GRSV (Gohaldanga Ramakrishna Sarada Vivekananda Sevakendra) is an innovative after school program that caters to over 180 tribal and Dalit children around Gohaldanga, in India’s West Bengal district. The mission is to improve education, health, economy and the ethics of the villagers in and around Gohaldanga. The goal of the educational program is to encourage children from Dalit and Tribal hamlets to stay in primary schools and continue further education through a program developed specially for them. The primary beneficiaries are children in the age group of five to ten years. Over twenty employees across six centers assist in preparing these children with the skills needed for life.

Project Highlights:

• Innovative education program:
• Traditional academic program
• Poor but meritorious students are provided with funds in exchange of work to continue their studies.
• Non-traditional after school program that includes quizzes, singing, dancing,
  and physical exercise
• The activities help foster good attitude, positive thoughts and help develop the child all around
• Community involvement; Mother's Club
• Professional Teacher's Training
• Get Together and competitions
• Health check ups
• A homeopathic doctor, a gynecologist, an ophthalmologist and a dentist provide low cost health care in the clinic building, 1-4 times a month

Vibha has been involved with this worthy effort since 2006. So far, Vibha has funded five units (150 children) in the after school program. Vibha has sponsored almost all of the approx. $5,000 budget on a quarterly basis.

The Projects team is the lifeblood of Vibha. These are the men and women who work industriously to make the right choices so that the generous contributions that flow in from our patrons are deployed correctly. Here are some details on how they do their jobs;

Projects Team Structure:

Vibha’s Projects Team ensures selection and monitoring of projects and disbursal of funds to them.  The team is led by the Director of Projects who reports directly to Vibha’s COO. The team structure is as follows:

• Proposals Coordinator: Receives proposals from projects for funding, identifies a lead for each project from one of the action centers and initiates the proposal review process
• Project Lead: Independently reviews the proposal and discusses with the Project Selection Team
• Project Selection Team:
  • o Action Center Team: Bulk of the evaluation work is performed by this team. In addition, it works with the National Team to decide on project renewals based on feedback from the project monitoring teams. Once this team selects 4 projects for funding and has at least 3 regular members, it defaults to being the final selection team with no national oversight.
  • o National Projects Team: Central team that binds all the local action center team together. This team is led by the Projects Director and has at least one member from each of the action centers where project evaluation is conducted. This team, by default, evaluates projects that do not have a formal action center team.
• Project Disbursal Team: Responsible for transfer of approved funds on a quarterly basis to funded projects. Team consists of the Vibha office administrator, Projects Director and the Treasurer
• Project Monitoring Team: This team is responsible for site visits as part of project evaluation, monitoring and capacity building. Members include social workers employed by Vibha in India, project leads who helped select the project and would like to remain as liaisons and Vibha volunteers from various action centers in India. The Monitoring Lead sets monthly schedules for monitoring staff in India and also serves as a part of the National Projects Team.
  • Project Visits Coordinator: Projects that are currently funded or under evaluation are visited by volunteers who schedule visits through the Project Visits Coordinator. Volunteers are expected to review project background documents prior to the visit and are required to fill out a Volunteer Visit Template following their visit
• Project Documentation and Volunteering Team
  • Project Documentation Team: This team ensures that all relevant project documentation (summaries, reviews, visit reports, updates, photos and success stories) are updated and compiled for posting on the projects website. This team also helps the Marketing team to track reports for specific projects
  • IT Liaison: The IT liaison works with Vibha's IT team to post all project documents, revisions and updates on the projects website.

Project Lifecycle:

The Proposals Coordinator receives proposals from various grass-root level organizations in India and a few in the US. The coordinator identifies and assigns a lead (a Vibha volunteer) to each project proposal. The Project Lead corresponds with the organization submitting the proposal in case of any follow-up communication. Once the lead completes his/her evaluation of the proposal, the project is presented to the Project Selection Team. The lead serves as the liaison between the Selection Team and the candidate organization for any further clarifications.

Project selection, disbursal and monitoring happen on a half-yearly basis. Each calendar year is divided into two cycles; the first from January to June and the second from July to December. The deadline for receiving proposals is the 60th day of the current cycle. Proposals received after the deadline are evaluated as part of the following cycle. Each project goes through the following 6 steps over the course of evaluation:

• Pre-screening (7 days): This process filters out proposals that fall outside of Vibha’s domain
• Detailed evaluation (21 days): After pre-screening, the Project lead evaluates the project with the Project Team from the assigned Action Center.
• Project Selection Team review (14 days): If the Action Center finds the project suitable, it presents the case on the upcoming National Projects Team call.
• Site visit and detailed report (28 days): After the National Projects Team reviews the project, a site visit is scheduled. All site visits are scheduled during a single month of each cycle to limit disruption of the Monitoring Team's routine activities. The monitoring individual reports feedback and scores the project on a standard template. The National Projects Team uses these scores, the personal opinion of the monitor and input from the Action Center to make a final decision.
• Board approval (30 days): Upon selection, the Projects Team presents the case to the Board during the third month of the current quarter.
• Documentation (7 days): For the project to be officially confirmed, all required documentation must be completed and uploaded to the central shared location. Documentation inlcudes the formal selection letter, project agreement form (duly signed by the organization), project fact-sheet, key contacts and an updated listing and write-up on Vibha's website.

Project Evaluation Criteria:

All proposals are different and unique in outreach and effectiveness. Vibha closely examines the proposal to evaluate the problem targeted, solution presented, organizational compatibility (non-profit registration and FCRA clearance) and project budget. Keep in line with Vibha's vision and mission, the project must directly impact one of the following:

• Education for children
• Health support for children
• Vocational training for youth
• Pre and post natal care for women
• Supporting physically and mentally challenged children
• Awareness generation for the above

Vibha constantly strives to maintain and improve the quality and effectiveness of projects being approved in order to best utilize the contribution of thousand of patrons and volunteers across countries. Please visit http://projects.vibha.org/projects/for more information on Vibha's current projects.

After having a sold out Dandia year after year, Vibha Bay Area is adding some spice to the always entertaining Dandia nights.  An event to let the talented dancers show off their finest moves; The first ever Dandia competition - 'So you think you can Dandia?'
Preliminary Auditions were held on Sept 6/7 at Dance Affair Studio, San Jose
The Disco Dandia this year will be conducted on Sep 27th, October 4th and October 18th with the finals of the competition during the Dandia on Oct 18th!
So, Can you Dandia? ......Come join us to make this event a success - www.soyouthinkyoucandandia.org or www.vibhadandia.org

 

Your feedback is important to us. Vibha welcomes any comments, suggestions or questions you may have about our projects, programs, products, monitoring etc. If you are particularly interested in a topic and would like to see Vibha showcase it please let us know.

Together, we can do much more!

Dream a Little! Do a Little!

Vibha 1030 E El Camino Real, #424 Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Phone: 408-997-9992 | Fax: 775-593-1061

Vibha Main Page | Newletters Home (Previous editions) | Donate Online