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About Asha |
About Asha for Education :
Mission Statement:
To catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of underprivileged children.
Objectives
Asha for Education is an organization dedicated to socio-economic change in
India. In pursuit of this goal, Asha focuses on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite
for socio-economic change. In keeping with this focus, our volunteers get involved with and support projects that
have an education-related component to them. The objectives of this group are:
To
provide education to underprivileged children in India.
To
encourage the formation of various local groups, both in India and U.S., to reach out to larger sections of the
population.
To
support and cooperate with persons and groups already engaged in similar activities.
To
raise the required human and other resources to achieve the group objectives.
To
provide opportunity to individuals based in the U.S. who wish to participate in Asha activities in India.
To
address, whenever possible, other issues affecting human life such as health care, environment, socio-economic
aspects and women's issues.
Asha for Education: The story
History
In the summer of 1991, a few students including V.J.P.Srivatsavoy@, Sandeep Pandey*,
and Deepak Gupta# got together to think of ways in which they could play a role in the development of India, the
country of their origin. These young people shared the belief that education is a critical requisite and an effective
catalyst for social and economic change in India. Basic education became the agenda for the action group that emerged
from this gathering. The group was named Asha to represent the hope that had brought these individuals together
and the hope that they aimed to bring into the lives of children in India. In that summer of 1991, Asha was born
at the University of California in Berkeley.
The Beginnings by V.J.P.Srivatsavoy: Writeup about Asha's history.
@ V.J.P.Srivatsavoy was working in India with Unilever, Mumbai. He passed away
in May 2000.
Please read the article about our late founder - Remembering Sri
* Sandeep Pandey is currently in India and is devoted to social work full time. He is also the recipient of 2002
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.
# Deepak Gupta is currently a Professor at IIT, Kanpur and continues to be involved with Asha in shaping its vision.
Asha Today
Till date, Asha has supported more than 385 different projects spanning 24 states in India. In terms of project funding, almost $4,000,000 has been disbursed to these projects since Asha's inception. In 2002 alone, Asha chapters raised and disbursed more than $1,000,000 to over 200 projects.
Asha's focus on children's education has galvanised a number of volunteers across the globe. Today, there are over 66 Asha chapters worldwide: 45 in the US, 14 in India, and 7 in Europe, Singapore and Australia.
Volunteers in each of these chapters take personal interest in identifying education-related projects in India, and supporting them through funds and other means.
As part of the Asha charter, all Asha chapters have a high degree of freedom in their activities including the identification, research, support and ownership of projects. However, there is also a good deal of co-operation among chapters and volunteers across chapters. This co-operation is evident in the joint ownership of projects across chapters, formation of focus groups across chapters, cross-chapter discussion on issues of interest, worldwide events like the Asha-Wide Conference, Work-An-Hour, and the Asha India Conference.
Asha's Future
In the future, Asha hopes to continue playing an important role in the socio-economic
development of India. Asha's vision is outlined below:
2050: Universal Primary Education in India
2010: At least one model project in every state
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About Asha |
| Asha for Education - Redlands 1112 Tangerine Drive Redlands, CA - 92374 |
Updated :
January 14, 2005 webmaster |