Voice of People (VOP) is a large organisation that is spread
throughout a lot of Bengal and Bihar and fighting social injustices
affecting diverse groups of people.Their total budget is about
Rs 17 lakhs. We are considering funding a school of theirs in Nayabad
near Calcutta, called Bodhi Vikas. The school provides primary
education and more for students from low income households upto the
fourth grade.
Here is a quick summary of my trip there.
1. school was not in session as I went during the Puja holidays, but
I did get an opportunity to talk to the volunteers involved in the
operation, and visit the school structure that currently exists.The
current school structure is made of bamboo and is indeed a fragile
one, that leaks water, and is subject to pretty severe storm damage.
2. This particular project focuses on education of about 160 students,
upto the fourth grade level.
3. They place a lot of emphasis on extracurricular education. They
attempt to teach good civic sense and behavior through songs, dramas,
and puppet shows. For instance, they would illustrate the importance
of cleanliness through a puppet show where nobody talks to the dirty
puppet, etc.
4. They have fledgling efforts to supplement this with local
entrepreneurship, such as poultry farming, local arts, etc. These are
businesses that rtain them to successfully create business in their
current environments without any migration.
5. they also seem to have a working relationship with CINI-Asha, which
is a well known charitable organisation working with children in Calcutta.
6. I had a lot of questions about the qualifications and commitment of
the individual running the project. In reply they hve provided us with
a listing of all key individuals associated with the project, and their
CVs/resumes. From my initial pass through them, they appear satisfactory.
7. They had initially given us a partial budget as they were under the
impression that we wanted them to ask for a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakhs. I
requested a full budget, stating that we would indicate whic items in that
we would like to fund, if any. They complied, and their current budget is
about Rs 7.73 lakhs.
Generally, I would urge funding of infrastructure. Here the deliverable
from their end is clearly defined and we have no problem identifying
completion. On other issues they would like funding for, sometimes it is hard
to confirm that indeed the money was spent on the deliverable we wanted it
to be spent on.
Before the next Projects Group Meeting, I would like to finalise some numbers
with the help of one or two other volunteers. This will entail going through
their request list, and deciding which items we are interested in funding.
Then we can put the recommendation to review and vote at the next meeting.