event

Empowering Communities through Art and Education

Tue. May 25th, 2021
Zoom Webinar

On a daily basis, children of India’s underserved communities face grave physical and emotional neglect. This adversely affects their mental health and traps them in a circle of perpetual poverty. Efforts at breaking this cycle have led to community initiatives like children’s libraries which allow children to learn, express, and connect freely. These hubs are critical in recognizing social challenges that require urgent intervention, including domestic violence, caste-based discrimination, child marriage, and drug addiction. What kinds of interventions are necessary to protect children and young adults of underserved communities? How can therapy through art and education help protect the most vulnerable amid a pandemic?

To find out watch the fourth Anahita Speaker Series session of 2021, where Lakshmi Karunakaran, program director of Buguri Children’s Program at Hasiru Dala, draws on her experience as an educator to discuss how we can help safeguard the welfare of underserved communities through holistic education. The discussion was moderated by Kanika Monga.

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie India, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Lakshmi Karunakaran

Lakshmi Karunakaran is an educator and a communication professional based in Bangalore, India. She started her career as a telecom engineer but soon shifted gears to work first as a communication specialist and later as an educator. In 2013, she moved to Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka, where she lived and worked with government primary schools for over a year. Through Hasiru Dala, an organization that works with informal waste pickers she currently heads the Buguri Children’s Program. In 2017, she founded the Buguri Community Library Project, an after school library and art centre for over 1000 children of waste pickers across 5 locations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Kanika Monga

Senior Coordinator, Partnerships and Strategy