Research- Best Management Beekeeping

Athagarh, with all its villages, provides a perfect ecosystem ‘begging’ for beekeeping to be practiced on a large and wide scale. The variety in flora and fauna, the flowering all seasons around, the education level of the women, the water bodies, the connectivity and distance from the capital, and the immense knowledge that we have about beekeeping, provide a perfect stage for beekeeping to flourish.

Because of initial hiccups in the success of the project, I was invited over to investigate the factors that are responsible for the limited success that the project has had. I stepped back and had a look at the various zones the problem might reside in. Is the climate inept for beekeeping? Is the breed of the bee right for this environment? Is the deterrent the equipment used for beekeeping? Or is it the training mechanism? Is it the adaptability of the housewives? Even, is there enough void for honey in the market for the producers to be enthused? Or does the hurdle lie in all of this, some in each of the factors? A systemic issue?

Research and Design- Soil Health Card

Bhoochetana, meaning revival of the land, involves soil health mapping, nutrient recommendations and support to farmers was launched in Odisha by The Department of Agriculture. Through this initiation the soil analysis, nutrient management recommendations and treatment were to be shared with farmers. This helped increase productivity through improved practices. The state has 4.35 million farmers, and it was a tough task to make a proper applicable communication and record keeping system between the government and farmers.

Sanjay was contracted to first field test the then current Soil Health Card in the states of Orissa and Bihar, in India and then redesign the cards keeping in mind the actual usability, storage and longevity, the synchrony with digital platforms, the information architecture, the language used, and the accuracy of information provided in the cards.

Sanjay travelled extensively within Orissa and Bihar states and investigated how these cards were being issued and used. Drawing from the observations, he created several alternative designs for the ease of printing, storing and the cards being actually useful for the farmers. These options were then field tested, and the most appropriate design implemented.

Strategy, Design and Animation- Promotional for Electoral Participation

India had its 16th General Elections in 2014. The Election Commission of India approached Sanjay to make these awareness films that were aimed at encouraging citizens to vote without fear, temptations, and corruption. This synchronized series of five animation short films was also aimed at getting the greatest number of voters to the polling booths. Voters that do not choose to vote for any of the contesting candidates were also encouraged to participate by choosing ‘Non-Of-The-Above’.

Sanjay took inspiration from a popular folk-art form – ‘Worli’ and developed it further to suit the communication needs. The films needed to not have a voiceover or dialogues expending its reach to a larger audience of multi-lingual Indian society. The names of the characters were designed to avoid any religious, political, or cultural association; for example, the mother is called Ma, the father, Pa etc. Since the music played a key role in communicating emotions and moods, Sanjay designed the sound after detailed storyboarding and before the animation. Later animation was timed to sync with music.

Posters Design and Illustrations Wash Program

The Call to Action for WASH in Schools supports global efforts to make the vision shared by WASH in Schools partners a reality: a world where all children go to school and all schools provide a safe, healthy, and comfortable environment where children grow, learn and thrive.

Sanjay was consulted with to promote the practice of hand washing in schools in Asia through posters. To make the posters recognizable and acceptable across the schools in India, Sanjay did thorough research to seek a common school design, uniform design, students’ appearance, hairdos, and accessories generally visible in a school and came up with this poster. A single poster was designed to inspire school going children to wash their hands before every meal. Sanjay also came up with a slogan in Hindi to maximize communication. The poster was put up in every Government affiliated school in India.

The Poster was designed using cartoons and sketches as visuals, to demonstrate group hand washing with soap before Mid-Day Meal. The deliverable included three high quality options of the Poster, one of which was selected by UNICEF, for further printing and sharing with the Ministry.

Design and Illustrations for Text Books

The schools run by the Government use textbooks that are not user-friendly, un-interactive and unattractive. Central Board for Secondary Education, India, approached Sanjay with an old problem. Sanjay used skills from other media to arrive at a book design that used his storytelling skills to keep the user engaged. The book’s colors and size were designed at a minimal production cost.

