Evaluating and Improving Janaagraha’s civic awareness program

Evaluating and Improving Janaagraha’s civic awareness program

I will be taking the second half of the module and will be working on the WEF Project.    

Background:

‘Janaagraha’ is a non- profit organization based in Bangalore, India that facilitates various programs to foster civic awareness amongst citizens. One such program is called ‘Bala Janaagraha’ in which Grade 8 students across schools enrolled in the program are taught civic awareness and citizen rights based on a curriculum set by Janaagraha. Once the school is enrolled, it’s mandatory for the Grade 8 students to study the curriculum and pass the tests. The program includes class room learning as well as projects undertaken by these students which reflect a good understanding of civic awareness.

The main objective of Bala Janaagraha is to empower the Indian youth in understanding the power of citizen rights, proper governance and a better quality of life. Every six months, the quality of the Bala Janaagraha program is evaluated based on feedback from the facilitators of the program as well as from the students across schools enrolled in the program which is conducted by surveys. The structure of the survey that’s rolled out to students is primarily built around the curriculum of the program as a test of their understanding. An effective way of measuring the impact of this program is being conducted through pre-and post-surveys (both surveys having the same questions but the pre-survey is targeted to students prior to the start of the Bala Janaagraha program and the post survey aimed at Grade 9 students who have completed the program in the previous year). The responses are then analyzed to see how effective the Bala Janaagraha program has been in educating students about civic and governance issues (measured by the number of questions answered correctly by both groups- the students who took the pre-survey and those who took the post survey).

I worked in Janaagraha over the summer and conducted a Monitoring and Evaluation of the Bala Janaagraha program across 15 schools enrolled in the program. Based on the results of the pre-and post-surveys across these 15 schools there was a significant difference in the results between the two groups. Those who had completed the Bala Janaagraha program performed better than those who hadn’t been through the program.

Given the effectiveness of the program, I’m interested in considering how Bala Janaagraha can tailor their curriculum based on the interests of the students around a broad range of issues to understand the trends around students and issues and how Bala Janaagraha can use it as a leverage to address other pressing issues of equal importance but lack considerable awareness.

Using SNA Analysis:

SNA Analysis can be used in connecting these 2 groups of students across schools by issues that resonate with them. The network would be a two- node matrix classified based on attributes and issues. The measures I would use as a part of my SNA Analysis would be degree centrality including betweeness to understand the structure of the Bala Janaagraha team- how the various students relate to their facilitators, which facilitator controls the curriculum and program across schools. I would also use factions to analyze the network based on subgroups- the subgroups being schools and if there are similarities amongst students across certain schools and whether the facilitator in charge of the schools has any affect or if there are any other factors despite the standardized curriculum across schools. I would also look at in and out degree between facilitators and the students to understand the flow of communication and among the facilitators to determine whether they are well coordinated.

Data Required:

The data required would be a list of Grade 8 and Grade 9 students enrolled in the program. In addition to the pre-and post-survey data, we would need an additional survey with student responses to their issue of interest, their gender, whether they have been directly or indirectly affected by the issue of their concern, have they undertaken a project that addresses any issue of their concern. We would also need a list of the facilitators in charge of running the program across schools and their attributes.

Based on the responses of the surveys, SNA will help me determine how well connected facilitators are with their students, whether there’s coordination across schools in maintaining the same standard across schools. It would also provide insight into whether the program can be better organized to help facilitators understand key issues that students are interested in and maybe undertake projects that have a deeper value to those students. It can also help identify gaps in the curriculum that don’t address issues in as much detail as it should to address those of key interest articulated by students in their surveys.

References:

http://www.balajanaagraha.org/