Long-term strategy and organizational mission

Gopal Singh playing with a baby at the same MFG group meeting. This is typical. Interaction with groups members and their kids is an important part of building the relationship between LSS and the village.


Gopal Singh writing in the ledger for the MFG in Kukrela during our most recent visit.


Grant Larsen at Kukrela MFG meeting.


Meg Fowler at Kukrela MFG meeting.

Hi all, I'm writing today to talk about the long-term strategy and focus of our organization, Lok Sahbhagi Sanstha, or Public Participatory Institution. I have mentioned most of it here already in the past, but through conversations while I was in India, we have distilled it into succint statements (which I will expand on below).

Our current mission statement: "Community empowerment through microfinance and technology."

Let's go through what this mission statement entails. Community empowerment means that we are not trying to "help" these people by giving them things from our pockets, but instead we engage them in a process of self-improvement that is driven and sustained by their own conversations and efforts. Through this process they feel empowered. Right now our primary area of work is in microfinance, through the microfinance groups for women that we run, and youth technology education. This explains the mission statement.

I would say this mission statement accurately reflects our current work and in some sense our plans for future expansion, but most likely it will be revised in a couple years. The primary reason for this is that we also plan on working in environmental management, especially water harvesting. For this work we need large block grants, since it typically involves a lot of labor to build the necessary water harvesting structures (dams, ditches, various types of barriers). We will wait until our three-year "trial period" required by the Indian government is over before we try to apply for such capital intensive projects. In a sense this work will involve technology, since we'll often bring in engineers to help design the water harvesting structures. However, most of the work will be manual and will be using earthen structures, so to see it would not bring visions of technology per se. Nonetheless, we believe this is the most appropriate mission statement for the organization at the present.


Grant and Ghalib working on the content of the brochure

Now, directly from the brochure is how we as an organization see our work:

Lok Sahbhagi Sansthan (LSS), or Public Participatory Institution (PPI), is a non-government organization registered under the Rajasthan Society Registration Act, 1958. With its head office based at the village Khora, Shahpura, Jaipur, it has started working primarily in the fields of Technical Education, Microfinance and Natural Resource Management.

The organization enjoys the benefit of several regular and irregular young and highly experienced members.

The members have rich experience with implementing many such programs at the community level and are capable in realizing novel ideas in the field.

LSS aims to sensitize and encourage people, especially youths, to go to schools and provide venues where they can learn how to handle and do work on computers efficiently. The goal is to open up new venues of livelihoods for them and thereby pick up the pace of their developmental process. Different centers for free computer education are being set up in the villages.

The current area selected by LSS lags behind in terms of education, technical education and job venues. The basic facilities for education, health and electricity are also poor in the whole selected area. LSS encourages the villagers to come out of their houses and to work together for their development and actively participate in the ongoing developmental processes.

Programs and Activities

Enabling poor youths to make use of technology and providing some venues to have technical knowledge and skills.

Imparting computer education through opening computer education centers in villages.

Facilitating villagers in the formation of Microfinance Groups (MFGs), in which local women pool resources to provide microfinance for each other.

Sensitizing people regarding natural resource conservation and management.

Conservation of forest, wild life and fauna and flora of the region.

"We become uncomfortable when we see that certain sections of societies are not in a position to keep up the pace of development while others are quite comfortably maintaining the pace. Identifying reasons for this and removing them is our priority."



Rohitash and I discussing our long-term plans and hopes for LSS


Finally, a quick word on our organizational structure. LSS is a development group, of which I am a part. My role is as an advisor on matters technical and with regards to the long-term vision of the organization, coordinator of international outreach, and fund contributor. Rohitash and Gopal run the office in India and run all of the microfinance groups and youth technology groups. For decisions of importance to the running of the organization and its long-term strategy, we three discuss the matter and agree upon a way forward, perhaps with input from others with experience. For day-to-day operations in India, obviously Rohitash and Gopal make the decisions, though if it seems that there is an issue that comes up that needs discussion they of course mention in our frequent phone call and email discussions. I trust these two tremendously and think anyone who has worked with them can vouch for their honesty, passion, toughness, and desire to bring development to the village area, where they and their families reside.

Work update and microcredit groups

Hi all, here is another update from our visit to India, which is basically winding down since we’ll be returning to the US in a few days.



Our work the last week or so has consisted of visiting several microcredit groups and seeing how Rohitash and Gopal facilitate the meetings, as well as talking to the group members (with translation by Rohitash and Gopal) about the groups and their benefits. We have also been working on a brochure for the organization, which means we wrote concisely our mission, working goals, long-term strategy, etc. This has been a very useful and informative process, for which a good friend with vast experience in Indian NGO work, one Syed Ghalib Hussein from Patna has been a tremendous help. Ghalib is very good at getting people talking about the organization and its ultimate purpose or focus. He is also good at distilling what he hears into concise statements that make clear to the outside what is at the heart of an organization. It has been great to have him with us.



