Asha for Education

Project Brief: Education, teacher training, regional development, right to information, issues of the underprivilidged children
Project Type: Fellowships (description)
Primary Focus: children of migrant workers (description)

Secondary Focus: creating resources

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact:
Silicon Valley

Status: CURRENT
Project Steward: Vijay Poduri
Co-Steward: Contact information unavailable
Project Partner(s): MAHESH PANDEY
Project Address: Fellowship: Mahesh Pandey
ASHA TRUST
685 /A Village Post Tatiyaganj, Mandhana, Kanpur Nagar
kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 209217
Tel: 011 9198385 46900
Stewarding Chapter: Silicon Valley

This fellowship support is to allow the fellow to focus on region's development through education, income generation, right to information, and projects development and coordination. By close participation with the fellow, Asha stands to gain the perspective on the issues of the underprivileged and the marginalized communities that the fellow works with.

RTI campaign is gaining momentum at Kanpur in the last two years. There are many accomplishments since November 2006 with Mahesh in the leadership role. Many groups are working together on this campaign under the "RTI Campaign Kanpur" banner for transparency and accountability of government departments. They have ensured that the different government offices have appointed Public Information Officers (PIOs) and that they receive the requests for information from the public in the proper manner. The current status is that if any citizen is willing to patiently pursue the Right to Information route for resolution of their pending issue, they achieve major successes, without paying a bribe or being hassled on multiple trips to the department. There is a high percentage of public interest applications in Kanpur campaign.

Mahesh's effort on understanding the issues of children of migrant labor by living and working with them at Apna Ghar (residential home) as part of the Ek Kadam effort has born some initial successes. The twelve children from brick kiln migrant labor bastis currently at the Apna Ghar facility are becoming aware and involved citizens with regular participation in community issues in addition to accumulating a good to excellent academic record.

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<a>Details of Ek Kadam (Apna Ghar) Initiative</a>
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<a>RTI Campaign Uttar Pradesh Updates</a>
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<a>RTI Campaign Kanpur Updates</a>
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<a>Mahesh's Personal Photo-essay Blog</a>
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<a>Collection of Poetry, Stories and Paintings by Children of Apna Ghar</a>