1 asha for education - providing hope for tomorrow padmanava sen, july 2012
TRANSCRIPT
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Asha for Education- Providing Hope for Tomorrow
Padmanava Sen, July 2012
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Why Basic Education?
Lack of Education
Poverty
Dependence
We need to break this Cycle :
1)Pre-primary & Primary education2)Back up coaching for students going to former schools3)Helping disadvantaged kids4)Supporting the NGOs dedicated to grass-root work5)Raising awareness6)Girl Empowerment to avoid teenage marriage
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Asha for Education
MISSION: To catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of underprivileged children.
Guiding Principles
-100% volunteer run
- No hierarchy
- Non-political and non-religious
- Zero Overhead
- Credibility ; Visibility
Unofficial Long Term Goal : Every children in India to be educated by 2047!!!
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Asha for Education
Over 66 Chapters Globally 1000s of Active Volunteers Raised over $3M in 2011
Story of “Asha For Education”
• Born in 1991 (Berkeley)
• Student-driven and Professional –driven
• Survived multiple recessions and with a good growth rate
• Events
Social
Cultural
Sports
Volunteer base (>1000)
Work-An-Hour Tradition in July- Sep (since 1998, Raised ~5% of total AfE funds)
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Asha Logo
Some Amazing Facts about AfE!!
• Number of Donors so far : 30000 (A distributed fundraising)
• Funds disbursed : >$23M & >800 projects (~220 current)
• Chapter: 66 (6 in India & ~50 in US)
• ~10 Chapter has Team Asha Marathon program with some having Biking, Ultra Marathons & Mountain-Climbing!!
• >1000 followers in Facebook (Won a $25K in 2011 CCG)
• Biggest Chapters : Seattle & SV ( Yearly >500K fundraising)
• None gets paid i.e. everything raised from Volunteer Hours
• All project documents visible in open space
• Has a good tradition of some Volunteers going back to India and work with an NGO directly or start One.
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How can we help from a Distance!!!
Asha Atlanta 8
• The same way we support our family or friends (Care, Love, Practical Ideas and Diligence)
• A chapter virtually adopts the kids in the projects and make sure they have a better future
• What Asha Volunteers/Supporters Do:
Donations (An effective shortcut)
Inducing/raising Donations (Few words with your friends/family/colleagues)
Technical Challenges to create webpages, publicize via Social Media
Be a steward and be a direct contact for people making the change
Visit projects during India trip and see a grass-root project
Have interests in sync with fundraising : Social/ Cultural/Sports
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Projects & Fundraising – How they work?
Organize Fund Raising
Events
Match funds with projects
Call for Proposals
Scritinize Proposals
Site Visit
Check Progress
Get an Event Committee
setup
Get Volunteers for event
Recruit Volunteers
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Now What!!
We have a good name – Raise awareness based on that
Student community to grow – Students have lots of potentials
(donation is just a small part of what we can do)
Finding project-specific donors among professionals
Separate out action groups and divide the tasks
Have regular meetings to share ideas and unite the group
There is no hierarchy – so own a task and execute
Be mentally prepared to do some manual work with less short-term
and amazing long-term return (Visit a project in India, you will know)
Participate in Asha Wide Activities
Current Asha Wide Focus and Initiatives
• As volunteers at AfE we all know and have been discussing the issues like poor enrollment rates in schools, high drop out rates, child labor, below-par learning levels of kids, sustainability of Asha projects etc.
• Long term Plans for different Types of Projects
• Effective Knowledge sharing via calls & WIKI
• Focus Groups
NREGA (Students need a stable family income to continue their studies)
QED (Students need to learn the right way)
RTE & SSA (How it gets implemented)
RTI (Get the work done by Government)
Teacher Training (A good teacher is more than just a requirement)
Project Partner Feedback (They are the leaders)
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