Capacity Building through trainings beyond the Classroom

What happens when you take geography out of the textbook and drop it right in the middle of the hills of Darjeeling? That’s exactly what we’re doing with Mirik College. Together, we designed a 60-hour intensive program that blended classroom learning, hands-on workshops, and fieldwork into one big cauldron. Just being a part of academic activity, practical training, and on-ground discovery, it is built around curiosity and experience.

The Vision

Instead of only hearing about livelihoods, communities, and human-nature relationships, students get to experience them firsthand. One day, they are in a classroom discussing how local economies work. Next, they walk through tea garden villages, talking to the residents, observing daily routines, and seeing how theory plays out in real life.

The aim is simple. Learning should not stop at just notes and exams. It should move, ask questions, and sometimes feel uncomfortable in a good way. This approach helps students understand that geography is not abstract. It lives in people’s homes, work, and everyday decisions.

Project Structure and Learning Design

The program was divided into three components, each building on the previous one and guiding students from theory to practice.

Classroom-Based Component (20 Hours)

The project began inside the classroom, where students were introduced to key ideas around livelihoods, settlement patterns, regional development, and human-environment relationships. These sessions helped students place tea gardens within a wider geographic and social context, preparing them to approach the field with both curiosity and sensitivity.

Interactive Workshop Component (20 Hours)

Workshops jointly led by faculty members and the Studio 1947 team marked a shift from learning about research to learning how to do research. Students were trained in ethical field engagement, basic data collection, and creating an overall report. Discussions focused not only on what questions to ask, but also on how to ask them and why listening mattered as much as writing the answers.

Fieldwork Component (20 Hours)

Fieldwork formed the heart of the project. This was where concepts from the classroom met lived experience, and where students began to understand geography as something shaped by people’s daily lives.

Field Sites and Methodology

The survey was conducted in Mandir Goan (Soureni) and Phuguri, two villages located within a short distance from Mirik. These sites were chosen to understand everyday life within tea plantation regions and to allow students to observe working and living conditions closely. Students visited households directly, conducting face-to-face surveys to understand income sources, employment patterns, access to basic services, and household challenges. Walking from home to home, listening to personal accounts, and observing surroundings helped ground the survey data in real experiences.

Team Composition and Roles

The team for the survey included:

• Five students from the Department of Geography, Mirik College

• One faculty member from Mirik College, providing academic guidance throughout

• Three members from Studio 1947, supporting research design, field coordination, and analysis

This collaborative structure allowed students to learn within an academic framework while also being exposed to professional research practices and mentorship.

Post-Fieldwork

Fieldwork did not mark the end of the learning process. After surveys were completed, students made weekly visits to the Studio 1947 office, where they worked closely with the team to reflect on their findings. These 20 hours sessions focused on organizing survey responses, analysing the collected data, and discussing what the data revealed about livelihoods in the two villages. Students were guided through the process of turning raw information into structured and clear written reports. This phase closely resembled an internship experience, offering sustained mentorship and practical exposure beyond routine coursework.

Outcomes and Learning Impact

The project resulted in a detailed, ground-level understanding of livelihood conditions in the selected villages, based entirely on primary data collected by the students. Beyond the research output, the process strengthened students’ confidence in conducting fieldwork, engaging with communities respectfully, and connecting theory with observation. At the conclusion of the project, all participating students received certificates issued by Studio 1947, recognizing their completion of the program and their active involvement in applied research.

How do we at Studio 1947 look at it?

Capacity building is a core focus of Studio 1947, and this collaboration showed how academic learning becomes stronger when paired with real-world engagement. Through a mix of classroom sessions, interactive workshops, and fieldwork, students developed practical research skills alongside theoretical understanding. More than a single study, the project strengthened student capacity while laying the foundation for future collaborations with Mirik College, reinforcing the value of local, participatory research rooted in local lived experience.