Minutes of Asha Seattle meeting on 06/26/07 Venue : RTC LWSD No 414, Morton Johnson Room, Redmond, WA Attendees: Megha, Rohit, Eera, Joel, Pooja, Balasubramanian, Srijan, Shailesh, Suma, Srinivas, Vijay, Ameya, Aparajita, Ken, Lakshmi Vigyan Bhavan Proposal – Presented by Ameya Based out of Pune, Vigyan Ashram aims at giving multi skill training to rural youth, providing the training through "Learning While Doing" approach. They have a 1-year course, DBRT (Diploma for Basic Rural Technology) as well as a 3 year school curriculum for 8th, 9th and 10th standard students, IBT (Introduction to Basic Technology). They have requested for 4.51 lacs for DBRT and 1.49 lacs for IBT. Some of the questions raised were 1. What is the job placement scenario for graduating students? 2. Do we have the audited financial reports? 3. Is DBRT independent or is it co-curriculum? Ans. DBRT is an independent course while IBT is co-curriculum. 4. Do we have data such as percentage of successful graduates who got jobs upon graduation, how useful was the course to them, student demographics, student backgrounds and selection criteria etc. 5. Why do they need extra money? It was suggested that we have a look at the latest site visit report on Vigyan Ashram before voting. Pooja volunteered to help review financial report. National Association for the Blind (NAB) proposal – Presented by Megha Provide vocational rehabilitation, community based rehabilitation and education to blind individuals throughout Karnataka. They are expanding their services to include individuals (children and adults) with multiple sensory disabilities (deafness/blindness/muscular degeneration etc). We have received two new proposals from them: 1.   To support a vocational training program for adults with multiple sensory problems. These individuals will be trained similar to the blind individuals albeit with special education tools to accommodate their special disability. 2.   Supplement teacher salary: teachers in rural Karnataka help blind students integrate into normal government schools. Current aid that NAB gets only provides for Rs2500 as teacher salary. NAB has requested if we can supplement this with Rs 1500 for 8 teachers, which would pay them in close comparison to regular govt. teachers.  Some questions raised during the presentation were: 1. Is the salary mentioned the final salary the full time educators get or is it a part of that? 2. What is the break-up of administration / miscellaneous annual expenses? 3. Do they have any additional administration costs because of this new program? Megha will get answers to these questions in a later meeting. We only voted for the 1st proposal (for amount $6750). Megha will gather more information about the 2nd one and will present in another meeting. Vote : Should we support the NAB proposal (#1 above) for $6750? Yes - 8 Abstains - 2 Palash Trust Proposal – Presented by Lakshmi Kumar The main coordinator of the program, Ms. Chitra Krishnamurthy (Chitra Akka) has been involved in the area of non-formal / alternate education for over 20 years. She was closely associated as a teacher in `Vikasana' (an Asha project) - a school on the outskirts of Bangalore for children from villages who are deprived of quality education. This school besides offering learning opportunities for children also provides them basic amenities of stay and supplementary meals. In April 2007, Chitra Akka started a new learning center and library (unrelated to Vikasana), with the aim of providing holistic education for children from lower middle classes. Most of these children go to government schools. The children are subject to rote learning and tuitions, as these schools don't have an ambience that nurtures creativity and helps children discover their innate potential. To fill these gaps in the flowering stages of a children's life, the co-coordinators would like to conduct learning programs involving activities such as poetry reading, script writing, book reviews. In addition, the children will also be trained in drawing, painting, pottery, yoga and theater. The goal is to overcome difficulties in learning process, through activity based learning and personalized attention and care. An online vote was setup and everyone was requested to vote for this project online. Sikshana Proposal Renewal – Presented by Eera Sikshana aims at § improvement of learning levels in the public education system, with quantitative targets and time bound schedules. § Adoption of modern teaching techniques and aids. § Working in collaboration with the Government and from within the system. § Mobilization and deployment of resources, concentrating on core essentials and avoiding  frills. § Applying management concepts commonly used in other sectors, such as budgeting and targets,  accountability, return on investment, motivation  and non-fiscal reward systems. § Developing a sustainable model for replication on  a wider scale Eera presented the changes in this year's budget – which are primarily due to additional number of schools and also the increase in per school amount. We went over the budget details. Vote : Should we continue supporting Sikshana according to their funding requirement of Rs. 901,000? Yes - 7 Abstains - 1

<<Asha-Seattle Home