The Happy Horizons Trust annual report summarizes the organization's activities in 2016-2017. It provides information on the education crisis in India that the trust addresses, an overview of its core projects like Project Jagriti and Youth Leadership Development Program, and updates on events and partnerships over the year. The report outlines the trust's mission to improve education quality in schools through intervention methods emphasizing soft skills, critical thinking, and activity-based learning.

1. ANNUALREPORT
2016-2017
HAPPY HORIZONS TRUST

2. © HAPPY HORIZONS TRUST
Registered under the India Trust Act, 1882
Regn No. : BK IV BNG-BMH 739 2012-2013
REGISTERED OFFICE
#305 Vasavi Pearl Apts, Celebrity Classic Layout,
Doddathoguru Village, Electronic City,
Bangalore, Karnataka, India 560100
DELHI OFFICE
G154, 1st Floor, Kalkaji, Delhi, India 110019
BIHAR OFFICE
Sharma Chowk, Simri Bakhtiarpur,
Saharsa 852127, Bihar, India
CONTACT US
Kshitiz Anand
kshitiz@happyhorizons.org
Mobile : +91 95352 06828
Website: www.happyhorizons.org
Email: info@happyhorizons.org
Facebook: facebook.com/happyhorizonstrust
Deeptanshu Pandey
deep@happyhorizons.org
Mobile: +91 83740 12411

3. To all the happiness we spread...

4. 4

5. 5
THE EDUCATION CRISIS
FROM THE TEAM
Founder’s Message
Core Team Members
Volunteers
Champions
OUR CORE BELIEFS
Education for Development
Creating Sysmetic Impact
Local Changemakers Ecosystem
PROJECT UPDATES
Project Jagriti
Project Jigyasa
Digital Literacy and Internet Awareness
Youth Leadership Development Program
Learning Through Videos
Teacher Training and Leadership Development
MAJOR EVENTS
3rd Annual Day Celebrations, 2016
Annual Meetup @ Delhi & Excursion
Typography Workshop @ New Delhi World Book Fair
Library in a classroom Kit Launch
Social Entrepreneurs and Entreprises Event participation
Volunteer Meet in Delhi
Volunteer Meet in Bangalore
Volunteer Testimonials
COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERS
FINANCES AND AUDITS
12A & 80G certifications
Financial Audits FY 2015-2016
Thank you Donors
WHAT LIES AHEAD
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CONTENTS

6. 6
THE EDUCATION CRISIS
The most pressing problem of our times is the
low quality of education.
How do we address it?

7. 7

8. 8
About 50% of children in class 5
cannot read a class 2 paragraph
fluently. Inability to write is a
major cause of concern too.
Over 60% of children in India suf-
fer from malnutrition, resulting in
stunted growth and low motor skills.
Many students feel left behind.
Rote learning over the years has
reduced the thinking capacity of
students. Students are not
encouraged to ask questions.
Only 20% of graduates are employable
directly, without any external training.
Many are clueless about careers even
after graduation.
India faces a shortage of nearly 1.4
million trained teachers. Even
existing teachers need better
training to drive learning.

9. 9
“Give the pupils something to do, not something to
learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to
demand thinking; learning naturally results.”
― John Dewey

10. 10
FROM THE TEAM
Nothing is possible without a good team.
We are glad to see the team grow across our
different centers and people take up more
responsibility.
We welcome you to be a part of our journey.

11. 11

12. 12
Education is such a vast discipline to work in and it requires the
change at a systemic level. Happy Horizons Trust’s, vision is that one
day all the schools will offer quality education to the individual, that
focuses on the overall development of the child. Our mission is to
improve the quality of education in the schools through intervention
methods that emphasize on developing soft skills (communication,
reading, writing); critical thinking abilities, activity based learning at
the primary school level and better teaching methods.
It continues to be an amazing journey for us. Our motto is Education
for development and we firmly believe in it. Education does not have
any boundary. Getting quality education is a basic right for every indi-
vidual but what is delivered in many schools across the country is not
quality. Books provide us knowledge but not aware of practicalities
of our day to day issues. We have to go beyond being just literate
to being educated. At the Happy Horizons Trust, we conduct several
engaging and entertaining activities by applying alternative methods
which provide knowledge of lifeskills, skills development.
Hailing from Bihar, we have seen poverty from close quarters. We
firmly believe that a good quality education can lead a family out of
poverty. This has been our driving force over the years. At the Trust,
we are trying to improve on the quality of education, help the stu-
dents to be mentally strong and trying to bridge the gap between the
students and their parents.
The area of our projects, the number of schools, team members and
volunteers have increased last year. This motivates us to work more
moving into new year. We would be happy to welcome more people
who believe in us and in joining our hands for the cause we work on.
Thank you all for the support so far.
We have expanded our work more in rural areas and we have a larger
team with us now. We are a 4 years old organization now and as we
move into the 5th year, we are gathered with more supporting hands,
enthusiasm and motivation from the people who believe in the cause
that we are working on.
- Vatsala & Kshitiz
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE

