Natpurwa

April 25^th, 2004

Harish: Way too many discussions on this. Natpurwa started by volunteers who'd worked with Sandeep before. 2 youngsters from Natpurwa, where prostitution is the norm, came up with this project. Project goes beyond education. Health, self-sufficiency etc. also part of the project. Try to get these women out of this profession. Neelkamal started education centers

in 7-8 nearby villages.

Annual report is due. Needs to be discussed and we have to find out whether to fund it next year.

Neelkamal was going to Lucknow to talk to some district officer on some work. While returning, he got into an accident and had to spend Rs. 15000. Expecting to incur Rs. 3000 or so per month and was hoping to get this funded by Asha. Can we help out?

Tina: Do we have an itemized list of expenses?

Harish: No. But the amount seems reasonable.

Tina: Was he a salaried employee?

Harish: Yes, he was a project coordinator for Natpurwa. Draws Rs. 2500 p.m.

Sumant: Have we done this before?

Ravi: Not that I can remember.

Sumant: How long have we known him?

Harish: 3 years. Worked with Sandeep. Do we want to set up a precedent with this?

Sumant: Then this doesn't seem like a case of someone random walking in and asking for money.

Alpna: Who is Sandeep?

Harish: <<Sandeep bio>>

Harish: The chapter should try and ensure that whatever happens the project goes on.

<<More discussions>>

Himanshu: Hmm... We should put this to vote in a larger community. And we should spend our own contribution to this. Look at it from a donor's perspective.

Harish: We should think about if from both the donor's perspective, as well as our perspective.

Himanshu: Are we really sure this happened?

Harish: Yes. Multiple sources say that he was injured. If we want these projects to work in the long term,

Himanshu: We should help, but should not set a bad precedent.

Anjali: Once fund have been allocated, it is your responsibility to do what you think is right with this money. Once you're clear that this is essential (but out of the ordinary), you go ahead with this.

Tina: Why not get Sandeep into this?

Harish: The people at Natpurwa meet him on an intermittent basis. He does not know the details of the injury etc. etc. Different Asha chapters think in different ways about these issues.

Alpna: Asha has a stated mission. There can be exceptions, but exceptions cannot be the norm. Both of today's projects are exceptions.

Harish: Holistic approach is needed more often than not.

Questions

1. Is this geniune?

Ans: Yes

2. Would this fall within Asha's mandate?

Ans:

3. Are we setting a precedent?

Ans:

Himanshu: We should have some kind of guidelines on this.

Anjali: We don't know if this is going to be repeated. We can only decide on its merit this time. Have to make the decision based on the facts available now. We can only know if this is going ot become a habit when the next time something like this happens. We should evaluate it on its merits for now. If its essential now we should do it.

Himanshu: We agree it is essential now. How do we treat the second instance? How can we ensure that the bulk of our funds go to things like this? Some general guidelines would be good.

Harish: Until we find ourselves overwhelmed, we won't know what kind of guidelines we set.

Ravi: Background on how "fund routing guidelines" were formulated. For the record, I don't think the amount is a small amount.

Anjali: What if a teacher has an accident? Would we fund a replacement? Would we help out?

Sumant: Are we in the business of making sure the project succeds vice the project coordinator succeeds?

Anjali: How much are we willing to invest to make sure a previous investment succeed?

Himanshu: Lets send an email out proposing this, and stating why we're doing it, and why it doesn't set a precedent. We did this means we don't sign up for continuing with this.

Ravi: What are the chances this can come out of their currently budgeted amount?

Himanshu: Rs. 7500 for travel, Rs. 7500 misc., Rs

10000 for stationery.

Harish: <<Sandeep's request for funding the weddings of women from Natpurwa.>>

Himanshu: Can't see how the chapter does this.

Tina: Can't see how this fits in.

<<Discussion>>

Vaishali: Based on conversations with Guddu, marriage may not solve the problem. Sometimes even husbands end up sending their wives to this.

Sumant: We can't keep doing short-term fixes. It is a complex problem and all that, but we should'nt lose focus.

<<Discussion>>

Himanshu: Strongly think we shouldn't have to do this. Sounds like the proct needs a whole lot more help. We should think of vocational training etc.

<<Discussion>>

Anjali: What other efforts are going on in this area?

Harish: Asha-Sanctuary update.

Anjali: Connect the organizations in India that are involved in this area.

<<Discussion on Lalpur landowners issues>>

Wrap-up

---- --

Consensus is:

1. Yes on healthcare, send email to asha-strategy.

2. No on the marriage issue. Non-monetary support if

possible.

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Natpurwa: Anurag.

August 21^st, 2002

A brief summary of the Natpurwa project was given. Replies for the questions from the meeting on 07/14/2002 were discussed. The replies can be found in the posted documents on the project. A summary is
presented here. Asha India discussed this project in detail before recommending it to us. However, they do not have very detailed plans. Several meetings have been held by the volunteers, with some involvement from the sex workers also. Guddu and Neelkamal have been part of the Asha India team for a year now and have been quite dedicated, according to Sandeep Pandey. They will be completely reliant on Asha, so we will have to figure out milestones and criteria for success and potential worst-case exit points.

3 volunteers (incl Guddu and Neelkamal) will be teaching at the school. 45 children have already enrolled for the school. Anyone who comes to the school will be admitted. Guddu has some beekeeping experience. Sandeep has tried to do beekeeping at the Asha-Ashram but on a non-commercial basis. There are questions about whether this can be expanded to a level where it would defray Asha funding expenses.

Ananth: This is more than a school project, this is society-building. Asha has to go against an entire
established prostitution system of about 300 years.

Anurag: Sandeep says that there will be some sections of the society that are against it. However, it is up to us to take the initiative and bring about change.

Ananth: Vaishali, what are your impressions about Guddu and Neelkamal as independent personalities from Sandeep?

Vaishali: Yes, they look like they have opinions on the prostitution racket and their opinions may be different from those of Sandeep, especially given the age difference (Sandeep-37 and Guddu-22).

Ananth: Can Guddu and Neelkamal be dedicated teachers and not just social workers? That takes a different set of skills.

Vaishali: Guddu is good with children etc. Neelkamal is a quieter guy. He might not be as good a motivator and a person who gets people together.

Ananth: What milestones should we have?

Anurag: Perhaps a minimal amount of involvement, no of days the school is open.

Ananth: Perhaps, we can ask Asha-India to come up with a set of guidelines.

Q1 Do the volunteers form a viable teaching team? What is the degree of their commitment?

A vote was taken on sending the 1st installment.
For 8, Against 0, Abstain 3.

The check will be sent out soon.

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Natpurwa (Nilanjan)

July 14^th, 2002

This is a project in the Nat community. Natpurwa has become infamous for prostitution. The Asha Volunteers, Guddu and Neelkamal, who have sent the proposal have had prostitution in the family.

There was a controversy when the Hindustan Times published a report on prostitution here. After the report, police officials visited the village and beat up a few villagers. After this incident, these 2 volunteers have not been in favour in the village. Not all details are available for the project. Total budget is

Rs. 89000.

Q1 How will the villagers follow these guys if they don't trust them after the Times incident?

Q2 Are minutes for the Asha India meeting available?

Melli: Practical problems with these minutes are that, for eg., there is no electricity in the villages.

Q3 What is the interest of the villagers in this other than these 2 people? Do they want anything beyond education and healthcare?

Q4 Who will help them in terms of experience in this kind of thing?

Q5 Health issues: What is the situation in terms of AIDS and other health issues?

Q6 Details on finances and budget.

Q7 Who will teach the children? How many children? How will they be recruited?

Q8 What is the beekeeping experience?