Site Visit Report(December 07)

Date: December 2007
Name Of Project: Gramya

Was your site visit announced? 
Yes, it was planned.

Project Contact
Bindu Didi

Your Name
Deepam Patel
(Asha volunteer conducting the visit)
E-mail: deeppatel1981@gmail.com

PART A: Particulars about the organization and its environment

1. What are the different focus areas of the organization? (give a rough estimate of the % of their total effort/funding)
The organization focuses on education. They run 8 centers in 8 different villages in the Naugarh and Chakia talukas (Chandauli district). They also have libraries in some of these villages, which everyone can use. They also work in other villages in the area where they don't necessarily have schools but still have activities such as community meetings or village libraries. This area is extremely rural and the schools cater to the adivasi/tribal and dalit communities. The people here are very poor and there is very little economic activity in the area. Therefore the organization uses the schools and education to catalyze community mobilization. They use the parents-teachers meetings to inform the parents of their rights and discuss their problems. For example, the organization helped the villagers get ration cards. In fact, part of the school curriculum is education about their local government. For example, the students are educated about their local Block Development Officers and where the relevant offices are located for filing various forms such RTI etc. There is also work on women's empowerment.

2. What is the administrative structure of the group (e.g. Board of Directors/Grassroots-based)?
Grassroots-based. Bindu didi is the program coordinator.

3. Are there any other organizations working in the area providing any one or all of the services provided by the visited organization? (Briefly mention their names and their objectives)
They did not mention any others working in the villages where the centers are located. But, as this has been classified as a Naxalite area by the government there are several NGO's working in the area.

PART B: Project particulars

(Information to be gathered from students and staff)

1. What is the mode of teaching in the school? (Check the appropriate choices)

A. Formal (State Board, Central Board etc.) till what class? 
There are 8 permanent schools. They follow state board. One is a junior (5-8), one has classes from (K-8), and the others are primary schools (K-5). But they also teach the students basic knowledge about the local government structure.

B. Non-Formal Education (NFE) do the students also attend formal school? N/A

C. Vocational N/A

D. Other . Please specify 
The organization also has regular community meetings. For example, there is a community mobilizer. These meetings are used to discuss community issues including the education of their children and socio-economic problems facing the community. There is also a women's coordinator responsible for mobilizing women.

2. If A (Formal), up to what grade(LKG, 5th, 7th etc.) does the school conduct classes? 
Six centers run classes from K-5, one form 5-8 and one from (K-8).

3. If B (Non-Formal Education) how many of the children also attend formal schools in the area? 
N/A
If none do, does the project plan this for the future? 
No

4. If Non-Formal Education, does the organization create its own study material (books, games)?
N/A

5. If C (Vocational), what do the children do after they finish training?
N/A

6. How many staff or volunteers are recruited from the community?
They try to recruit from the community but this is not always possible (due the the remoteness of the community). But, most are from the community.

How many of the staff are women?
According to the 08-09 proposed budget, 2 are women. 

7. How many teachers have left the school in the past one year, and why?
4 teachers left Gramya this year. Some left due to personal reasons. 

8. How many new teachers have joined in the past year?
They replaced the 4 teachers and 2 new teachers were hired.

9. Does the organization train the teachers? Yes No
Yes
If yes, how do they provide the training?
Last year they went to teacher training in Benaras. The teachers attend a training conference. 

PART C: Financial resources of the organization

(Feedback from the person conducting the site visit)

1. Do you think the proposed amounts in the budget are reasonable? Yes No Maybe
As far as I can tell (and my knowledge of the area is limited), they seem reasonable.

2. Are all items covered in the budget? Yes No Maybe
Maybe. Bindu didi did mention that sometimes they get donations (for example, her son donates some money).

3. Is there anything you think should be added or removed from the budget?
The motorcycle request and the request for the 4 permanent structures have been proposed separately. The three (budget, motorcycle request, and request for permanent structures) should be considered separately. I do not have enough information to determine whether something should be removed or added. 

