Gudd's ChangeGram

The ChangeGrams are learning centers for 21st-century skills. The program will inculcate entrepreneurship, design thinking, media, and communication in underserved youth and micro-entrepreneurs. Our mission is to create an army of creators catering to different stakeholders.

Underserved communities don't have access to 21st-century skills education. There is a massive gap in youth's expected skills and readiness to fill the thriving job market in India. Over the past year, there has been a surge in micro-entrepreneurship and local businesses. Micro-entrepreneurs and nonprofits are not reaching the right audience and amplifying their businesses and impacts.

ChangeGram will provide digital resources and training to enable the community to innovate by employing the center's equipment and peer-to-peer learning methods. A mobile app will help them learn and network in regional languages. We aim to bring culturally relevant solutions and designs and create a self-sustainable model for the community to grow and thrive. 

Historically rural and underserved communities are denied digital skills and education. Taking India's example, the youngest country in terms of demographic dividend, there is a massive gap in expected skills and readiness of youth to fill the thriving job market. Even after consistent efforts to bridge this gap by the government and development sector, 23% of youth in India remain unemployed. 

There has been a surge in micro-entrepreneurship and local businesses, with over 630 million MSMEs registered on the industry side. And over 3.2 million nonprofits. The micro-entrepreneurs and nonprofits are not reaching the right audience and amplifying their businesses and impacts. 

 In today's context, the much needed 21st-century skills, the job market requires the youth to be industry-ready with investment growth in the growing Indian and global markets. The advent of Novel Coronavirus has made the situation much worse, putting a majority of the underserved population out of education with the lack of digital infrastructure. The 50 % of India's youth, 20 % of the global youth population, deserves much attention to be ready with the future skills. With a vast reverse migration to rural and semi-urban areas, youth can't neglect entrepreneurship, communication, and 21st-century skills. Lack of local, contextual education is much needed. 

There is a need to connect youth, businesses, and impact organizations at the local and national levels to sustain and prosper their work. We need a platform and network of people who can help each other grow together.

The Change Labs will target youth, micro-entrepreneurs, and impact organizations from underserved communities. The participants' demographics will be above 18 years of age and extend to anyone interested in learning digital and 21st-century skills. 

We have assessed all the beneficiaries' needs through our pilots in multiple communities. Our learning pointed at the following issues in the communities:

• Lack of awareness of the opportunities and impact 21st-century skills bring
• There is under-confidence and unawareness regarding the value of cultural integration while communicating, especially with their USPs.
• Lack of infrastructure, resources, and guidance

Though ChangeGram initiative, Think Gudd will get these sections of the population to solve this problem by uplifting communities to realize their opportunities and helping organizations and individuals maximize their impact by reaching their right audience by:

• Training and providing support for micro-entrepreneurs and organizations in digital and 21st Century creator skills.
•  Using the power of digital technology with cultural integration.
• Self-reliability and self-employment 
• Helping entities amplify impacts and reach their niche target audience, globally

The readily available technology of smartphones and available devices will reduce the incurred costs. The mobile app will help the community to in continuing learning and sustain. The self-sustainable model of the program makes sure that the recurring expenses of the program are low and have the potential to the profitable. Our solution will also reduce inequalities for underserved communities.

Think Gudd believes that through 21st-Century skills, communities can transform the way they function for the better. The solutions to most of the issues they face can come from their communities.

We will conduct training for youth and entrepreneurs in design-thinking, media, and communication skills through our initiatives. On the other hand, we plan to train and deploy Changewalas and The ChangeGram.
Changewalas are creative changemakers on the move. They are trained and equipped with 21st-century skills and media tools to create, amplify 
and disseminate content. Changewalas will be a shared resource but will focus on each organization's individual needs and micro-entrepreneurs: Imagine a one-person digital agency that understands the community they work with, providing creative and digital services and guidance to help maximize awareness, reach, and impact! 

This initiative aims to create an army of communicators and be enablers of digital technology to uplift communities. They will use communication and digital technology tools to create content that captures the cultural significance and diversity and help organizations and individuals maximize their impact by reaching their right audience. 

