Hi all,
Another update on the progress of LSS. The field workers and I have been having good conversations about our strategy for the upcoming year, especially about how to measure progress and how to overcome hurdles that have already been encountered in setting up the youth leadership and technology groups (YLTGs).
First, let's talk about the hurdles we've encountered with the YLTGs. The main issue is that during the school year parents want their children, understandably, to focus on their studies. So, this leads them to not let their children to come to work on the computer. Exacerbating factors are the long distance that many of the students live from the center, even if they're in the same village (things are spread out in rural areas, obviously) and the intermittent electricity in the village area. Our solution: have an intensive period during April-July when the students tend to have less school (because it's so hot in India, the students get out at 1 pm or so) and use that to build the students' skills. Also, we will work to get them engaged during their other school breaks. Our hope is that once the parents see the skills their children are learning on the computer, they will allow us to have them out once a week for a couple hours to continue the learning. This is one example of adapting to the local culture and conditions to get community buy in. This is essential in any NGO's work.
So, we will work to be ready for that intensive period in April-July, when we plan to teach the students word and excel. We will come up with a timeline and curriculum for what they will be learning in the coming months. On a shorter timescale, we will get the groups together during the students' winter break and get them working on the computer again. Pictures to come from that!
A few more notes along this line. First of all, the process that led to our solution for obstacles encountered by the YLTGs embodies our approach and shows the importance of the women's microfinance groups (SEGs) outside of the strictly economic benefits they provide(which are large as well). So, we knew about the problem with lower attendance starting in August, with only a handful of students showing up, generally those that lived nearby. We discussed the issue amongst ourselves and tried to figure out how we could improve the situation. Additionally, the workers discussed the issue with the women in the SEGs and got their input on how to improve community buy in and how to make it easier for the students to attend the groups. The genesis of these discussions was the plan I have given above, with an intensive period in April-July to build skills rapidly, and then further work, less frequently, during the heart of the school year, to maintain skills. This shows how our organization is cooperative within itself, with all of us discussing matters and coming up with a solution. Additionally, we are always soliciting input from the communities in which we work, especially from the women in the SEGs. In this way, our work is very informed by local conditions and can improve to fit the contours of the situation. It is a model we believe in dearly, and we think it is a cornerstone of our success. Finally, I would like to mention that we hope to get the students the needed skills and comfort with computers so that the high schools that have computers will allow the students to use them. The teachers don't currently let the students use the computers because they think they will break them. We hope our work will allow the teachers to trust the students to use the computers, thus further advancing technological literacy in the village areas. This is more of a medium-term goal, but one we will keep our eye on.
Onto another topic: we are going to start a pilot community information center in the village of Kukrella in April of next year. The purpose of this center will be to provide a center for various types of literature on agriculture, government policy, etc.; to provide newspapers for people to read; and to allow for better usage of the computers we currently have for the YLTGs when the students are in school. The idea for this latter point is that the computers will be available for the wider village to use for job applications, school applications, looking up information, or whatever use for which they need it (that will surely develop with time!). Larger towns in the area have such centers, but thus far the villages where we work do not have them and that puts the villagers at a disadvantage in terms of jobs and educational prospects, as well as information needed for their livelihood. We will be working to expand access to information through technology and traditional means. This combines one of our core missions of spreading technological literacy in village areas with the key goal of equalizing access to information and resources for villagers. We will continue to refine this idea and I will keep you updated as this progresses.
As an overarching feature of all of this computer work, we will be developing metric to measure our progress during the coming year. We will most likely develop a survey that probes how much various people in the village, especially the youth, have learned and benefited from the presence of our computers and programs. From this information, we will further refine our programs. When this survey is available, you will be the first to see it!
I know this post has been a bit long, but I've got just a couple more very short points to add. One is that we have undertaken surveying work in the area in which we work, to figure out the educational and socioeconomic status of the population. This is a VERY complex subject that deserves it's own blog post, so that will have to come later. The bottom line is that we want to target our programs and work to the needs of the community. To do this, we need to know what the conditions of the population and sub-communities of the population are. Issues we will look to address are education, gender, below poverty line families, and caste-related issue. Again, all very complicated, but I will discuss it in due time. At the beginning of my holiday break I will be analyzing the data and putting it into reports. I will post them here for you to read.
Finally, we have taken on another worker at half-time. His name is Shyam Singh and we have worked with him in the past. He will come on full time as funds are available, most likely in 2013 when we have our registration to receive foreign funds without having to put them through an oversight agency that takes 17.5% off the top. That will free up the funds needed to hire Shyam full time. He is every bit as experienced as Rohitash and Gopal, he is also local to the area, and he also has a very nuanced understanding of the needs of the local community. He will be a tremendous asset to LSS going forward and we are most happy to have him.
