– Mahua Chatterjee
Impact and results are the real parameters of the success of an initiative. Pragati 2009 was an effort to come together, be together and work together to connect, share, and work towards enhancing the existing efforts of Vibha and its project partners. The objective was to culminate ideas, practices, and experiences. The conference was held at Bengaluru, India from October 2, 2009 till October 4, 2009. Vibha supports over 40 ongoing projects across India and the US. Around 30 of these project partners from the Indian states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, and volunteers from the cities of Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, San Francisco and Bengaluru, participated in this first-of-its kind conference.
In this issue we are extremely delighted to share with our readers, highlights of the outcome of the conference, and how our partners have implemented their learning.
One of Vibha’s key projects Prayas was inspired to pursue the government’s support. One of the critical panel discussions was “How to Leverage Government Support” in education and health sectors. Prayas was successful in its attempt at intervening in government schools, training required staff, and appointed an MBA graduate for managing the organization. It also got the sanction for a grant from Dorabjee Tata Trust.
While Prayas was trying to implement the learnings from Pragati, Health Education Adoption Rehabilitation Development Society, (HEARDS) – another active project supported by VIBHA –worked towards improving and strengthening their relations with the government schools where their children are mainstreamed. Currently HEARDS is working towards adopting government schools, and introducing innovative teaching aids & play way methods exhibited during Pragati 2009.
Another panel discussion- “Monitoring and Tracking Performance Metrics” encouraged organizations/projects like SKB and AMTA, to be trained by resource organizations to enhance their performance.
A quick glance at some other initiatives/improvisations/inclusions adopted by several organizations/projects as a result of the ideas and information sharing sessions during Pragati 2009-
- Gramin Shiksha Kendra, Gram Vikas Trust, Bhagavatula Charitable Trust have shown interest in hosting the next conference where a day can be spent on field visits
- Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM) is leveraging Wikipedia, the information which was shared by Sreekanth of Mahiti.org
- Kshama of RMKM plans to have a meeting with Medha Lotlikar – one of the panel members of Pragati, and Educator/Counselor with over 20 years of experience-to understand ‘INCLUSION’ more in-depth
- Door Step School & Rachana are interested in getting CTF van for their children in this summer
- Rural Development Organization (RDO) has shown interest in being trained by Vidyarambam about their pre-school education program
- Most of our partners are interested in workshops on Financial Management of NGOs, since it is a critical area of operation, but expensive to get expertise in.
- IT workshops have been introduced for most of the partners.
- Nearly 75% of our partners who attended the conference are assessing means of empowering besides literacy by way of quality education.
One of the key outcomes of the conference is that our partners have become active on group networking, by this means exchanging information on common issues and discussing the information with their teams.
It is extremely important and encouraging to know the outcome of an effort of this nature. And we really didn’t expect that such positive impact would see the light of the day so soon. Our partners have again given us the urge and the motivation to think of innovative ways and introducing various platforms where ideas and information sharing can help us achieve our mission and objective.