers
iii. Awareness sessions with Parents by CBOs
 b. Baseline and endline evaluations for the target population
 
 3. Organize
 a. Observation session 
 b. Weekly/Monthly schedule 
 c. Training Calendar 
 d. Engagement events

Program Inputs

1. Research
2. Evaluation
3. Training
4. Art material and workbooks
5. Permissions from DOE and selection of teachers
6. Selection of communities and identification of CBOs
7. Expertise
8. Engagements
9. Resources & Materials 
10. Collaterals

The pilot project involved using the physical game kits by the participating adolescents. We encouraged the participating adolescents to make videos of themselves playing the game and share their experiences and learnings on social media. 

The game ‘Ready Joot’ was developed based on the philosophy of how each choice can make a difference in one’s life. The game leverages traditional, ancestral and natural technologies and knowledge systems - as it is inspired by the five elements of nature. The game has a pack of 78 cards, divided into 5 suites of Earth (represents the self), Fire (represents potential to destroy) , Water (nourish and heal), wind (represent change) and Ether (represent the environment). The Joker card denotes “unexpected life changes”. The game can be played in groups of 4 or 5. As an adolescent unfolds on the journey of learning through the game, the child picks up knowledge and skills pertaining to the key domains.

To scale this solution to reach millions of students across the state of Tamil Nadu and other states in the coming years, we are in the process of designing this as a downloadable app. The solution will also involve an online portal containing dashboards for monitoring the progress of implementation and the results measured using the process and impact indicators. We will consider incorporating virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) tools for providing an immersive experience for the children playing the game.

As we scale the solution, we can immensely benefit from the features and advantages that technology can bring to the table viz. 

Personalization  - to customize it to the attitudes, orientation and motivation levels of individual players and curating the journey specifically to the individual needs as they move ahead in the trajectory of the game

Analytics - to sift through the data and derive intelligence on the outcomes and impact as the game is played by thousands of adolescents

Gender inclusivity - to support players visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive needs. In addition to enabling access, care will be taken to make it easy to use, provide a good user experience, allowing players to thrive through game challenges, and allow players to identify themselves with the game. The  design to ensure connection and compassion rather than competition or dominance.

Technology will also help in customizing the solution to address the specific needs of micro communities as we expand across the state and to many geographies. 

NalandaWay is deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are an equal opportunity employer with a large % of women occupying senior leadership and managerial positions. One of our three senior leaders and two of our three trustees are women with high levels of accomplishment.  Six of our eight project managers, two of our three location heads and all our three Practice Leads are women. Our workforce comprises people from varied socio economic backgrounds, multiple ethnicities, rural and semi urban origins from across the nation. We use a mix of languages in our operations across the country to cater to the needs of our employees, associates and the communities we serve.  

All qualified applicants to our organization receive consideration for employment and are not discriminated against on the basis of race, color, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age or national or ethnic origin. We actively enable equitable environments to all our employees and ensure that those from underrepresented or marginalized groups are not at a disadvantage. 

Our Field Coordinators and Teaching Assistants are largely selected from the communities we serve. Furthermore, our extensive training and orientation emphasizes the principles and practices of creating an equitable, inclusive and diverse workplace. 

Our Projects reflect the same value set- programs and solutions are designed to promote equitable and inclusive access to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged segments. From the curriculums and teaching learning materials we develop and the pedagogies we design to the delivery of our interventions to the last mile beneficiaries, we are truly sensitive to the needs of a multiethnic, multilingual and diverse population.  

Our program designs are sensitive to the needs of children and adolescents with special learning needs and learning disabilities, gender-diverse, inclusive and equitable. In all the communities we worked with, the Ready Joot game created environments in which all members of a group were welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.

We are a not-for-profit organization that caters to disadvantaged children from across states in India. We use visual and performing Arts to help children from disadvantaged communities. Our endeavor is to improve learning abilities, reinforce positive behavior and help children soar high by enabling them to be creative and express through Arts.

We help them raise their voices and issues through theatre, visual arts, music, dance, radio and films. Over 50,000 children are benefited every year. Our interventions have helped them become creative, learn life-skills and build self-confidence to create the lives that they truly want to lead.

We partner large corporates and organizations and receive CSR grants for execution of our programs. Close to 90% of our funding comes from such institutional partners. We also tap into individual donors for executing targeted programs and campaigns. 

We partner the state governments, district and block level government departments in sourcing the necessary approvals and support for reaching out to the children, teachers, school leaders, parents and the community they serve. We also work with community based organizations in reaching out to our beneficiaries. 

As a not-for-profit organization that has its core mission in delivering quality education through art and creativity to marginalized communities, NalandaWay Foundation operates with the generous donations, funds and grants from corporates, institutions and agencies that share the same mission as well as endeavors to contribute back to society. 

The sustainability of the project depends on the following components:

1. Initial Funding arrangements: We hope to attain the initial investment through MIT Solve so as to use the seed funding to launch the project and all its components.
2. Partnerships with Corporates: Post the initial investment and implementation, the Foundation will reach out to its core partners for support in terms of technical, financial and scaling up.  
3. Partnerships with the Government: With proven evidentiary support, the Team will leverage its connection with state governments to financially undertake a portion or all of the project while the Solver team remains the implementing/tech partner.  
4. Extension Grants: The Team will also look out for extension grants that offer continuous support to innovative and scalable projects. 

NalandaWay Foundation's overall grant income in the year 2022-23 is more than $800,000, a significant growth from the past few years. Over the last 17 years of the organization, we have forged long term partnerships with global grant giving organizations like UNICEF, The World Bank, CitiesRise, etc; as well as corporations within India through their CSR grants like Ford, HCL Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, etc. A large number of these are repeat grant givers, a testament to the impact of the projects with the beneficiaries. 

Thus, NalandaWay has a credible track record of being financially sustainable since its inception and has steadily grown its grant size and the annual revenues over the years. For the pilot implementation of the Ready Joot project, we received funding from UNICEF. For scaling this project, we are exploring funding from MIT Solve and other large corporate donors in India and elsewhere.