Asha meeting 12 Nov 2006
1) Fellowship Siddamma: Review
http://www.ashanet.org/austin/projects/siddamma.html
Part I
- Review of work of Siddamma and her work through Bharathi Trust.
- Background, activities etc
- Bonded laborers released from Red Hills rice mills. They were compensated with money, land or cows (Aavin scheme).
- Also involved in the tsunami relief and rehab effort
- More information is available on the annual report: http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Chapters/Austin/Projectpics/siddamma/AnnualReport/BT_annual_2005-2006.doc
- Present support provided to Siddamma is $225/month.
Part II we will review the resource center and renewal of Siddamma's fellowship.

There was some discussion of what fellowships are. This information is available at:
http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Focusgroups/Fellowships/ARC/FellowshipProcess.doc
other documents including the history of fellowships is available at:
http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Focusgroups/Fellowships/ARC/

There was also some dicussion of whether Sanjeev and Anita may get a fellowship when they move to India to work on grassroot efforts.

2) Asha had a stall at Barsana Dham for children's day:
Sais, Arvind and Ragha had a stall with a game. They played with children, talked to people about Asha. They took asha posters (two specific projects) and newsletters.
Overall great experience but a few more volunteers would have been helpful. Will need enough volunteers so that the same volunteers don't have to go to all events.

3) Project custodian responsibilities:
Given that our chapter would be going through some transitions in the coming months we are trying to pool in what we have learnt as a group into some guidelines that the group going forward can build on it. We went over the most important responsibility, that of the project custodian who is the primary contact of the project at the chapter.
http://www.ashanet.org/austin/projects/files/cust_res.html
One of the important things to keep in mind is to maintain an up-to-date project webpage. This is now mandatory for funds to be sent to projects.
- As a funding organization, Asha has been most successful when it has been flexible based on the people that we are working with and what the needs of the project are at that point in time.
What information should custodian provide to the project coordinator during their updates?
http://www.ashanet.org/austin/resources/fundsformat.html
To Do
Pankaj:
- Create packet that can be handed out at events.
- Update packet for new volunteers
Sanjeev:
- Add timeline to transition for custodian transfer responsibilities
- Create a list of responsibilities for project coordinator