1 A random walk… ranjeet ranade

2 Agenda n Context n Three key points n Summary & Q/A

3 Context… n A few days ago DP asked me prepare a small presentation for Asha-14. I didn’t quite understand his intent so he elaborated (sic): “As an experienced member of the Asha community, your inputs are valuable to the future of Asha. Asha14 gives us time to reflect on inputs from volunteers like you who have made Asha what it is today. Context: You have 15 minutes of time to talk about anything you want asha-wide to think about. You decide the content...how deep you want to go or how broad you want it to be…” n My views on some of the ideas (for which Asha for Education stands for) have changed. I am highlighting three key points on which I have changed my mind considerably over the years. I feel it will be interesting to bring them out and have a debate/discussion on them within the group.

4 Three key areas… As an Asha-NYC/NJ volunteerAs an Asha-Bangalore volunteer n The Asha world consists of Asha-abroad and Asha-India and we are one big happy family n Not true. The points of view across these two groups are quite divergent. Even within India there is no uniformity of thoughts, action, and the chapter structures. n Government schooling is ineffective and inefficient. NGOs provide a good effective solution to the problem n Why should we create (and encourage) a parallel system? If we want to bring a socio- economic change then let’s identify the root cause and try to address that issue. n Child illiteracy and the lack of basic education is a root cause of many social evils. Let’s tackle that. n How many children of educated parents are illiterate or uneducated? Maybe the problem lies in the adult illiteracy and the lack of education in that section of the population. Let’s explore that issue I will elaborate on these three points in the next few slides….

5 Key point 1 – the world of Asha… n Asha-India is no longer homogenous as it used to be. è Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai have been functioning on the lines of the US chapters (focus on fund-raising + some voluntary field work). è When Sandeep, Srikanth, or Ranjeet send a message – it is usually in their own capacity. The collective Asha-India opinion (if any) is supposed to be expressed through our spokesperson (currently Deepak) n So a better way to see the world as Asha for Education and Asha. è the former with a narrower scope (basic education) with the focus on fundraising without a geographical bias (Chicago, London, Bangalore, Mumbai, etc.) è the latter with a much broader scope with the focus on grassroots work without a geographical bias (Ballia, Lucknow, Chennai/Honour? etc.)

6 Key point 1 – the world of Asha (Continued…) n One happy family… è Maybe it is better to be “cousins” and find common elements to work with than to be “brothers” and find things to squabble. n Specific recommendations for further debate and discussion è Register as “Asha for Education” (alongside the existing “Asha trust”) in India and allow chapters to align themselves to one or the other è If they wish, allow specific Asha chapters (they could be in the US, Europe or even India) to raise “blanket funds” for Asha-Ballia, Asha- Lucknow etc. Then it is entirely up to the latter groups to spend the money the way they like w/o any extended discussion/decision- making at Asha-wide level. This will reduce the time taken and also a lot of mud slinging.

7 Key point 2 – Asha and government… n There’s a general agreement amongst us that the government schools are not run well. We were (and probably still are) too small to address this root cause. Instead we identified NGOs who provide a local alternative to the government schools. n It has been 14 years – we now have adopted this alternative as a main course of action and have been somewhat ignoring the root cause. n Specific recommendations for further debate and discussion è Target at least 20-25% of our funds in working with the government. è Governments are not likely to go (not at least in on our lifetimes!) so the larger solution has to involve the government in some way. Discuss and debate this further in our forums.

8 Key point 3 – Adult literacy and Asha… n Working on children related issues is the “in” thing and also hugely appealing to a large set of donors. In our debates in the past we have explored ways to expand our scope – but never going away from the children. n So the questions to ask is “why are so many children uneducated and are shackled in the child-labor vicious cycle?”. What about their parents - are they educated? Do they know the value of education? Maybe the key lies in making them aware & educated. n Specific recommendations for further debate and discussion è Actively look for projects which have adult education as one of the focal points.

9 Summary & Q/A n It is a good idea to take stock periodically and use the conclusions and lessons learnt to at least critique (if not change) our current point of view. In that light I would like us think and debate more on the following and debate the previously listed recommendations. è Asha chapters in India, their role and alignment with Asha for Education, their expectations from the abroad chapters è Why are we not working with the government? Are we taking an easy way out by saying that the government is corrupt and we would rather not deal with it? Doesn’t and shouldn’t it lie at the heart of the solution that we are exploring? è We don’t interact much with the parents of the children we deal with. Maybe the beginnings of the solution lie with them rather than the children?