Numbers of group members and so much more

The crack group that was in India at the end of May. Left to right: Gopal Singh, Meg Fowler, Derek Vigil, Rohitash Kumar Meena, Grant Larsen.


Microcredit group activity from the past month.


Students at one of our youth technology and leadership group (YTLG) sites.


Close up of some girls and boys at the meeting of the YLTG

LSSer's, this is a quick post detailing some of the developments in our computer education program and other organizational details.

First of all, I'm excited to post details on the numbers of groups we have running, the numbers of group members, and in the case of the microfinance groups, the amount of saving per month and total savings.

First the youth technology and leadership groups (YTLGs). Here are the numbers:



As you can, see we already have a good number of girls, though more boys than girls. We'll obviously try to get the gender ratio as even as possible, but in such a conservative area, this is already an excellent results. As I've said in the past, I am excited that girls are already being sent to the group and are being allowed to sit in the same group as the boys. I thought achieving this would take a lot of work, but what we are seeing is very heavy community buy-in into this program, with excitement from the students, the parents, and the large community. We'll work to sustain this excitement in the upcoming time. For now we are devising how to best have the students use the computer resources during their school years, which just started July 1st (there is a two month summer vacation in India, starting in May).

Here are the numbers on the microfinance groups:



The first column is the group id, the second column is the group name (basically the village name), the third column is the number of group members, the 4th column is the monthly contribution, and the 5th column is the total saving rate. Note that the 4th column can differ from group to group because the groups decide in their rules and regulations what the monthly contribution should be. We have seven groups operating, with a goal to expand to 10 by the end of the year. We want to keep our expansion at a reasonable rate so that we don't take on more than we can handle. Making sure the five computer groups and 10 microfinance groups are running well will more than occupy us for the rest of the year, and probably next year as well.

As for the US side, we have finished drafting our non-profit incorporation papers and have submitted them to an attorney for review. I am hoping we can have them submitted within a week or two, after which we will wait for approval and start looking at forming a 501(3)(c).

Finally, I would like to mention that we have decided to name the microfinance groups Self-Empowerment Groups (SEGs) because we think this best reflects their larger social purpose. We would like to rename the Youth Leadership and Technology Groups (YLTGs) because the name is not snappy or memorable. Please let me know if you have any ideas for new names.

I would also like to say that I'm very happy with the momentum that is building for the organization. I'm meeting many people who are interested in helping in one way or another, and I think we've done a good job of taking input from many people. I'm proud of how this organization is being built from the ground up, with ideas taken from many places to build as dynamic and productive structure and organization as possible. Thanks to all of you who have supported the organization materially, or through your efforts and ideas. It honestly brings a great swell to my heart and tears to my eyes to see what is becoming of this organization. Thank you so much!

Things are going great. Have a great day.