Asha meeting

Jan 15^th, 2006

Attendees : Surya, Vinod, Gaurav, Santhosh, Arvind, Ashwini, Salil,
Anita and Sanjeev.

1. Site visit by Gaurav, Prasanna Jyothi -

*2 Doctor consultations for sumithra.

*20 girls at PJ between 3 - 20. School 2-3 kms away. Tempo arranged
for younger kids. Other kids travel by bus/cycle.

*Action item - Detailed site visit report will be done by gaurav.

2. Shrisi updates :

* Shristi needs immediate funds for nutrition program.

* Anil rao ran the 50 miler and raised funds for Shristi.

* Vote - As an one time nutritional expense for Srishti we allocate
the funds raised by Anil
Yes - 7, No - 0.

3. Asha Wide General Funds Proposal  :

* Min wage - We need to understand based on location etc. what the
wages should be. The norms are not one fixed no. They vary from state
to state. Also, it doesn't talk about consistent pay. Food for work
progam - not much development in villages despite these programs. This
is because most of the money is t pay people but not to buy instuments
etc. so infrastructure doesnt develop. Even in this program minumum
wages are promised only for the period of work which is typically 100
of 360 days.

* Sticking to min wages is not about just funds. It should be more
project specific and sensitive to existing situation.

* Decision by Austin chapter - We believe that - when a chapter puts
in genuine efforts to raise funds for a project it has closely worked
with and is not able to meet the target, it should receive funds from
the General pool.

The best way to judge and implement the solution is an asha-wide
fundraiser where each chapter puts up its own project. Work an hour in
the format imlemented this year would be the place to disburse these
funds.

4. Marathon :

* Action item - Anita has to get check from ajith for rogue running systems.
* Running ramp up schedules - Vinod to help runners.
* Friday night Pasta gettogether - send email for RSVP.
* Action item - Vinod to set up counters for each runner on runner page.

5. Bharathi trust resource center

* Sanjeev presented their site visit and proposal.
* Presentation will be put up online.

The bonded labourers are of all ages and for different

Motivation centers being run by BT. these are alernate education
centers. Sarpams get funds from local membership. those who can afford
pay membership dues. during struggles, sarpams support each other.
sarpam meetings involve a very large number of people and folks get to
know strategies etc.

Center land still has sugarcane crop and they are letting them harvest
it. there is only one mill and they wait until the sugarcane is low on
water so that the mills make more money and farmers potentially dont
even break even.