| Name of Organization: | Child in Need Institute--Asha (CINI-Asha)
| Date of Establishment: | 1989
| How the organization was | created and its main focus: CINI Asha is a suborganization of Child in Need Institute (CINI). CINI is a nongovernmental organization that has been in existence since 1974; its focus is on children's health in the rural areas of West Bengal. The spinoff CINI Asha was formed to address the neeeds of urban street children, of child laborers, and of children of sex workers. CINI Asha's focus, in all three cases, is to mainstream children, that is, to return them to schooling and to (as far as possible) a normal childhood.
| Names and backgrounds of the directors of the organization:
| The founder of CINI, and the major motive force behind the organization, is Dr. S.N. Chaudhuri, a paediatrician who has devoted his life to the cause of bringing health care to the poor. He serves on the Governing Body of CINI. The other members of this body are Prof. Sunit Mukherjee (Chairperson), Prof. Madhu S. Mishra (Financial Controller), Mr. S.N. Chowdhury, Ms. Anu Mukherjee, Dr. Saroj Gupta, and Mr. Tushar Kanjilal.
| Name of contact person | in USA: Dr. Bharath A. Sethuraman | Email : AL.SETHURAMAN@CSUN.EDU Number of administrative | and field staff: I do not have
this information for CINI Asha. I know that CINI as a whole has about
200 members, including doctors, community health workers, social
workers, counselors, tutors, child specialists, and general staff.
| A brief description of the | long-term objectives of the organization: The main focus of CINI Asha is to channel all
street children, child laborers, and children of sex workers into
formal schools, to work at keeping these children in schools, and to
find placement for these children after successful graduation. In
addition, CINI Asha works towards building awareness of the problems
and issues facing street children among the middle class urban
population, awareness of violence towards girls and women, and
awareness of HIV and AIDS.
| Details of the organization's | annual budget (include an annual report if possible): I do not have any details of the budget. I have enclosed the
1997 Annual Report of CINI, but it does not have any financial
details.
| Previous funding sources, if any: | CINI Asha was formed in cooperation with an Irish
organization called GOAL. GOAL
continues to be a major funding source for CINI Asha, but I do not
think that this funding covers all of CINI Asha's needs. The needs of
urban street children in Calcutta is enormous, all of which needs
increasing levels of funding. I do not have exact numbers on past
funding.
| Brief description of any | previous projects the organization has undertaken: CINI Asha runs 12 drop-in-centers in Calcutta
for street children. Here, children are made to feel at home, made to
feel that somebody cares for them, are given counseling, and are given
basic literacy training. These centers are meant to be safe
nonthreatening environments for children while they make the
transition from being out on the streets to being regular schoolgoers.
In addition, CINI Asha runs 5 residential units for children who are
at high risk of being abused. It also runs a sick bay for treating
street children who are indisposed. It runs 6 coaching centers where
it tutors children that have been placed in formal schools. It also
interfaces with major schools in Calcutta in which it places its
children: these schools are sensitized to the special needs of the
street children that they receive.
| Describe location, current conditions | - number of schools, population: This has been answered to the extent possible in the
question above on previous projects.
| Beneficiaries of the project | (how many children, number of males/females): The following data is from the 1997 annual report:
Street Children: 1000 covered, 250 placed in formal schools.
Child Labor: 2000 covered, 1800 placed in formal schools.
Children of sex workers: 400 covered, 400 placed in formal schools.
| Aims of the project | (describe background of the children, what changes this project aims to bring about in the current conditions): The project for which I am requesting funding is the
running of one drop-in-center. I have described two such centers at
length in an article that I wrote for India Currents (attached),
outlining the kinds of children they serve, the problems they face,
and the successes they achieve. Briefly: Drop-in-centers are
counseling and rest centers that are run close to places where street
children congregate (such as Sealdah Station, or in Central Calcutta
near Park Avenue). Street children are encouraged to come in and feel
at home, and are provided a warm and supportive atmosphere.
Drop-in-centers are where the crucial process of trust-building takes
place: without trust, there is no way by which street children can be
weaned away from their present lives and mainstreamed. It sometimes
takes two years for children to learn to trust the staff at these
centers. After trust is established, children are given literacy
class and are coached to the point where they can enter schools at a
level roughly commensurate with their ages. In addition to such
literacy training and basic coaching, drop-in-centers also provide
counseling--a very crucial part of the transition from street children
to schoolgoers. For a kid who otherwise lives on pavements and
streets, these drop-in-centers become the nearest approximation to a
home.
| Duration of the project: | One year, with request for renewed funding each year.
| Details of the funding requirements: |
Spreadsheet attached.
| Amount of money required: | $2200.
| Duration for which funds are required: | One year.
| Itemized description of the proposed | use of the funds: Spreadsheet enclosed.
| Other sources of funding | (confirmed and anticipated), if any: I do not know.
| Proposed means of continuing | the project after current funding: I do not know: presumably through CINI Asha's other fundraising activities.
| Number of staff members involved | in the implementation of the project and their duties: In general, each drop-in-center
tends to have two staff members who serve as educators and social
workers, and the funding request includes their salaries. However,
such a program has to have other staff members helping it, perhaps on
a centralized basis. I do not know the exact number of such staff
members. Funding is not being requested for such ancilliary staff,
however.
| Number of people reached by project | and how many have completed the literacy program (males/females): Each
drop-in-center serves about 50 children. According to a recent email
from CINI Asha, the students placed into formal schools are: male 1233
and female 1389. (Note that the total is slightly more than that of
the numbers in the annual report; presumably because it is a more
recent set of numbers.) This includes street children, child labor,
and children of sex workers.
| Standard proficiency of the | participants at the end of the project: The drop-in-centers represent an ongoing activity, and
there is no clearly demarkated "end" of the project. As described at
various places above, the goal of these centers is to ultimately
convert street children into mainstream schoolgoers. This is a long
and difficult transition, and the drop-in-centers are meant to
facilitate this transition. At any one time, the various attendees at
the center could be in one of many stages of this transition: they
could be curious onlookers, they could be more regular attendees who
are slowly learning to trust the CINI-Asha staff, they could be
undergoing counseling, they could be taking literacy classes, or they
could have progressed beyond basic literacy classes into preparing
themselves for immersion into age-appropriate schooling.
| Is there any governmental involvement | in the project? If so, how?: To the best of my knowledge, there is no governmental
involvement.
| Specify nature of needed funds. | Is this a one-time contribution or an annual request? The requested amount of
$2200 would finance one drop-in-center for 50 children. CINI Asha
requests the funding to be provided on a renewable basis.
| Can you include a | copy of the syllabus? Not Applicable.
| What is the cost of educating | one child for one year through this program? It works out to $45 per child per year.
| To what purpose would the requested | funding be directed? An itemized split up of costs: blackboards, chalk, tables, chairs, latrines,
buildings, teachers' salaries and so on. Spreadsheet enclosed.
| Will ASHA be able to specify where | the allocated funds should go? I do not know.
| References, if any:
|
1) CINI 1997 Annual Report.
2) "The Street Children of Calcutta," by Dr. Bharath Sethuraman. Article in India Currents, September 1998.
3) CINI's website at http://www.cini-usa.org
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