So, some details (more to come later):

Microcredit groups: first of all, as James Arnott pointed out to me in the past, what our organization does is not strictly microcredit, but microfinance, as the women can take the money and use it for medicine, school uniforms and other things that will not give an immediate profit that can be used to pay the loan back. Microcredit is where small loans are taken to buy things that could yield profit with which the loan could be paid back, e.g. livestock that will yield milk to be sold, seeds that will yield at the harvest, etc. Our groups do this, but they allow others types of loan, hence we are technically doing microfinance.



A recycled photo from James' visit to the microcredit group in Berki, which we also visited this week.

How the groups work: Rohitash and Gopal will first an initiate a conversation with members of the village in which they want to work. After this they will come back several times to discuss the benefits of such groups, and usually the village decides to allow the start of a group. Once this is done, Rohitash and Gopal meet with the women who come to the group and tell them about the purpose of the groups. Then the women discuss amongst themselves and decide the parameters of the groups: when and for how long the group meets, how much each member contribute to the groups central fund each month, how long the length of loan should be, what the rate of interest should be (more on this below) what the penalty is for late payment, etc. The basic idea of our groups is that women come together monthly and contribute a set amount, say Rs 50, to the central fund of the group. From the central fund the members of the group can take loans for the purposes mentioned above and others. The women who takes a loan has a set amount of time, say 3 months, to pay it back with interest. Interest is charged at some annual rate, say 24%, to grow the groups’ funds. I must emphasize that the interest is not being charged by any bank and is going directly into the groups’ central fund, so it is benefiting the members by expanding the amount of credit they have available.

A penalty is implemented for late payment, say 10 Rs per thousand rupees loaned per day. This is of course to insure timely payment of the funds. Provisions are made for uncontrollable circumstances, such as a poor monsoon that wipes out any gains that might have been made from a purchase of seeds. In such a case the group members decide collectively what should be done. Usually an extension of the loan period is given. Rohitash and Gopal have told me that in their experience it has never happened that someone could not pay back the money some how (I think this is partly because of extensive family networks) and that the groups can always reach a consensus on what to do in such extenuating circumstances. Note how group discussion is at the crux of the group operation.

Besides the economic benefits of these groups, they are vehicles for social change. For the two hours that the group meets, the members discuss issues that face them and are open to discussing these issues with the NGO workers. Discussion can range over topics such as the importance of sending girls to school, to the importance of voting, to the exercising of their rights, e.g. the use of those government programs that are available to them without paying bribes, and so forth. Additionally, the women become more aware of their own power through such discussions, realizing that they have the ability to make certain decisions (e.g. when their daughters get married), the ability to do basic book keeping and hence become economic caretakers of the family (this is surprisingly powerful), and much more.




A picture of a group member writing in the ledger that tracks the groups' monthly contributions and loans taken out. The group has their own ledger and we have our copy as well. Each group member also has their own personal book in which they track their contributions and loans. The goal is to train the women in the workings of the group via the monthly meetings and intensive trips to the NGO office in which the issues of women's empowerment are even more strongly emphasized.. We want to pass off complete control to them within 2-3 years, with the literate women in the group taking care of the ledger.


This is the subtle benefit that is almost impossible to measure but is almost certainly the most important part. I will post photos of the women who take loans and what they took the loans for, as I think it is important to track and see the concrete economic benefit. However, I will also post pictures of the group discussions and I would invite those of you reading this to consider coming to Rajasthan to see them yourselves. To me, my heart is greatly warmed by the sight of these rural, largely sequestered women coming together and thoroughly debating and discussing the issues before them. To me why they work as social vehicle is clear just from watching this. Rohitash and Gopal have seen the social change in their 17-year careers, where at the beginning they had to talk with villages for very long periods of time in order to even be allowed to start the groups. This was because the women were basically never allowed out of the houses and to socialize with people outside the family. Now it is a relatively rapid process to start such a group because the benefits have been seen, and women can much more openly move about and talk with outsiders, both Indian and foreign.

As I'm writing this Gopal has pointed out a few more things to me: all group members from different castes sit together and one space and are equals in the groups. This, in addition to urging of gender equality, creates an environment that nurtures a sense of equality that will help rid this part of India of the great evils of caste and gender inequality. They also help with social justice issues, such as advising group members of where they can take advantage of legal advice for some problem they might have. Great stuff.


I’ll have another post about the brochure and long-term strategy soon. I’ll also try to get some more pictures in this post at some point soon.

