Gist : Introduction
- The Visit - Analysis and Suggestions - On the
projects initiated and coordinated by volunteers from
abroad - Contact
Introduction : In this
report, we will first look at the achievements of Jyotirgamaya
as seen during my April 2001 visit, suggestions and things
to do in the days to come. The unique nature of this
project, as being initiated and coordinated successfully
by Ravi Verma (an Asha-USA volunteer) has prompted me to
consider, in the accompanying Appendix projects initiated
by volunteers abroad in general. Such an exercise is also
to encourage more volunteers to take up the challenge like
Ravi Verma.
Following some hard-hitting messages (on Mar 25th
2001) by Ravi Verma that key Asha volunteers in India are
negligent of their responsibility towards the Katihar(*)
initiative, Asha India team resolved to make quick amends. My
visit to Katihar was part of this.
Jyotirgamaya is a fresh initiative to address the
educational needs of children in Katihar. Currently, there
are two evening centres run by Jyotirgamaya for a total of
about 70 children. The plan is to work in collaboration with
the government teachers and officials as well as with
active local NGOs like Bal Mahila Kalyan.
* Katihar is the district headquarters of Katihar district,
which is one of the easternmost districts of Bihar
and borders West Bengal.
The Visit :
Vinaybhai (of Asha Ballia) and I were on a Bihar tour
to visit NGOs which had submitted proposals to Lucknow
chapter. Unfortunately, Vinaybhai had to return to Ballia
to take care of wheat harvesting in his farmland so I
proceeded alone from Patna to Katihar. This was an
overnight train journey in an over-crowded unreserved
compartment. I reached Katihar early in the morning.
First I held discussions with Rajeev Kumar, the
project coordinator of Jyotirgamaya at Katihar, at his
home and with coordinators of BMK(Bal Mahila Kalyan), a local
NGO, dedicated to empowering adolescent girls, which has
been of some help to the project, in their office. Then I
visited some nearby tolas(*) and later I visited the Oraon
Tola and Yadav Tola, where Jyotirgamaya runs its
educational centres. After seeing the classes run by
Rajeev, meeting the children and the parents I left Katihar
back to Patna by an overnight train.
* tola is part of a larger administrative village, usually
a closely-knit geographic or ethnic unit.
Discussion with Rajeev Kumar :
Rajeev Kumar is the eldest son of his family which
looks forward to him to take good care of it. He has done
M.Sc(Chemistry) in 1994 and B.Ed in 1996. He is preparing for
competitive examination in the hope of getting a
government job. Since 1997 he has been giving private
coaching for 7th to 10th Std students to earn a supplemental
income for his family. He charges about Rs.100 per student
for classes everyday from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm and this
earns him about Rs. 1500 per month.
In 2001, Ravi Verma started the Jyotirgamaya
project for underprivileged children and from the
inception of the project Rajeev has been running two
motivational study centres. He runs the Oraon tola centre(
4 pm to 5 pm) for about 50 children of adivasi community
and the Yadav tola centre (5 pm to 6 pm) for 20 children
of Yadav community. These centres are located in each of
the community areas to facilitate greater attendance of
children rather than in one place. The centres are not
regular school but motivational centres, as most of the
children are enrolled in government schools. In the
morning from 7 am to 11 am he visits the tolas to make
sure children go to school. He sometimes goes to
children's homes, wakes them up and takes them to
school.
The motivational centres are run to make children
interested in studies by giving basic literacy and also by
story telling and game playing. Small kids(1st Std or
Kintergarden) are taught to count upto 100 and also
stories (from books published by Eklavya) are read
out. For 2nd and 3rd Std students mathematics
(addition, subtraction) and language (reading and
writing) becomes the focus. General awareness about health and
cleanliness is also given.
Rajeev regularly(twice or thrice a week) visits BMK
office to get advice from Anila Devi and Naveen Rai.
Every Saturday there is a parents meeting in which
parents, Rajeev Kumar and sometimes Anila Devi of BMK meet
and have a discussion. The parents are encouraged to monitor
the child's development. Usually the parents complaint
about the non-functioning of government school.
The Oraon Tola Primary school has no building and is
run on temple premises. Poonam Devi, Arula Poddar and
Ganesh Jha are government teachers in the primary school. The
three teachers were busy with census 2001 work from Jan to
March 2001 and the school has been shut down for these
months. Since then, Ganesh Jha has become busy with Panchayat
elections during April 2001 and could not take his
classes.
Rajeev expressed interest in knowing more about Asha.
