From: "Gayatri Pradhan" | This is spam | Add to Address Book To: "'Anitha Sampath'" CC: "'Shinjinee Chattopadhyay'" , "'Rajendra Marulkar'" Subject: RE: Gana Chetna - synopsis of the phone conversation with Nigamanth Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:11:27 -0400 Thanks a lot for sending this, Anitha. At least I know I was not very far behind on my understanding of where things stood so far. With regards to getting in touch with Dhanada, I might be able to help there. We have been in frequent contact regarding possibilities for power generation in rural areas. Let me know if I can be of help there. Thanks, and have a great weekend all, G. -----Original Message----- From: Anitha Sampath [mailto:anitha@mail.utexas.edu] Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 1:34 PM To: Gayatri Pradhan Cc: 'Shinjinee Chattopadhyay'; 'Rajendra Marulkar' Subject: Gana Chetna - synopsis of the phone conversation with Nigamanth Hi Gayatri , Sorry for the delay in sending this. So the following were the main questions we had for nigamanth and what i remember of the answers ( Rajendra and Shinjinee -- PLease feel free to add whatever u think is missing -- we need to document it for future use) 1.Has the phase 1 which was funded by AID Columbus been completed? If so what is the present status of the project and what has been accomplished? A. The phase 1 was funded by AID columbus only in June 2003 and therefore nothing has began as far as thsi project is concerned. What we see in AID columbus's website was a different project that was funded in 2002 and has been succesfully completed. Nigamanth said he will send the details of that project later or we could check it on the projects page in AID's webpage. 2. What are the specific income generation plans? Are there any ideas about how they plan to sell their products? A. Nigamanth could not specify any specific income generation plans apart from the fact that they will get income by selling the produce that will be grown in the farm. He could not exactly tell us what are the stuff they plan to grow or do and we have been trying to contact Peter Bakos and Prasad in Pune for this. 3. What is AID Columbus's past experience with this NGO?? What kinds of projects have you guys (or AID) done with them in the past and what was the experience like??? A. NIgamanth was very positive and appreciative of the NGO and he felt that they are a group of very commited volunteers working for the betterment of the people there. He said he will be sending a list of projects that Gana Chetna has done before. ( I shall forward you the reply we recieved from Prasad in this regard) Among the other things that Nigamanth told us were : AID colunbus has promised Gana Chetna that the project will be reviewed by them for the 3 years but he has not promised them funding for 3 years. They will recieve funds every 6 months and there next funding will depend on the report we recieve from them for the previous 6 months. That is AID columbus have funded them this June for 6 months that is from july to december. They will be required to give us a report some time in september or october depending on which AID Austin will decided to fund it for the next six months i.e. from Jan to June '04. They will again give us a progress report sometime in March or April '04 which will decide their funding for the next 6 months which will tehn be funded by AID Columbus again. Nigamanth also plans to discuss some watershed management and issues about marketing of produced goods which he observed in Gujrat with Gana Chetna to help them come up with a similar feasible to them. Thats is all i guess as far as I can remember. Rajendra and Shinjinee please add or delete wherever you think necessary. We have now been trying to catch a hold of Peter Bakos to get first hand information about the NGO. Hope this helps. Regards, Anitha Anitha Sampath 2900, Swisher Street , Apt #210, Austin Tx 78705 Ph : (512)472 8652 (512)619 6310