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AID-HOUSTON PROJECT PROPOSAL Ananth Srinivasan, Ishaan Kapoor, Shveta Agarwal May 4, 2005 Topics of Discussion NGO Overview Project Background Budgetary need analysis Updated Budgetary need analysis Fundraising Sources Questions considered Next Steps SWANIRVAR Overview Established NGO, formed in 1989 by Sujit Sinha (PhD from Princeton) West Bengal, India Active in state level NGO network (WBEN) related to education since 1996 and national network of NAFRE Key focus areas: alternative education, health, agriculture, youth and culture, microfinance and flood Established projects: 3 rural primary schools; 14 pre-primary schools Current donors: ASHA, Friends of Swanirvar (FoS), CRY, CARE, UNICEF, Pratham, ICEF, Share & Care Foundation, Govt. of India For More Information: www.swanirvarbengal.org Project Background Objective(s) 1. 2. Learning Center (LC) – an alternative secondary school for Kolkata (ages 9+) Education Resource Center (ERC) – a research, training and resource center Project timeline: 2004 – 2010 (project period – Feb ’05 – Mar ’06) Budget for 1st year: Rs. 26 lakhs ($60K) Partly funded by Indian Health. Rs. 12 lakhs ($25K) needed from AID AID-Austin and AID-San Diego reviewing projects Budget timeline: 3 years Not yet affiliated with a board system Budget analysis – as of March Item Total Budget Funds required for ERC and LC Indienhilfe contribution proposed for LC only A - Non recurring expenses (building, computers, furniture etc.) $ 14,000 $ 7,400 $ 6,600 B. Running expenses (books, programmes, training, admin expenses etc.) $ 21,240 $ 9,900 $ 11,340 C. Personnel costs (teaching staff, accountant, contingency etc.) $ 16,100 $ 5,960 $ 11,140 TOTAL $ 51,340 $ 23,260 $ 29,080 ERC $ 16,540 Additional for LC $ 6,720 Budget analysis - Updated 1st Priority (LC) Item 2nd Priority (ERC) A - Non recurring expenses (building, computers, furniture etc.) $ 1000 $ B. Running expenses (books, programmes, training, admin expenses etc.) $ 1777 $ 777 C. Personnel costs (teaching staff, accountant, contingency etc.) $ 1111 $ 3,911 3,888 $ 4,688 TOTAL $ AID-Houston Potential Fundraising Sources Bengali Association of Houston (http://www.durgabari.org) – contacts established and ongoing communication Other associations in the US, or are they part of the other chapters? Bengali doctors, teachers and business men/women in the area. Potential other contacts from Ishaan and others Bengali restaurants? Target other restaurants? Non-monetary funding: Computer/parts ; books etc. Initial Questions/Concerns ? ? ? ? ? ? ? − − − What is the current status? School was opened April 18th with ERC as a second priority. How much total needed after year 1? $8600 (included funds for ERC) What happens after 2010? Depends on success of program. NGO optimistic. Branches at district level to follow if LC successful How many total teachers? 4+2 admin + We pay for computer and english teacher. Who will be the advisory board? 11 qualified people – List provided. Placement services at what age? After Class X? After age 15. Will there be any tuition fees? 25 Rs/ Month (only to make the education seem valuable). Would it be better to fund another project/NGO which has less funding sources Debatable. This NGO is well established and education projects tend to be open-ended. No current or near future affiliation with any Board. In the past such efforts were unsuccessful. The NGO however plans to affiliate with the govt. schools as soon as year 2. We should consider ways to help them be more self-sufficient in the long run. For selfsufficiency, funds must be generated. One suggestion to offer: successful students can contribute in the future and if they have mainstream acceptance, then govt could fund at some later point too. Project Coordinator Recommendations • • • • • AID-Austin and San Diego are ahead of us in the game in terms of voting and determining funds they would contribute ($3-5K each). It seems to us that the ERC is dependent on the LC to succeed. So initially it is probably better to ensure the success of the LC. Our recommendation is that we can go ahead and fund the LC for the first year and monitor the progress of the project….realistically 1,000 dollars? Measure of LC success - measure the number of enrolled students and the rate of retention in the first year. (we cannot have too lofty goals for progress in a short period) Project decision: Next CSH and online voting (as needed). Consider the following: • • • • All Swanirvar presentation materials (site visit report, NGO Q&A, 2 presentations by Project co-ords) Overall project review guidelines AID-Houston mission and goals Current AID-Houston priorities and status