ASHA-MIT

PROJECT SUMMARY: VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (VOP) (Second Summary)

Quick Index: [Introduction] [ADDRESS] [LEGAL STATUS] [LOCATION] [CONTACT] [PROJECT DESCRIPTION] [FUNDING] [ESTIMATED BUDGET (in Indian Rupees)] [DATES] [APPROVED FUNDING] [SUMMARY] [COMMENTS] [Several issues were raised with regards to this. The important ones were] [SOURCE] [HISTORY] [STATUS] [SUMMARIZED BY]

Introduction:

 
VOP was founded in 1986 by Swapan Basu-Mallick (who is now chairman)
with the aim of promoting a"journey towards a 'Just Society'". It has
now grown into a large organization with 50 whole- time employees and a
1995-1996 annual budget of Rs. 15 lakhs.

 

ADDRESS:

    Voice of People,
		SPANDAN, Nuandiyarah, P.O. - Nayabad,
		Dist. 24-Pgs. (South), Pin- 743 369.
		Tel- (9133) 462-0914, 462-0686.
		Fax- (9133) 247-9163
		Email- VOP.CAL@LFI.CIRRUSINDIA.COM
		Mobilink Operator # 4793654/55/56
		Pager- 300143

 

LEGAL STATUS:

  SRA# S/505R6 OF 1985-1986
			 FRCA # 147120292, Sep 1996.

 

LOCATION:

  Headquarters at SPANDAN, near Calcutta. Involved in adjacent
rural areas in West Bengal. 

 

CONTACT:

   Ms. Maya Karmakar, Secretary General of VOP at above address.

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

  "BODHI VIKAS"- Unfolding one's own potential. 

The project aims at 'giving scope to drop-out children, who are deprived
of the benefit of education', and to make them ready to ' undertake
vocational and tradebased training for their self- employment' and 'to
respond to the child- labour issue and to help for their up-bringing in
a better environment" so that they are later able to participate in
'entrepreneurial development" 

At presnt VOP runs and maintains "Bodhi Vikas" an experimental school
started in June 1995 for children ranging from 3- 10 years of age, and
meant especially for street children, child labourers and children of
prostitutes. They aim to provide shelter, literacy and develop skills
and awareness that will enable them to become self-reliant. They
currently appear to be trainingthem till class IV stage and wish to
exend this till the Class X stage" along with entrepreneurship training
to enable them to choose their way'. Short term plans include education
therough cultural activities such as dramas. songs and rallys; 6 such
events are palnned at 2- month intervals over the coming year. Non-
formal classes will also be conducted which involve " making the
children expressive about their feelings" through cultural and
psychological actions such as handling of various natural objects.
	Long- term goals (over next 5- 10 years) include not only "learning
through books, pressure of tasks etc" but to teach thoruogh
"psychological and physical games, dramas" etc. Classes wil be arranged
during school hours and continued each year according to the potential
of each child. Vocational training will be introduced after the child
has attained a certain stage according to each one's aptitude. Meanwhile
the children will be given a regular 'work- education' class to prepare
them for "entrepreneurship development".
	At present the school consists of a makeshift structure on the VOP
SPANDAN premises made of bamboo mat walls and flooring with a tin roof.
The school has Blackboard, table(s?) chair, books, chalk, pencils. 
Staffed by 5 teachers and one non- teaching associate along with one
honorary overall coordinator. The school is being funded through
donations and the teachers at present are getting no salary but
occasional pocket and/or travelling allowances. (NB- Rs. 2.15 lakhs or
11% of their 1995-1996 budget of Rs.19.3 lakhs is listed as spent on
"Educational Program" in their summary financial statement; although
unclear, this may possibly refer to their adult education efforts rather
than Bodhi Vikas)

 

FUNDING:

  
They are requesting funding of Rs. 105 lakhs (app. U.S.$ 3000/-) for
salaries of the 7 staff members for one year (app. $1200/-) in total as
well as for renovation of the school building (app $1650/-), purchase of
teaching and learning materials ($300/-) and administrative costs ( app
$130/-). They will contribute app $320/- of their own towards these
efforts.

 

ESTIMATED BUDGET (in Indian Rupees):

 

Honorarium for 1 headmaster@ Rs 750/- p.m.for 12 mths-		9,000.00
Honorarium for 5 teachers @ Rs. 500/- p.m.x 12 mths x 5-     30,000.00
Honorarium for 1 non-teaching staff@ RS. 300/-pm x 12 mths-	3,600.00
Teaching Materials and Contingency (Slate, notebooks,maps, 
	pencils, Books, AV aids etc)					    10,000.00
Administrative cost (Postage,Stationery,Electricity,Audit)-	5,000.00
Renovation of School Building- 					    60,000.00
Total-									    Rs 1,17,600.00

Requested funding from ASHA-MIT- 				    Rs.1,05,000.00
Own Contribution-								    12,600.00.

