Pratham Books is looking for an Outreach Executive

Posted by Remya Padmadas on March 10, 2017

This role has been filled. Do keep following us on Social Media for other exciting positions in our team.

About Pratham Books

Pratham Books is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India. In 13 years, we have published over 3000 books and distributed over 14 million copies of our storybooks and 16 million story cards. Last year, Pratham Books' increased its footprint by going digital. As an industry leader, we were one of the first publishers in the country to open license our content. All this content is now available on StoryWeaver, our digital platform that hosts stories in 60 languages. The stories can be read, translated, versioned or downloaded for free.

At Pratham Books, we are shaping a new, innovative approach to multilingual publishing because we believe that every child needs good books to read in a language of their choice.

Job Description

We are looking for an Outreach Executive who will be part of the Outreach Team and will work closely with the Managers to support all outreach related activities. The core objective of the team is to forge strategic partnerships that facilitate the use of StoryWeaver’s digital resources with organizations that have programs which promote reading and learning among children. The team is responsible for strategizing and executing plans to increase the user base of StoryWeaver and also providing the necessary training and support to the partner network. The Outreach Executive will support the team by creating a database of potential partners, design communication to reach out to them, manage coordination/registrations of workshops during the year, maintain records and documentation of activities conducted.

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop annual outreach plan in conjunction with Outreach Managers, with a detailed activity plan to reach the desired goals

  • Build a database of potential partners

  • Liaison with internal and external stakeholders for outreach projects.

  • Maintain and nurture relationships with partner organisations and foundations

  • Reporting and documentation

Qualifications

Graduate Degree

  • 2+ years of work experience in Sales, Marketing, Outreach or a related area

  • Experience in Education and/or Development sector is an added benefit

  • Good interpersonal and verbal/written communication skills

  • Ability to work effectively with a wide range of stakeholders    

  • Ability to gather data, analyze information, and prepare reports and documents.

  • Skill in organizing resources and establishing priorities.

Location: This role is based out of Bangalore and is full-time.

Salary: Compensation will be commensurate with experience. Interested candidates are requested to send in their resume to [email protected] with the heading Outreach Executive in the subject line.

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Books are the most effective means of igniting interest in language.

Posted by Remya Padmadas on March 21, 2018

Our Outreach Executive Khyati Datt writes about how v-shesh is using books to help develop language skills amongst children with hearing impairments. 

At a workshop conducted for parents of children with hearing impairments, Kanchan and Tabassum, trained sign language interpreters,  posed the gathering question: 

“What do you see as the biggest obstacle in ensuring that  your child’s learning is not restricted to the classroom only?” 

Most parents spoke about the communication gap that existed between them and their child which often resulted in the child becoming withdrawn from the family. Kanchan and Tabassum gave them a simple solution for this:

“Read to your children.”

Kanchan and Tabassum have always enjoyed interacting with children. They work with v-shesh Learning Services, an award winning impact enterprise that assists persons with disabilities (PwD), with socio-economic inclusion. v-shesh works in the training and education space to assist PwD in accessing formal sector jobs.

The duo are closely involved in the implementation of a project which aims to assist children with hearing impairment develop English language competency. When they joined v-shesh in 2016,  the project had just started, but overtime, being in the field made them realize the needs of the children. 

“Most of our students were either pre-teens or teenagers. We found a lot of interest and enthusiasm amongst the students to learn the English language, but most teaching learning material and methodologies available were not age appropriate to teach basic concepts. This led to the need for continuous innovation and to build upon existing material to make it relevant for students and simultaneously address the core challenge of assisting them with the basics”, Kanchan shares.

Books and beyond

Kanchan and Tabassum have always believed that stories are an important tool in igniting interest in learning a language. They started looking for books that were simple, colorful and had captivating illustrations. While Kanchan decided to divide the children in groups and asked them to read to each other, Tabassum started giving out books as rewards to the children.

v-shesh is a big believer of the PVR (Preview, View, and Review) method of teaching. In this method, a book is introduced to children by giving them a general description of the topic. As a next step, they read the book with the students using some visual effects and end the discussion by asking the children to review the book and share their learnings with each other. Simple videos were also made to explain the concept to the teachers and parents as well.

