Asha- Fellows Program

1. Asha- Fellows Program Program evaluation (2000-2005) and suggested modifications

2. Objectives of the Fellowship program • Most common partner for Asha in India are the project groups • Some individuals would like to experiment with an idea before forming a project group • Such individuals play a key role in questioning aspects that affect grass roots change, and contribute immensely to Asha’s learning on these issues • Objective of the Asha Fellows program is to support such individuals who have innovative ideas and are committed to their implementation

3. Asha fellowships • Sandeep Pandey, Mahesh, Aradhana (Asha India), Siddamma (Bharati Trust), Dr.Subbaramiah (MICDA), Ravi Aluganti & Hamid Manjeshwar. • Current fellowships: Hamid Manjeshwar (Asha – SV), Ravi Aluganti (Asha- Seattle), Dr.Subbaramiah (Asha Delaware). • Discontinued Fellowships : Sandeep Pandey • Irregular Fellowships: Mahesh, Aradhana, Siddamma (funds not regular)

4. Hameed Manjeshwar (2002-ongoing) [Improvement of Government schools through Community participation] Who: 13 yrs of experience in the development field. Development jounalist->research on possibilities of change in govt schools->5 yrs of field work with Srujana. Aim: Starting of a project to improve efficiency of govt schools by involving the community. Fellowship helped start the Maku Madhura Kalike project to work with 15 villages government schools in Ragi Cluster. Story so far: • Programs for Community • Child rights awareness programs • Gender sensitivity programs for college students.

5. Hameed cont… • Programs for teacher and children • Teacher training and empower teachers to seek training material from government and DIET. • Science exhibition and creativity programs. • State level advocacy and policy changes • Preparation of SDMC resource manual and framework for 1st to 5th standard at state level. • Preparation of supplementary material for schools in local languages. • Workshop for government officials on education to influence policy makers on making education effective and giving trust to education of girl-child. This was achieve by creating a network of NGOs.

6. Dr. Subbramiah (2003-ongoing) [Land Reforms] Who: A doctor by profession, serves in Govt hospital in Putur. Founder of MICDA, NGO undertaking development of underprivileged community including educational projects. Worked with Govt land reforms to get around 760 acres of cultivable land for 400 families. Issue: Powerful landlords filed cases against all the families to grab the land from them. Support was required for 2-3 yrs to work full time on resolving the cases and facilitating complete settlement of the 400 families.

7. Dr. Subbramiah cont… Story so far: Jan 2004: All pending cases to grab land dismissed in court. Through 2004: Continued efforts to make Govt agencies follow up to allocate the land. Nov 2004: Meeting with CM to bring to his attention to the issues of the people. March 2005: District collector, revenue forest officials visit the area and start working on allocation of land.

8. Siddamma (2004 – ongoing) [Community development] Who: Trained sociologist and teacher trainer. Participated in teacher training program (CRY), created the Bharathi Trust to work on improving the conditions of the Irula tribals. Also founded the unorganized workers union to provide stability for daily laborers. Aim: Work with Irula community and unorganized workers and develop confidence and self sufficiency by creating a resource center to experiment vocational skills e.g. organic farming, dairy, bee keeping, etc.

9. Siddamma cont… Story so far: • Resource Center • Identification land and fundraise for the requirements. • Work with unorganized communities to understand their livelihood needs. • Bonded Laborer Struggles • Led the struggle to improve the living conditions of over 10,00 Irula bonded laborers in rice mills in Red Hills (30 km from Chennai). • Lobbied with policy makers and the Govt to address this issue. • Successful release of over 200 bonded laborers and initiation of project freedom for released children. • Policy changes for better living conditions of the laborers. • Tsunami Efforts • Organized the Irulas to support each other in their time of need. • Lobby with the Govt through NAPM on requirements of the people. • Work on livelihood options of the affected communities.

10. Fellows evaluation process

11. Short-comings of the program • Majority of the fellows either did not receive the funds regularly or were not followed up. • There was no single person responsible to track the progress of the fellow at a chapter. • Responsibility of the chapter and the fellow was not defined clearly enough leading to lack of proper communication when fellowships were irregular. • There was no process to track if chapters sent funds to fellows and no safety net for the fellows. • View of the fellowship process as leading to a project was myopic since many fellows encouraged local leadership to take up project/institution created. • Lack of public domain information as to who asha fellows were and what the process of making a person an asha fellow leading to many other add-hoc fellowships by chapters.

