Find out more about Kiran at #LearningPlanet :
January 24, 09:30 - 12:00 CET : Video session on GPS and the pioneers
January 24, 11:30 - 13:00 CET : Mégaphone - What if young people could demand new rights?
A graphic designer by training, Kiran Bir Sethi uses the language of design - iteration, prototyping, design specifications - to develop not only innovative curricula, but also community-based social programs.
A 1989 graduate of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, Kiran ran her own successful graphic design business for over ten years. She then turned her attention to education, founding the ‘Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India, which is now considered a prototyping laboratory for “design processes” enabling “transformative” learning experiences for students.
Kiran is also the founder of’aProCh, ainitiative to make our cities more child-friendly, for which she received the Ashoka Fellow Award in 2008. In 2009, she received the “Call to Conscience Award” from Stanford's King Centre.
In 2009, Kiran launched Design for Change (DFC), which uses a simple four-step design framework - FIDS (Feel, Imagine, Do, Share) - to cultivate the “I can” mindset in all children. Today, DFC is the world's largest movement for change - of children and by children - and is present in over 60 countries - impacting more than 2.2 million children and 65,000 Teachers.
What are your wishes for the #LearningPlanet community and for Design for Change as an integral part of that community?
We can't do it alone. There have always been discussions about collaboration, but they don't really lead to action (because of time, distance, etc.). the year 2020 turned this situation around; it really highlighted the desperate need for effective collaboration - there's so much good work being done by well-intentioned people. It was a year of preparation, a year of understanding how to forge greater alliances and let go of personal agendas. We are in a state of disarray, and COVID has highlighted the need for compassion as well as the inequality in the world.
If we are to achieve the 2030 Agenda, it is imperative that we work together for the greater good. At Riverside School and Design for Change, we believe in going into the room with an open heart (rather than an agenda) and collaborating. That's where you can serve and have the greatest impact.
How do you celebrate learning in your own organization?
Loud and clear! The celebration must be joyful, noisy and visible! It releases and radiates much of what is possible. We are a learning organization rather than a teaching organization; you must be and then you will do. You are always a work in progress. There's nothing wrong with not knowing everything, and that's a perfectly wonderful situation. We believe in a culture that celebrates this act of learning; where people are at the forefront, compassion and empathy will lead to the next step.
And on January 18, Riverside School celebrates its 20th anniversary! It's been a great journey so far, and it's exciting to reflect on such a global history and impact. The team has been consistently energetic, and recognized early on that the child's voice would be the driving force behind the program.
What lessons will you learn from 2020 for 2021?
I retain the real possibility of what can be: not the “what is”, but the “what would be”.
At Design for Change, children's stories became our “can'tagion”, and partners in every country worked on the “what if” mindset. They celebrated joyfully, noisily; this is what we chose to do on a daily basis to maintain hope and optimism.
We need to abandon the didactic, passive methods of learning used the world over. On the other hand, we must embrace and cling to the heart, and to the act of feeling good in order to do better. You can't teach it if you don't experience it; education has largely awakened to this concept. Hopefully, it will become a fundamental way of learning.
What do you think of the upcoming #LearningPlanet festival?
The festival is a great time to meet up with old friends and new, and a fantastic opportunity to cross paths online to see where we're all at today. I hope that by the end of the festival, we'll have translated the concepts in the white papers into small, tangible, collaborative steps, while we wait for the big ones to happen.