Work in the village area

All,
We've been in the village area since Friday May 20th. As I write this it is Wednesday May 25th in the evening in India. It has been a bit of a whirlwind, as always, but it's been fun. I just want to give a quick update. Due to the short nature of the trip and all the work that is to be done, most of the information will be posted here after we get back to the US. Here we go.

We have visited three microcredit groups, or self-help groups (SHGs), in Kukrela, Barwara, and Berki, and have had fun and interesting conversations therein. We have had a chance to see how the groups operate and how the members interact with Rohitash and Gopal, LSS's field workers. For the microcredit groups, we have seen how they set the rules and regulations for their groups, eg how much money is contributed per month per member, the length of the loan, etc. All of this information will be posted on the proper website that should be online this summer.




We have also visited the youth leadership and technology groups (YLTGs) in the two villages in which they are currently set up, Mohan Gujar ki Dani and Barwara. The other three will be set up shortly. At Mohan Gujar ki Dani we were pleasantly surprised that at first the group was set up with boys due to cultural issues, but then the parents sent the girls too, so that now the group is roughly half boys and half girls! This is an unbelievable success in and of itself, as I thought we would have to work quite hard in order to get the parents to allow the girls out to be parts of our group. I think it is a testament to the hunger there is for learning computers, as there is knowledge that the future will lie increasing technical advancement and aptitude is necessary. There really is such opportunity here, as before the group started none of the group members had used a computer at all, a situation that is surely repeated throughout India and the developing world. I know we will have to do a lot of work to make sure this bears fruit, but the first signs are very encouraging.

Below I have posted some photos of what the students have learned to do. Recall that none of them knew anything before this week. After a week or two of instruction and scrupulous notetaking on their part, the students have learned how to find the program they need by first clicking the "start" tab on windows and finding the appropriated program. They have also learned how to open files, save files, undo changes, close programs and files, type a little, and use paint. We started with paint because it is intuitive and fun for the first-time user. We will soon move onto MS Word. Perhaps after that we can do Excel and Powerpoint, and if there is further desire, I would love to see some technical software used. We'll get to that soon enough. I hope this is enough to sate your interest in our work thus far. There's been lots of useful conversation about the philosophy and operation of the NGO that I don't have time to post now, but which will go on a future blog post or website. Suffice it to say, I think the opportunities for positive social change here are enormous and I'm excited to a part of it. All the best from India!



The notebook of one student, where they've written all the parts of the computer. There were thorough notes for about ten pages writing about the different parts of the computer and the different commands that are of immediate use. Impressively detailed.



A female student working on a drawing of a house. She seemed slightly more capable than the male student whose work is shown below. Just a little faster and efficient.



The work of a male student. It is a flagpole with the Indian flag. He also typed some words, such as "Great India". Nice.



The students listening as I explain why I think the work of the group is important and why we have chosen to undertake this activity. We also fielded their questions as to why they thought the group was important. At my right are Gopal Singh, an LSS fieldworker, and the computer teacher for the groups.



A picture showing the group members. Note that there are basically an equal number of males and females, which is a feat and something unexpected. This has been a great boost to start with.

Trip Preparations II

Another quick hit today.

Excited about a few things:

1) A colleague from my physics program here at Berkeley, one Grant Larsen, will be joining Meg and I on our trip to India. I know he'll be of good help for brainstorming ideas for the NGO and helping with some technical stuff. We're super excited to have Grant coming with us.


A similar youth technology and leadership group from previous work. The students were quite excited by the computer, as you can see.


2) The Youth Leadership and Technology Groups (YLTGs) have begun meeting now that there exams have ended. To be precise, a group has been formed in Mohan Gurjar ki Dhani and another is set to be formed in Kukrela. Rohitash was telling me today about a computer they purchased that runs off of one CPU, but has two screens, two mice, and two keyboards. Thus, twice the action off of one computer. A great idea on their end. I am excited to see this system and see how the youth in Mohan Gurjar ki Dhani respond to it. As I've said in past posts, we are going at this in a trial and error fashion, so it'll be exciting to see what we learn along the way.

Other than this, we are just going through the preparations for going to India. Coming up with a packing list and also writing down what we plan to discuss with Rohitash and Gopal while there. I've also been soliciting advice on the website that I think will come into existence after my visit in May. Everything is in the works. Exciting stuff. Expect a lot of pictures in a couple weeks :).

best,

Derek

Trip preparations

Quick post today.

