Project Evaluation Guidelines


  1. The guidelines stated above provide only general idea about the requirements for submitting a proposal. They should not be interpreted as rigid rules and each submitted proposal need to be evaluated in the context it is submitted in while taking all extenuating circumstances into consideration.



  2. If a member of Asha, Corvallis has a potential project that meets the general guidelines, he or she (henceforth referred to as the "contact member") should contact the President requesting a meeting to evaluate the proposal.



    3. If the proposal had been submitted via a non-Asha member, the President will assume the responsibility to answer members' questions.

    In the interest of time, if possible, it is highly encouraged to email a copy of the proposal to all members once the meeting has been scheduled. Please allow a reasonable length of time for the members to become acquainted with the project.

  3. During the evaluation meeting, the "contact member" will answer any questions brought up by the attending members. He or she should be prepared to explain all aspects of the project to the members' satisfaction.



  4. The evaluation of the proposal may be spread over a period of 4-6 weeks. At the end of this period, a decision will be reached. However, exceptions to this process may exist on a case-by-case basis.



    5. If the proposal needs clarifications, a list of questions will be submitted to the "contact member" who will work to resolve the questions. The Project Coordinator should contact the President when the project is ready for further discussions.

    If the proposal meets all necessary criteria and is approved by members (who will do so after considering the immediate availability of funds and other necessary resources), the coordinator will then convey the outcome to the "Project Leader" in India and initiate the process to work out an agreement explaining the details (timeline, budget, activities, etc.) for project implementation.

  5. All evaluation decisions must be conducted in a free and fair manner allowing open-minded discussions on any potential concerns. At the end of the discussion, a vote will be called for to determine further course of action.



    6. For the proposal to be voted upon, a minimum of 2/3rds of the members who are eligible to vote must be present to constitute a valid quorum.

    The proposal is considered "passed" if it receives "yes" from 2/3rds of those eligible to vote. The voting is performed by calling each "eligible" member's name from the roster who can then register his or her, "yes" or "no". Any decision taken regarding the proposal that doesn't meet the above criteria is deemed invalid.

  6. In the event, the Asha Corvallis Committee receives two proposals at the same time, the following mechanism is proposed to deal with the situation.



    7. The members would rank the projects for priority funding, by voting, after careful reading of all submitted proposals.

    For e.g., if two proposals are received, one dealing with child literacy improvement and the other concerning funding an annual excursion for school children, it can be safely assumed, based on our guidelines, that the former proposal dealing with child literacy improvement will receive a higher rank and consequently will be evaluated first.

    If, however, two equally deserving projects are received for evaluation and the present chapter has sufficient funds to manage both, it is encouraged to approve both simultaneously and commence working towards implementation.