From: Sumathi V Iyengar <[20]sumathivinay@y...> Date: Mon Dec 17, 2001 4:39 am Subject: Minutes of Meeting held on 15th dec '01 Meeting Attendees : Kumar, Vikas, Sridhar, Ranjani, Priya, Vinay, Sumathi, Anirban Priya briefed us about the outflow and inflow since January 2001 and our current standing. The question was whether we need a fundraiser soon. Financial Snapshot 2001 : 2000 Balance : 9990.90 Total Inflows 2001 : 26247.40 Total Outflows 2001 : 30434.48 Net Total 2001 : -4187.08 Total Balance in account 2001 : 5803.82 Total cash on hand : 351.00 Total amount 2001 : 6154.82 Total Expected(Nuware) : 2500 Total Expected Balance end 2001 : 8654.82 Project Expenses 2001 : Project Amount Date Vasundhara 1500 7/01 5776 9/01 Kajurdaha 2000 5/01 5820 11/01 FODRA 1633 5/01 2200 11/01 AAJ 8000 11/01 PACHE - Nalamdana - Total Project Expenses 2001 : 26,929 Surbahaar Payment: 2,500 Asha merchandise payments : 989.48 Misc. (Bank charges etc) : $16 Total expenses 2001 : 30,434.48 Known project requirements for next year : Kajurdaha : 5,000 (this is completely funded by NuWare and volunteers) Vasundhara : ~5,000 FODRA : 2,200 Nalamdana ~2,500 PACHE ? AAJ ? With the current balance we cannot support the all our current projects. So we do need to do a fund raiser soon. Alternative money-raising methods are telephone-rally(among the donor database), set up Asha table at cultural events, volunteers donation etc. But fund-raiser in the coming 6 months is a must! We will discuss these in a coming meeting. Kajurdaha's New proposals : Proposal I : Upgradation of current LTTO school to class VIII There is only one secondary school in Kajurdaha. The student to teacher ratio is 150:1. Not enough supervision for children who need extra support. Upgradation is required to support graduating LTTO children. Sum total expense for this(classroom construction + furniture and equipment + child resource center) is Rs. 10,04,000. Even if we fund only classroom constr. and furniture and equipment, we need to support them with $10,000 this coming year. for each year after that, for 4 years, this project will have a recurring expense of Rs.55,000=~$1200. At the end of the 4th year we would need to support them with $8,000 for this project. This is a compelling project. The organization is trustworthy. The only constraint here is money. The project was approved for funding. To raise money, we can have a project-specific fundraiser. So next year we need 15,000 for Kajurdaha. $5,000 is already supported by NuWare and Asha stars. we need to raise $10,000. Proposal II : Govt. HighSchool upgradation to XII Current govt. school is upto X std. Children travel 20 kms to higher secondary school. Plans of upgradation include classroom construction and furniture. This amounts to Rs.7,76,118. The local community has vouched to support half of this expense. The amount requested from Asha is Rs. 3,88,059 ~ $8,300. This is a one time expense, as the teacher's salaries etc will be paid by the govt. . Kumar said that since it is a construction type project, Asha Indiana might take it up. Priya also said that she can present it to Asha Cornell. Proposal III : Disha-Doot program Objective : Exposure visit of children to science museums etc. Target population : All school-going children of Dhaniakhali, Polka-Dodpur and Pandua blocks of Hoogli district. 6000 kids will benefit through 200 trips. The plan is to buy a tata van (Rs 5,06,000) to take the children to and fro. Total cost including insurance and body making is Rs.7,26,000. The daily expenses will be covered by charging the students themselves a nominal fee. No decision was taken in this regard. Proposal IV : Govt. Primary school upgradation : Intervention project to improve existing govt. primary schools. 11 primary schools in Kajurdaha, Melki gram panchayat ar in disrepair. None of these schools have drinking water supply.. most of them have no electricity. The school buildings are in a very bad condition. Upgradation required to improve the quiality of educationin the longer run. Total cost of renovation is Rs.36,81,703. Including teacher training the project will cost Rs.47,23,303. In order for the govt. schools to accept intervention of LTTO, its required that they first make a positive impact.. this they hope to do in the form of teacher training. This is a typical Phase II project, which a single Asha chapter cannot handle. The corpus fund plays a vital role in this regard. This requires further discussion. So finally, Asha Princeton has decided to fund Proposal I. We need to discuss details of fundraising. Society of Child Development project. : Sumathi made a brief presentation of the organization and the proposed project. No Asha chapter has worked with this org so far. Asha Arizona and Rotary club together have evaluated the project and want to support it. Asha Arizona has requested for additional support of $2,500 from other asha chapters. SCD Background : SCD is run by 3 medical professionals since '92 and has teaching programs to help 110 mentally handicapped children. They are located in Delhi. One of the schools is "Prabhat" which is a special school for 80 children with learning deficiencies. Another is a vocational school for 30 trainees. Another is a Vocational training center that helps about 100 children(/year)(>16 years old) learn some skills that can help them lead an independent living. They have also developed an "Early Diagnostic Kit" for the use of pediatricians and parents of mentally