Voice of People

Email update from Nilanjan

Aug. 19th, 2003

 

We haven't had anything from the Voice Of People in West Bengal. We had sent them an amount two years ago for the construction of a permanent schol building. This was done by them and verified through site visits 
by Joydeep and me in 2001. However, we were not very satisfied with the organization. There were somethings that irked us after the second site visit. One was the fact that they never supplied detailed receipts for 
their expenses even after we wrote them a letter and sent them emails about the same. The second was the fact that we found it odd that the parents of the children were not involved in the decision making process 
as well as the school building process as much as they had led us to believe. They also were not able to put a permanent roof for the school building within the budget they had requested (though it was part of the 
original plan)
 
Overall, the organization didn't give us a good feeling. We suspect it was receiving funding from multiple sources for the same projects. The bulding next to the school that housed the organization leaders seemed 
to be quite a lavish investment. The Tata Sumo that the organization's leader used also seemed a bit out of touch with the rest of the area. While, we cannot prove misuse of funds, we did find the organization 
very reluctant to provide clear and concise statements of their finances and receipts of thier expenses. They never got back to us with answers to our questions about usage of funds.

 

 

Voice of People

Minutes from July 22nd, 2001

 

Thus far, Asha has given $6000, which is Rs. 2,57,177. The money has been used by them for the construction of a permanent structure to house the primary students. The earlier structure was a make-shift bamboo structure and straw mats.

 

 

Both Nilanjan and Joydeep have visited this project many times, see project website for site visit reports. Thus far, the building exists, although there is an issue with the roof not being permanent, even though we has thought that they were going to use it for this purpose. When Joydeep and Nilanjan last visited this place, there was a serious concern whether all the money we gave was used up for the construction or if it was misused. For example, on site, they could only account for about Rs. 1,00,000, which was quite alarming. Hence, Joydeep had requested that they send us receipts of money spent. Finally, they did send us some receipts, which Nilanjan has analyzed. See his attachment for detailed analysis of the receipts.

 

The receipts have a lot of problems, in the sense that only Rs. 1,21,929 can be accounted for with acceptable receipts. And Rs. 92,956.84 is accounted with unacceptable receipts for building materials, which only gives a total of Rs.2,14,885.84, which is less than what we gave them. In addition, the amount spent on labor charges, sanction fees and supervision fees simply have no receipts at all!

 

Regarding receipts, Nilanjan correctly pointed out that there is no general Asha guidelines for what constitutes an acceptable receipt. Since the IRS audit we have been more vigilant with getting receipts for every single paisa spent, however, perhaps this is a good time to setup general Asha rules for receipts. For now, Nilanjan decided that a receipt is acceptable if it has supplier information, details of the part provided and a signature. An unacceptable receipt is one which is hand written with little or no info on what has been supplied and without a revenue stamp.

 

Since this is a serious problem for Asha, everyone was concerned as to how to solve this problem.

Joydeep then pointed out that VOP does belong in the professional NGO category. VOP has lots of connections with the Indo-German society and that Swapan Basu Mallick is the smooth character. Ananth asked if there was any connection with them and Milan Dinda. Joydeep did not know.

 

Joydeep also emphasized that since the rules of site visit are vague, it was hard at that time that force VOP to show us their bank passbook and other records. But, in any case, Joydeep feels that VOP does not want to play by the rules: despite Joydeep's insistence that they send us valid receipts, they have sent about 40% shoddy ones without any revenue stamp. These could have been just made up, although of course, we do not know.

 

In addition, the fact that there is no receipts for labor charges is perplexing. The laborers would still be there in the local community, so they could have asked them to sign or thumb-print a post-facto receipt, but it has not been done.

 

Ananth specifically asked if we have any evidence that there has been a real foul play. Both Joydeep and Nilanjan stated that with the current evidence we have, we simply cannot say.

 

Joydeep also explained that regardless of this problem, the school itself is doing fine. There are children who come to this school and are taught by teachers who come everyday. The parents are quite happy with this school and send their kids here despite that fact that they have to pay a fee and that there are free gov't schools nearby. The gov't schools there are quite non-functional: the buildings exist, but no teachers come. And the NGO has a good rapport with the community. The kids are all first generation learners.

 

Finally, it was decided that we request them to send us the FCRA income report filed every year, which should have all the info. Also that the proposal will be looked at only after we resolve the case of the missing receipts and VOP has fully and properly accounted for their past funding.

 

 

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Voice of People

March 11th, 2001

Nilanjan

 

 

Nilanjan and Joydeep have recently visited the VOP site, and discussed their views with the ongoing project.

