SEED Madurai -

April 1st, 2001

Past Project Discussion

Anu Raghavan

SEED is an NGO in Madurai, TN. Works to educate the children of life prisoners, of patients suffering from leprosy and cancer, of victims of murder, and of red light districts. This takes the following forms,

1. SEED takes care of board, lodging, clothing, and education of

271 children ages 3-18 years

2. SEED runs Mahatma Gandhi primary school for Standards I-V

3 SEED runs Mahatma Gandhi high school

4. SEED offers vocational training to students in addition to

their regular studies. This includes mat weaving, basket making, tailoring, carpentry, and electronics.

This project was given a one year funding of ~$2400 in the year '96 / '97. Multiple site visits had been made and communication with Mr. Palanisamy, who runs the project, provided a good opinion of the project.

The second installment of $1400 was used towards the Industrial Training Institute, as opposed to primary education as specified in the original proposal. Further, no report was received after the second installment was provided. SEED was not expected any further monetary contributions from ASHA. A report was provided after the first six months, prior to sending the second installment.

Anu had visited SEED in '97, and was impressed by the performance and functioning of the organization and school. She was also impressed with Mr. Palanisamy's involvement / dedication within the organization. He is a very active person, and very much central to the organization. This can be a drawback also, as responsibilities may be better shared, making many people informed about the functioning of the organization.

Anu showed a video she had taken at SEED during her visit, talking to Mr. Palanisamy and the children. Anu did try to keep in touch with SEED after '97, but did not receive any replies from SEED. Further, she wanted to understand why the money from ASHA was used for the Industrial training institute.

On the other hand, Anu was satisfied with the performance and confidence of the children. The children of all ages are encouraged to pursue their capabilities, be it in music / sciences / or any other field. Some funds also help the children to pursue college education.

The community in Madurai is more of a labourers society and not too much farming. The land / infrastructure of SEED was donated.

As this is a 4-year-old project, it would be good to learn from this project, how the children are performing at this time. How the school is functioning, and where it is getting funding from. Some children may have left SEED to pursue work elsewhere; maybe try to find out where they are and how they are doing. Basically find out if SEED education was able to help them. This would be a good project to learn from and understand how ASHA can evaluate projects, to realize short term and long-term literacy benefits to children.

It was mentioned that maybe Shanmuga can visit SEED and find out what happened 4 year ago with ASHA funding being diverted to the industrial training, and why final report was not received. Some further questions were raised to find out about the organization / project

Community involvement

Does the organization accept children from other areas / localities

Statistics - number of children in 1997, and today

Children who were with SEED in 1980s, what are they doing now?

Anu will keep track of this. She also mentioned this may be a good project to mention to Mrs. Deshpande for the support of the Deshpande foundation.