ASHA: Meeting minutes (Thu, 15th April)

[Subramanya Sastry <sastry@cs.wisc.edu>]

Attendees: Charu, Kamal, Navin, Param, Subbu, Vineeta, Vinod, Vishal

Announcements/Updates:
-> The visit by Dr.Parameswara Rao is finalized.  He'll be speaking here
    on the 28th April (Wed) at the Center for South Asia.  The center is
    also sponsoring his visit here.  On the 29th, he will be meeting people
    in an informal setting (dinner/potluck).
-> Received a couple more checks the previous week.
-> Vishal is working on giving the Asha webpage a facelift.

Little Stars:
-> Funding will be sent in 2 installments of $1000 each.  The typical practice
    among Asha chapters of sending funds to approved projects is to send funds
    in two installments, the 2nd installment being sent after receiving a report
    from the project. This gives us an opportunity to monitor the progress of
    the project.

Request for funds to aid the relief effort for Kosovar refugees:
-> We were approached as a registered student organization to contribute some
    funds to International Red Cross as part of the relief efforts for the
    Kosovar regugees.  It was decided to send *individual contributions*.
    The general Asha fund pool will not be touched.

Summer (summary of the discussion):
-> During summer, most of Asha work will be concentrated on the
    Work-An-Hour '99 event.  This scheme last year, managed to raise more
    than $30,000, thru' which 3 projects were funded (details on the main
    Asha web page - www.ashanet.org).  This year, the process is underway to
    send in project proposals, and pick them before publicity for the event
    begins.

Other matters:
-> There was discussion about Asha's role as a facilitator of social change.

SUMMARY (as seen thru' my eyes -Subbu):

There was no disagreement about the broad Asha philosophy "basic education
being a prerequisite for social change" and the recent realization that
"education" should not be restricted to the standard text-bookish kind
knowledge education that is imparted.  This is seen in the approval of
funds to projects that work with non-traditional modes of education,
for example, the project at Ballia.  As regards the role of Asha people
involving themselves in broader social and political people's movements,
it should not be a matter of concern as long as "Asha" as an organization
stays clear of controversial issues and *focuses* on basic education.

There was a brief discussion about the "Asha Fellows" scheme.  The idea is
for *individuals*, on their own, to support an activist/volunteer in India
who is working full-time for social change (education, etc).  Note that
Asha funds will not be diverted for this purpose.  It is upto Asha volunteers
and other people to decide if they want to fund the sustenance of such
activists in India.  It was felt (by some on the ashawide list as well as)
some here that the name "Asha Fellows" was misleading and might convey the
wrong impression that Asha donor funds are being used for this purpose.
[Note: If anyone wants to know more about the scheme, please send me a mail.
  - Subbu]