ThinkGudd will provide constant support from their industry experience. The Changewalas will have access to infrastructure and equipment with high-quality training. They will be flexible in realizing beneficiary needs and coming with solutions and strategies, recognize diversity and delivery on time, and commit to deadlines. They will also identify off the map organizations to help scale up their impact and will have the ability to capture unique demographic content and geographically relevant creatives.

Subramanya Shastry C S, Co-Founder, Think Gudd

Our interventions are not just spaces and services that ensure skill development- but also changes the stakeholder's mindsets by making them independent and giving them the confidence to think like an entrepreneur while promoting their artforms, products and processes.

Think Gudd will continue supporting the entrepreneurs and organisations through different kinds of service models after initial intervention because we realize continuity in communication is key! We are extremely flexible and aware of individual stakeholder's needs, and will do our best to help them achieve their goals.

Our programs, with roots in diverse communities will always recognize the importance of different cultures and will shed light on the same by teaching cultural integration that reflects in the content our creators generate.

We believe that through this initiative we will be able to achieve 

Uplift communities and to realize their true potential online and the opportunities surrounding with focus on cultural significance and diversity; and to help organisations and individuals maximise their impact by reaching their right audience.

We want to :

- Train and/or provide support for Micro-entrepreneurs and organisations in digital and 21st Century Creator Skills

- Use the power of technology with cultural integration across digital platforms to solve challenges and highlight creative processes.

- Self-reliability and self-employment - Creating job opportunities and gaining support for their communities.

The ChangeGram will provide low-cost technology such as smartphones, tablets, to begin with. After a point we will equip the centers with laptops, cameras, printers, and internet connections.

Through a mobile app in regional languages, we will support the training process and skill honing. We will use an activity feature to send them activity/challenge notifications post sessions and also create a database of all their submitted work. This app can also serve the purpose of a portfolio post their training.

• The portal and app will have courses on all the training which can be conducted online and regular updates will be given. 
• Another important feature of the technology integration will be that it will act as a marketplace where the trained youth and community members can market themselves and get business and small and micro-entrepreneurs will be able to post requirements.
• This will also act as an online networking community where different centers from other regions can collaborate, share and learn from each other. 

 The available technology of smartphones and devices are affordable and will reduce the costs. The mobile app will help the community to in continuing learning and sustain. Our self-sustainable model ensures that regular program costs are low and can be profitable. Our solution will bring the next generation of young change-makers to the table digitally and bridge the gap.

Think Gudd's mission is to revolutionise digital space for the greater good and drive positive change and be a channel and build a creative community that uses the power of communication to amplify impacts.

We believe that there is a creator in everyone and its not difficult to hone the skills of creation and create good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship. The problem being addressed is centered around unemployment and a lack of awareness for thriving job opportunities requiring 21st-century skills. Our solution to this problem involves inculcating entrepreneurial spirit and building a drive to not just grab, but also create their opportunities in a self-sustainable manner. Our target audience, the rural youth, needs to be educated/trained to know how to navigate the communication industry to uplift themselves and eventually, their communities. This can only be made possible by building an environment of inclusive entrepreneurship.

The ChangeGram aims to be a movement by the community and for the community. Our vision is to impact as many communities as possible which are self-sustainable and self-reliable. In the next year, we aim to create an army of innovators who can positively impact their community with their businesses and causes through job creation, entrepreneurship, and their creations. As the model becomes self-sustainable we would like to grow in multiple geographies and ensure the spirit of entrepreneurship continues and sustains in five years we want to be a movement where every underserved community stands on its own and networks with each other for the betterment of its community. 

We want to create and run

- 6 ChangeWalas trained and deployed to cover over 20 communities

- 2 ChangeGrams established at the most engaged and responsive communities

- 4 cohorts of Youth training 

- 50 Organisations and micro entrepreneurs engaged 

We aim to focus on the tech integration aspect of our program to create a networked community platform for our beneficiaries who have had direct or even indirect exposure to our skill development program as a medium to find projects. Through this platform, we aim to develop a marketplace where skill meets business in the rural economy, which will help the stakeholders as well as the businesses to thrive with local talent and at affordable costs. 

