COMMUNICATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT After understanding the demographics and ethnography of the village, we recognized a major problem pertaining

to education in the village. While people were enthusiastic to learn and were doing well on the academic front, there was no infrastructure to take this up a notch. There was no infrastructure for higher education be it in terms of institutes or colleges in the village. Enthusiastic students had to resort to going to bigger cities like Mumbai or Ratnagiri for higher education which was a major concern because of the huge investment that went into migrating to such places. Further there were no coaching institutes or career counselling available for guidance. The problem was Education, which is a major loophole as students couldnt continue studying because of lack of facilities. Since there was no means for higher education or career counselling, the education stopped at a level and so did the development. A lot of young minds willing to study were affected by the problem; however no one could do anything because of lack of resources and infrastructure in the village. It wasnt that the problem was not addressed in the village but no one could find available way out except opting for Ratnagiri or Mumbai and hence soon afterwards the attitude of the rest of the population became lax. Higher Education is a major need gap that existed when the village was accessed properly. There are just 24 teachers for high and junior school in total. While students are majorly meritorious and score 90%+, there is no scope for higher education in the village itself. The major occupation is Agriculture and people are not aware of other educational avenues apart from BSc and B.Com. There is hardly any awareness about engineering, medicine or other courses like MBA, CA and other professional qualifications. Apart from this the village doesnt have electricity the entire day on Mondays and Thursday. There are no movie theatres or cinema halls. The village is well equipped with cable, dish and Tata Sky. There is one cyber caf which is mainly used for booking railway tockets. Based on all this we came up with the communication problem: To understand the attitude of the people towards higher education in Malgund and use relevant media and communication mix to create awareness about higher education and effectively provide a solution to address the same

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
The model given to us, based on which we came up with a communication strategy was:

S - Simple that can be used at local level district and below M- Measurable for its effectiveness A Affordable by the local authority/people R- Replicable by simple need based modification and T- Time bound, can be completed in a few months We also based our communication strategy on ABCD approach being Audience, Behaviour, Condition and Degree. Based on these two approaches, we thought of a complete step wise guide for raising awareness about the issue and tried making a framework which would work for the village and eliminate the problem of higher education. Communication Problem I: Lack of Awareness about various career opportunities The first step in the process is to create awareness amongst the community about various other avenues like engineering, medicine and other professional courses. The communication strategy for creating this awareness would be through the use of mobile theatres to engage the audience. The Padhai Ki Gadi would have mobile theatre which would educate about the various educational options available through a short film. The films would be tailor made to educate the people about the various options available and what could be the growth from then on. For

instance a video about engineering would include the entire gamut of various colleges that offer engineering as a degree, what all goes in for its preparation and what would the future be like in case one becomes an engineer. The mobile theatre would generate enthusiasm and create a knowledge pool amongst people. Since Navratri is a festival celebrated with great enthusiasm and people in large numbers participate in this nine day long festival, Navratras can be used as an effective medium to spread awareness about various options available to students for further studies. A career mela can be set up in this setting. The career mela will have counsellors and various pamphlets which impart knowledge about various options available and which option will be best suited for a student. The career mela will have counsellors which can talk to students and parents and give a sound advice on what would be the best career alternative and the way to go about it. The counsellors can have a separate session with the 24 teachers in the village for knowledge sharing. After the knowledge sharing, the teachers should have a session in the cyber caf where they can impart the knowledge of how the internet can be used to increase ones knowledge pool and derive information. This would lead to the creation of awareness and a huge knowledge pool. Communication Problem II: Lack of coaching Institutes, Institutes for Professional Training Once awareness is created about the various professional courses that exist apart from B.Sc and B.Com, the government should take an initiative to open a professional institute that caters to the demand created in Malgund. Coaching Institutes would be a profitable business in such a village. The government should tie up with an NGO and set up a self-sustainable institute that trains students for entrance exams so that these students dont have to migrate to Ratnagiri or Mumbai or resort to agriculture. Another roadblock is the money involved in further education. National Banks should be approached for scholar loans which make it easier for these people to continue their education. MEDIA MIX

The media mix adopted for above strategies is Press Dailies (Loksatta, TOI, Lok Marathi) Youth Periodicals (MAD, Youthcurry) Use of newspapers to promote the Padhai Ki Gadi Television Advertisements ( Star Pravah, E Marathi) In Show Promotions ( IBN Lokmat) A new programme addressing everything related to education Online Awareness about the use of web for academic activities Career Newsletters

 Social Groups (Pagal guy) Educational blogs Online Coaching Radio Awareness programes ( Ratnagiri Radio) Special Promotions/Contests (Activations for career mela) Outdoor Conventional (All areas like colleges, schools and youth congregation points) Events Career Mela for awareness about the various courses available Career Counselling Sessions for students to understand which stream is the best fit for them.