Galli Galli Sim Sim Outreach to Positively Impact Thousands of Children Living in Slum Areas

In an effort to reach the thousands of young children without regular access to television, Sesame Workshop India, a subsidiary of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Galli Galli Sim Sim and other educational media for children, kicked off a mobile viewings program—bringing the series to local communities via a portable screen. By the end of 2006, the viewings, addressing the need for high quality early education, reached over 20,000 children aged 2-6 and their caregivers. Galli Galli Sim Sim is designed to promote the joy of learning and appreciation of cultural strengths, as well as foster understanding across differences through studio, animation and live action segments.

“Extending the reach of Galli Galli Sim Sim and reinforcing the educational goals is a key objective for Sesame Workshop India,” said Sashwati Banerjee, Executive Director of Sesame Workshop India. “Greater access to early educational experiences will not only serve this population’s immediate developmental and learning needs, but will also help provide them with a base for future success. Educational outreach is a key component of this early childhood initiative.”

When Galli Galli Sim Sim launched on Cartoon Network and  POGO in August, Sesame Workshop India also inaugurated its educational outreach with a “community viewing” in New Delhi. Over 2,500 children and their caregivers attended the show.  In a five-day pilot phase implemented shortly thereafter in ten of  the largest slums and resettlement colonies, over 4,200 children and their caregivers were exposed to Galli Galli Sim Sim through a branded van carrying a portable screening unit. Materials distributed at the event included activities for children and a “View and Do” activity sheet for caregivers, which served to reinforce and extend the educational goals of the show.  Funding for the initial educational outreach was provided by a corporate social responsibility grant from Turner Entertainment Networks Asia.

Galli Galli Sim Sim is the Indian version of the world-renowned children’s television series Sesame Street, and is aired on Cartoon Network, POGO and Doordarshan.  This multi media educational initiative by Turner India and Sesame Workshop introduces a unique concept of using mass media to promote joyful, fun-filled learning.  Targeted towards children between the age group of two to six years, their families, parents and caregivers, Galli Galli Sim Sim transcends socio-economic barriers and features lovable Muppets, animated segments and live-action films, with music, stories, and art drawn from various elements of Indian culture and regions of the country.

Commenting on the successful completion of the first phase of Galli Galli Sim Sim’s outreach initiatives, Soumitra Saha, Vice President, Regional Entertainment Advertising Sales for Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, Inc. (TENA) said, “Turner’s partnership with Sesame Workshop goes beyond television. Given how many young children in India don’t have access to basic educational and developmental needs, it is highly rewarding for Turner to partner with Sesame Workshop in their carefully created and well coordinated educational outreach programme to help fill this gap. With Turner’s initial contribution, we are in the early stages of working with Sesame Workshop India to develop programs that target a variety of unmet needs and reach India’s less fortunate children in rural and urban areas. It’s a vast task, but we hope that our combined efforts will be a positive force for change.” 

Raghib Anwar, Project Coordinator of Nayjyoti Foundation, a local NGO partner, confirms the enthusiastic response to the mobile community viewings. “For many children, the mobile viewings are their first exposure to educational programming,” he said. “Having the kit materials for both children and caregivers generates multiple interests and quite frankly, makes our jobs easier. We look forward to such community interventions at regular intervals—where children can learn from activity sheets—allowing the material to sink in.”

Based on the work in the pilot phase, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has awarded Sesame Workshop a grant, which the organization will use to support Sesame Workshop India to research, develop, and implement similar educational interventions in slum areas in India’s six largest cities such that there are measurable improvements in children’s learning outcomes. The initiative is estimated to reach over 1.5 million children and caregivers over the next five years. 

“Sesame Workshop India’s unique outreach program reaches large numbers of children and instills them with the power of learning at a very early age, which is extremely important in a country like India where several million children drop out of school before they reach the fifth grade,” said Barun Mohanty, Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in India.  “Equally impressive is Sesame Workshop India’s commitment to measuring its impact on learning levels to ensure sustainable, positive changes in early childhood education.  We are excited to help bring this program to India’s urban slums, as Sesame Workshop India draws upon its global expertise and lessons learned from similar communities in Egypt, South Africa and elsewhere.”

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.msdf.org) was established in 1999 by the Dell family to improve outcomes for children living in urban poverty.  With an endowment of more than $1 billion, the Foundation has committed more than $330,000 million to address children’s health and education issues globally. It has offices in Austin, Texas, USA, and New Delhi, India.

“Galli Galli Sim Sim can effectively meet the need for preschool enrichment in metro slum areas by affording entertaining, educational content via mass media for broad, cost-effective reach, and community-level educational programs for maximum impact,” said Banerjee.

Sites will receive educational kits or modules each year that each contains a detailed caregiver/teacher guide, materials for activities with children (e.g., posters, charts, flash cards, etc.), and activity sheets for children to use.  Caregivers will undergo training in the use of the audiovisual and educational materials. Educational content and training will be aimed at facilitating children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development as well as their school readiness.  To determine project impact at the child, caregiver, and community levels, Sesame Workshop India will conduct summative research that measures the reach and educational effectiveness of the project as well as the awareness and capacity generated.

Some of the other upcoming activities for Sesame Workshop India include the continuation of caregiver training and a child care center program. The training will encompass orientation to the vision and goals of Sesame Workshop India and more specifically, the effective use of educational materials developed by them, while the child care centre program will provide 11 balwadis/centers with a television, VCD player and printed Galli Galli Sim Sim materials. The organization will also continue its research on the effectiveness of the mobile screenings.

Galli Galli Sim Sim is committed to a long-term educational outreach campaign to reach India’s young children, particularly those most in need. Sesame Workshop in India is working with various NGOs to reach out to children across the country and distribute educational materials and activities which reinforce the educational potential of the series, promote public awareness and provide tools and information on various platforms that are accessible to parents and caregivers.

Contact

Pooja Ahluwalia
Turner International India Pvt. Ltd.
+91 11 416 99123, India
pooja.ahluwalia@turner.com