12. Suggested program modifications from Asha-Fellows group • Over the years, three different categories of work supported through Asha Fellows program: • Individuals outside of Asha with a vision • Individuals associated with Asha proposing innovative ideas • Individuals working on vital administrative and logistical tasks in India (administrative, site visits, project evaluations, etc) • Fellows group proposes to create a separate program called Asha-Corps to support individuals in (3), so as to maintain two clean processes • Asha-Corps program to have similar requirements, the questionnaire to be submitted will be slightly different • All Fellowships across Asha (whether supported by a chapter or from General funds) will be under one single program • The guidelines apply to all fellowships being considered across Asha • Chapters can give inputs to the guidelines based on their experience and interaction with the supported by them, and the Fellows focus group will be responsible to hold the discussions on a regular basis

13. Suggested process modifications from Asha-Fellows group • Procedure for reviewing a fellowship: • Two tier system: nomination, followed by review. Nominations can be submitted to the chapters and/or the Fellows group • Chapters and the Fellows Focus group work together in managing the program • Chapters considering a fellowship read through the Asha Fellowship program document (May 2005 revised version) • Chapters notify the Fellows group if they receive a nomination and have it uploaded in the central database • Fellows group will also maintain a list of current and past nominations that chapters can consider • If a nomination has been rejected by two chapters, the nominee is notified and the Fellows group moves it to the denied list. • Chapters notify Fellows group on the chapter decision to fund/ not fund, preferably based on consensus within the chapter • Increased involvement and oversight of the Fellows group during the review process, and for tracking and managing the program • The fellows group should be notified if there has been a significant change in the Fellows work from what was initially placed in the nomination • Fellows group can propose funding certain nominations from Asha General Funds/ WAH, etc

14. Suggested program modifications from Asha-Fellows group • Increased Fellows support amount (depending on geographic location and requirement) in view of increasing costs and lower exchange rates $1500 - $6000 p.a + $800 (depending on actual costs) for travel, stationery, phone calls, etc. • Some requirements from the chapters to consider running a fellowship: • Should have been in existence for 3 consecutive years • Identify a steward for the Fellowship • Have funds to support the program for 2-4 years • Chapter(s) reviewing a fellowship application should at the minimum use the nomination form, application form, any reports submitted by the nominee, evaluation spreadsheet. • Chapters reviewing fellowship for the first time (includes chapters that have had a volunteer turnover) should review the fellowship with a chapter currently running a program and/or the Asha Fellows Focus group • Before approval, another person besides the nominator should meet with the fellow • Two or more chapters can jointly review and support a fellowship

15. Role of chapters under the Fellows program The supporting chapter is accountable to maintain the program • Chapter has to ensure fellowship disbursements are made on-time, frequent communication with the Fellow, receive and review progress on the Fellow’s work • Identify a steward, who will be the point of contact between chapter, Fellow and Asha Fellows group. The steward should be a member of the Asha Fellows group. • Read through the Asha-Fellow program document, for more details on chapter, steward, Fellows and Asha Fellows focus group responsibilities and accountability. • Maintains the documentation, and should update the Fellows Focus group on a regular basis (atleast once in 3 months) • Participate in the annual review of fellows conducted by the Asha Fellows group • Includes a peer review by Fellows of other Fellows’ work • Give inputs to the Fellows group on updating policy, guidelines, etc • Hand off check-list and documentation when stewards move away from the chapter

16. Role of Fellows group in Fellows program • Asha Fellows focus group formulates the guidelines, policy and process for the program • Conducts annual discussion of currently supported fellowships to ensure • Supported fellowships are within guidelines • Documentation is complete • Chapter is maintaining constant communication with the fellow • Funds are being sent regularly • In case of discrepancies, the fellows group has the final authority to make recommendations and suggestions to handle the fellowships going forward • Organise annual meetings of Fellows in India, with support from other chapters. • Review policy, guidelines and processes every 3 years with feedback from stewards and Fellows

17. Role of Fellows in the Fellows program • Maintain constant communication with the chapter and submit Annual reports • Contact Asha Fellows focus group in case of concerns/issues • Wherever possible, meet with Asha volunteers and attend Asha meetings (chapters, national, etc) • Submit accounts for non-stipend funding if any (travel, stationery, etc) • Participate in annual peer review of other fellows work. • Give inputs to Asha projects based on experience from their work

18. Where do we go from here now? • Current nominations that can be considered by chapters • Asha Fellowships • Asha Corps • Interested volunteers can become part of the Asha Fellows focus group, to help maintain the current set of fellowships • Shall this proposal be placed on the ARC for an Asha-wide decision? • Feedback