Hi all,
It's been a bit since my last post and much has occurred, so I shall not delay in getting to the progress of the last month or so.
First of all, we had a visitor from the US, Brianna Balke, who came to see our work during a trip to India. We have many photos from that visit, which you will see below as I discuss our work. Thanks for coming Brianna!
First and foremost, we have had lots of progress in our youth leadership and technology groups. Building on the progress and enthusiasm from the last year, the students have been learning MS paint, word and excel, as well as working on their typing speed. Excitement is high and they are rapidly learning these programs, which are, as we all know, essential programs to know for jobs and for college. Turnout is excellent, with 15-20 students per group, which is basically the capacity of each group given the space and number of computers available. So, all in all we are very happy with the results this year. Here are some photos before I delve into details about metrics we plan on using for measuring progress.
Alright, well, as I mentioned before we are very happy with the progress our computer work is experiencing. Excitement and interest are high, with all the villages buying into our program, which is very crucial. Additionally, the students are progressing rapidly in learning the key programs mentioned previously. They will also start learning about using the internet starting in June, which is obviously a crucial component of the program, since we want to the villagers to have access to things via the internet that they wouldn't normally have, e.g. agricultural and other information, job and college applications, etc. The question now becomes, how do we measure our progress in bringing computers to the village area? We think we have developed the means to do this, though we are of course always open for input and our approach will evolves as experience teaches us what works and what does not.
Let's start with the short-term part of measuring progress. The first thing we will do is give a short exam at the end of the course that tests what the students learned during the program. This will give us valuable information about how much they learned, what they didn't learn, and what we can improve in our instruction and program generally. We are additionally going to give a survey to the students to assess their opinion of the program and how they think we might improve it. It will include questions such as: what did you know before the class? what did you learn during the class? Was the class useful? Was the class exciting? Do you want to continue learning about the computer? Is there any thing you would change about the class? We are going to try to see how much they knew coming into the class (probably just what they learned in last year's class), how much they learned during the class, and how we can improve the class to make it more exciting, engaging, and educational. After this we'll assess the situation and adjust our plans for the coming year with the new supply of data. We will keep you updated on this process!
Ok, well that's the short-term, but we also want to be able to measure the progress of our work over the long-term after our students get jobs and go to college. This may be a bit difficult as the students move around, but I don't think it will be too big of an obstacle because it is unlikely their families will go anywhere so we should be able to contact them to get the necessary information. To this end, we will also survey the students after they leave the program, asking questions such as: why did you know before the program? What did you learn during your years in the program? How were those skills useful for you in your job/school? Did our program give you the ability and comfort with the computer so you could learn new programs? If so, what new programs have you learned? Would you participate in the program again knowing what you know now? From this we will ascertain the efficacy of the program. Obviously many other questions are possible and we will develop this aspect as time goes on. We will track the number of people our groups have trained and what sort of benefits were reaped by those former members. This will give us a good idea of how to shape our programs in the future. We are all excited and interested to see how this all goes! We'll keep you updated on all this.
We would like to make a plea for old laptop donations again. We are very thankful to Denny Vigil, James Arnott, and David Quan for their generous donations of their used laptops a year back. However, we all know these things wear out, and this is especially true of used laptops in a place as hot and dusty as RJ, where additionally there is no AC to speak of and all places are pretty much open, even if they are "inside." So please, if you have any laptops please email me at derek.vigil@gmail.com if you would care to donate them. Please also check with friends who are looking to upgrade from/replace their old laptops. This would help us so much in continuing the progress of these youth groups. I will be going to India in December, so any time before that would be fine. Let me know.
Let's transition and talk a bit about our microcredit groups (SEGs). They continue to be a linchpin in our work and to work excellently, as was shown a few posts back with the data table detailing the level of activity in the groups. They are important to our functioning as an organization because we rely on constant input from the group members to improve all of our programs. There's a neat photo below showing where the SEG group members are interacting with the computer. As mentioned previously, the talking with the SEG members has given us invaluable insight in how to structure our computer program so as to achieve success. The importance of these groups cannot be overemphasized.
