FOLLOWING ARE THE MEETING MINUTES ON DEC-03,2006 WHICH NOTES THE APPROVAL ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ankur had visited the project when he visited India. After his first presentation Biju from Asha Assam visited and gave a good report for the project. Information on Pragyalaya can be found at 1) Proposal is available at http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Chapters/Austin/proposals/Prajnalaya/ProposalPrajnalaya.doc 2) Earlier Q & A and minutes http://www.ashanet.org/austin/minutes_html/27aug06.html http://www.ashanet.org/austin/minutes_html/8oct06.html http://www.ashanet.org/austin/minutes_html/20oct06.html 3) Conference call with Pragyalaya: http://data.ashanet.org/datastore/data/Chapters/Austin/proposals/Prajnalaya/pragyalaya06Nov2.rtf Pragyalaya runs a school in Assam. The initial proposal was for generation of organic fertilizer that would help them work with the local community and help them in self-sustaining the school. - Initial proposal was for 10 tanks, after conf call, reduced number of tanks to start small - why organic fertilizer? income and employment - students learn vocational skills through this project - who is going to buy the fertilizer? tea gardens around there - all costs in the budget are one-time - school expenses are for the 3 new classrooms Proposal: - Rs.22,000 for 3 tanks, sheds and materials - Rs.63,000 for furniture, water filters, mosquito nets for hostels - About 15 kids get full scholarship for school and hostel We still need to understand: - is the school representative of the community economically? - do the parents of the poor kids work on the tanks in lieu of paying fees? - we need a report after their first compost - clarify that if the tanks are successful we expect that they can start the remaining tanks themselves. - we need to crosscheck the costs for furniture with Biju/others Everyone was comfortable supporting tanks and children's requirements. We could not reach concenses regarding school furniture and took a vote. For – 9, Against – 4 The project is approved.