I like the idea of moving through life by making. So, I draw, I build, and I’ve also been attempting to write. It all comes from what I’ve lived, the people I know, and the ones I’ll meet along the way.  
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CV


02

A tool that helps foster community dialogue about shared risks.
Consultancy
Tool Design + Information Design
2024-2025

In 2024, I worked as a consultant with a non-profit organisation in Bangalore to develop a suite of 5 tools to explore the policy and systemic factors that impact the well-being of women working in public spaces, primarily informal & formal waste pickers, street vendors, and sex workers.

I primarily contributed to three of these tools: a data collection tool to understand the infrastructure needs of women working in public spaces, a tool to foster community dialogue around shared risks, and a tool to collect household expenditure priorities and preferences for social protection measures. The suite also included a participatory community walk and legal awareness materials.


Testing the tool's mechanics with community facilitators


Marginalised communities face various challenges related to their work, access to services, and rights. There are currently limited spaces for people to share and reflect on these experiences. Civil society organisations working with these communities find it hard to gather nuanced, qualitative insights into their realities. Conventional methods, such as focus group discussions and structured interviews, are researcher or facilitator-driven, resulting in a lack of participant-led dialogue.

This tool is a modification of one of our existing tools, developed to capture people's experiences of policy implementation. It is intended to build solidarity within and across communities. Story-telling serves as an accessible medium for participants to be heard, feel less isolated and develop a sense of collective understanding built on shared experiences and challenges.

Representation of the tool set-up


In the tool, participants take on two roles–storytellers who share their experiences and listeners who respond to these stories. Across multiple rounds, storytellers move between themed booths representing either specific actors (such as Shopkeepers, Municipal Workers, Pedestrians, Police, and NGOs) or aspects of public space (such as Transport, Food and Nutrition, Rest Places, and Workplace Safety). 

Listeners are given two types of tokens to give to storytellers — circles to indicate familiar experiences and triangles to indicate new experiences. After receiving the tokens, the listeners place them on a central mat, creating a visual map of shared and unique experiences across communities. Once all rounds are completed, the facilitator then conducts a debrief to summarise the stories and uses the visual map to understand shared risks.

Tests with community members


A five-step iterative methodology was used to ideate, design, and refine the tool. The process began with problem formulation through interviews with individuals and organisations to explore community challenges, identities, access to public services, and social mobility; these insights informed the tool's objective. In the conceptual modelling phase, these findings were used to identify different themes rooted in lived experiences. The design was then tested with community facilitators, which led to simplified mechanics, making it more accessible across different literacies. Parallel discussions identified opportunities to embed the tool within existing programmes. Finally, outcomes and recommendations emerged from playtests with community members. 

Participants across several tests highlighted several potential uses for the game — within smaller gatherings and across different parts of a city — to build stronger community networks. Most appreciated the tool's ability to surface shared risks and foster an inclusive environment where experiences are validated and made visible.
Acknowledgements: Srinidhi, Sukanya, Nico, Anirudh, Yashwin, Pragati, Pranay, Karthik, Akhilesh, Bharat and Sruthi for all their advice; all the informal workers and community leaders who attended the sessions; and other civil society organisation partners.