13. 13
Vatsala
President & Head of Operations
Kshitiz Anand
Managing Trustee, Strategy
Ruchi Anand
Education, Training & Partnerships
Rakesh Ranjan
Project Management, CSR Relations
Manish Pathak
Strategy & Finance
Deeptanshu Pandey
Marketing & Communication
Vinay Kumar
Project Manager, Bihar
Sonu Kumar
IT Instructor, Bihar
Chandni Modi
Coordinator
CORE TEAM MEMBERS

14. 14
Abhishek Kumar
Volunteer Coordinator
Bangalore
Puja Raj
Volunteer Coordinator
Delhi
Ritu Raj
Volunteer, Delhi
Nidhi
Volunteer, Delhi
Pooja Patel
Volunteer, Delhi
Shreya Shetty
Volunteer, Bangalore
Adi Shesh
Volunteer, Bangalore
Priyanka K
Volunteer, Bangalore
VOLUNTEERS

15. 15
Jyoti Nigar Parween Neda Afreen
Mani Bharti Jyoti Julie Kumari
Neha Kumari Farhana Komal Bhagat
Neha Kumari Ladli Kumari Deepika Kumari
CHAMPIONS

16. 16
OUR CORE BELIEFS
For our nation to develop, it is important
that we develop the rural areas. This can
only happen by creating local change at the
grassroots levels.

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19
EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
The low quality of graduates today is a result of a weak Primary school
education. It is difficult to think of building on a weak foundation,
for then it is just trying to play catchup and damage control. A lot of
efforts need to be put into improving the quality of education in the
primary schools. At the same time, we have an immensely energetic
youth waiting to get guidance and mentoring to drive change in so-
ciety. Our theory of change proposes to guide the youth with a Youth
Leadership Development Program. A key part of their responsibility is
to strengthen the primary school education system, through careful-
ly designed intervention programs that emphasize on activity based
learning, storytelling, participatory learning, arts and crafts activity.
These are critical inputs to the child’s learning that is often missing in
the schools today.
So, we have two clearly identified problems. One is the low quality
of education in primary schools and other is the unguided youth. The
theory of change started with this very simple question. “How might
we create a strong local system by which the youth can contribute
back to the society and improve the quality of education?” We can-
not further compromise on the quality of education in schools. Till
a few years ago, the problem was the enrolment. But now that it
has been solved, the biggest problem facing us social entrepreneurs
working in education is that of quality. Better educated people would
mean better employment and better upbringing of the families.
Our work is unique for it looks at strengthening the local ecosystem,
by creating local change makers within the society. These empow-
ered youths become role models and serve as inspiration for the oth-
ers. For the youth who go through our programs or are associated
with our trust, we provide mentoring towards higher education, en-
trepreneurship and various other career options. In the short term,
this results in a positive impact within the family and in the long term
within the society.

20. 20

21. 21
CREATING SYSTEMIC IMPACT
Our mission is to use Design, Technology and Creativity to improve
the quality of education in schools in India and bring about a systemic
change!
Our larger vision is towards whole school transformations. But inorder
to do that, we need to break that down into multiple smaller projects,
that work in harmony. We have identified the different components of
the system and the role they play.
We spent considerable time in understanding the problem space
from the perspective of the different stakeholders (students, teachers,
parents, government, development organizations) and how we can
engage them to bring out the systemic change.
We are currently working on strengthening the primary school educa-
tion through a Youth Leadership Development Program in the form
of a 2 to 3 year fellowship. In the long run, post fellowship the em-
powered youths are later inculcated back into the system as trained
teachers and entrepreneurs.
It is important to work on multiple smaller projects to think of the sys-
temic change. The challenge with working with wicked problems is
that there is no one problem. The Kosi region of Bihar is flood-prone
every year. Once a hotbed for Polio in India, it’s a place for other
health challenges like malnutrition and high infant mortality. It has
amongst the lowest literacy rates and is home to extremely backward
class communities, where early child marriage is a normal thing and
women become grandmothers by 40.
Almost every household has someone living outside the state in
search of livelihood, for not much opportunities for local employment
exists. Add to this that the state has had a history of bad law and or-
der due to polity that is driven by caste based politics. When you put
these together, you get a social fabric that is immensely complicated
to work with. We work in these areas where we firmly believe that a
better education is the key to development.
This complex social fabric offers immense challenges to work towards
creating any substantial impact. It is time taking and can get really
frustrating at times too.

