RURAL INNOVATION
Genre Of Impact
Reimagining civic-community programs
Places are all about people, their customs and their communities. As residents or working professionals we choose to stay and live in places where we have a sense of community, a sense of belonging. And what binds us and keeps us moored to the places we love are a mix of things. This includes tangibles, civic comforts as also valuable intangibles like relationships, sense of neighborhood, practices and “way of life” rituals. Can we reimagine and reinvent some of these rituals, customs and traditions in a way that not only helps make places better, communities stronger and thereby attract travelers and local investments? Arpito Gope, Founding Partner at NYUCT Design Labs, and Impact Lead at the Better Earth Coalition, decided to learn by doing. And the results were extremely positive. This design-thinking adventure took him to Putru Village, Jharkhand.
PROBLEM(S)
Villages in many parts of India have peculiar but interconnected problems. The erosion of communities, precious intangible heritage, indigenous culture and practices owing to both urbanisation and migration. The impact of this on women is far more pronounced in villages especially in most parts where severe gender and income inequalities persist.
The second challenge has been the disproportionate focus of policy-makers on beautification of urban areas and adopting scientific waste management practices in cities. Since a major chunk of the country’s population still lives in villages, it is equally essential to draw up plans for beautification of villages. Smart villages are as essential as smart cities. If one rightly reimagines and adapts practices and learnings from other parts of India, every village in India can be a Mawlynnong.
Can design thinking and creative local solutions help in addressing these problems? At least in making a start.
INSIGHT
Local art forms and cultural practices have a strong sense of local identity and civic pride. This can be a medium and agency through which a sense of community, civic pride, cleanliness, expression and micro-economic opportunities can be created. In this specific case, this art form was the floor art of Alpana (or Rangoli or Kolam or Aipan or Muruja depending on which region of India you belong to). Could this sustainable, indigenous craft practised by women in houses, be leveraged and reimagined to be a medium of change? Can one design a community exercise around this to grow civic love and place-pride? Can we softly influence gender-equality?
ACTION
This reimagination and program design took the form and name of Kalpana (which means imagination).
The overall idea was to transform this private household practice of Alpana into a community exercise. We reimagined Alpana as a civic participation, community design exercise and above all, a community talent championship. And equally reimagine and change the format. This championship would happen in front of every participating household in the village. This was an opportunity for women to not only showcase their skill but also foster a sense of community when the jury visits their homes.
Kalpana had three objectives as part of this prototype experiment:
1. Invoke civic and community pride in this hitherto household art form which is a precious cultural heritage. Here the championship was between households and not just individuals.
2. Influence people to keep their neighbourhood clean (especially as the championship was across homes and households and not at a specific assembly point)
3. Through community awareness and art form appreciation, have local businesses and the Panchayat / Jal Sahiya committees to come forward to support this. The winners received prizes sponsored by local businesses like the local medical store, white goods store, local medical clinic etc.
RESULTS
- Civic pride and participation to reinforce the sense of community – The community participation evidenced through the number of participating households and their energy & excitement. The evening before had the households preparing the base for the Alpana and children decorating the streets with coloured paper.
- Cleanliness awareness when households cleaned up, spruced up their neighbourhoods – Sui-generis cleanliness for the championships where households spruced up the neighbourhood, disposing of trash, and construction waste around the village.
- Media and press coverage that brought Putru village local recognition – Admirable press and media coverage which got the small village both attention and be called out as a matter of civic pride. The press coverage had the winners’ names and pictures splashed and this for the women especially meant something really special. This has early evidence of Putru Village establishing a place-brand credential amongst locals.
- Local business and Panchayat participation and sows the seeds of economic opportunities for women practitioners of Alpana. This added momentum and seriousness to the proceedings as a largely household art became a talent showcase and a matter of pride for residents. Even the villagers were going from door to door to check out the floor art across households and admire each other’s creativity.
- Reward and fulfilment program model reinforced the power of good – The prize ceremony added excitement as winners were called on stage and handed utilitarian prizes with every participant getting a token gift.
- Demonstration Effect and strong word of mouth buzz with more villages wanting to join in – The best compliment came when the neighbouring villages complained as to why they weren’t part of this inaugural championship and they requested for inclusion in the next year’s Kalpana competition.