Alright, well this has been a long post so let me finish up with a few details. Rohitash and Gopal will be meeting with a man from Delhi who is very knowledgeable about applying for our registration to receive directly foreign funds (FCRA registration, in Indian government lingo). As I've mentioned before, all Indian NGO's go through a three-year period where they cannot directly receive foreign funds and must have an oversight organization monitor their work. We are nearing the end of that period and so will be applying to receive foreign funds directly. Once this is done we will be able to receive the funds directly and, more importantly, avoid the sizeable fee (17.5%) charged by such oversight organizations. This will allow us to fundraise much more effectively since we will get rid of this overhead, which donors do not like to see (and neither do we, but there is no choice during this three-year period unfortunately). We are very happy to have the aid of knowledgeable people during this process so it can go as smoothly and as easily as possible. We will keep you updated on this.
Finally, a note about the weather and crops in India right now. It is the blistering hot time in the summer before the monsoon. Temperatures range from 40-50 C, or 100-118 F, so it's pretty scorching. Farmers - which means nearly everyone, including our workers, where we work - are starting to plant tomatoes, chillies, and eggplant, all very tasty parts of the Indian diet.
Well, that's it for now. Have a great memorial day weekend!
It's been a bit since my last post and much has occurred, so I shall not delay in getting to the progress of the last month or so.
First of all, we had a visitor from the US, Brianna Balke, who came to see our work during a trip to India. We have many photos from that visit, which you will see below as I discuss our work. Thanks for coming Brianna!
First and foremost, we have had lots of progress in our youth leadership and technology groups. Building on the progress and enthusiasm from the last year, the students have been learning MS paint, word and excel, as well as working on their typing speed. Excitement is high and they are rapidly learning these programs, which are, as we all know, essential programs to know for jobs and for college. Turnout is excellent, with 15-20 students per group, which is basically the capacity of each group given the space and number of computers available. So, all in all we are very happy with the results this year. Here are some photos before I delve into details about metrics we plan on using for measuring progress.
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| Brianna participating in the discussion with the YLTG in Mohan Gujar ki Dhani. |
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| Brianna amongst the group in Mohan Gujar ki Dhani. |
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| Brianna, Rohitash, and Gopal with the YLTG at Mohan Gujar ki Dhani. Good group photo. |
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| Youth practicing on the computer in Mohan Gujar ki Dhani |
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| Brianna participating in discussion in Kukrella YTLG. |
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| YTLG in Kukrella working with the computer teacher |
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| YTLG member getting Brianna's email. I assume this was not under duress! |
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| Brianna observing the YLTG in Amloda. |
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| Rohitash discussing with male members of the YLTG. Notice the goats on the right. Very typical setting for our work in rural RJ. We're trying to bring computer education to these very rural areas. |
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| A very good photo of Rohitash's niece Priyanka working on the computer at home. Shows how our program is building interest in computers in many ways. Just the presence of the computers for all to use in the village area is a huge step. We are working to make sure the villagers get the maximum usage out of the computers. |
Alright, well, as I mentioned before we are very happy with the progress our computer work is experiencing. Excitement and interest are high, with all the villages buying into our program, which is very crucial. Additionally, the students are progressing rapidly in learning the key programs mentioned previously. They will also start learning about using the internet starting in June, which is obviously a crucial component of the program, since we want to the villagers to have access to things via the internet that they wouldn't normally have, e.g. agricultural and other information, job and college applications, etc. The question now becomes, how do we measure our progress in bringing computers to the village area? We think we have developed the means to do this, though we are of course always open for input and our approach will evolves as experience teaches us what works and what does not.
Let's start with the short-term part of measuring progress. The first thing we will do is give a short exam at the end of the course that tests what the students learned during the program. This will give us valuable information about how much they learned, what they didn't learn, and what we can improve in our instruction and program generally. We are additionally going to give a survey to the students to assess their opinion of the program and how they think we might improve it. It will include questions such as: what did you know before the class? what did you learn during the class? Was the class useful? Was the class exciting? Do you want to continue learning about the computer? Is there any thing you would change about the class? We are going to try to see how much they knew coming into the class (probably just what they learned in last year's class), how much they learned during the class, and how we can improve the class to make it more exciting, engaging, and educational. After this we'll assess the situation and adjust our plans for the coming year with the new supply of data. We will keep you updated on this process!