He wanted to get more printed material about Asha, its
goals, its activities,etc. He also wanted funds for buying
learning material for the centres and a honorarium for his
work as of my visit date he has not been getting any funds
for the project. Rajeev also wanted to get some teachers
training and also interact with groups doing similar work.
Rajeev has kept a meticulous record of all his
Jyotirgamaya activities from day one. This is an
impressive habit he has. In the record one can see on each day
what he did, where he went, whom he met, how many children
attended the classes, what he taught in the class, etc. In
addition to this I suggested him to keep also a record of
lesson he has learnt, new ideas that he gets, minutes of
meeting with others and success and failure in his
attempts.
Before we left from Rajeev's home, Ravi Verma called
up from USA( he got news about my surprise visit through
Rajeev) and I talked with him for a few minutes. Ravi wanted
me to meet with the parents of children to get their
feedback on the educational centres.
Meeting with BMK coordinators:
Rajeev cancelled his private coaching classes and we
visited the BMK premises by afternoon. BMK focuses on
young women and adolescent girls. The idea is to provide basic
literacy and vocational skills for economic empowerment.
BMK works with dalit and adivasi tolas. Anila Devi and
Naveen Rai of BMK showed me how they make jute products
by making the thread, dyeing, making a design,
weaving,etc. After the initial training, the women become
the experts and do all the work.
I asked Anila Devi if they can make some jute product with
'Asha' written on it. Later, she sent by post two
jute doormats as gifts to me which I have presented to
Richa and Jayashree. I am sure, with 'Asha' written
on it, they are not being used as doormats !
Some girls were having a embroidery class and I briefly
talked to them. Most of them were very shy. There were two
girls in this group whose age cannot be more than 20 who were
deserted by their husbands. One of them was a Muslim girl.
They now look forward to a lifetime alone and the
vocational skills they get here will be key in ensuring
economic indepedence and hopefully exploitation given
their vulnerableness. The trainer in this class herself
was trained in BMK and explained to me that she too was shy
and closed when she first came in.
Then we visited the nearby tolas. The community here was
busy with making a great variety of traditional hand-made
products including brooms, brushes, flutes other musical
instruments. The community complained that they are going
out of business because of flooding of plastic products in
the market. Some innovative change in the products they
make and materials they use can help them remain in the
market. Anila Devi seems to have good relation with the
community.
We were already late for the Oraon Tola classes and we
hurried to the tola and found the children waiting for
Rajeev.
Oraon Tola Educational Centre :
The tola as maintained a rural ambience, even as one can
see concrete buildings surrounding it. About 40
children were seated in the open on plastic sheets. Rajeev sat
in the centre and began teaching the children. Because of
the presence of BMK staff and me gradually the villagers
started crowding around. I tried to talk to some of the
children but found it difficult to communicate as they
could not understand Hindi. But the children did try to
recite some poems and read out some passages from their
book.
As more parents arrived, we made them sit down on the side
and began a discussion with them. A couple of members from
the village education committee - Shanka Prasad Yadav and
Lalmuni Devi - were also present. The villagers, taking me to
be a government official, complained to me that there is
no electricity and water from tubewells is unreliable. I
changed topic to ask them about the motivational centre.
They said they are all very happy with what Rajeev
is doing. I asked them if they can't provide a small shed
where the children can sit comfortably. The village head
promised me that he will follow up. He said he'll collect
Rs.25 from each family and build a small shed in the village
common land for the motivational centre. This needs to be
followed up.
I then asked the villagers about how the government school
is functioning. At this Lalmuni Devi said the school is
running well and it just needs infrastructure as the classes
are held in front of a mandir (Hindu Temple).
However, other village women disagreed with Lalmuni and
said - unlike Rajeev, the government teachers drive
away small children - often the teachers keep
chatting amongst themselves ignoring the children -
often go to drink tea - keep beating the children
for maintaining silence - dont show things by
writing on slate which is how Rajeev teaches
However, some women added that, "but not all mistake is
made by teachers. Guardians (they use a distorted
Hindi-ised garjians) dont send children to school. Even
Rajeev has to come and collect the children for the
evening class."
Later, I discussed with Naveen Rai why Lalmuni gave a clean
chit to the teachers. He felt that among the residents of
the tola she comes from a slightly better off family and feels
she must protect the image of the teachers in their
absence who she thinks belong to a higher class than the
villagers.
After the meeting, the women sang some songs for us. BMK
works in this tola organising the women into self-help
groups.We then went to the Yadav tola where Rajeev had already
left for starting the class on time.