Talked with Rohitash and we are getting things set up for Meg's and my May visit. Rohitash and Gopal are going to purchase two computers in the next week or so and start meeting with the youth groups, now that the exam period is over for Indian students. They are planning on having an in-house computer instructor to teach them and the youth in May and/or June. Rohitash and Gopal set this up and I agree it is the best way for them to pick up all the computer skills needed to pass on such information to the students in the youth groups. I am excited too see all that they learn and to start strategizing on the best ways to make these group work. I think this work has the potential to be very innovative and to provide a boost the the local students in these villages, who often never get to see a computer before college (if they get to go). I am super excited for this work to begin.




The two on the right are wearing the school uniforms I have generally seen in RJ. I suspect the two, not surprisingly female, youth on the left are not going to school. Gender issues are something we wish to address in our work.



As for other work, Rohitash and Gopal continue to run the SHG groups and to begin discussions with other villages to start groups. They are taking things slowly, so as to make strong groups and to not over-extend, which I think is wise. There will be a bit of a break in May will all of the cool (kharif) season crops needing to be harvested and processed, but we'll be back at it in June. Longer term, we're probably going to start looking at getting funding for environmental/water management projects, as well as working on a website (which I think will be up in some form by the summer). Exciting times.

Hope you all are well.

Good money transfer scheme, preparation for trip, meeting set up, etc.

Hawa Mahal, or the wind palace, in the Pink City of Jaipur. Where the ladies of the city would look out onto the town without being seen in times past.



The seat of power in Delhi. Lots of other cool stuff like the red fort in Delhi too.




The Taj Mahal. Not much to say here. The world's most famous monument to love. Very ethereal and beautiful.


Again, it's been a bit since I last posted. Since then some things have happened of note.

1) Rohitash and Gopal set up another bank account to which Shishir from NSS could transfer funds electronicaly, with no need for the dreaded month in transport via snail mail. The second quarter's funds reached them in 2 weeks, instead of 3 months, so this is an enormous improvement over the last transfer. The last transfer was particularly bad, but all transfers thus far have taken 1-2 months, so this is a very positive change. It will take financial stress off of Rohitash and Gopal, who are dedicated and hard working in the field, but nonetheless have families to take care of. It will also allow continuous field work with no interruptions due to funds not arriving. I am very happy that we now have a mechanism for quick and easy money transfer.

2) I am in preparation for going to India with Meg at the end of May. As a part of this I have set up a meeting with Shishir and Girish from NSS, the agency that directs our funds and makes sure our work is going through cleanly and transparently (this monitoring is basically required by Indian law for the first three years of operation). We will meet in Delhi to discuss how field operations have gone thus far and how we can continue to improve communication and the smoothness of our operation. We will also probably talk a bit about other funding sources, since NSS is actually a big organization involved in lots of nonprofit work in India and so have experience with finding funding. My goal is to have Rohitash and Gopal find at least half of their funding from funding agencies within and outside of India within, say 5 years. I know they are capable and will be able to set up the proper interconnects if I facilitate with some of my funds and English proficiency. I look forward to this agenda setting meeting. It will be interesting and fun.

3) Meg and I have our plan for India pretty well now. We think at the beginning we'll be in Delhi and will see a few things there (when I'm not meeting with Girish and Shishir). Then we'll go the Taj Mahal for one day, before heading down to Rajasthan. We'll spend around 10 days there, most of it in the village area monitoring the work currently being carried out. However, we'll also stop into Jaipur for a couple days to pick out wedding rings and see the host family I with whom I stayed 4 years ago. They are a wonderful and kind family and I greatly look forward to seeing them. I think Meg is also excited to see many of the wonderful things I have told her about, and I'm sure other things she has read and learned about in her study of history. I think it is going to be a great time, to be with friends in India and to imbibe the local culture, as well as to work on our work of microcredit and technology education. I am very excited by the prospects.

That's about it for now. I'll try to write at least one more post before we head out to India. Hope you all are well.

Plane tickets purchased and more computer donations

Hi all, quick post here before a lengthier one in the next few days. I am very excited because Meg and I have our plane tickets for our trip to India at the end of May. We will go to see the progress of LSS and to talk about short and long-term strategy for computer education, the youth groups, and so forth. I am very excited to see the villages where we are working, and to help in the launch of the youth technology groups.




On that note, I am also happy that I now have the desired total of 5 computers for the establishment of 5 YTLG's in the next few months. In addition to the earlier donation of Mr. Quan, I have also received a donation from my older brother Denny and James Arnott, for a total of 3 donated computers. I thank all of these people for their support of LSS's work. Their support is invaluable. The other two computers will be purchased with funds from the budget. I am very happy that we'll be able to establish these first 5 groups and focus on making them work for the next year or two. After that we'll look at forming new groups one we have established methods that work.

I am very excited about all of these developments. Here's a video of a ted talk about computer education in developing countries (suggested to me by James):

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

We'll definitely be considering the ideas in this video as we design and execute our program.

Have a great day!