22. 22

23. 23
LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS ECOSYSTEM
There is only one way to bring about change at the grassroots level,
and that is to empower the local. The dysfunctional public education
system has resulted in the rise of private school education in India,
to seek for better quality education for the child. Since a majority of
the children go to public schools, there is a substantial number of
students who get left out of good quality education. This low quality
of graduates is a major problem for it results in a huge number of
unemployable graduates.
There are two main problems that we have idenfitied with the local
ecosystem. Firstly, a lot of efforts need to be put into improving the
quality of education in the primary schools to be able to build a strong
foundation. At the same time, we have an immensely energetic youth
waiting to get guidance and mentoring to drive change in society.
It is our vision that over the years we can put back into the system
more empowered and trained youth who have a genuine interest in
teaching and discharge their duty with utmost dignity and think for
the larger benefit of the society. Over the years, successfully, we have
provided employment to a few local people. We have literally seen
the employees groom in their responsibility and that gives us huge
confidence.
Our theory of change proposes to guide and train the youth so that
they become the key participants in the development of the local
ecosystem. At the trust we take this as a responsibility to be able to
create more local employment.
Our work is unique for it looks at strengthening the local ecosystem,
by creating local change makers within the society. These empowered
youths become role models and serve as inspiration for the others.
For the youth who go through our programs or are associated with
our trust, we provide mentoring towards higher education, entrepre-
neurship and various other career options.
In the short term, this results in a positive impact within the family and
in the long term within the society.

24. 24
PROJECT UPDATES
From consolidating on old projects to launching
new ones. The only way to know if an idea will
work is to try it out. Thats what keeps us
moving.

25. 25

26. 26
Story telling and book reading sessions in Delhi and Bihar

27. 27
PROJECT JAGRITI
The word Jagriti (Hindi) means Awakening.
The project earlier called the Pick Me, Click Me, Educate Me Project,
aims to do just this. It allows the students to understand the different
aspects of education, resulting in increased motivation amongst
them.
The project uses Activity Based Learning and Alternative Learning
methods to improve the quality of education. The sessions in the
schools are conducted by the Champions, who are selected under
the Youth Leadership Development Program. They are required to
spend 2 hrs a week, one school at a time.
Mapping of the champions is done in way that there is atleast one
dedicated volunteer/champion for each school.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
• To motivate children to attend schools.
• To make learning fun and engaging
• To visit schools across different parts of Bihar & impart education
outside the books, related to life skills, creative skills,
basic health and career counselling
• To improve the quality of education by using alternative
learning methods and creative learning.
PROJECT FOCUS
Enhance the child’s motor skills.
Inculcate a habit of reading and improve the reading ability.
Enhance the child’s speaking and communication skills.
Instill self confidence amongst self and peers.
Improve writing skills and basic arithmetic.
PROJECT OUTREACH
12 Schools, 4 Blocks , 3 Districts, 3600 Students

28. 28
Date Champion's name School's name Conducted Activities
01-Apr-16 Nidhi Shrivastava New Primary School ,Pharpur
Storytelling
Writing
01-Apr-16 Neha kumari Middle School,Ranginia
Storytelling
Book Reading
07-Apr-16 Nidhi Shrivastava New Primary School ,Pharpur
Book Reading
Writing
06-Aug-16 Nigar Middle School,Ranginia
Book Reading
Art & craft
10-Aug-16 Nigar Middle School,Ranginia
Book Reading
Writing
11-Aug-16
Jyoti kumari
Komal bhagat
Middle school ,Shani tola,Sbpur
Book Reading
Writing
12-Aug-16 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Writing
13-Aug-16
Neda Afreen
Nigar
Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Cap Making Workshop
storytelling
13-Aug-16 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktab School storytelling
16-Aug-16
Jyoti Shrivastava
Jyoti kumari
Komal bhagat
Middle School ,Shani tola,Sbpur Rakhi Making Workshop
23-Aug-16 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Storytelling
24-Aug-16 Komal bhagat New Primary School,Sbpur
Book Reading
Storytelling
26-Aug-16 Neha kumari Middle School, Ranginia
Book Reading
Writing
30-Aug-16 Neha kumari Middle School, Ranginia
Book Reading
Storytelling
01-Sep-16 Neha kumari Middle School, Ranginia
Storytelling
Writing
Log of Sessions conducted by champions

29. 29
02-Sep-16 Komal bhagat New Primary School,Sbpur
Drawing
Storytelling
03-Sep-16 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Drawing
Storytelling
04-Sep-16
Nigar
Neha kumari
Middle School, Ranginia
Shortplay
Storytelling
06-Sep-16 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Storytelling
08-Sep-16 Jyoti kumari Middle school ,Shani tola,Sbpur
Book Reading
Storytelling
20-Sep-16 Jyoti kumari Middle school ,Shani tola,Sbpur
Book Reading
Writing
17-Oct-16 Komal bhagat New Primary School,Sbpur
Storytelling
Writing
19-Oct-16 Jyoti kumari Middle school ,Shani tola,Sbpur
Book Reading
Writing
28-Oct-16
Jyoti Shrivastava
Neda Afreen
Farhana
New Primary School,Sbpur
Rangoli
Storytelling
28-Oct-16
Komal bhagat
Jyoti kumari
Neha kumari
New Primary School,Sbpur Storytelling
02-Nov-16 Nigar Middle School,Chakbharho
Book Reading
Storytelling
06-Nov-16 Neha kumari Middle School,Ranginia
Storytelling
Writing
07-Nov-16
Farhana
Neda Afreen
Kanya Prabha Maktab Scool Sports
07-Nov-16
Neha kumari
Komal bhagat
Jyoti kumari
Kanya Prabha Maktab Scool Sports
11-Nov-16 Nigar Middle School,Chakbharho
Art & craft
Storytelling
Log of Sessions conducted by champions