Sexual Health Intervention Design

The prevalent problem of poor preteen and teenaged children migrating to metropolitan cities also lends them to pre-mature sexual activities and even prostitution. This leads the children not only not to experience the normal growth path and under develop mentally and physically, but also puts them at a huge risk of sexually transmitted diseases. The project identified possible risk and protective factors in street children in India and translated these results into a comprehensive, counselling and life-skills-based small-group intervention/prevention program. Sanjay was taken in as a consultant to turn this intervention program into a locally produced, cost-effective, long-lasting, repairable, and easily transportable toolkit that was user-friendly and pleasant.

At first, it was important to understand the street children’s communication ways, their acceptance of sometimes explicit information, and their readiness to discuss their sex life. Second, to make the toolkit easily and economically re-producible, it was essential to research local crafts (for toys, board games, puppets and the ’toolkit-box’).

Sanjay lived with street children holding several workshops, playing games, etc. and drew the overall aesthetics of the toolkit from the children’s lives, the colors they used, their clothes (sometimes their absence), and their sense of humor. Based on the average characteristics and most popular among the children, puppets were characterized. The Children’s depictions of their sexual life-related matters were used in 32 exercise books that explained the intervention program to the trainers. Sanjay travelled around Karnataka to find the most appropriate crafts and artisans who could provide additional toolkits in future at a reasonable price. Based on the artisan’s advantages and limitations, he designed the training manuals, toys, board games, puppets, and the toolkit box.

Branding and logo design

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF) has emerged as a forum that facilitates the convergence of ideas, positions, and visions that aspire to strengthen the Indian nation and preserve her unity and integrity and contribute towards her progress and integral development.

Committed to the nationalist ideological vision and thoughts of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, SPMRF strives to strengthen and uphold issues and positions in tune with India’s national interest. It aims to identify the multifarious challenges before the nation and the people and attempts to bring about a greater awareness of these among a wider cross-section of our people.

After discussing with the organization team, Sanjay came up with a logo that portrayed – an origin, a treasure, fire, the Padmasana (Yogic posture of a lotus), and the removal of darkness. The logo also shows the foundation’s affiliation with the Bhartiya Janata Party, India as a think tank.

Editorial Illustrations

To explain and simplify complex economic scenarios and theories, Sanjay created these editorial illustrations for the Nepal’s esteemed economic magazine BOSS’s monthly centerpiece.

Project Report on Indigenous Media

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

At the head office, Sanjay checked the possibilities of replicating the Indigenous Media process and prototypes and assessed the responses and impacts. He also held workshops to see future courses for Indigenous Media efforts and to write proposals.

At the end of this pilot project, Sanjay extensively wrote a 400-page report explaining the timeline, methodology, and findings of the project, the relevance of using indigenous media in technique and message dissemination, the role of religion and culture in message dissemination, and the potential use of the digital media in such endeavors. The role visual communication plays in effective and precise technical knowledge transfer in absence of literacy was thoroughly researched and presented. For future reference, he defined and documented the Process Design of Indigenous Media production with sensitivity toward cultures, languages, religions, and issues.

Project Lead- Indigenous Media

A drastic turn of events had Sanjay competing with 300 candidates and being interviewed amongst five by the Ford Foundation to leads its pilot Indigenous Media Project in five Greater Himalayan countries. In two months’ time, Sanjay had to disassemble his established life and don the cap of a Development Professional, with pleasure, of course.

With the onset of New Media (i.e., usage of television, computers, and mobile phones) the communities were broadly beginning to be divided into haves and have-nots. Simply put, those with access to electricity and these new gadgets were at the front line of receiving new and useful information. However, those without access to electricity and new gadgets, most of whom were already illiterate or semi-literate, were increasingly being left behind. In effect, on the one hand, the world was developing leaps and bounds, and on the other, a large section of the underdeveloped population was being pushed back into the dark ages. Waiting for this section of the community to become literate and/or have access to new media would further widen the void. This alarming void needed to be addressed urgently.

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

Having selected appropriate partners, and visiting each of the project partners in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, Sanjay trained partners in creating Indigenous Media prototypes, visual communication, composition, storytelling, entertainment, problem-solving, acting, puppet making, prop making and directing and producing presentations disseminating livelihood and agriculture-related messages and processes.