 

Children reading in pairs in a v-shesh centre in Delhi

Tabassum shares how the books from StoryWeaver were, especially, loved by children with hearing disability; “The children would often read the books on their own and volunteer to talk about the story in the class. ”

Kanchan and Tabassum’s advice to the parents at the workshop ensured that learning did not stop once the children exited the classroom. The parents of  Khushi, one of the students at the center, were the first to read a book to their child. Kanchan and Tabassum noticed a remarkable change in Khushi’s confidence and were happy to see that despite not knowing sign language, Khushi’s parents were able to connect with their child through books. 

Kanchan feels that, “Books are the most effective and the most important means of igniting interest in language among the students . A beautifully illustrated book helps motivate children to read and learn a language like no other”.

 

Source:  v- shesh centre in Delhi

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The Soma Experience: Storybooks by and for children

Posted by Shaoni Dasgupta on March 03, 2021

Post by Demere Kitunga, Chief Executive Officer, Readership for Learning and Development—Soma

Founded in 2008 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Soma Book Café is a readership promotion space and innovative co-creation hub for literary expression and multimedia storytelling approaches. It provides different arenas for literary expression and discourse; promotes reading for pleasure and encourages independent pursuit of knowledge. Soma, which means read or learn in Kiswahili, is an apt name for an organization that actively encourages both.

Soma believes strongly in the creative ability of children. It runs a Saturday morning programme called Watoto na Vitabu (Kiswahili for children and/with books). In 2019 with assistance from Neil Butcher & Associates, Soma began a pilot project—the Kalamu Ndogo (little scribes) book series to undertake a research and writing process with children on a pilot basis to generate insights and data on early literacy content creation with and for children. Children wrote, illustrated, and selected the stories they liked best.  

Three groups of children from different backgrounds took part in the project—a cohort from the Watoto na Vitabu Saturday programme and two classes from after-school centres in Dar es Salaam. The four children whose stories were selected worked with published authors, illustrators, designers, and other book professionals to turn their ideas and words into a professional product in print and online.

All of the children participated in workshops and brainstormed on story-writing and creativity. They were encouraged to share experiences by talking about their lives and to stretch their imaginations. We used all kinds of prompts—children’s books, including comic books; cuttings from magazines; sketches from a fully illustrated children’s book; and a number of objects like a ball, board games, and objects in the natural environment like twigs or leaves.

"We discovered some children were good illustrators and storytellers; others were good observers. The children were improving their skills from one day to the next."  - Patrick Joseph Gongwe, HK Learning Centre

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We can see how this process inspired the children’s work. Nakiete Mlaki drew her main character after looking at children’s book illustrations. Larry Semiono’s story, The Poor Lady, was partly influenced by a magazine picture of a helicopter. The children also wrote about their lives—feeling different and not belonging, poverty, or dueling co-wives, for example. These are the four prize winners:

  • The Lonely Frog by Nakiete Mlaka about a young frog who feels alienated from her peers, but who possesses an unappreciated gift that will save the community. The story was written in English and translated into Kiswahili.

  • Chungu cha Ajabu in Kiswahili by Farida Chacha* about two friends, a prince and a commoner, who became ensnared in trouble because of the king’s avarice and bad faith. Farida’s story is influenced by traditional African/Arabic folklore. 

  • The Poor Lady in English by Larry Semiono about an elderly lady who wants to fly and realizes her dream when a wooden stick turns into a flying wooden tray.

  • Mbuguma na Nasiru in Kiswahili, by Sharifa Shemputa about two half-brothers braving a journey into the jungle to fetch medicinal plants to save their ailing (and argumentative) mothers’ lives.

 

The author with Nakiete Mlaki, author of The Lonely Frog

The author with Nakiete Mlaki, author of The Lonely Frog

The project, which was complicated and ambitious, had its ups and downs. A number of mid-course revisions along the way were necessary. But we were able to accomplish many of our objectives, even with the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. We saw that given the right environment, children are as skilled storybook authors as adults are. Kalamu Ndogo was predicated on producing three works in Kiswahili but ended up with four published stories—two in Kiswahili, two in English. 

A case study on this project will be found here at the Soma Book Café website and here at the Early Learning Resource Network website.

Three of the stories can be accessed on StoryWeaver and at Soma Book Café. They carry a CC BY 4.0 licence.

Please send us your comments about our work and the stories.  We welcome sharing and translation!

 
 
Thank you, Demere and Soma! Your work in helping children express themselves through stories is inspiring.
 
You can find the books published by Soma  here.

Unfortunately, Farida’s mother withdrew permission for her daughter to participate in the project and we have not published Farida’s story. Farida Chacha is not her real name

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