 

ASHA Boston has funded VOP twice for a total sum of $6000.  Nilanjan made a first visit in January 2000, and another visit in Jan/Feb 2001.  The sum was given to fund their school called “Bodhi Vikas”.  The school is located in Nutan Diyarah, a small village 5km from Calcutta. 

 

The area is sparsely populated, predominantly rural.  Fishing / farming / auto driving seemed to be the occupations of the people.  Some were maidservants also.  Since Nilanjan’s previous visit, he has seen some improvement and was satisfied.  The amount funded allowed the organization to build a 1500 sq feet building that houses 4 primary classes.  Currently, VOP is planning an expansion to the secondary classes as well.

 

Mrs. Maya Karmakar manages the day-to-day functioning of the school, assisted by a group of teachers.  Some teachers take this job as an intermediary till they find a more highly paid job.  Others get married and move to a distant location, thus cannot teach after some time.  Current teachers will also move on.

Nilanjan mentioned, that with the exception of one, all the other teachers were new, since his previous visit.  The school pays Rs. 400 –500, much less than what private/govt schools pay.   Volunteer spirit is needed;  rearrange times to allow teachers to teach a few times a week as needed.  These were some

suggestions provided to overcome the problem. 

 

ASHA-Boston is awaiting a detailed expense report from VOP for the amount provided to them.  It was observed that the roof and flooring of the school building constructed were not done as expected.  Currently ASHA

Boston has a proposal from VOP for additional funding.

 

Joydeep had the following comments to make about VOP

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A detailed account of the money spent, to evaluate the expenditure and future plans of the organization, is needed.  Though the building construction looks consistent with the amount of money spent / funded by ASHA Boston.  The fees charged of the children is similar to the government school in the neighborhood, then why is their a need for an additional school?  Knowing that the govt. schools are not productive and efficient, an alternative place to send the children would be appropriate.  Parents would be more satisfied to send them to a school with better performance and quality.  What should the long-term direction of the school be?

 

Maintain a parallel school?  Student seemed interested in what they were studying at Bodhi Vikas.

 

Joydeep had a conversation with Mr. Swapan Basu Mallick, who is the founder of VOP.  Joydeep mentioned that Mr. Basu seemed to have a bloated imagination of what he can do.  Mr. Basu has been involved with the NGO professionally for 6 – 10 years, and has used the money received on his pet projects.  He has a Tata Sumo, and a big building registered for VOP.  The Indo German society was funding VOP a sum of 12  - 15 lakhs an year, to achieve sustainable development by their definition.  No practical development has been made that would depict efficient results.  

 

Joydeep had requested to look at the receipts / bank statements / pass books to review the expenditure on the school building funded by ASHA, during his site

visit.  No passbook could be provided.  A passbook details all the transactions, thus is an interesting piece of document to review.  No 6-month report has been received from VOP.  Joydeep found out that the children are charged Rs. 30 for the school, and then later tuition is given to them, by the same teachers for Rs. 50.  Tuition, within the society, is seen as a status symbol, thus is important, and is assumed to be needed.

 

As mentioned by Nilanjan also, teachers are working at Bodhi Vikas because they may not have anything better to do at the time.  The school does teach and educate the children, as compared to the govt. schools. 

 

Joydeep found out the cost for doing the roof in the right way would come to Rs. 50K.  As VOP has many well wishers, local community, he asked Mr. Basu why the

amount could not be raised from the well wishers if ASHA’s funding ran out?  Mr. Basu seemed to lack innovation / imagination, as perceived by Joydeep.  Mr. Basu had opportunities to be more productive / effective and have a successful organization, but his achievements are not as much as expected. 

 

Joydeep was not satisfied with the NGO.   But can we help this NGO to better its functions, to make it successful?  Should we consider this as a bad investment, and not consider its next proposal?

 

Now that ASHA Boston has a proposal from VOP for the same school, what should we do?  It was decided that we will wait for the itemized expense report, and then

reconsider how we should pursue this problem. 

 

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Voice of People

Jan 23rd, 2000

Site visit discussion by Nilanjan

 

*More information, please look for Nilanjan's report on his visit in the Asha-core email.*

 

Nilanjan visited VOP during his visit to Calcutta. He had a very hard time in getting information about VOP since the Asha-website is out-dated and phone #s have all changed. He recommended that we update the project addresses often.

