Asha works with a variety of project partners and community groups in many educational and development related endeavors. Our mission is not only to look at issues concerning access to education, but also to ensure that every child has access to an education that is meaningful. We try and ensure that nutrition and health care needs of the children are met. As our rapport builds with our partners and communities we provide support to make the community impact more tangible by supporting areas of need such as women's issues, community awareness related issues and more. With these thoughts in mind we have invested our energies in supporting different types of endeavors as described below. Our support in each of these areas not only helps the individual efforts but also guides our work in terms of how we invest our energies as an organization. It helps us realize the problems faced by different communities and the important role played by each type of endeavor. [Explore the different types of projects Asha works with.. ]
Project Processes
Applications from Projects can come to the Chicago chapter from several sources - direct applications to Asha Chicago, applications forwarded from Asha-wide groups, from volunteers, or from individuals who know about Asha Chicago, and have contacts with a project seeking funding. We recommend writing to the chapter first and determining whether we are in a position to consider new proposals. If they haven't already, the proposing person must fill out a new project proposal form. We evaluate the proposal and discuss it in the chapter. All our projects, one-time or recurring, go through a rigorous screening process before approval. For new projects prior to being accepted as a project, a pre-site-visit is organized to ascertain details about the project. All projects undergo a minimum of one site visit by an Asha Volunteer from the United States or from India once a year. Site visit reports are uploaded to the Project's Asha web page.
Projects are categorized based on the funding requirement as One-time projects or Recurring projects.
One-time projects
One-time projects are approved for a lump sum, and are not expected to have recurring expenses. A typical example of a one-time project is a project with infrastructure expenses, such as a Braille Printer for a blind school. One-time projects may have the entire approved sum sent in one lump sum, or spread out over several installments.
Recurring projects
Recurring projects are approved for continued funding. This means that Asha Chicago commits to funding the project as long as it has the capacity to do so. The project itself is subject to renewal every year; but its budget is evaluated and approved on an annual fiscal basis.
Recurring new projects
All new recurring projects are approved for only one year. This gives us the opportunity to become more familiar with the project, evaluate the efforts of the grassroots team and develop a stronger relationship. When a recurring project comes up for its first funding renewal, it needs to be voted upon and approved. If approved, the project becomes a Recurring Project.
Project Stewards
Each project has a minimum of two stewards - a Primary Steward and a Secondary Steward. At least one of the Stewards must be local. The secondary stewards work as a team, with the primary steward being ultimately responsible for the project. The primary steward is the main contact for the project coordinators. Project stewards liaison between the project and the chapter. They are expected to build a strong relationship with the project, be extremely knowledgeable about their project - its social context, goals, size, challenges, operations, effectiveness, be up to date with happenings in their project, and to be advocates for their project within the chapter.
Asha Project Web Page
Transparency is one of Asha for Education's prime goals. Applying this to our projects, we have a public project web page for each and every project. The steward creates this webpage and keeps it up to date. This project web page will provide any viewer the details of the project, the contact details of the project steward, the location and contact details of the project in India, the complete listing of funds being sent to the project, a downloadable list of updates about the project. We withhold only sensitive information about our projects and any documentation that has details about the children in our projects.