30. 30
14-Nov-16 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Storytelling
Writing
29-Nov-16 Neha kumari Middle School,Ranginia
Storytelling
Writing
07-Dec-16 Neda Afreen Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Storytelling
Writing
13-Dec-16 Neda Afreen Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Book Reading
Writing
19-Dec-16 Komal bhagat New Primary School,Sbpur
Rangoli
Storytelling
24-Dec-16
Jyoti Shrivastava
Jyoti kumari
Middle School, Raipura,Bhoraha
Cap Making Workshop
Storytelling
24-Dec-16
Juli kumari
Laddly kumari
Neha kumari
Nigar
Middle school, Bhan
Thekti,Mathahi
Cap Making Workshop
Storytelling
13-Jan-17 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School, Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Writing
15-Jan-17
Neda Afreen
Farhana
Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Book Reading
Writing
18-Jan-17 Neda Afreen Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Storytelling
Writing
23-Jan-17 Nigar Middle School ,Ranginia
Book Reading
Storytelling
24-Jan-17 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Storytelling
25-Jan-17 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Book Reading
Storytelling
29-Jan-17
Jyoti Shrivastava
Neha kumari
Jyoti kumari
Nigar
Bihar Office
Art & craft
Storytelling
Log of Sessions conducted by champions

31. 31
04-Feb-17 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Book Reading
Writing
02-Feb Nigar Middle School,Chakbharho
Book Reading
Writing
10-Feb-17 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Writing
11-Feb-17 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktab School
Book Reading
Writing
17-Feb-17 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Book Reading
Storytelling
18-Feb-17 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktaab School
Book Reading
Writing
01-Mar-17 Neha Middle School ,Raginya
Book Reading
Writing
03-Mar-17 Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School,Raipura,Bhoraha
Word game
Writing
Storytelling
04-Mar-17
Puja Raj
Pooja Patel
Ritu Raj
Azad Park, Delhi Storytelling
04-Mar-17 Jyoti kumari Middle school Julhatoli,Sbpur
Book Reading
Writing
06-Mar-17 Komal kumari New primary school,Sbpur
Word game
Poem
Storytelling
07-Mar-17 Neha kumari Middle school ,Raginya
Book Reading
Storytelling
Writing
09-Mar-17 Nigar Middle School,Chakbharho
Storytelling
Book Reading
Log of Sessions conducted by champions

32. 32
10-Mar-17
Neha kumari
Laddly kumari
Utkramit Madhya
vidhyalay,Bhan tekathi,Mathayi
Storytelling
Book Reading
10-Mar-17
Juli kumari
Jyoti kumari
Komal kumari
Utkramit Madhya
Vidhyalay,Bhan tekathi,Mathayi
Storytelling
Book Reading
10-Mar-17 Jyoti Shrivastava
Middle School, Raipura,
Bhoraha Storytelling
11-Mar-17 Komla kumari New Primary School,Sbpur
Painting
Storytelling
11-Mar-17
Jyoti kumari
Neha kumari
Jyoti Shrivastava Middle School Julhatoli,Sbpur
Drawing
Storytelling
15-Mar-17 Neha kumari Middle school ,Raginya Storytelling
16-Mar-17 Nigar Middle School,Chakbharho
Book Reading
Writing
25-Mar-17 Farhana Kanya Prabha Maktaab School
Storytelling
Writing
25-Mar-17
Vatsala
Ritu Raj
Deeptanshu
Tilak Bridge, Delhi Storytelling
27-Mar-17 Komal kumari New primary School, Sbpur
Storytelling
Word game
28-Mar-17 Jyoti kumari Middle school Julhatoli, Sbpur
Storytelling
Book Reading
28-Mar-17 Neha kumari Middle school, Raginya
Storytelling
Writing
29-Mar-17
Juli kumari
Neha Kumari
Laddly Kumari
Utkramit Madhya Vidyalay,
Tekhati Mathahi
Book reading
Writing
Log of Sessions conducted by champions

33. 33
Champions conducting sessions amongst different students

34. 34
Book design workshops at a High School in Bihar as a part of Project Jigyasa

35. 35
PROJECT JIGYASA
The word Jigyasa (Hindi) means the curiosity to know things. From
this year onwards we expanded the outreach of this project to also
focus on enhancing the student’s motor skills. The students have low
motor skills due to stunted growth and malnutrition during their first
5 years of upbringing. As a result, there is a possibility of enhanching
the creative side of the person as well.
Art and Craft activities are an integral part of this workshops. Every
session in this project comprises of sessions on Storytelling, Infor-
mation about how to create Illustrations, craftwork and present their
work. Students work in teams and therefore pickup aspects of team-
work, working in constraints, time management etc.
When the students are required to create a book as a part of this
workshop, the students are required to conceptualize a story, think
about the characters, illustrate the story and then put it out in the
format of a book. When there is a session around a festival planned,
the students are told the story behind the festival and then a related
activity is conducted.
Through this initiative of the Happy Horizons Trust, it also aims to
explore the different aspects of arts, crafts and design to the children
and bring about a sense of awareness about different career options
like Graphic Designing, Writer, Illustrator. The project allows us to
bring smiles to children, and have a long lasting impression on the
children, for something that they will cherish forever.
PROJECT OUTREACH
4 Schools, 15 Sessions, 500+ Students