Yadav Tola Educational Centre :
The Yadav tola classes are held in a small tent-like
structure(with tatched roof at 5 feet height) in front of
a home whose residents have lent it. There were about 15
children in this centre. In addition were present a 30
year-old man and a lame boy of 20. I asked the boy what he
was doing here and he said, "I am here to learn to read and
write. I had polio when I was young and had to drop out of
school. Now Rajeev is allowing me to learn what I missed
out." Even as we discussed about the centres in the verandah,
some passersby joined our discussion or dropped a word of
praise for the motivational centre.
Analysis and Suggestions
The centres :
The two centres are functioning regularly with the twin
goal of providing basic literacy and motivating the
children towards education. The relationship with the parents
of the children is very good. Average attendance is above
80 % which is commendable for non-formal centres.
The centres should work towards a better quality of
education going beyond literacy.
The timing of the classes needs 10 to 20
minutes interval to give time for the teacher to go from
one tola to another.
Resources :
Rajeev has been working voluntarily for Jyotirgamaya
which is commendable. However, given his family
situation he needs to be given a honorarium to sustain the
good work.
Jyotirgamaya reports and website(*) indicate that
there are four to five Asha Stars in this project.
However, as of the date of my visit no funds have been given
to the local team. Asha Stars should commit financially to
help the project and must work towards swift transfer of
funds.
Material resources for better quality of learning are
needed. The children would benefit if the project provides
slates, notebooks, pencils,etc. in addition to books and other
learning materials.
There is a need to identify a good place to run the
centres. Particularly, the Oraon tola classes need
immediate attention. A centre can be constructed by funds from
both Asha and the villagers.
* Asha Katihar website
http://www.katihar.org/jyotirgamaya (sometimes inaccesible)
Jyotirgamaya Team :
Except for good will and advice, Rajeev is the only
working member of Jyotirgamaya on the ground. He
must be strongly encouraged to build a team of volunteers who
can share the work. This will help in extending the work
to other tolas, exchange of ideas and also prevent his
burnout.
Primary Schools :
The evening classes should be seen as motivating
children to attend regular primary school and not as their
substitute. A relationship with school teachers and
Jyotirgamaya need to be established. The government
authorities must be urged to construct primary school
building. The demand for building and regular classes by
the teachers needs to come from the villagers. For this
constant sensitisation and awareness sessions are necessary.
Particularly, the village education committee needs to
have vigilant members, unlike the current situation of
complacent ones.
Jyotirgamaya and Asha :
Jyotirgamaya is an Asha initiative. It needs to be
connected well to the larger Asha community. Firstly,
financial support that it needs should reach. Further it must
be connected to Asha groups in India. Particularly, with
Asha Ballia. Rajeev and future Jyotirgamaya team must
participate in Asha India semi-annual meetings and other
active volunteers meetings.
Jyotirgamaya and BMK :
The postive relation established with BMK, has helped
Jyotirgamaya gain acceptance with the people. Greater
concrete collaboration with BMK needs to be explored.
BMK can be asked to step in to give regular inputs to
improve the quality of education.
Jyotirgamaya and other groups:
Rajeev needs regular input on improving his teaching
methodologies. Exposure visits to good groups and possibly
training for Rajeev need to be arranged. Some groups
like Swanirvar (West Bengal), Eklavya(M.P) are already
known. I've also recently come to know of a good group
Anandalaya (in Jharkhand). Groups closer to Katihar need to be
identified too.
Asha and BMK :
As BMK is a good group, Asha can explore
collaboration with this group, particularly on giving
vocational training for young women and adolescent girls. Asha
can also take up marketing of products(like jute
products) made by BMK. The doormats mentioned earlier are
sold at Rs.25 in the local market. Asha can increase both the
sales as well as the sales price of such products
thus providing livelihood for the girls. Volunteers
interested can talk to Richa or Jayashree to get an idea of
the kind and quality of the products.
Appendix : On the projects in India initiated and
coordinated by volunteers from abroad
Jyotirgamaya belongs to a special class of Asha
projects. As of date we have only two of them, the other
being Project Pride(*). They are both initiated and sustained
by the efforts of Asha-USA volunteers. It is no wonder for
us to see projects initiated and coordinated by Asha India
volunteers, as this is similar to other NGO or grassroots
work. Howeve, projects initiated by projecpeople from
abroad is of a different kind and needs closer attention
and appreciation.
