The Change Maker Outcomes

The Change Maker Outcome
(Social and Environmental Impact program)

“The Change Maker” helps the high school and young adults make sense of the climate crisis and subsequent political and economic crisis by helping them to go beyond their core academics and connect with the real world.

The program provides them with the tool and confidence to help them move from the state of overwhelm and disconnect to a place where they feel activated and empowered.

“The CHANGE MAKER” capstone project takes the young adults though design thinking exercises to address community problems and create prototypes of innovative solutions

We were honoured to have Hon’able Dr. Kiran Bedi, the trail blazer Change Maker addressing the young change makers on the culmination day of the pilot batch.

Glimpse of Past Workshop

A photo of a zoom session of book discussion

Eco Poetry by the Change Makers

Lit Chart by the Change Makers

Awareness poster made by the Change Maker using story board presentation technique

Capstone project : ‘On – ground’ experiential journey with NGOs

How do you give them the confidence and empower them to bring about the needed changes to make the planet sustainable?

The Two UNSDG goals they have worked on:

Goal 6 ( The Water Conservation) : Under the mentorship of Ms. Chandni Bedi , the Director Rural Management & Training Institute, Navjyoti Foundation , an NGO founded by Hon’ble Dr. Kiran Bedi
Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production) : Under the mentorship of Ms. Nilanjana Das, the Founder - Director of Action Center on Zero waste lifestyle and circular economy

Projects on Water Conservation ( UN SDG 6)

An orientation to the concepts and challenges related to sustainable lifestyles in the context of water by Capstone Mentor and experts in this field.
Site Visit (both physical and virtual) to Navjyoti Foundation is an experiential learning opportunity & the changemakers learn how visionary Dr. Kiran Bedi created a eco-sustainable space, which is designed by architect Laurie Baker.
Capstone Project: They worked on projects building awareness on rain water harvesting, lake restoration and on reduction of domestic water consumption through concepts of water audits and other social and digital tools.

Site Visit

Some of the projects done by this group:

Projects on Zero-waste lifestyle and Circular Economy (UN SDG 12)

An orientation by the Capstone Mentor Ms. Nilanjana Das to the concepts & challenges related to Zero waste life style and how it promotes upcycling and contributes to a circular economy.
The site visit to Navjyoti Foundation will be an experiential opportunity for the changemakers to see how the check dams and rainwater harvesting structures constructed and maintained by the NGO play a critical role in water conservation in those areas. The campus visit of Navjyoti India Foundation also provides an example of an eco-sustainable space conceived by visionary Dr. Kiran Bedi & designed by architect Laurie Baker.
Capstone Project: Home waste audits and awareness campaigns, collection drive of old newspapers and cloths, social entrepreneurship.

Collection drive of old newspaper and old clothes for rural artisans

Site Visit

Social Entrepreneurship initiating them to the concept of Circular Economy

Workshop Response

The workshop was a unique experience for the young adults. One part was of course gaining knowledge about UN sustainable development goals. The other was hands-on learning that will have a lasting impact on the 'change makers'. The knowledge gained and motivation received from Soumi Duttagupta, the chief mentor of this program, has encouraged them to be the change makers not only for today but take on the mantle of change -makers through life. I would specially thank Soumi for including the Eco literature part of the curriculum. The intelligent way of integrating book reading into the program had an immense impact in the mind of the these would-be adults.

The expert guidance of Ms. Chandni Bedi, the capstone Mentor and the support given by Navjytoi India Foundation was immense and made the program outstanding. I would highly recommend this program for all college bound students and young adults. We need more of these holistic programs which make them environmentally aware and proactive.

I would also like to add the culmination program was inspiring not only for the participants but for us parents as we witnessed how Hon'able Dr. Kiran Bedi motivated the Change Makers to bring about the changes needed by the planet.

Dr. Smita Roy Trivedi

Mother of Ashmi Trivedi Grade 11, Delhi Public School, Pune

The change maker is an innovative out of the box program which gives multifaceted exposure to learners including essay writing sessions, book discussions on UN sustainable goals of water conservation, illustrations, couplets , eco poetry along with sessions with subject matter experts and the capstone project with an NGO.

The project light the fire of natural resources preservation through a water conservation project, field trip to Navjoyti India foundation and motivational guidance by Dr Kiran Bedi in the culmination ceremony.

I thank Ms. Soumi Duttagupta, the Chief Mentor of the project to envision and design such a meaningful program for the high school children and my immense gratitude to Ms. Chandni Bedi , the capstone Mentor for water conservation group to create such deep impact on my child's outlook towards sustainable living.

Mrs. Charu Juneja

Mother of Nikita Juneja, Grade 8, The Lotus Valley School, Gurgaon

The changemakers program is a quintessential experience. I loved the holistically designed program as it oriented me toward the UN Sustainable development goals. The various interactive and collaborative sessions spearheaded me towards solutions and help me gain confidence to adopt the role of a Changemaker. The eco-literature draws attention to the crisis various ecosystems are facing. It also gave a sense of accomplishment as we connected our learning with our concerns and gave it the shape of poetry and illustrated our narratives with paintings.