36. 36
Craft sessions in Cap making and Kite Making conducted by the champions

37. 37
Craft sessions during festivals, Christmas Cap making and making Holi posters

38. 38
Digital Literacy classes at our IT center in Simri Bakhtiarpur, Bihar

39. 39
DIGITAL LITERACY & INTERNET AWARENESS
A program to empower the youth with the understanding of technol-
ogy and its usages. With ample research to show that children can
pick up using technology very quickly, we seek to create a program
that enables children and youth to understand technology, its powers
and avenues for accessing information, materials for education and
ability to do tasks online, and a larger goal of empowering them to
bring positive change in the society.
COURSE OUTLINE
Basic Fundamentals of Computers
History of Computers & Types of Network
Windows Operating System
Basics of Word, Excel, Powerpoint
Introduction to Internet and Browsers
Understanding Search Engines (Google)
Netiquettes, Surfing with an understanding of Security
Emails: From id to message creation & usage with attachments
Accessing Social sites (Facebook, Twitter etc.)
Communication Tools: Chatting, Video Conferencing (Skype)
Utilities: Ticket Booking, Payment of bills
Government sites and RTI
Online Shopping
Online form submission for examinations and job vacancies
Money Transfer, Net Banking
Use of Internet through Mobile, Internet on Tablet device
Introduction to Online Education and MOOCs
Google Drive
The program is run at a nominal fees to cover the cost for
the running of the center.
PROJECT OUTREACH
1 Training center, 5 Systems, 300 Students cetrified so far

40. 40
Champions celebrating 4 years of completion of HHT

41. 41
YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
We at HHT believe that youths especially girls have a great energy
and potential to be able to make a difference. All that these youths
need is a platform, support, mentoring and guidance. Through our
Youth Leadership Development Program we aim to empower the
youths in rural and semi-urban areas in India to become local change
makers, contributing to the development of society. We call these
female youths as Champions because we believe that they are not
less than champions. They are the ones who make the process of
learning fun and engaging.
Champions, unlike others, don’t just bring the change, but be the
change. They get involved in adopting and implementing everything
they learn and bring it forth for benefit of others. Gradually these
champions turn out to be a leader. However, no one is born cham-
pion but they are groomed to become one. That is why we train our
champions for a period of 3 years at regular intervals.
The shortlisted students from Girls High School go through a strin-
gent 6 step qualifying steps of Reading ability, Writing skills, Extem-
pore public speakings, Group discussion, Personal interview and Par-
ent’s interview to be selected as Champions.
During their first year of training, we engage them in conducting ac-
tivities in primary schools such as Book reading, storytelling, art and
craft etc. Gradually, with experience, during 2nd year, champions
maintain logs, mentor Junior champions, they are trained at Digital
Literacy, they give talk across villages about environment cleanliness,
hygiene maintenance and how these petty actions lead a child’s
health toward education.
They also discuss about the importance of education and govern-
ment schemes with parents so that they feel equally motivated to
educate their children. In the final year, our champions organize and
manage events of organization, with the digital literacy provided to
them, they update about their work and project reporting on Internet.
By the end of 3 year training, champions get confident enough to talk
in front of people and lead them; they are better skilled in teaching
while making it fun and engaging the result of which they are offered
as roles of a teacher in the low fee (affordable) private schools.
PROJECT OUTREACH
3 districts, 16 Champions so far.

42. 42
Film screenings during Learning Through Videos project at various schools

43. 43
LEARNING THROUGH VIDEOS
As proponents of alternative learning, we strongly believe in the
power of learning through videos and other media. Among different
projects of Happy Horizons Trust, Learning through Videos has been
the most successful and outreaching project. Videos has a greater
impact than printed books. Sight and sound of videos stimulates our
sensory motor and captures quick attention. Unlike any other method
of learning, Learning through videos keeps maintaining interests of
students for longer period of time, rather than getting distracted.
In May 2015, the “Learning through Videos” was started in collabo-
ration with Children’s Film Society of India, Mumbai and it was highly
successful. During our 4 months session of this project, we outreached
to over 25000 students. With the amazing response from the kids and
schools, we continued with this project again the following year in
different schools of several districts of Bihar. The project this time ran
from from October till December 2016, owing to better climate con-
ditions. We were able to outreach to 22776 students this time.
We projected the films that are aimed at cultural sensitization, know-
ing about different cultures of the world, storytelling and building in
students a sense of inquisitiveness towards how to do things. To en-
courage more public participation, the screenings were done either
in classrooms or at public spaces.
As part of the project this year, 100 screenings of different films were
conducted across 6 different districts in Bihar (Saharsa, Madhepura,
Supaul, Purnea, Katihar, Khagaria). As a follow up to these screenings
we engaged with students in discussions on filmmaking, storytelling
and cultures of the world. These discussions have a more lasting im-
pact on these young minds, as they are able to connect with it.
PROJECT OUTREACH THIS YEAR
24 Schools, 106 Screenings, 6 Districts, 22776 Students