We will first consider the commonalities between the
two projects, then the key differences and see in the end
if we can say something about such projects in general.
* Project Pride works with the mission of making Besant
Nagar beach a pride of Chennai by August 15th, 2002
and holds withing its scope the education and employment of
the fisherfolk community living in the beaches.
Commonalities of Project Pride and Jyotirgamaya :
Project Pride was conceived and initiated by D.P.Prakash
(Asha Vermont) and Jyotirgamaya by Ravi Verma (Asha
Sacramento). Both projects began in Jan-Feb 2001. Both
volunteers campaigned intensely during their India visits
meeting key officials, NGOs and local community.
This has given them a good idea of the ground situation.
They have both identified one reliable action-oriented
volunteer on the ground (Vimal in Project Pride and
Rajeev in Jyotirgamaya). Identifying the key volunteer
has been the most important step towards their success.
Both projects work for well-defined communities. However,
after they left India, they have been in touch and remained
involved from long distance. Both projects have
received positive encouragement from Asha community.
Inspite of regular local activity, the initiating USA
volunteers are expected to play key roles and both the
projects are still struggling to build a local team of
volunteers. As these projects are less than six months
old, we can be confident that they'll both build a local
team as well as start functioning independently in coming
years.
These projects should help volunteers based abroad
rethink about the best ways they can contribute.
Despondent cliches like 'what can I do sitting here' must
go out of the volunteers vocabulary.
Differences between Project Pride and Jyotirgamaya :
Project Pride, based in Chennai, a metropolitan city
whereas Jyotirgamaya is based in a remote district of
Bihar. Thus Project Pride has gotten widespread attention with
a large Asha volunteer support (particularly of those with
affinities in Chennai). Jyotirgamaya because of its
remote location has a tougher challenge in building support
and has consequently moved slower. Project Pride has a
broad agenda of social change with education as one of
many means, whereas Jyotirgamaya is a focused project on
providing better schooling. Jyotirgamaya, if it retains
its focus, can expand its reach to more villages even as
Project Pride sharpens its focus in the coming years.
General comments :
We can look at such projects as evolving through many
phases. Volunteers who want to initiate similar projects
do not necessarily have to proceed in this manner. It is given
here to serve a broad guide.
The inital phase includes an intense campaign of
visits, meeting and brainstorming with all concerned,
building an attractive vision and convincing others of the
viability of the venture. Identifying an action-oriented
reliable volunteer on the ground before leaving the ground
is the toughest challenge. Finding one, during a single visit
may be the exception than the rule. Thus it would be ideal
if the volunteer initiates a project at a place where s/he
is likely to visit often.
Building support base abroad comes soon after.
Once again the vision and the viability of the venture are
put under scrutiny from a support group perspective.
Next come the phase where a local team comes in place
that takes the work beyond what one or two key volunteers
can alone accomplish. Only when the project gets past this
stage can we be sure that it has stabilised beyond the
whims of individuals.
With a stable team working both locally and a
world-wide team supporting it, the priorities have to
revisited and major changes in mission are likely. (As an
aside, if we view 'volunteer abroad' as a metaphor for
volunteerism, Asha has a whole can be said to be located
in this stage.)
Next, the volunteer from abroad has to devise ways to
get this local team to work independently. As the
initiating volunteer is now far from the ground (else the
project wouldn't fall in this special class) his decisions
as well as priorities may not be fully informed. As
Sun Tzu says(*), one of the three ways in which a ruler can
bring misfortune upon his army is "by commanding the army
to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that
it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army." Indeed a
good ruler lets his generals take all decisions on the
battlefield only setting broad campaign goals. Though we
no longer live in a world like that of Sun Tzu, what he
says deserves attention. The local team must learn to make
sound decisions without expecting to be guided at every
step by the initiating volunteer who is now abroad as much as
he makes an effort to let the team make decisions and be
responsible for them. The initiating volunteer can however
retain his role of keeping the project aligned with its vision
and core principles.
For this, a broadening of the communication and
support base will be a useful strategy.
The entire local team (not just one member of the
team) and the entire support team(not just the iniating
volunteer) should be able to communicate regularly with each
other. For this all methods and ways of communication has
to be explored. Visits to the project by many others
should be encouraged. This will continue to give a fresh
perspectives about the project which may differ from that
of the local and as well as remote support team.
Local support groups for the local team should be
built. The local team should be encouraged to build
liaisons with nearby groups which can complement its work.
* Chapter 3, The Art of War, Sun Tzu
Go
to top
<< Back
|