The on-ground experience with the capstone project was the apex of this learning curve. It opened doors of social entrepreneurship, AI technology blended solutions and enabled me to envision solutions to my chosen theme: Water conservation. The key takeaway from this experience is when we strive and take a step toward change; we find the tools, the medium, and the platform to park our solutions.

In this project, I researched and learned about a lake restoration project. And I was also instrumental in liaising the lake cleaning NGO with another NGO who are working on upcycling the uprooted water Hyacinth from this hyacinth-infested lake. I also did a case study on a plastic upcycling project making bricks and tiles from discarded single-use plastics. The interview with the NGO founder was an enriching and eye-opening experience for me. I plan to be a part of his upcoming work in this domain and continue my journey as a Change Maker.

Soumi Mam as a true torchbearer passed on the vision of Changemaker to us. Her enthusiasm, dedication, commitment, and hard work were contagious and ignited the Changemaker spirit within me.

Chandni Bedi Mam like a true role model inspired us through her work and support. She is an excellent mentor who could match our wavelength and guide us to pave our path as Eco- crusaders.

Parthiv Yashanth

Grade 9, Sunflower Vedic School , Hyderabad

'The Change Makers' programme conceived and curated by WORDPLAY is an excellent blend of reading, writing and working with communities in a manner that made my son more keenly aware of the environmental challenges all around us.

By working with communities under the able mentor ship of Nilanjana Das, Founder Director of ACT, he got a better understanding of impact of indiscriminate consumerism on our planet and fragile eco-system as well as possible measures which we could take to reduce our destructive tread.

Kudos to Ms. Soumi Duttagupta for designing this beautiful program, for helping guide young individuals in this meaningful manner. I am extremely pleased with the curriculum and the way Soumi has incorporated Eco - Literature makes the course stand apart. Highly recommend this programme!

Mrs. Sneha Singh

Mother of Vikramaditya Singh Grade 8, Kunskapsskolan School, Gurgaon

The changemaker program not only taught us about the situation of the world but the rural site visit made us realize the value of basic necessities we take for granted. Even though environmental conservation and waste management were the primary learning objectives, the life lessons we learned along the way touched all of us.

I learned about a new genre of poetry called eco-poetry. Many new literary features were introduced to us, which helped us make our writing more impactful. In one of the self authored poems, we worked on the ability to express our thought within limited syllables. This made me and my peers think if we can be economical and judicious with words and create poetry, why can’t we be more mindful of our natural resources and lead a more sustainable life rather than have an extractable relationship with nature? The village visit, organized by our capstone mentor Nilanjana Ma’am hugely impacted us as we got a firsthand glimpse into the rural lifestyle and its environmental and economical challenges.

We collected over 100KGS of paper waste and with that, the women working in villages made beautiful eco-friendly diyas and pens. The efforts put in by Soumi Ma’am and Nilanjana Ma’am have paid off as we have already started selling the products produced in the villages helping them generate income.

Yuvraj Sharma

Grade 10, The Shriram Aravali, Gurgaon

“The Change Maker” program has helped me develop a sense of global connection and understanding of the earth. The ecopoem, couplets, and book discussions helped me understand the context of SDGs in today's world and helped me align my thoughts and concerns with them. And capstone project with Navjyoti India foundation gave a sense of empowerment. This program has also helped me gain a different, more connected perspective toward sustainability.

Nikita Juneja

Grade 9, Lotus valley International School Gurugram

I would like share my feedback about the sustainability program called Change Makers conceived and organised by Ms. Soumi Duttagupta.

An all encompassing program that helped the kids understand, reflect and express their thoughts around sustainability development goals. It was great to observe their literary exposure to eco literature from renowned international authors. This helped them foster critical thinking skills and join dots from multidisciplinary ideas.It was heartening to see how their thoughts found their outlet through their authored eco poetry and painting.

The best part of the program was the on-ground experience working with renowned NGOs through their capstone project.

Ms. Soumi Duttagupta has been instrumental in envisioning and running this program with lots of enthusiasm and rigour. Ms. Chandni Bedi, the capstone mentor was instrumental in bringing ground reality in hands on activities.

I am glad my daughter was guided by Soumi and Chandni and eventually made a change in our society by bringing forth a well-researched report to the management committee who appreciated her thinking and efforts. She plans to follow up to get some of her recommendation around water preservation implemented. I am sure this program will bring forth a holistic development in children and bring an actual change.

Dr. Madhumita Gupta

Parent of Tanisha Sur, Grade 8 Chrysalis High, Bangaluru

The change makers is an all-encompassing program orienting towards the SDGs.

This program has given me the experience of working for the UNSGDs and I've connected more with the environment concerned issues through this program. The uniqueness of this program lies in substantiating the concerns with literary exposure through the work of ecoconcerned international authors and an on-ground experience with the NGOs through a capstone project.

Soumi Ma’am has been an incredible mentor and guided all of us through this new experience of taking our steps to bring about change. The sessions with Chandni Ma’am of Navjyoti India Foundation were helpful in understanding the concepts and it was also a wonderful experience to be supported by her throughout as we worked towards conserving water. The expert sessions organized by the NGO enriched the program even more.

This program has kickstarted my journey as a change-maker and inspired me to keep going and give my contribute to this planet. Thank you for this life-changing opportunity.

Ashmi Trivedi

Grade11, DPS Pune