Freiwilliger von Weltwärts (Freie Schule Wendland)

• Aug 2022 - Present

Research Assistant

• Mar 2021 - Present

As a part time Research Assistant at 60 Decibels (A global tech-enabled impact measurement company), I completed a training on Lean Data with Acumen on how to collect high quality data from customers belonging to low-income bracket. So far, I have conducted in person and phone surveys with last mile users who use services of the following companies/organizations: 1) Karmalife (Credit provider to blue collar workers to meet their daily needs) 2) ApnaKlub (A firm connecting India’s retailers to a wide range of consumer goods) 3) Peer to Peer Support Community of Moms (Perception of moms on range of consumer goods and brands) 4) Jan Sahas (Connecting marginalized people with government schemes and livelihood opportunities) 5) ASA International (World’s largest micro-finance providing loans to low-income entrepreneurs - primarily women across Asia and Africa) 6) Aga Foundation - Project Meesha (Capturing the experiences of people who are into animal husbandry)

Design & Research Lead

• Oct 2021 - Aug 2022

As a design and research lead at Shikshalokam, I worked on creating concept notes, playbooks, user guides, research articles and designing programs, solutions and assets primarily around the thematic area of how school leadership can contribute towards improving educational standards across public schools in India. Besides, I closely worked with central level education departments in the following areas: Ministry of Education (MoE): a) Assisted with the program design monitoring and evaluation of micro-improvement projects aligned to NIPUN Bharat objectives on the national digital infrastructure Diksha. Liaised and provided programmatic support to government officials at the Centre and State level to ensure smooth roll out of the pilot program across 15 geographies (Supervision of Rashi Sharma, Director of TE). b) Provided assistance to Maneesh Garg (Joint Secretary) and team in streamlining questionnaires on social audit on the national digital infrastructure Diksha. This audit is planned to be rolled out pan India to ascertain whether children’s entitlements as guaranteed by RTE and funded by Samagra Shiksha are being provided in a timely manner. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE): Designed an implementation playbook on how non-CBSE institutions can leverage the School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework (SQAAF) to improve their school practices and strive towards attaining institutional excellence (Supervision of Ramandeeep Kaur, Deputy Secy. - Academics). National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT): Streamlined CWSN survey on Diksha app for nationwide rollout. The findings will feed into the creation of a CWSN curricular framework. National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): In a limited capacity, I assisted in designing the pilot mentor selection application process for selecting prospective mentors for about 100 residential schools (Supervision of Kesang Yangzom, Member Secy. NCTE).

William J. Clinton Fellowship

• Sep 2020 - Aug 2021

During the tenure of the fellowship program, I worked with Shaishav, an NGO based in the city of Bhavnagar, Gujarat. It is a grassroot organization with more than three decades of experience advocating for rights of marginalized children. Its programs are designed to provide developmental opportunities to underprivileged youth through life skills, counselling, self defense and gender sensitization. As a Clinton Fellow, I worked on the following deliverables: - Designing, implementing and reviewing activities for the organization’s life skills and sports for development programs as well as training the field team to execute them in community spaces. I also supervised the implementation of the M&E toolkit to assess the impact of life skills on children’s development and identify areas which need to be subsequently worked upon. - Drafting of a concept note to highlight the need to identify the increasing number of migrant child laborers in Bhavnagar city in view of the prolonged school closure due to pandemic and subsequently opening of a day care center to provide counselling and developmental support to out of school children. I assisted in preparing the needs assessment survey, streamlining it on the open source data collection platform 'Kobo Toolbox' as well as training the team on how to use the platform to conduct household surveys in the community, clean, analyze and interpret the field data. - Strengthening Shaishav’s documentation, reporting & communication practices & disseminating their work through presentations and blog posts.

Independent Study

• Feb 2021 - Feb 2021

Understanding the impact of Digital Equalizer’s (DE) blended mode of teaching and learning practices across secondary government schools in Surat and the provision of community-based learning through AIF’s Learning and Migration Program (LAMP) in tribal communities of Dang in light of the pandemic. I documented the ramification of migration clubbed with school closure on children’s learning levels and advocated for reopening schools district wise depending on Covid-19 infections given the regression in curricular learning of children living in rural India.

Research Intern

• Nov 2019 - Dec 2019

The field study engagement consisted of an internship and research methodology at the CHIRAG School. The internship focused on designing a holistic physical education programme, conducting ASER tests to assess children’s learning levels and helping with fundraising and remedial classes. The research looked at school leadership in the context of organisational culture and community participation and study its effect on children’s overall learning outcome. I conducted interviews with school teachers and children to understand the teaching and learning practices and their aspirations respectively. I carried out household surveys to study the socio-economic condition of families, sources of livelihood and other challenges in the locality. I also learned about the auxiliary Balshikshak program and E-learning initiatives which were rolled out across public schools in the region to bring about quality education in elementary years as well as explored other interventions of CHIRAG in the areas of natural resource management, spring recharge, healthcare and livelihood.

Research Project

• Mar 2019 - Mar 2019

The research project primarily focused on understanding reasons that led to children's drop out in the Schedule Tribe communities during the elementary years of schooling across five primary government schools in Dharamjaigarh block of Chhattisgarh. The study captured the comprehensive profile of children who dropped out of school taking into consideration variables such as caste, gender & tribe. The qualitative methods supplemented my research by providing a first-hand understanding of children's state of mind, everyday routine outside of school and future aspirations; socioeconomic challenges in the family, cultural stereotypes towards the schooling of girls, community awareness in regard to government-provided free elementary education and other welfare-related schemes.

Field Immersion

• Sep 2018 - Sep 2018

Understanding the administrative challenges faced by local education functionaries at the block level in running government primary and senior secondary schools. I documented the ground voices during my interaction with members of the Gram Panchayat, caretakers of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya & Ashram Schools, community members and primary healthcare workers in the context of hygiene and sanitation, casteism, gender, social and cultural stigmas, unemployment and education-related schemes. I also attended the teacher professional development and skills training workshop organised by the Azim Premji Foundation at the Learning Resource Centres.