MeetingMinutes 06/29/08
Attendees: Rahul, Vinod, Itisha,
Ganesh, Bharath, Gaurav, Murali, Neeti, Savitha
1.
2. Jeevan
Gnanodaya Update
3. Nammalvar
Fellowship Proposal
4.
1.
(http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=602)
- The construction cost for the new building are as follows:
- Basement – 9.15 lakhs, Ground Floor – 18.35 lakhs and First Floor – 11.2 lakhs
- SSA has a deadline of third week of July to get the construction started and they require 15 lakhs before the construction begins
- They have
raised around 9 lakhs and need about 6 lakhs immediately
- This year
Srishti is being put up as a Work an Hour (WAH) (www.workanhour.com)
project. Can we put up this increased budget for WAH? Currently the teacher
salaries have been put up for support in WAH for around $12,500
-SSA has applied
to two corporations for grants to fill in for the remaining 6 lakhs
-They do not
have an exact idea how much they will be able to raise locally
-Srishti is well connected and has got a good reach with the industries. Why don't they have an arm which can work on grants or other fund-raising?
AI: Can we
get the multiple volunteers that Srishti gets, to
work on grants and other methods of fund-raising?
-There are lot of corporate foundations which give out lots of money
– some like the Tata Trust give out grants for 40-50 lakhs
- SSA
typically expects to work with Asha on their programs
and not on their capital expenditures. They raise money for buildings etc
through corporations and local support.
- Corporations
typically have a large turn-around time for grants so Asha
may be best suited to respond in a time of emergency
- Can we
temporarily use the teacher salaries to pay for the construction? We can try to
get the rest supported by another chapter.
- Vinod is considering proposing this project at SV for
support
- Last year
Vinod had presented another proposal to SV –
regarding the orthotics unit – but SSA cancelled the idea because they
did not find interest in the kids
- Asha Austin approves $5000 for immediate
disbursal towards the construction costs, and another $2500 will be disbursed
in case SV does not support it on July 9th
- Yes:
7 No: 0 Abstain: 1
2. Jeevan Gnanodaya Update –Vinod
(http://www.ashanet.org/projects
-
This project is put up for WAH. It is currently supported by four different
chapters
- Need an update
from Ashwin and Charanya
- Charanya and Vinod were on a
conference call for WAH
3. Nammalvar Fellowship Proposal – Vinod
-The fellowship
is currently being discussed in the fellowship-group
-Asha-Fellow: a grass-roots worker whose personal expenses
are taken care of by the chapter. Asha Fellows group
does not take financial decisions
-
- Nammalvar is an organic scientist. He has been working in
the area of natural farming for the last 45 years
- He was
working with government until the Green Revolution came along (and pesticide
and chemical use) and since then he has been working with NGO's
and other organizations
- He
primarily works in Tamil Nadu and in some areas of Karanataka,
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh
- He has
managed to get 100,000 acres of rice to be grown with natural farming methods
- He was
part of the team which visited
- He worked
on desalinating land after the tsunami
- Organic
farming, mixed farming is useful because of the low input costs
- He is
working in areas of low rainfall now
- He has
currently got good support from the TN government
- Last week
there was a conference call with Nammalvar as part of
the fellows group
- A farmer
can restore the soil fertility for organic farming within three months by using
a twenty point method
- He will
be closely working with the resource center
- As part
of the fellowship the support is needed for – his personal expenses and
also for publishing booklets about organic farming. His assistant Murali will help in translating the booklets to English
- Since Nammalvar is 71, there may be many more medical expenses.
AI: We need a method to
support increased medical expenses
Q: Why do
we need to discuss this in the fellowship group?
A: Asha-wide this has become the process of supporting new
fellowships
Q: What
is the current method of support?
A: It is
ad-hoc right now. He is supported by the different groups he visits
Q: Does
he hold training camps?
A: He
typically travels to the NGO to organize camps.
Q: What about support for
his personal assistant?
Q: Are there other members
of family he needs to support?
-We are
supporting a Fellow, so we should also be supporting their activities,
otherwise what use is the Fellowship
-In case of Siddamma, it is not easy to imagine how we can support all
her activities as we support her Fellowship
Q: How do
we support his Fellowship?
A: Most probably
we will get this supported through the Bharathi Trust
AID
- Exposure
visits are for farmers to visit
Q: What does "Meeting
and training expenses" cover?
AI: We should look at
connecting up different projects
AI: We should also look to
buy the material generated by Nammalvar.
AI: Murali needs a used laptop. Vinod will
check with the SV chapter on laptop give-away by Infosys in
4.
(https://www.ashanet.org
- It is
part of an international organization. They conduct surveys to find out about
the local conditions. This is an urban location and setup Academy for Working
and Street Children. They primarily work in mainstreaming the children to the
govt. schools. The school rents out the school premises of another private
school which runs in the morning.
- First
disbursal of $2400 has been made
-Itisha has uploaded the answers to questions which were
outstanding - http://www.ashanet.org/projects
- What are
"social skills"?
- Can
children use chairs and tables? It is not an important issue right now. But if
they sense any problem, they will work on it.
- Chairs
and tables are for teachers and carpets are for children to sit in the veranda
- 10%
over-head costs. What about receipts? They will present accounts every year.
- Does it
make sense to invest in a permanent structure? They have not found support for
this in the past. They don't have any permanent structures across any of their
projects
- Some
expenses were 9 months and others were 12 months? School runs year-round but
for three months teachers intensify the training to mainstream the children.
Q: Can
another govt. school can be setup?
A: They have not done anything about it right now. They might consider it as it comes up.