In February, I had the opportunity to make an organizational visit to Dream a Dream as part of my professional development grant. Dream a Dream is a non-profit organization based in Bengaluru that works to transform the educational experience of children from vulnerable backgrounds. Their work focuses on strengthening education systems through curriculum and pedagogical innovation, as well as developing holistic assessment frameworks.
At its core, the organization aims to shift the narrative of education beyond basic literacy toward a child-centered, holistic approach, one that equips young people with the skills to navigate the challenges of the 21st century. One major area that Dream a Dream has championed is that of life skills education. Since 1999, the organization has mainstreamed life skills as a critical approach to help children overcome adversity and learn to thrive.
When I began to consider how I wanted to use my grant, it became clear that I would most benefit from learning alongside an organization that not only works to empower young people but also reimagines education by centering their voices. I wanted to ensure that the organization I ended up working with held values that aligned with my own and those of my project.
In the five months that I have been working at Shaishav, I have come to learn a great deal about the realities of education in rural India. In Dediapada, which has a predominantly tribal population, my organization works with 16 different Aashramshalas to ensure that, in addition to academic learning, children also receive an alternative education that prioritizes life skills through hands-on experiential lessons. The goal of these interventions is to instill values such as confidence and self-reliance in the children, while also ensuring that they are equipped with the knowledge to tackle modern-day challenges and shape their own futures.
What sets this programming apart is its emphasis on children’s participation, an element that seeks to make learning organic, engaging, relevant, and joyful. At Shaishav, we prioritize development that is holistic and shapes children to be active individuals both in their communities and in broader society. With these values in mind, Dream a Dream seemed like the perfect match.
For my fellowship project, I am working alongside local facilitators to help design and deliver culturally conscious and contextually responsive lesson plans that are to be implemented in the Aashramshala’s surrounding Dediapada. My work centers on creating curriculum that reflects local realities, languages, and lived experiences while strengthening foundational learning.
Alongside curriculum development, I am researching participatory education methods to make classrooms more interactive, inclusive, and student-led. Another major element of my project is the intentional integration of life skills education into the curriculum framework, drawing on competencies identified by the World Health Organization, such as critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, and communication, to equip students with tools that extend beyond academics.
As I reached the midpoint of my fellowship, I felt compelled to gain deeper insights into the education landscape within the development sector. The primary goal of my visit was to gain insights into curriculum development within the life skills education framework and learn how to translate life skills into concrete learning objectives while ensuring cultural relevance, contextual sensitivity, and flexibility for diverse learning environments. I also went in with the specific goal of learning how to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tool that could effectively capture qualitative data.
During my visit to Dream a Dream, I gained a better understanding of how to design and implement strong M&E frameworks that effectively track behavioral change over time, especially when working with life skills that require long-term monitoring and are not easily quantifiable. I learned about how thoughtful tools and systems are used to capture qualitative shifts in children’s attitudes, confidence, and decision-making abilities, including a combination of facilitator observations and children’s self-responses to ensure their voices remain central to the assessment process. The visit also highlighted the importance of facilitator training/preparation, as they are the lifeline of these sessions and hold significant influence in shaping the students’ growth. To quote directly from Dream a Dream:
“ [Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning] systems should be intentionally designed to foster ongoing cycles of reflection, learning, and adaptation. This ensures that evidence is not merely collected but meaningfully translated into strategic actions for continuous improvement.”
Another major learning that occurred during this visit was a shift in my perspective on lesson planning. I learned through my conversations with facilitators that while lesson plans serve as important reference points, they must be adapted in dynamic environments where children come from diverse backgrounds and lived realities. One-size-fits-all approaches cannot meet the needs of every learner, and so it is very important that facilitators are able to assess the needs of the room and adjust accordingly. I began to realize that M&E and lesson planning go hand-in-hand; when outcomes are clearly articulated within the plan, it becomes easier to assess behavioral growth, gather meaningful feedback, and continuously refine sessions based on evidence.
Moving forward, this experience will directly support my work in developing an assessment tool for my fellowship project and help me translate progress in life skills-based lesson plans into credible and actionable data. After this visit, I feel better equipped to build an M&E structure that makes behavioral growth visible, strengthens creative facilitation by adapting to the needs of each group, and supports continuous learning and refinement.
I am deeply grateful to the American India Foundation and Dream a Dream for the opportunity to learn about how I can strengthen the impact of my project. I hope that I can use my newfound understanding of the Indian education ecosystem to create meaningful impact in my community that lasts well beyond my tenure.
References
Dream a Dream. Annual Report, 2025, https://dreamadream.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Annual%20report_24-25.pdf