44. 44
Training teachers on how to enhance the reading level amongst students

45. 45
TEACHER TRAINING & LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
To educate is to lead young minds. We need educators who believes
in the potential of each child. India has a shortage of around 1.4 mil-
lion teachers. Around 6000 schools in India do not have a teacher
at all! One of the drawbacks we have observed is the low quality of
teaching that exists across schools. The problems could be related to
multiple things. From lack of interest to overburden of administrative
work to disinterested students. However, it is the imperative of the
teacher to ensure that learning happens in the best possible manner.
Our Teacher Training & Leadership Development program is aimed
at enhancing the capacity of the teachers in the schools. The pro-
gram is delivered through a series of training and workshop working
closely with the school management across different schools (both
rural and urban) in India. The program gives a better understanding
of the social, economic and cultural aspects of education by means
of holistic development of teachers while imparting education. The
modules are designed to provide a 360 degree training to the teach-
ers in schools to enhance their teaching skills and make them better
at leadership.

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MAJOR EVENTS

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Snapshots from the Annual Day function on 24th April 2016

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3rd ANNUAL DAY CELEBRATIONS, 2016
As every year on the 24th April, the annual day was celebrated at
Simri Bakhtiarpur, Saharsa district, Bihar.
The event was attended by multiple stakeholders of the society
including the teachers of the partner schools, students, parents/
guardians and other respected personalities of the society.
The Chief Guest was Shri Mahendra Narayan Prasad, one of the most
respected and the oldest teacher of Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Saharsa.
He appreciated the efforts by the trust to bring about more
empowerment and the emphasis on enhanching the quality of
education.
The event was a huge success with our champions, partner schools
and core team members putting in a lot of effort to make it happen.
The champions enthralled the audience with a song and dance
performance highlighting women empowerment.
The champions were awarded trophies for all their hard work in
conducting the sessions in the schools.

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Attendees during the Annual Meetup in Delhi, December 2016

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ANNUAL MEETUP @ DELHI EXCURSION
On 11th December, 2016 we organised the Annual Meetup at our
Delhi HHT’s office. The event was aimed at sharing stories, experienc-
es and challenges in working in the field of education by the entire
team. The purpose of this meet up was also to give an exposure to
our champions, instructors and manager working in Bihar.
In the meeting, champions Nigar, Jyoti, Komal and Neha shared their
experiences with the kids so far. Nigar talked about how she used
an example of ‘Ganesh ji ne kitne Laddu khae’ to teach addition and
subtraction to the kids. Our Project Manager, Vinay and IT instruc-
tor, Sonu also shared their experiences and viewpoints. They also
thanked HHT for providing them a platform that helped them in their
personal development.
The event was followed by an interactive session on child psychology
by our Delhi based volunteer Pooja Patel. Core team member Rakesh
Ranjan, and guest teachers Rekha and Rashmi gave suggestions to
enhance the teaching and pedagogy skills.
Our esteemed guest Shri Pradeep ji, from Pratham Infotech also
shared his thoughts on Digital Literacy and ways to enhance learning
through videos.
Lastly, our Managing Trustee, Kshitiz Anand and President, Vatsala
narrated about the foundation story of the organization. They told
about how this journey for change started in 2008 and were officially
shaped as an organization in the year 2012. They thanked everyone
for believing in the cause and for associating with them since past 4
years.
On the 12th of December, the team had a day long excursion to Agra
visiting the Taj Mahal.
This is an annual event that we will hope to organise every year.

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Sharing stories and getting feedbacks from other participants during Annual Meetup

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Team from Bihar meet the team from Delhi during the Annual meetup in Delhi

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Champions during their visit to Taj Mahal, Agra

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MAJOR EVENTS
The team from Bihar at the Taj Mahal excursion tour

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Fun with Type workshop during the New Delhi World Book Fair, January 2017

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TYPOGRAPHY WORKSHOP AT NEW DELHI
WORLD BOOK FAIR
Children need to have more fun in their learning experiences.
Typography is a technique and style of arranging letters, words, num-
bers and symbols with different font size and styles to make the ap-
pearance of language appealing, creative and readable.
This year New Delhi World Book Fair 2017 organized by National
Book Trust was scheduled to be from 7 to 15th January 2017. The
book fair brought the participation from over 20 countries. More than
200 publication houses had their stalls; over 400 literary programmes
were organized. And on such a big platform, Happy Horizons Trust
was selected to conduct the Fun with Type: the Typography Work-
shop on the 12th January at the Children’s Pavilion.
It was indeed a proud moment for us. We got the opportunity to
bring Typography workshop for the first time on such a huge plat-
form. We were allotted only 15-17 minutes for the workshop and it
was a challenge for us to do the workshop in that limited time.
A huge shout out to the entire team of HHT who had planned out in
details, used time management strategies and did resource collation
beforehand due to which we were able to complete the workshop in
time and as we had planned.
On the day of execution, the workshop was facilitated by our manag-
ing trustee, Kshitiz and the volunteers helped for the execution which
led to the success of the workshop. Children enthusiastically took
part and finished making posters on time during which they learn the
art of typography with fun. This workshop helped us learning the skills
of time management and teamwork

