This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ] Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 15:23:05 -0500 From: "Anitha Sampath" | This is spam | Add to Address Book To: "Meera - Sridharan" , "Chandrika Venkat Ramanujam", shinjinee_c@yahoo.com, rajendra_marulkar@yahoo.com Subject: Fwd: RE: Gana Chetna Project hello everyone , Gayatri Pradhan has answered some of the questions that we had . here's her mail. -Anitha Anitha Sampath 2900, Swisher Street , Apt #210, Austin Tx 78705 Ph : (512)472 8652 (512)619 6310 ----- Forwarded message from Gayatri Pradhan ----- Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 15:57:50 -0400 From: Gayatri Pradhan Subject: RE: Gana Chetna Project To: 'Anitha Sampath' , suman_m@yahoo.com Hi Anitha: Let me try and address some of the questions here: 1) From what we understood, Phase I is completed. If that is correct, can we have an update of how much they accomplished ? for eg. Has the Ashram already been built? 1. I don't believe the ashram building has been built as yet. 2) About the Ashram itself, Is it an office space or are they planning to have the herbal farms and such in the Ashram? How big is the Ashram - in terms of space? 2. The Ashram will consist of the office space as well as some area around it for purposes of developing the demonstration farm. Gana Chetana will start by encouraging plantation of fruit-bearing trees- these will be planted in the ashram area as well as by the road-side. "The ashram will initially consist of two 12 x 15 ft adjoining rooms,a 10 x 15 store cum office and a 10 ft verandah. Construction will be local rock walled, with reinforced concrete pillars for verandah and roof support. Roof will be reinforced concrete slab so as to enable future extensions". The details in quotes have been provided by Peter Bakos, another AID volunteer, who has visited the site, and worked extensively with Gana Chetana (GC). 3) What is the experience of the volunteers currently? Will they have specific duties assigned or do all the volunteer help in every activity? 3. " All of the staff have at least 10th standard pass, some are currently studying for HSC +, and of the staff have attended various training courses conducted by other NGO's and GOV". As far as I understand, the volunteers will be trained on grafting, sapling care, and other agricultural/horticultural techniques as the need arises. 4) Was the amount mentioned in the budget for 1 village or 20 villages? Are they going to work on 1 village at a time or is it going to be simultaneous work in all the 20. 4. The demonstration ashram will provide services to all 20 villages - one ashram will serve almost as a focal point for the people in the entire community of about 20 villages. 5) Risks involved - a) What are the risks of volunteers leaving the project midway. The Columbus chapter of AID has worked with GC before, and are fairly convinced of their dedication to the project. Most GC volunteers have shown enthusiasm - Pete Bakos has worked with them for a few weeks and has stated that inspite of a lack of funds and not being paid regularly, there hasn't been any loss in dedication. b) What is the risk of the project running out of fund midway due to unforseen expenses? The budget does account for contingencies - however, this is a question we haven't asked them yet. I will do my best to find out whether they have had any such situations previously and how they might have handled them. c) What is the involvement and interest level of the villagers? There seems to be a fair amount of interest on the part of the villagers. They are familiar with the GC team and seem to be comfortable having them there. The rest of your questions have been raised in our communications with the GC team. However, I believe the chief liaison on their end doesn't have regular access to email. Nigamanth Sridhar from the Columbus chapter will be meeting with another volunteer heavily involved with this project and we hope to get some more insight following that one-on-one meeting. In the meanwhile, I will follow the rest of the questions to Nigamanth, so he is aware of the questions being raised. Suman, please feel free to add information if you think I have missed something. Have a great long weekend Anitha and Suman! G. d) What are the specific plans of Income generation? eg: Do they have ideas of how they are going to sell these products? e) Assuming Phase I has been completed, what were the failures? Why did some of those fail? Was it due to lack of funds? or unexpected situations (other than money)? f) If the Ashram is not just an office space and has a lot of farming activities going on, won't that be a disadvantage to villages which are further away fromt he Ashram? g) If these volunteers aren't already trained, how & who will train them? f) Lastly, would it be possible to get detailed, more specific plans for each of the 7 steps mentioned in their goals. This will enable us to assess the risks involved based on accountability and planning in those steps. -----Original Message----- From: Anitha Sampath [mailto:anitha@mail.utexas.edu] Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 12:26 PM To: gapradhan@hotmail.com; suman_m@yahoo.com Subject: Gana Chetna Project Hello Gayatri and Suman , I am a member of the project committee that is reviewing the Ganachetna project in Aid Austin. I know that you have worked and are working with Gana Chetna We have the follwoing questions regarding the Gana Chetna project.If you could address them, that would be great! We appreciate your time and efforts! Thank you, -Anitha (AID - AUSTIN) Anitha Sampath 2900, Swisher Street , Apt #210, Austin Tx 78705 Ph : (512)472 8652 (512)619 6310