Act Collectively
08 June 2021
Every child deserves
to live in an India free of
poverty and filled with love.
An excellent and equitable education is our best route to this India.
We build a movement of leaders who work together to ensure low-income children attain an excellent and equitable education.
What we do and why we do it
We have a bold goal: one that we can only reach in partnership with our Alumni, Partners and Community
Our 10-year North Star
By 2032, we aim to build:
50,000 leaders
Working collectively,
With love
To transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions
Through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India.
Today:
3400 Alumni
are reaching
1 in 10 children
in India
Why Act Collectively?
The problems are similar
While each local context is unique, innumerable similarities in the nature of the challenges facing children across geographies, imply that solutions are often shareable. When exposed to what is possible in other contexts, people feel a lot more empowered to make progress locally.
The problems are different
Educational equity as we’ve established over the past decade, is a ‘wicked’ problem. The implications of adapting a systems approach lies in moving away from the paradigm of ‘silver-bullet solutions’. The idea is that no single individual, organization or Govt. in isolation can change the status quo but that we will need to work together.
Accelerating progress towards our North Star
The path to transforming the lives of 1 in 10 children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, is going to be a long and arduous one but it doesn’t have to be linear. Borrowing from network theory, the value of a network grows as a square of the number of active nodes in it. Harnessing the potential of our network, is our only hope of witnessing real change in education and in our lifetime.
Our first decade planted seeds of leadership. Our second decade must build an interconnected forest towards our vision.
Our learnings & insights
TILL THE SOIL: Lower barriers for Alumni to connect
We bring Alumni to participate in spaces that we organize and we encourage them to connect with one another on shared areas of interest.
�PLANT SEEDS: Leverage Alumni to engage Alumni
We design platforms for Alumni to start any initiative, usually ones that meet the diverse needs of the community and further increase engagement.
�SUSTAIN & HARVEST: Collective action towards ed. equity
As Alumni initiatives increase, incentivize Alumni to create high-impact initiatives aligned to our regional priorities.
Challenges with this approach
53% Alumni attended events/spaces organized by TFI
76% Alumni found these events/spaces useful
53% Alumni reported engaging with peers at least once a month
76 Alumni initiatives across cities
Alumni NPS at 39 (global average 55.6)
53% (of 76) Alumni initiatives are Education-related
Underlying barriers
Until 2016, most of our Alumni spaces were focussed on one-time engagement without a clear call to action. The big bet in Phase 3 was to elevate the degree of engagement by activating Alumni agency through a layered approach.
What will we act collectively on?
[Issues that we will act collectively on, will be determined by the Advocate workstream]
Our Principles
Focus on Acting towards Educational equity
Anchor Alumni in our vision and mission through regional roadmaps and national priorities.
Invest in key Alumni
Tap into the expertise within our Alumni to accelerate the progress of the network.
Encourage wide participation
Continue to reach Alumni at scale while actively creating high-quality learning and action opportunities
Increase impact
Offer more resources (people and money) to streamline the work and ensure more accountability.
Based on learnings from Phase 3, we have arrived at the following underlying principles for our Alumni to act and learn collectively
How will we act collectively?
Levels | Current Reality | Our Goals | What will we learn? What will we act upon? |
1: Connect TFI to many | 50 - 70% Alumni are connected with us, through different channels | 80% Alumni will connect with us and each other to update themselves on what’s happening in Teach For India, in the Education Sector and the Alumni Movement. |
|
2: Participate Many to many | 30 - 40% Alumni participate in TFI events and spaces every year | 70% Alumni will participate in spaces anchored in educational equity - held by Teach For India, Alumni chapters and Alumni themselves. |
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3: Create Some to many | 1 - 2% Alumni are currently leading spaces for collective learning & action which may or may not directly tie into our mission and vision. | 5% Alumni will create the best experiences where we can learn and act collectively towards education equity |
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Our Alumni* will act and learn at 3 levels, across high-need areas identified by our Phase 4 priorities
Assumptions
*Includes Alumni from all our Programs (The Fellowship, TFIx, Student Alumni, etc.)
Alumni will connect with us and each other to update themselves on what’s happening in Teach For India, in the Education Sector and the Alumni Movement.
