The Shepherd Project

About my interaction with the shepherds of India

[theshepherdproject]

It’s a wrap!

As the title of my first blog post said, taking up this project was a ‘big decision’ for me. Five months later, I am glad I did! This absolutely unpredictable journey with the shepherds is now a milestone event of my life. It has been a lot more than a product pilot test I started in order to estimate its applicability. I have learnt so much, about people, design and myself!

I’m happy to report The Shepherd Project is now successfully complete! 

The goal of the project was to develop and pilot test a module for the self-learning of the shepherds of Maharashtra. Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0 is a portable, self-learning tool kit for all adults who can not attend school or have no teacher. The content in the ready prototype is in Marathi but I would be happy to collaborate to create it in other languages, as the need arises!

I am currently looking for NGOs or CSRs who may find it a suitable fit amongst their activities. I have decided to make the Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0 an open source project. Anyone who is interested may adopt, adapt and implement it in the relevant community. I simply ask to be informed so that I can share the excitement and help if possible! 

This project would not have been possible without the encouragement and inspiration I got from all the people I met along the way! 

Thank you so much!

[theshepherdproject]

The Design Studio

Although I did not live there, majority of my work happened while I was at the ‘wada’ or as I sat on the floor in office visualizing the ‘wadas’. These last few months of interactions with this environment and the people led me to experience several principles and theories I had only read about.

Human Centered Design 

The user has always been an integral part of my design process but not to this extent! I had read The Field Guide to Human Centered Design by IDEO.org but for me it has come to life since The Shepherd Project began. I started using it in 2015, when I began my research project with the Kurubas. Over the last few months, I have had a chance to adapt their many tricks and devise new ones especially for this community. One thing I learnt from experience was establishing a relation, a trust with the community. The Dhangars have been involved at every stage of the project and that is what has made all the difference!

Minimal Design

“Only as much as is necessary.” 

This has been the philosophy at the core of all the designs I have admired over the years. As a student, I've strived towards achieving this but I was never quite satisfied with my execution. I, now understand why. The translation of this ideology into a product is not achieved through any one aspect, aesthetics, intuitiveness or the likes. It is inherent to every stage of the design process and greatly influenced by the designers' individual interactions with the users and context. I am slowly developing my own ways and my execution has greatly improved through The /shepherd Project.

Solution Type

We are surrounded by products. And often, these products are categorised by the process of making; mass manufactured products, products inspired by ‘the crafts’, digital products, technology driven products, financial products and many more. The Shepherd Project does not consider these categories or the boundaries of disciplines. The idea was to focus on the users, not the medium. I talked to everyone who was interested, all those new perspectives always gave me something to ponder on. 

[theshepherdproject]

People First

In February, I set out to pilot test the product. When I began, I believed it was a product implementation project, my prime function and challenge would be to farther detail the product and place it in the community.

Of course, I knew, I would need to interact with the shepherds for the same but it seemed a secondary function. As I began working and shaping my process, not the product, but the Dhangars as people became the focus! It was the interactions with them which was driving the entire project. I molded the product around their reactions instead of changing my product pitch to make them believe it was good for them.

Thus, a second version, Nomad's Edu-Kit 2.0 was created. 

This was The Shepherd Project, it had to be about the people first and then the product.  

[theshepherdproject]

The Design Team

The adult shepherds were the users and the Senior Designers of the Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0! They were the ones with whom I used to refine and detail the concepts; the ones who would finally approved of the design to be made in large numbers. 

I would make prototypes based on my knowledge of learning methods, production processes, cost constraints and cultural context. Then, we would collectively thrash out the problems faced and verify the content. 

On this particular day, my Senior Designers aka Dhangar adults openly rejected phase 2 ‘Out of the Pockets’ of the first version of the product. At first, I was taken aback and disappointed. I couldn’t understand why they did not think it was usable although they appreciated the use of their technique in its crafting.  As I observed the children and the adults inspecting the product, I noticed that the exploratory aspect which the children were enjoying appeared time consuming to the adults. The adults wanted a straightforward solution. 

So we conceptualized together! 

That’s how we arrived at the Word Chart which to them is reminiscent of their missed days in school.  

[theshepherdproject]

Never Too Late

One would think being a girl it would be easy for me to talk to the women. But, to my surprise, it wasn’t so with Bana Bai! She was generally shy in the first few months. She would keep returning to her household tasks. 

But now, I’m proud to say that I’ve come a long way! She comes and talks to me herself! She told me she enjoyed coming for the workshop! 

This photo is from the ‘landmark day’ when it all started! Nobody had to especially call her to look at the Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0, she just came anyway! 

This is the day when she finally let down all her hesitations! 

[theshepherdproject]

Summer vacation activity for these children is helping their mother learn using the Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0!

[theshepherdproject]

A Pivotal Role

In 2015, when I first conceptualised Nomad’s Edu-Kit, children were an equally important user group. Through the course of The Shepherd Project, adults have emerged as the primary user group. A difficult choice but children can attend boarding schools, the elders have no avenues at all! And it is only when they, the decision makers value learning, will the younger ones get an opportunity!

Yet, children continue to play an integral role in the education of the adults in their families. 

(Children, here refers to any individual who is of an age where they could be attending a formal school or college.)

I have observed them provide elders reason, inspiration and assistance on their journey of learning!

Even as they were just beginning to learn some adults attempt to teach their youngest children, asking them to listen to the stories and identify objects. The older children take it upon themselves to teach their parents. There are also families where the 20 year old son is learning with his father. 