 

Asha-MIT is funding a the construction of building for a new school called "Bodhi Vikas". Details of this project are the Asha website. Asha has already given them $3000 and another $3000 was to be delivered after about 5 months, pending receipt of photographs, account, etc. VOP previously received funding from a German company.

 

At the project, Nilanjan was shown around by Ms. Karamakar, the VOP general secretary. He even taught a few classes at the school and found that children are very bright and enthusiastic. They understand English and are able to translate Bengali into English.

 

He found that the current school is held in a make-shift structure which has lots of problems in the rainy season. The entire region was flooded during October end and lots of people were affected for about 2 weeks. Hence, a new structure is indeed necessary.

 

Discussion:

Nilanjan sensed that VOP and Ms. Karmakar, in particular, is frustrated with Asha-MIT's mismanagement of their project. They were disturbed by the communication break-down for long periods of time between Asha-MIT and VOP. For a time-table of Asha-MIT's interaction with VOP, see Nilanjan's report.

 

Saroja explained that the problem started with a fax regarding land ownership, which we did not receive due to some problems. The lack of communication increased by Abhijit's leaving Asha-MIT.

 

Melli asked about the teachers at VOP. Nilanjan commented that the teachers, who are making less than Rs. 500 per month, were all young bachelors who lived on-site. They are almost on a voluntary basis, and enjoy their work in a commune environment.

 

Joydeep inquired about Ms. Karmakar's background. Nilanjan said that Ms. K. graduated from Tata Institute of Social Work and joined VOP with an aim of helping women in Orissa and West Bengal. She is not married and has lots of contact within and outside of India. Joydeep also asked about the presence of any gov't school nearby. Nilanjan said that there is a gov't school nearby, but the teachers never come. So, parents don't want to send their children to it. Srikanth also mentioned that gov't schools have been malfunctioning for a while and in many places NGO's such as VOP has taken over a school, and are playing an important role in the regional education.

 

Nilanjan mentioned that VOP wants to build the school within a month to minimize disruption for the school, and hence wants to get the other $3000 as soon as possible. Saroja questioned if their request of full funding immediately is a result of our previous mismanagement of their project.

 

Finally, there was a vote on whether Asha-MIT would give them the rest of the money now. The result was an unanimous decision to give the money now. Deb, Rama and Sampath abstained.

 

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Voice of People

Jan 9th, 2000

Srikanth

 

Recent developments at the Voice of People (VOP) project in Calcutta, where

Asha is funding construction of a school, was presented by Srikanth.

 

After several delays, construction is being started on the school. VOP has

requested Asha to release the last installment of $3000 so that they can take up

and complete the construction on a war footing.

 

It was decided that Asha should wait for a little while more till photographs,

receipts and a report from the first phase are received before sending the final

installment. This will be consistent with the standard practice Asha follows

with other projects.

 

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Voice of People

August 27th, 1999

 

The Voice of People (VOP) project proposal for construction of a primary
school in South 24 Paraganas, West Bengal, was discussed and put to vote.

The project had been site visited and approved for funding in late 1997,
but did not go through due to some communication gaps between them and
Asha. VOP had requested Asha to reconsider the proposal again recently.
VOP sent replies to the set of questions which came up at the last Asha
meeting which discussed the proposal.

A total funding of $6000, to be sent in two installments over the next 10
months, was decided on by a majority vote. A concern was expressed that
Asha might be indirectly forcing VOP to focus on education vis-a-vis their
other grassroots level involvement, by funding the school at a time when
VOP is facing a fund crunch. It was decided to inform Mr. Joy Kar, the
consultant-advisor for the project, that VOP should look to actively
continue the other social agenda they had been working on, in addition to
education.

 

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Voice of People

July 11, 1999

 

- Voice of People (VOP) project was discussed. VOP is based in the South

24 Paraganas Dist of West Bengal and is active in the fields of prevention

of child labour, women's empowerment and other social issues for the past

10 years.

 

The project requests a funding of Rs 2.4lakhs for construction of a pucca

building in place of the existing dilapidated structure for a school. It

had been visited by Abhijit in 1997. Subsequently, a decision was made to

fund it, but it fell through due to communication gaps with the project.

VOP approached Asha for funding this year again with essentially the same

proposal, the costs having increased by 20% over the previous one.

 

A list of questions have been sent to VOP to understand the ground

situation currently and their responses are awaited. Some expressed the

opinion that since Asha has sort of made a committment of funding to them

in the past, it should not be treated as a new project and not be

subjected again to a time-consuming review. The necessity of understanding

the changed situation was however appreciated, and the funding decision

will be made after consulting with the project co-ordinators about their

present priorities.