Independent (Gurkaran Bakshi)

I currently head the Communications team for Project DEFY, a Bangalore based non-profit organization that seeks to re-imagine education. We are flipping the script on the traditional approach to the mainstream schooling system. By establishing community learning spaces called Nooks, our mission is to ensure that communities get to design their own learning and education. Learners at the Nook have complete control over the learning process. They decide why they want to learn, what they want to learn and how they want to learn. At the Nook, learning is contextual, driven by purpose and curiosity. We are reimagining a new model of education, one that prioritizes Individual Aspirations, Community Wellbeing and Ecological Harmony. We want to bring learning back into people’s hands, so they can solve problems, create opportunities, and build fulfilling, sustainable lives for themselves. At the helm of this, is the need to craft a strong counter narrative, one that galvanizes public opinion. Me and my team are the centre of this narrative building. My vertical executes all the external and internal communication for the organization covering multiple stakeholders, including Citizens, Funders, Government and Civil Society.