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Distribution of Library in a Classroom Kit to partner schools in Bihar

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LIBRARY IN A CLASSROOM KIT LAUNCH WITH
PARTNER SCHOOLS
One of the major problems in schools in rural areas is the lack of
availability of story books. Imagine a classroom with kids and a fewer
number of books to read. We thought of providing some books in
the classroom and what could be a better option than Pratham Books
‘Library-in-a-Classroom’ kit.
Happy Horizons Trust is a proud recipient of the ‘Library in a Class-
room Kit’ Grant. With immense joy, we donated three kits to Uth-
kramit Madhya Vidhyalaya, Julahtoli, Tagore Public School and Rose
Valley Senior Secondary School, Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Saharsa. We are
thankful to the school principals for the support.
It is our constant endeavor to put emphasis on getting more children
in India to read. We are immensely thankful to Pratham Books for this
grant and we look forward to spreading the joy of reading amongst
more children in rural India. We want to see more students are able
to read well.
As a part of this program, we introduced the concept of Reading
Captain in each class. A Reading Captain is appointed for a month,
and will look to it that more children in his/her class read these stories
books. Schools benefiting from this program were requested to allo-
cate reading and storytelling periods in the timetable.
As a part of this project, our Managing Trustee, Kshitiz Anand and
President Vatsala also explained the different reading levels, the way
to assess the students and how to conduct better reading sessions.
This information was also shared with the teachers, so that they could
pay special attention to identifying the reading levels of the students.

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HHT at the Social Entrepreneurs and Enterprises event in Bangalore

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS ENTERPRISES
EVENT PARTICIPATION
As a part of our outreach strategy this year, we started to participate
in more events. Participation in these events also allow us to get val-
idation of our work and get critical feedback on how to take things
foward. This is extremely useful in the development sector, where the
challenges to getting substantial work done is immense and some
sort of guidance is always welcome.
The IIT Kanpur Alumni Association of Bangalore in association with
the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association, conducted the event Social En-
trepreneurs and Enterprises 4th March, 2017. The objective of Social
Entrepreneurs and Enterprises event was to share insights with Social
Entrepreneurs on potential Business Models, funding routes, mentor-
ing and Partnerships and to inspire and create awareness about social
entrepreneurship as a serious and viable option for the youth.
As a Social Entrepreneur, an ambitious and persistent individual tack-
ling major social issues, our Managing Trustee, Kshitiz Anand was
invited to speak about the work at Happy Horizons Trust. He spoke
about the journey he had faced while shaping Happy Horizons Trust
as an organization, the challenges that he and his team members
faced while working in the villages of rural Bihar and how they over-
came all of them.
The event also had speakers from all over India who are working on
major social causes. It was a treat to listen to each one of them and at
the same time also share our own experiences with Happy Horizons
Trust.
During this event we also explored potential partnerships and putting
together a larger network of mentors for the trust and its activities.

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VOLUNTEERS MEET IN DELHI

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Sessions at Azad Park and Tilak Bridge, Delhi conducted by our Delhi Volunteers

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VOLUNTEERS MEET IN BANGALORE

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Story telling and activity sessions conducted by our volunteers in Bangalore

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My alignment with HHT was in 2016. Being an introvert person, I was given a
platform to explore myself . It provided me opportunities to put forward my views
ideas. It has boosted the level of confidence within me . I also came to know my
other talents like leadership quality, managing skills through the sessions which
used to be conducted. Lastly, I would like to say that this organization is helping
me in evolving a lot nurturing myself.
- Nidhi Kumari, Volunteer, Delhi
I always wanted to be a part of some social cause besides my major in any field.
To an extent, I did a part during my graduation, but it all stopped with the end
of graduation degree. After two years of graduation, while exploring the social
media, I came across HHT and its agenda matching with my inclinations. Un-
like other organizations, HHT is not just working to resolve the existing problem
in education system, but also to dissolve the problem to occur in future. I joined
HHT Delhi in September 2016 as a content writer and volunteer. By then, field
work like taking sessions with children has not started in Delhi as there were no
other volunteers. But soon enough with the guidelines of our core team members;
I started my hunt for interested and enthusiastic volunteers. Within short span of
time, there are around 8 other volunteers. And now I coordinate them as Delhi
Coordinator and lead them. Also as content writer, I got the best exposure to feel
the problems within education sector and express them in my words to reach out
people through an organization. My journey with HHT by now has been a great
learning experience which helped me to improve my writing skill as well as to find
a leader in me. Hopefully this journey will get even better in the days that follow.
- Puja Raj, Volunteer Coordinator, Delhi
I joined HHT through my sister which become the reason of great change in my
daily schedule and my life too. As I entered and joined HHT 6 months ago I feel the
same dedication and commitment to work with it till now. And my dedication and
commitment has become stronger after the story telling session in Azad Park and
Tilak bridge. After attending these two sessions I deeply understand the problem
of education system. Children are like clay, you can shape them the way you can.
After these two sessions, I feel that along with studies, students also need physi-
cal and mental development activities. We organize storytelling sessions, fun and
crafts sessions, learning through videos activities. I have also got the wonderful
experience on some new aspects like fun with typography which we did in World
Book Fair in January. Through this, I also learned some different things by my
performance with HHT. I felt so good when I completed my task with the group
of disabled students and helped them in fun and crafts activities.That time, I felt
a great change within me as I never helped any physically disabled and handi-
capped people.I always wanted to help this kind of people, but it all becomes true
with HHT only and I am thankful for the opportunity.
- Ritu Raj, Volunteer, Delhi