These are indicators which we would like to measure and analyze based on the input from the field, We will make incremental tweaks to the program.

IMPACT INDICATORS

Quality-

Design sensibility and message understanding

Uniqueness

Cultural integration

Response and engagement

Reach-

Communities and business engaged with special focus on youth

Spreading awareness 

Number of Subscriptions converted

Here are some barriers which we expect

• Trained instructors: It isn't easy to find well-trained and quality instructors for running the program smoothly to ensure employable skill-building, especially in rural areas. 
• Cost and maintenance of equipment: The price of digital equipment is high and requires constant care, which will add to the program's cost. 
•  Finance: Finding funds to run our programs will enable us to reach more and more communities since we want to build an extensive, well-functioning network of creators from economically backward areas.
• Reach: A big challenge for this program is reaching and resonating with our beneficiaries, who aren't always open to working in the alternative field of media and marketing. 
• Ownership from the community to sustain The ChangeGram
• Socio-economic barriers: As the program is free in its form, the language, culture, and other issues might be a barrier.

We want to look at the challenging ground up, building a solid network of driven youth interested in making a positive change in their communities. ChangeGram will be possible only through a robust support system we are trying to build with our team. 

Think Gudd wants to rely on technology to solve most of the issues so that the process is much simpler.

With the help from multiple interventions and organizations, We are sure that we will overcome the barriers we face right now. ChangeGram program will take flight with the confidence that the model will work based on our assessment of the situation in the ground and our experience in the field, and our pilot program. 

We are a young team of 3 full-time staff, 10 part-time staff, volunteers, and consultants. We also like to collaborate with organizations that already have staff who can work with us.

As a team, we have a combined experience of over 2 decades in the non- profit sector. The team comes with diverse experience in media, communications, film-making, project management.

Running an organization to handle mega projects worth crores of rupees, our team has all the capabilities to run large and remote teams across India. We have designed curriculums and programs on art, media, and creativity for many organizations. We have the best mix of dynamics in various fields to ensure a project sees the light of the day. We are a young team with fresh perspectives and a will to amplify causes that deserve attention. 

Think Gudd believes that an organization can prosper if we diverse set of people and shared common goal. Our team has been inclusive with gender, race and geographical sensibilities. Having a woman co-founder we have more woman working for us and we find young people from diverse and underserved backgrounds and cultures to work with us on need basis. 

We are working with multiple organizations to create change.

Some of them include Navam Innovation Foundation, Kisan Sevak Foundation, Gandhigram, EQUATIONS to name a few

We don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, we want to network and collaborate with like-minded organizations to scale and leverage on what they have built.

Think Gudd wants to be a movement we want forge long-lasting relationships with people who are part of our community. 

Think Gudd has multi-thronged approach/model , MediaWalas, Skill Trainings, The ChangeGram, and Gudd Services.

ChangeWalas:

Subscription model with the shared resource, with an agreed amount of content every month. ChangeWalas will charge a fee for working with multiple organizations in creating content and communication materials for entrepreneurs and impact organizations.

Skill Training:

Think Gudd will conduct training in communication and 21st-century skills for organizations, individuals, and youth at nominal costs 

The ChangeGrams: The 21st-century learning centers in communities are designed to be a space for participants to conduct training and serve businesses with their communications and other needs. We plan to charge a nominal fee on activity, space, and hire of equipment and infrastructure.

We primarily want to learn and grow. We know our idea can make a huge impact on our beneficiaries but we want to make sure that we have thought out every little detail.

Capital

As we are starting off, we will need grant support to sustain our programs.

Network

We don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, we want to network and collaborate with like-minded organizations to scale and leverage on what they have built.

Think Gudd wants to be a movement we want forge long-lasting relationships with people who are part of our community. 

We want to grow with others and don't wish to reinvent the wheel. Many organizations are doing great work in India and we want to provide our expertise and knowledge to create communities that are self-sustainable and inculcate the spirit of being an entrepreneurship-driven inclusive community and use the power of technology to amplify impacts.