Purpose | Structures | Learnings & Insights | Recommendations |
Reach a majority of our Alumni to keep them updated on what’s happening in the org. and Alumni movement | Quarterly updates Data survey Social Media | Quarterly Updates:
Data completion of Alumni data:
Social Media: We have amplified stories of 200+ Alumni, but we don’t track the # Alumni reached | Quarterly updates: Convert to Monthly Newsletters containing stories of truth and hope. Data survey: Conduct a data streamlining exercise before launching the next survey. Social Media: Continue building a strong follower base. |
Listen to understand what’s working and not working with our Alumni efforts | 1-1 conversations Alumni Engagement Survey (AES) | 1-1 conversations: Have been useful for both – the org. and Alumni but they are very time intensive. 50-60% response rate. Open Spaces: have been adhoc so far. 50-60% response rate. Alumni Engagement Survey (AES): 50% response rate; requires a significant amount of mass followup as the survey is anonymous. | 1-1 conversations: to reach the last Alum or engage potential L3 Alumni FGDs, Open Spaces: Continue as-is; add an annual city-wise open space led by SLT. Annual AES: Rework Qs based on Phase 4 strategy. |
Enable our Alumni to connect with us and each other through multiple platforms | Email Groups TFI Connect | WhatsApp:
Email groups: Currently have 2 – TFI ids and personal ids; TFI id receives 70 emails/month (50 from Alumni, 20 from Org.) TFI Connect: Useful as a job portal; Older cohorts do not prefer it | Segmentation will be key across all platforms. Whatsapp: Build more purposeful, active groups Email groups: Needs a revision of strategy and guidelines on how, what, who communicates and where. TFI Connect: Revamp this to increase engagement (need to go deeper) |
1
Connect
Click here to read more
Alumni will participate in spaces anchored in educational equity - held by Teach For India, Alumni chapters and Alumni themselves
2
Participate
Purpose | Structures | Learnings & Insights | Recommendations |
Build a regional narrative | ConnectED TFI Events/Spaces | ConnectED: saw participation from 1000 Alumni TFI Events/Spaces: most cities see high response and willingness from Alumni to support the current batch of Fellows through talks, mentorship, upskilling, etc. | ConnectED: Convert to annual Regional Conclaves, as a part of InspirED TFI Events/Spaces: continue as-is |
Alumni for Alumni | Alumni chapters (some examples of what they will hold) Reunions Crisis management Discussion Spaces |
Conclusion: Chapters can be one key lever in our strategy, but we will need to augment them with other avenues. | Common mission: To serve Ed. Equity in partnership with the Alumni community Common baseline goals: Enable Alumni to act collectively in service of a systems theory of change for educational equity in each region (Regional roadmaps). Towards this, Chapters will:
Co-create Alumni Strategy with the chapters; provide them resources to execute a part of it. Review progress and assess effectiveness on a regular basis |
Learn collectively | Alumni will join: Communities of Practice Master Classes | Communities of Practice: Need a self-selected group of individuals who care enough about a common topic to participate in regular interactions (Wenger’s) Masterclasses/Courses:
| Communities of Practice:
Masterclasses/Courses: Keep them fun, relevant and crisp (similar to TED talks) All three will be anchored in education-related topics. |
Click here to read more
Alumni will create the best in class experiences where we can learn and act collectively.
3
Create
Purpose | Structures | Learnings & Insights | Recommendations |
Find our 5% | None | Building and sustaining a peer community requires:
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Learn Collectively | Alumni will lead: Communities of Practice Masterclasses | Communities of Practice (COPs):
Masterclasses:
| Communities of Practice (COPs): Invest in activating community builders in the Alumni network – to build communities which will accelerate progress towards education equity
Masterclasses/Courses:
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Act Collectively | Collaborative Projects |
| Invite more Alumni to contribute to opportunities such as Deshbhakti Curriculum, solve barriers to regional roadmaps, etc.
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These would be our originals, similar to how G Suite on Google Play Store, Amazon Basics, Netflix originals, etc.
We will put out a ‘Request for Proposals/Applications’ (RFPs) for these opportunities and the process will involve nomination by self/others followed by a brief selection process by the Alumni team, in partnership with Alumni Advisory Board & Chapter leads (Refer Network connectors’ rubric).
Click here to read more
In a nutshell
1
Platform housing all Alumni data and resources
12
Monthly newsletters to connect with the movement
1
Connect
20+
Opportunities to join a collective
1
Alumni Chapter
in each city
7*
Regional Conclaves as a part of InspirED
2
Participate
8-10
Master Classes
every year
2-3
High-impact collaborative projects
100
Alumni Stories
collected over 3 years
8-10
Active Communities of Practice
3
Create
*will increase with expansion to new sites
Over one year, our Alumni will have multiple opportunities to connect, participate and create collectively.
An Alum’s Journey
Through the year, our Alumni will also have a predictable cadence of opportunities to connect, participate and create collectively.
Q1: Monthly Newsletters
Q2: Monthly Newsletters
Q3: Monthly Newsletters
Q4: Monthly Newsletters
Attend a meetup arranged by the Alumni chapter
Attend InspirED, and know more about the city’s progress towards ed.equity through Regional Conclaves
Leverage TFI Connect and WhatsApp groups for a potential job opportunity at their organization
Join a COP led by Soumya Jain on School Leadership
Take the Alumni Engagement Survey
Attend an open discussion about an issue impacting the children in the city
Sign up or self-nominate via InnovatED, Alumni Storybook, MasterClasses or Communities of Practice – to create experiences for other Alumni. Become a part of several Collaborative Projects sourced by Teach For India.
1
Connect
2
Participate
3
Create
Our Timelines & Resources
Levels | Structures | Who | Resources | Timelines | |
Y1: 2021-22 | Y2: 2022-23 | ||||
1: Connect 80% Alumni | Newsletters Data survey Social Media 1-1s Open Spaces AES TFI Connect | Alumni Team | Team Needed: 1 Sr. Manager 1 Manager Budget Needed: Regional Conclaves: would be virtual COPs, Masterclasses, Collaborative projects: 25 lacs Funds for Alumni Chapters: 1-5 lacs/chapter Total: 50 lacs additional per year |
| Launch revamped TFI Connect (as Centre for Education Equity - CFEE) |
2: Participate 70% Alumni | Regional Conclaves, TFI events, FGDs | Cities | First Regional Conclaves, as part of InspirED 2021 | | |
Alumni Chapters Communities of Practice Masterclasses | Alumni (with accountability to Teach For India) | Pilot new guidelines and ways of working with DAA and PAC. Hyderabad and Bangalore to begin new Chapters. | Chennai, Mumbai. Ahmedabad chapters | ||
3: Create 5% Alumni | Alumni Storybook Communities of Practice Masterclasses Collaborative Projects | Alumni (with support from Teach For India) | Alumni Storybook pilot COPs: Design and run sample COPs with Staff and 1-2 Alumni Masterclasses: Design & pilot Collaborative Projects: Gauge Alumni interest, using existing projects | COPs: Launch community builder program on a small scale Masterclasses: Launch with 8-10 Alumni Collaborative projects: Launch projects with 8-10 Alumni | |
We will spend this year to design programs and streamline our processes and launch most programs in Year 2. We also recommend that we combine this priority with Match & Advocate, given the synergies between the two.