Vol 6, No 1 | January 2010       »www.vibha.org » info@vibha.org  

Location: Amta Block (Howrah, West Bengal, India)

Brihaspati Makhal, 15 yrs old girl, comes from family, with 3 siblings and parents who are day laborers. She had strong determination to be self –employed but neither had direction nor the guidance.

Today, with the help of Ranapara Gram Bikas Kendra (RGBK) – a project funded by Vibha, Brihaspati is independent, earning a decent income, by writing banners, and signboards. And Brihaspati had never been to school – ever!

This is just one of the many success stories of young determined girls from different villages, who were guided by RGBK, and Vibha has been supporting 2 of such villages since 2006.The AMTA Block project supports RGBK, and is aimed at empowerment of elderly girls of below poverty line families in difficult circumstances.

The Ranapara area based on the river Damodar in West Bengal, India is regularly victim of heavy rain flood and the poor villagers suffer with miseries, food insecurity and acute poverty. A similar situation exists in many such villages around the area. The RGBK took the initiative of helping the families, and undertook comprehensive development initiatives for empowerment of poor and marginalized section of people, especially women and children of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and other backward communities of below poverty line families and for women and children at risk.

The focus of this project is -

• Literacy campaign and non-formal education program.
• Pulse polio vaccination.
• AIDS Awareness, Prevention & Control
• Training of Women at Risks on agriculture-based activities for their poverty alleviation and livelihood development and mainstreaming in the civil society.

Vibha’s support to this project benefit, about 100 young girls, through vocational and non- formal comprising of basic reading, writing and calculations. This initiative is aimed at helping them in independent decision making and taking part in management of their future livelihood. The vocational training covers kitchen gardening, seasonal vegetable cultivation and poultry, to name a few.

The project has also initiated Self Help Groups that has been striving to get various micro finance facilities from the existing government schemes. The organization has ambitious future plans consisting of including uniform for all the girls, mid-day meal, and introducing, craft based work and patch work training.

With your constant support, we are sure that RGBK and its beneficiaries’ dreams will sure see the light of day soon!

The year 2010 started on a great note for Vibha and the cause of underprivileged children. We extend our heartfelt thanks to two great foundations, the Angiras Foundation and the Think India Foundation, who have contributed $15,000 and $22,000 respectively to specific Vibha supported projects through the Vibha Beneficiary Program (VBP). This program is designed for individuals or organizations who wish to make a contribution to a Vibha project of their choice while leveraging Vibha's project identification and monitoring experience build over last two decades. Our rigorous project selection matrices, semi-annual monitoring reports and direct communication with those working at the grass-roots level ensures that the donors’ hard earned money is put to best use, and they get a first-hand experience of their positive impact on the lives of children in need. .

Mrs. Urmila Bhargava from the Angiras Foundation expressed interest in partnering with Vibha to support a project. After discussions about the various Vibha projects in India and an in-person visit by Dr. Sunil Bhargava to Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM) project, the Angiras Foundation choose to donate $7500 each towards two Vibha projects, RMKM & Prayas.

Vibha Dallas has had a good partnership with Think India Foundation dating back to 2005. In 2009, when the Dallas area volunteers contacted Hema Mohan, Chairman of Project Proposal Committee at Think India Foundation, she mentioned about the committee's goal to build infrastructure for children with special needs. Looking at a project they had contributed to in the past, Think India Foundation made a $22,000 donation for construction of vocational training center at RMKM for children with special needs.

While a lot of volunteers helped with critical inputs at various stages of bringing these partnerships to fruition, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, a Dallas volunteer, was instrumental in connecting the dots between the donors and the projects. Bringing to focus our mission to educate, empower and enable every individual who wishes to make a positive difference in the life of the underprivileged child, his efforts are indirect recognition of all Vibha volunteers.

And though the above donations are much larger sums, any individual donation of $2000 or more ($5000 for organization) can be designated to a project through the VBP program. If you or a group of individuals or an organization you are part of, would like to contribute to a specific project through the Vibha Beneficiary Program, send an email to vbp@vibha.org. For more information, please visit http://www.vibha.org/vbp.

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

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Vibha is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, non-religious, non-political organization that seeks to restore; underprivileged children, their basic rights to food, shelter, health and education - in short, a future. All donations to Vibha are tax exempt in the US.