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Volunteering increases self-confidence. The more
we give, the happier we feel. You are doing good
for others and the community, which provides a
natural sense of accomplishment. Your role as a
volunteer can also give you a sense of pride and
identity.

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COLLABORATORS AND PARTNERS

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Happy Horizons Trust partners with Teach for India for its Youth
Leadership Development Program, featured in the Teach for India X
fellowship. Managing Trustee Kshitiz Anand is selected as a TFIx
fellow. Over the year 2017-2018, Teach for India will provide
mentoring to HHT.
Happy Horizons Trust partners with Pratham Books for its reading
programs, to enhance the reading levels of students in schools. HHT
is also a grantee of the Library-in-a classroom kit program, that is
distributed in schools in rural Bihar.
Happy Horizons Trust partners with CFSI for its Learning through
Videos project. Films made by CFSI are screened across schools in
Bihar and discussions on the films are facilitated.

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FINANCES AUDITS

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12 A certificate

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80G certificate

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THANK YOU DONORS

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Our heartfelt gratitude to people who have immensely believed in us
over the past year. Every small contribution means a lot to us.
Special thanks to all our donors
Shri Mahesh Gupta
Dr Anand Bhagat
Dr Ranjana Bhagat
Rakesh Ranjan
Manish Pathak
Vinay Mohanty
Nitin Pande
Chantal Chandinh
Vishwas Nallabelli
Harmeet Kaur
Neelabh Arbind
Manisha
Ashutosh Kumar
Nithya Kondu
Sandhya Venu
Jobin
Raghuram Iyer
Murthy
Manjit Gayatri
Sunil Bhattad
Sushant Khire
Nalinikumari Gandhe
Saravanan Kasi
Naresh Avadutha
Santosh
Vijaya Mamidipaka
Bindu
Vivek Sharma
Ashutosh Upadhyay
Bharat Bylappa
Nayan Jain
Jasmeet Sethi
Abhiraj Satarate
Imicreation Technologies
Aram Bhusal
Jaya Munjuluri
Kshitiz Anand
Vatsala

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WHAT LIES AHEAD

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Over the past few years, we have barely scratched the surface. The
more time we spend on the field, the more we realise the challenges
we are up against. What keeps us moving is the small impacts that
happens through our work. So if it is a champion feeling empowered
to work further or whether it is the school principals firmly believing
in the work we do and supporting us or the parents who see a ray of
hope in the engagement sessions with the champions. There are so
many stories of hope unfolding in front of us. Nothing would have
been possible without your support. So thank you from all of us at the
Happy Horizons Trust.
A few of our champions have got offers as teachers in the affordable
private schools and that is a great validation of our Youth Leadership
Development Program. It gives us further motivation to create more
employment opportunities for all the champions who go through our
programs and are empowered.
Empowering the local has been one of our strong philosophies and
we firmly believe that collaboration with the various stakeholders
(Funders to State to Social Entrepreneurs to Local Leaders) is a key to
the fulfilling the dream. The complex social fabric of the society that
we are working in, provides a lot of challenges. Changing mindsets is
a long-term process and perhaps the toughest of them all.
Getting the different stakeholders to invest their energy, time and
money short-term, towards better education for the children is an-
other major challenge. It has also been challenging to raise funds
considering we are not working in the Metropolitan areas.
Scaling up will need more funds, and we will do our best to reach
out to grants and other bodies. Expanding the work will come with
its set of challenges. We often face problems in implementation due
to lack of qualified human resources to drive the work on ground
and dealing with the complex social fabric that is deeply ingrained
with superstitions, lack of opportunities, early girl child marriage, and
discrimination toward girl child, termination of education post class
twelve etc.
We also know that the journey has just begun and we have started
taking small steps. The journey so far has been tough, but immensely
purpose driven and that gives us enough motivation to take things
head on in the years to come. We reach out to you to collaborate with
us, support us, fund us in our endeavors.
THE JOURNEY AHEAD

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All Rights Reserved
www.happyhorizons.org
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