Breath of Change

In July 2025, Kaivalya Plays was commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Commission for Air Quality Management to lead a national capacity-building workshop on air pollution communication, implemented alongside Centre for Media Studies VATAVARAN and the Environmental Information, Awareness and Capacity Building (EIACP) Centres.

The session formed part of Breath of Change, the national public communication campaign built around the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. Thirty-five participants took part, including Joint Secretaries and Deputy Directors from the Ministry, officials from the Commission for Air Quality Management, representatives of EIACP Centres, and environmental NGOs and civil society organisations.

The workshop addressed a gap that recurs across institutions working on air quality: the science is robust and the policy frameworks are in place, but the capacity to communicate them in ways the public can feel and act on remains thin. Using applied improvisation, participants worked on translating AQI readings and air quality data into narratives that carry emotional weight without losing accuracy.

A central aim was breaking the silos that separate policymakers, scientists, and communicators, who often work on the same problem without a shared language. Collaborative storytelling exercises paired technical experts with outreach professionals, requiring each to build on the other's contributions in real time.

By working through the material physically and in dialogue rather than through presentations, participants left with communication approaches they had tested on each other rather than theories they had been told about.