If you recommend any changes to the budget, please explain your reasons for this.
N/A

Comments:

	My site visit to Gramya was part of a general site visit to Asha UP. I arrived in Benaras on the evening of the 15th. I spent the night of the 15th at Asha Kaithi with Vallabh bhai. The next morning, before leaving for Navjyoti, we all (Vallabh bhai, Bindu didi, Nandlal bhai, and other Asha volunteers) had lunch/breakfast at Bindu didi's place in Benaras. I was pleased to see our project partners working together. They seemed to have formed a close knit community of activists. And, although they work in different areas they all talk with each other and support one another. For example, Bindu didi and other Gramya volunteers take part in anti-coca cola demonstrations organized by Nandlal bhai. After lunch, I spent the day at Navjyoti. I spent the night of the 16th at Navjyoti and half of the 17th. Early evening on the 17th, Bindu didi and Surendra bhai came to Rajatalab. From there we began our journey to Gramya. Gramya works in the Naugardh and Chakia talukas of UP. This is approximately 2 hours (100 km) from Benaras. Public transportation to the area is limited.  The centers are up in the mountains. The only mode of public transportaiton from Benaras is to take a bus to the bottom of the mountains and then there are special jeeps that will take you up the mountain. Unfortunately, the jeeps stop running after 5pm. After that, there is no public transportation up or down the mountain. We spent the night in Naugarh itself. Gramya rents some office space here. This includes 3 rooms and a kitchen. This is convenient since volunteers such as Bindu didi (who travel from Benaras, where their primary residence is located) can stay in Naugarh if needed. Surendra (accountant) and Neetu (women's coordinator) also stay here sometimes. We reached there in the evening and as all the centers were closed we spent the time discussing the budget. Bindu didi explained her request for a motorcycle. She explained that the public transportation was very time consuming and also sparse (as mentioned above). Furthermore, the centers are split in two different areas (both in the Naugarh and Chakia talukas). Four of the centers are near the office (15-30 or so minutes on a bike). They are in the surrounding villages. But the other 4 centers are down the mountain in Chakia. It took us approximately an hour to reach those centers (in a car). Therefore, traveling between centers is also difficult. Thus, Bindu didi has requested a motorcycle (to be shared by the volunteers) for general travel purposes. They have also requested three bicycles for volunteers for similar purposes.

	The next day, I visited 5 centers. I visited three close to the office in Naugarh and then travelled to the Chakia centers. The Chakia centers are farther away (I visited 2 of them). The day I visited the centers, the students were in the process of taking exams. Therefore, I was unable to talk to the students directly.  The centers are located in villages on land donated by the community. The centers in Naugarh tend to have permanent mud structures where they store teaching materials and sometimes house libraries. The materials for these mud structures are donated by the community as is the labor to construct them. Unfortunately, these mud structures have a limited life span and become heavily damaged during heavy rains. Therefore, they have also made a request of funding for 4 permanent structures in the 08-09 budget proposal. The student here are grouped by their class and  taught outside on the donated land. One of the centers was a junior school (5-8). Previously, they ran a rpimary school (K-5) in this area. Later they were able to get the government to build a primary school here. Therefore, they now run a junior school limits. Infortunately, the government school is run poorly. For example, we reached the village at around 11:30 and the government school teacher still had no arrived to start class. There is only one teacher fro all standards. But, as Bindu didi explained, the building of the school is a first step in a long process.

	Next, we visited the Chakia centers. I visited two such centers. These centers are in very small villages which are located in remote areas (even when compared with the Naugarh centers). The people here are much lower on the economic ladder than their counterparts in the Naugarh centers. For example, the first center was not reachable by roads. We parked by the main high way and then walked into the hill/mountains for about 25 minutes to reach the village. Similarly, the other chakia center is also located in a remote area. There are no government schools within walking distance of these areas. Bindu didi stressed the point that educating the children gave them an opportunity to reach the community and build a grassroots mobilization through which other socio-economic issues could also be addressed. 

	My general feeling after the site visit was very positive. Indeed, the areas I visited seemed to have very little economic activity. Many of the villages are remote and seem to be cut-off from the government. Literacy levels are low in the area (due to the lack of schools). The people in the villages seemed happy with the presence of Gramya. When we went to a village the people came out and spoke with the teacher sand Bindu didi. I felt that these were all positive signs. The project seems to have good relationships/support in the villages where their work is concentrated.