As I watch them I am often reminded of groups of children engaging in role play in the makeshift schools they setup anywhere, at any hour!

[theshepherdproject]

“Aamchi Masterni”

A lot has been written about this man, for the shepherd he is. 

But around me, he has been a student like no other! 

He calls me ‘masterni’, (teacher in Marathi) something I had never imagined becoming. Yet, it has been an immense honour! It had to be, with a student like him!

He not only learns himself but ensures the entire ‘class’ learns too! (Here, the class is his family and all the other shepherds in the region of Dahanu.) Every few days, he would go to the other ‘vadas’ and check how much they had learnt, help them with the new words they were trying to learn.

He would be excited about evaluations, excited to show how much they had all learnt! 

And when everyone did moderately well, he’d say, 

“See, we are learning! It’s a 70% success rate now. Come back, next month and you’ll get 100% results!” 

My greatest appreciation and encouragement has also come from this favourite student of mine.

Once as I was trying to string together a few words to express my elation at seeing their efforts, he interjected and said, 

“When you are working so much for us, we have to reciprocate!”

[theshepherdproject]

The early adopters shared not just their experiences but the kit as well!

[theshepherdproject]

“I’ll show!”

As children, we are always excited to show our friends how our toy or game is played with. Something similar was observed at the meeting! The Dhangars were eager to present the the kit to the others.

[theshepherdproject]

Brand Ambassadors

Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0 had been tested and approved by a pilot test group.

The next step in my product development process was to increase the numbers being reached. I knew I could not single-handedly share the kit with every family, nor could I automate or delegate yet. Around the same time, I noticed that a few of the Dhangars had started sharing the kit with their peers.

Eureka!

I had to simply formalise the process of them sharing the kit so that it became common practice. The ‘meeting’ held in Pune was a platform for the early adopters to share their experiences with Dhangars they would otherwise not meet. 

The Dhangars assessed each other’s progress, demonstrated and shared the kit with their peers. I merely assisted by providing a structure to the meeting.

Being the developers and users of the product, nobody else could have promoted the kit better than them!

[theshepherdproject]

Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0

The shepherds are reading and writing now!

They are sharing their learning material with their peers!

“But what is this, Nomad’s Edu-Kit 2.0?”

It is a self-learning tool kit for the adult Dhangars. 

“But what does it comprise?”

This!

“That’s it?”

Yes, it is primarily a functional product made with easily available materials and using processes anyone can quickly learn to execute!

“How does it work?”

It works on the following well-established principles of learning:

Edutainment:

Easy to remember shadow pictures and audio stories of characters from their own community. 

Chunk Learning:

Start with how the objects around them are written as words. Not directed, sequential learning but learning from their own sense of familiarity and association!

Learning by Doing:

Physically, construct words.

Does it work?

Yes! 

More on the process has been shared at https://www.behance.net/gallery/53648329/The-Shepherd-Project-Nomads-Edu-Kit-20! 

[theshepherdproject]

When the sheep took over the traffic! #theshepherdproject #nomadsedukit (at Bavdhan)

[theshepherdproject]

Sheep and shepherd's day out it seems! The happy faces of the shepherds and the bleating of the sheep in the midst of the crazy Pune traffic made my day yesterday! (at Bavdhan)

[theshepherdproject]

Event Planners?

Until now, organizing events to me has been synonymous to long hours of work, intense planning and many lists. All this, generally, culminates into a relatively well detailed visualization of the upcoming event. 

The experience of hosting the shepherds was the absolute opposite. Even on the morning of the event, I had only a 30% certainty and an appalling 70% of unpredictability about what would happen that day! Of course, this wasn’t a choice! It was a necessary evil.

We wanted to ensure that both, old and new participants of The Shepherd Project to interact with the Nomad’s Edu-Kit and each other as naturally as possible. So we could not tell them that they would be the ones conducting most of the ‘meeting’ (as they call it) while we merely facilitated. Thankfully, they asked us no questions as to why they were invited with as many friends as they could bring!

I could only prepare a rough framework which would ultimately take shape on its own based on the community’s interactions.

It wasn’t just the itinerary of the ‘meeting’ that was vague. There was much more that was unsettled, from start to end.

- The last few days, every time there was a spell of rain, I’d be left wondering whether we would have to cancel the ‘meeting’. (The families from Wai were to start their migration with the onset of the pre-monsoons itself as fodder was scarce.)

- Until a day before, I did not have a total count of the number of guests coming.

- During the event I realized that the names of those present did not match my list of expected guests!

Well! I have accepted unpredictability to be a norm in The Shepherd Project and my motto to go with is,

“Prepare to feel unprepared!”

[theshepherdproject]

Me with my celebrity guests! The photo with the timer which nobody was ready for except me since I set it! #theshepherdproject #nomadsedukit (at J.P Naik Institute for Education and Development)

[theshepherdproject]

A Meeting of Old and New

Meet my celebrity guests! 

I have often been hosted by the shepherds in the last four months. So I was very excited to invite them and their guests. The shepherds we have been interacting with brought along their friends to share the Nomad’s Edu-Kit experience! 

It was an exciting day of showing each other how the Nomad’s Edu-Kit is used and what they have learnt. After the first few moments of hesitation, it was an environment of mutual learning and teaching with no barriers of age, region or formal education. Each one simply wanted to help the other learn!

(As almost always, I am behind the camera!)