Purpose of This Page
This page outlines the core structural design and strategic priorities that shape our annual rhythm of training, coaching, and monitoring for both the program team and the ground team. This isn’t a session plan or fixed calendar—it is a design compass. It helps us:
- Align team energies with our educational philosophy
- Stay responsive to field realities
- Avoid overplanning and fragmentation
- Focus on what leads to meaningful growth
Core Design Priorities
1. Reliance on reflection and frameworks
- Reflection Spaces Instead of Elaborate Planning
We treat regular, thoughtfully designed reflection spaces as the primary way people grow. Instead of creating highly structured plans in advance, we:
- Build simple but powerful reflection rituals (individual, pair, group)
- Prioritize these in training time, team meetings, and fellow check-ins
- Use reflections not only to look back, but also to reset actions going forward
Reflection is where meaning is created. It connects action to purpose.
- Frameworks driven guidance Instead of Readymade Solutions
Rather than handing over ready-made solutions, we use well-designed frameworks to help fellows, team members, and even children make sense of their challenges. These frameworks guide reflection, decision-making, and growth.
Examples include:
- FEQA (Fellow Experience & Quality Audit) – Used in regular cycles to check alignment between fellow needs and support structures.
- CCM Lens (Clarity, Confidence, Motivation) – A quick tool for any mentor or fellow to identify what’s really missing when there’s inaction or confusion.
By returning to such frameworks repeatedly, we enable people to become better decision-makers instead of just receivers of advice.
Reflection is where meaning is created. It connects action to purpose.
2. Courage, Reflection, Relationship (CRR) Immersion
We believe that regular reflection guided by CRR questions helps both children and team members gradually build the skills and readiness needed to move toward Adventure, Belonging, and Dignity.
At every level—fellows, PMs, program team—we commit to consistent reflection using these guiding questions:
- Was I able to stay with at least one new desire or thought—instead of dismissing it—and try to understand or act on it?
- Did I develop any new understanding about myself or the world through this?
- Did I have to consider the needs or perspectives of people around me while doing this? How did I do that?
This CRR immersion is a core structure, not an add-on. It anchors how we support fellows, engage with children, and evolve our own leadership.
3. Less Content, More Practice
We avoid trying to cover every learning objective. Instead, we identify a small number of core competencies—like facilitation, documentation, project planning, or peer feedback—and focus on:
- Practicing them repeatedly in varied settings
- Giving actionable feedback each time
- Encouraging fellows to reflect on how their confidence is growing in these areas
This approach also applies to work with children—we aim for confidence and agency in a few areas over shallow exposure to many.
4. New cohort, old projects, next steps
Fellow learning objectives are often tied to longer-term field-based studies or projects. For example:
- To build goal orientation, a batch of fellows interviewed 5–6 local educators who had been in the sector for 5–8 years. This led to a partial compilation of educator stories.
- When the next batch arrived, they weren’t asked to start new studies. Instead, they read the old ones, identified gaps, and improved them—by completing unfinished interviews or reframing the documentation.
We apply this logic across multiple projects:
- Migration narratives
- Local work environment studies
- Village-level documentation for systems navigation
This creates vertical growth: every batch contributes to the collective knowledge, sharpens their skills, and learns how to continue rather than restart.
5. Keep people support primary focus and hands-on
Focus on running projects only through people ownership, that’s speediest and strongest way. Focus on what the task owner is lacking, instead getting the job done ourselves, or ignoring when something is not happening.
Principles for Post-Session Content Design
These five principles help us decide whether and what kind of material (study documents, guides, resources) we should provide after a session. They are not learning objectives in themselves, but reflective questions to guide thoughtful follow-up.
- A Document or Map
Is there a concise summary or visual/map that can help someone recall key concepts when they want to revisit later? - A Door to Explore Further
Does the material offer clarity on how to go deeper into any idea or theme that sparks curiosity? - An Opportunity to Practice
Does it create any invitation or nudge to apply what they’ve understood in their work or reflections? - A Listening and Echo Space
Do we have any plan to listen to what people have remembered, tried out, or are still sitting with from the session? - A Moment of Presentation or Recognition
Will there be a space for people to share something they created, understood, or attempted—and feel seen, affirmed, or constructively challenged?
We use these to avoid mechanically sending handouts or “homework” after sessions. If the follow-up doesn’t serve at least some of these roles, we often choose to let the session stand on its own.