Listening To Our Team

As a part of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic we managed to survey 135 of our young community leaders. It's so important to listen to the team. The results of the survey were first circulated on our social media accounts @khelorugby and were collated before Cyclone Amphan.

by Paul Walsh

We've been talking everyday to our young leaders during the lockdown. They are an essential part of our "chain of support" - our mission to support more than 2000 Khelo Rugby players.

We've also managed to conduct more formal surveys with those who have access to a smartphone or computer. The latest results are interesting and will help to inform decision making; "nothing for us without us".

We got 135 sets of results made up from 65 young people in Kolkata, 29 in Bengaluru and 41 from Saraswatipur.

Here we can see answers to the question; "How are you managing your studies?"

It is a worry that even amongst these 'connected' youth 35% are unable to study, the main reasons include a lack of any space and being busy with household duties. And only 21% are studying online. This is a feature the lockdown has shown us, that the penetration of smart phones is not nearly as high as many of us imagine. These are our most connected young people, yet still few of them access any on-line learning.

We wanted to better understand how everyone was managing under the coronavirus lockdown.

Almost every family is taking help, mainly this is receiving some sort of ration supplied by local government. These rations are often distributed through local clubs or other voluntary organisations.

Few parents are able to work, which means nearly every family is using their savings to get through the crisis. Some are unable to manage at all. We have found the local Police very helpful in getting supplies organised for families who run out of options.

Our Khelo Rugby young people are busy with household activities. Seems everyone is pitching in to do some shopping, clean the house and cook. Even a few family entertainers around.

Obviously the survey mainly reflects the lives of 135 of our best connected children. We rely on them to watch out for all our players. It is important we support everyone.

We know this is just a snapshot of these young peoples lives, but it can give us some insight. Good to see 113 reported feeling happy or OK. Suggests this is a resilient group who are staying positive through the lockdown. We've followed up directly with those who are stressed or sad.

These are 135 of our best connected youngsters. But it is interesting that even amongst them 17 have no phone at home. And mostly they have just one phone.

We often think that today everyone seems so well connected. The lockdown has shown us this is absolutely not the case for the vast majority of our young rugby players. This is a challenge we'll need to overcome, staying connected is so important.

And here for a bit of fun is the final post - not unexpected from our rugby crazy children. Our survey has brought several benefits: helping us all to stay connected, informing decisions, making sure we follow the ethos of nothing for us without us.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Getting this survey done was a great team effort, thanks especially for Shiv for the questions and getting all the responses.