Ok, well that's the short-term, but we also want to be able to measure the progress of our work over the long-term after our students get jobs and go to college. This may be a bit difficult as the students move around, but I don't think it will be too big of an obstacle because it is unlikely their families will go anywhere so we should be able to contact them to get the necessary information. To this end, we will also survey the students after they leave the program, asking questions such as: why did you know before the program? What did you learn during your years in the program? How were those skills useful for you in your job/school? Did our program give you the ability and comfort with the computer so you could learn new programs? If so, what new programs have you learned? Would you participate in the program again knowing what you know now? From this we will ascertain the efficacy of the program. Obviously many other questions are possible and we will develop this aspect as time goes on. We will track the number of people our groups have trained and what sort of benefits were reaped by those former members. This will give us a good idea of how to shape our programs in the future. We are all excited and interested to see how this all goes! We'll keep you updated on all this.
 |
| Our donated laptops are beginning to wear out and could use replacement. Please donate your old laptops, or get friends to donate them. They are invaluable to our work. Email me at derek.vigil@gmail.com if you are interested in donating your laptop. |
We would like to make a plea for old laptop donations again. We are very thankful to Denny Vigil, James Arnott, and David Quan for their generous donations of their used laptops a year back. However, we all know these things wear out, and this is especially true of used laptops in a place as hot and dusty as RJ, where additionally there is no AC to speak of and all places are pretty much open, even if they are "inside." So please, if you have any laptops please email me at derek.vigil@gmail.com if you would care to donate them. Please also check with friends who are looking to upgrade from/replace their old laptops. This would help us so much in continuing the progress of these youth groups. I will be going to India in December, so any time before that would be fine. Let me know.
Let's transition and talk a bit about our microcredit groups (SEGs). They continue to be a linchpin in our work and to work excellently, as was shown a few posts back with the data table detailing the level of activity in the groups. They are important to our functioning as an organization because we rely on constant input from the group members to improve all of our programs. There's a neat photo below showing where the SEG group members are interacting with the computer. As mentioned previously, the talking with the SEG members has given us invaluable insight in how to structure our computer program so as to achieve success. The importance of these groups cannot be overemphasized.
 |
| Brianna participating in group discussion in SEG at Kukrella |
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| Brianna with SEG members and their children in Kukrella |
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| Again in Kukrella. Notice the surroundings here. You see the livestock and the fields that are staples of the livelihood here. |
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| SEG members interacting with the laptop |
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| Brianna during some free time with the SEG members. |
Alright, well this has been a long post so let me finish up with a few details. Rohitash and Gopal will be meeting with a man from Delhi who is very knowledgeable about applying for our registration to receive directly foreign funds (FCRA registration, in Indian government lingo). As I've mentioned before, all Indian NGO's go through a three-year period where they cannot directly receive foreign funds and must have an oversight organization monitor their work. We are nearing the end of that period and so will be applying to receive foreign funds directly. Once this is done we will be able to receive the funds directly and, more importantly, avoid the sizeable fee (17.5%) charged by such oversight organizations. This will allow us to fundraise much more effectively since we will get rid of this overhead, which donors do not like to see (and neither do we, but there is no choice during this three-year period unfortunately). We are very happy to have the aid of knowledgeable people during this process so it can go as smoothly and as easily as possible. We will keep you updated on this.
Finally, a note about the weather and crops in India right now. It is the blistering hot time in the summer before the monsoon. Temperatures range from 40-50 C, or 100-118 F, so it's pretty scorching. Farmers - which means nearly everyone, including our workers, where we work - are starting to plant tomatoes, chillies, and eggplant, all very tasty parts of the Indian diet.
 | |
| Chillies, tomatoes, and eggplant are all crucial summer crops in RJ, although the growth of chillies is not ideal because they take up so much water and RJ is very water scarce. Nonetheless, people like to eat them, so the farmer's grow them. |
Well, that's it for now. Have a great memorial day weekend!
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