 

DATES:

   One year from start of funding. 

 

APPROVED FUNDING:

 
$ 6473 in the next year. We proposed that we will send 
them a third of the amount in January 98 and monitor how they use it
and based on their progress release the rest of the amount later in the
year.


 

SUMMARY:

  non- formal and voctional education for one year.

 

COMMENTS:

  The group seems well organized. They seem especially keen to
build a relationship with ASHA- MIT and mention in their covering letter
that an MIT scholar, Ms. Anuradha Joshi of the Dept. of Urban Studies
and Planning, as already visited some of their units and may be willing
to offer us her impressions of their organization.
	One bit of information that we need is statistics on how many children
are in the school, age groups etc. 

	 The group has an annual budget of Rs. 17-19 lakhs, of which 13 lakhs
(72%) is obtained from foreign grants, 1.2 lakhs (7%) from the Govt, and
rest trough local contributions. Their largest expenses are the Income
Raising program (25% of budget), Coordination (salaries etc- 14%) and
their educational program (12%).

The area in which the school is located is quite poor. 73% of the local
population fall 'on' or below the poverty line, and are rickshawpullers,
small-shop owners, marginal farmers, fishery workers etc (23%) or from
lowest-earning groups ( vendors, servants, labourers, hut-makers, etc)
There are many child labourers and school drop-outs. 
The VOP group conducts activites on many levels, with the general aim of
promoting the 'journey towards a just society' by providing 'voice to
the voiceless, development from below, leadership from below". their
activities include mother and child care, team building through non-
formal adult education, skill development and income generation, rural
technology transfer etc. in areas such as Hooghly, Jalpaiguri, Singbhum
and Midnapur. It participated in the Int'l Beijing Women's conference
and is engaged in campaigns against domestic violence, dowry deaths and
witch-burning which occur is these districts.
	Their activities seem more focussed towards adult literacy and in fact
they paln to use the Bodhi Vikas school for evening classes for the
parents, building reprsentative decision-making bodies etc. They strss
that they have no religious/political affiliation.


Dec 7, 1997-- Projects meeting 

It turns out that based on Sri's letter which mentioned
that Asha funds projects only up to $ 3000, the group decided to submit a
tailor made proposal (rather the funding part of it) to Asha. However 
after Abhijit visited them, he insisted that they submit their full 
budget and we decide what part of it we would fund. 

Based on this Abhijit, Arunava and myself came up with the proposal of
funding them for fixed costs, namely, renovating their existing school
building from a thatched hut to a pucca building. This is going to mean
a commitment of $ 6473 in the next year. We proposed that we will send 
them a third of the amount in January 98 and monitor how they use it
and based on their progress release the rest of the amount later in the
year. It is expected that they will be able to complete laying of the
foundation and the ceiling before June (when the monsoon begins in West 
Bengal and all construction has to be stopped). It was also felt that
for this precise reason we should expedite the sending of the first 
installment. The details will be posted on asha-core soon.

 

Several issues were raised with regards to this. The important ones were:

 

1. We need to make sure that VOP is comfortable with this arrangement.
   Not only should the time frame be agreeable to them but also the 
   amount we decide to send in the first installment be acceptable as
   sufficient to complete the needful.

2. We seem to have only $ 5400 in funds currently. Which means to  
   complete this project we will need to seek the help of other 
   Asha chapters.

3. Someone has to take responsibility for seeing the completion of 
   at least the first phase of the project.

Abhijit has agreed to do all of these tasks.

The final vote=  Approve- 11, Abstain- 3, Reject- 0.

 

SOURCE:

   

Maya Karmakar sent the VOP annual report to ASHA-MIT after she learned
about us through the Singhbhum Gramin Unnayan Mahila Samity which is
listed as an organization pending approval (being researched). 

 

HISTORY:

  

May, 1997- Letter and Annual Report recieved from Maya Karmakar 
Sri wrote back requesting a proposal. Proposal sent along with covering
letter to Sri from Maya Karmakar with covering letter from Ms. Karmakar
dated 21.7.97, Ref. No. VOP-ASHA-MIT/97/430. 

Discussed at projects meeting Dec 7, 1997.  Approved.

 

STATUS:

  Approved on Dec 7, 1997

 

SUMMARIZED BY:

   Nishi, 9/30/97.