handicapped children. An "Early Stimulation Kit" to benefit children(mostly mentally handicapped) in the age group of 0-6, that contains unique activities in the areas of communication, movement and cognitive skills. They have also set up a very comprehensive website(www.disabilityIndia.org) which forms a portal to various resource websites for pediatricians, special educators and parents alike. The project : Title is : Defining Parameters and Establishing Alternative Techniques in the Education of Children with Learning Difficulties The work envisaged in the project has been a part of the educational institution since its inception. Reviewing the powerful impact the technique has had on a majority of the students, the need to systematically work on its syllabus, structure and content is at present very strongly felt. project intends to document a systematic presentation of academic goals according to age and level of impairment; put forth a replicable model of alternate teaching strategies using principles of learning from a variety of media - drama, theatre, mime, puppetry and so on. This training material will be in the form of CDs, audio-visual aids, videos etc. In the short term, this training will help students receive appropriate opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge-based skills. In the long-term perspective, the aim is to propagate the use of an integrated approach that is suited to the needs of a certain group of children and young adults. Also advocate the use of this curriculum by the govt., making the education of mentally handicapped children part of education dept. instead of social welfare dept. The project is planned in several phases : The first phase: The primary ground work and infrastructure for the development of this system has already been set. In fact this ideology has formed the basis of the academic work carried out in Prabhat School since its inception. Since the last 3 years, the model has taken a definite mold. The second phase: It is also planned, that in order to fully understand the underlying structures of learning that are operational in this system, a detailed documentation of the process is acutely required. This documentation will also take into account certain scientifically based sampling procedures. The third phase: In order to cement the purity of the technique, a select group of special educators from other institutions will be trained in the technique. Thereafter their work with the children they teach will be monitored to examine the quantum of change achieved with the new technique. The fourth phase: Printing and publishing of training material, conducting workshops for special educators and parents for the adoption of this syllabus and teaching technique. Budget : Teaching/Training Aids and Equipment for Documentation TV with VCR Digital Video camcorder for documenting Feedback training and therapy process Computer (Pentium III) with multimedia kit, printer and scanner: $4001(1st year) Feedback training and Alternate teaching workshops Train existing staff and document the process of incorporating alternate teaching strategies and techniques into the existing academic schedule. Recording actual sessions in progress, hiring LCD panel for feedback training (@ Rs 3800 per day), hiring editing table @ Rs 1000 per hourPre external training workshop development.Carried out over a period of 8 months @ Rs 30,000 per month. : $3762(1st yr) $1254(2nd yr) External Training workshops(8 full day sessions) for Special Educators (10) including duplication of take home documents, pre and post assessment, travel for participants, hiring of audio-visual equipment (LCD panel, @ Rs 3800 per day; etc); demonstrating training strategy and process@ Rs 10,000 per session ($212) : $1671(2nd yr) Development of Audio Visual Material -Video and CD, hiring of editing table, cost of duplication etc : $2090(2nd yr) Printing and Publishing of Training Material and Technique (print and CD/video) $2090 (2nd year) Contingency (stationery, photocopying, travel, mini DVD tapes, etc) : $731 ------------------------------ Total $15,882 Project duration - 1.5 years. Need entire funds at the start. The site visit report is assures the credibility of the people involved in the organization. Rotary Clubs in Delhi and Phoenix are contributing $1,000 each, Asha Arizona - $3,500 Need $2,500 from us. The total amount will be 100% matched by Rotary international. A couple of questions were raised : 1. What is the suriety that the material produced will be accepted by other institutions. What will be the actual impact of the project ? If it is not accepted by anybody.. the investment by Asha will be a waste. 2. The eventual goal is to get the govt. to recognize the curriculum as an appropriate one. this requires considerable political influence. Do they have it ? 3. The cost of equipment are high in India.It be possible for us to send things like video camcoder, Pentium II PC etc from here.. the price will drop down to 1/2! 4. Why do they need to possess things like scanner etc ? They can as well use those available in local shops.. rent. These will prove to be much cheaper. 5. What is the use of equipment(TV & VCR that cost Rs 35K in total) once the project is completed. 6. The site visit report does not include conversation with people working at a lower level. It was decided that if we get satisfactory answers to these above questions, we will go ahead and give them the money - $2,500 . Sumathi