Date: 09-21-2008
Site Visit Date: 07-19-2008
Volunteer Name: Viswanath Puttagunta, ASHA Education, USA
Organization Name: Friends for Education International
Organization Website: http://www.friends4education.org/
Program Name:
Micro Finance:
Give small loans < Rs 10,000 to economically backward families to start small businesses like Idli making, Pan shops, Small scale Dairy, Rickshaws, etc. Loan given at 12% per year, (Compared to 20% per month!!!! they usually have to pay. No wonder so many Farmers commit suicide!!)
Ambedkar Scholarships:
Started in 2003 with just two scholarships. Distributed these scholarships in an inaugural function held in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh on Dec 14, 2003.
The number of scholarships awarded each year starting from 2003 is as follows.
2003: 2
2004: 24
2005: 37
2006: approximately 70 scholarships are available for 2006.
Objectives of Organization
The objectives of starting Ambedkar Scholarships are many. A few of them are as follows:
1. To help bright but socially, educationally, and economically backward community students, especially Dalits, in India in education
2. To bring all Dalit intellectuals, bureaucrats, industrialists, journalists, writers, social activists, and NRIs on to a single platform to work for the good of the society in general and for the good of their own community in particular.
3. To show the world that Dalits care for their own instead of asking for sops from Government and other entities every time there is a need in the community
4. To develop self-respect among all Dalits with a slogan “DALIT IS DIGNITY”
5. To bring progressive non Dalits into the philosophy of Dr. Ambedkar and work with Dalit intellectuals to erase the social evils that are plaguing India for centuries, especially the treatment of Dalits and other marginalized communities in their own land
6. To generate keen interest in the social evils of India and find solutions in the philosophy of Dr. Ambedkar among youth and intellectuals of all sections of Indian society
7. To make the world aware of the condition of Dalits and invite them to come forward and help them in their efforts to break their chains
8. To develop a think-tank within the Dalit community to find ways and means to develop their younger generation
9. To establish schools and colleges; sponsor children in good schools; give scholarships; help them to find right opportunities; give them social education, and make them aware of their rights, etc
10. To recognize Dalit activists, writers, journalists, academics, artists, etc and encourage them to do more for the society
What does each scholarship consist of?
At present each scholarship consists of
- A check for Rs.5,000
- A copy of Dr Ambedkar’s biography
- A certificate of Achievement
How Ambedkar Scholarships is different?
The following are some of the salient features of Ambedkar Scholarships.
- We work among the most discriminated sections of Indian population.
- We match the donor and the scholar on one-to-one basis and provide the donor with details of the scholar, if desired.
- Donor can name the scholarship as desired.
- We personalize the scholarship by giving it on donor’s name and naming it as desired by the donor.
- We maintain 100% transparency. We post applications received, scholars selected etc on our website.
- We post our donations received and expenses incurred on our website for everyone to see.
- We give donor liberty to choose scholar(s) within certain parameters.
- We try our best to minimize expenses.
- We accept any reasonable and viable method in our project if resources permit.
- We communicate regularly through out electronic email group with donors and apprise them of the progress of the project.
How much does each scholarship cost?
At present, we charge USD 150 or Rs.5,500 for sponsoring one scholarship. This amount covers all the above-mentioned gifts and expenses.
Site Visit:
My objectives when doing Site visits were
1. To make sure the organization documentation is up to date and they maintain very good transparency. This is why I did a site visit on their Micro Finance Project this organization does.
2. To make sure the organization is secular and they do not give any particular reference to the religious background of the student.
Micro Finance:
First time I saw microfinancing in action. It is awesome!! No wonder Mr. Muhammad Yunus got the Nobel Prize for this model. The beauty of this model is that it is so sustainable and the repayment rate is nearly 100%, at least for the 45 people this organization gave the loans to.
The frightening fact is that these economically backward people typically are charged exorbitant interest rates (15-20% per month!) from local vendors and banks are reluctant to give them any loans and so these people never get to prosper and commit suicides when they are deeply in debt and lose the 1 or 2 acres of land they own.
I met with Rev Sundar, who is responsible for managing the low-interest loans. The documentation that Rev Sundar is very commendable. He is very disciplined and methodical and is always up to date. You will see the pictures of his documents later in this report.
