Posted in Personal, Professional, Saath on May 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »
AIF recently released a slideshow of the Clinton Fellowship highlighting past fellows and the ethos of the fellowship.
I am eternally grateful to AIF and to SAATH for the professional and personal experience that I have had over the past few months. Please check out this quick, 3 minute video to learn more.
Posted in Gratitude, Saath, tagged Saath on February 8, 2010| 2 Comments »
That's Lu on the left.
Luciana’s an intern from Brazil, via Germany. She’s with SAATH as part of her master’s in Architecture and Planning.
Thanks, Luciana, for sharing lunches, for always being up for interesting things, for your bubbly personality. Thanks, also, for your generous contributions to the SAATH blog. I will miss you. Hope you’ll come back soon, or else that I’ll find a chance to visit Germany.
Posted in Professional, Saath, tagged just for fun, Saath, saris on December 8, 2009| 1 Comment »
Sari Day happened a while ago, but these pictures never made it onto the blog. Check us out!!
Office Hotties.
Bijal, Belaben, Kruti, Keren, Meghna
Posted in Saath on October 29, 2009| 1 Comment »
There are a lot of reasons why I love my job. The people are nice, there’s free chai twice a day and I get to the organizational management equivalent of brain surgery.
Today, I experienced another one of the reasons why I love my job.
This morning my regular rickshawalla, Ishvarbhai, was busy taking two Maaji’s [old ladies] to the temple. So I worked from home till about noon and then I flagged a rickshaw at the nearest crossroads. The guy smelled funny, and he gave me shit about how far I had to go, but it’s hard to get a rickshaw. I got in.
He kept glancing back at me in my Nicole Ritchie sunglasses, and I kept ignoring him. As we approached my office, he made a wrong turn. I started yelling. I wouldn’t do this in America, but in A’bad you have to be on your guard. The yelling actually comes from dealing with a lot of people who try to cheat you. It’s a defense mechanism.
He started asking me if I worked at an NGO. He must have figured from the Saath sign, and maybe my large backpack. Then, he asked if we had jobs available. I probed for some details and it turns out his 19-year old son has a 10th-grade education [equivalent of High School diploma], and he lives in one of the many areas where we work. I asked him to accompany me to the office.
The rickshawalla, Kanjibhai, came inside where I introduced him to the staff of our UMEED program. Unemployment and underemployment are huge issues in India. Saath’s UMEED program provides job training and placements to young people living in slum areas. Training is available to anyone with at least an eighth grade education to prepare them for jobs in a variety of sectors like call centers, computer repair, hotel management and bedside assistance. Umeed has trained and placed over 10,000 people in the past three years. From the website:
UMEED instills in [slum] youth the confidence and get up and go to develop enterprises to meet the needs of growing service and manufacturing sectors in the economy.
In a matter of three months, and with a nominal fee of Rs. 500, participants can train part time for their chosen career. UMEED assumes the responsibility for placing graduates with employers. Linking Kanjibhai to this opportunity for his son is a great example of how Saath interventions address systemic issues by dealing with immediate needs.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been able to link people with Saath programs. Our landlady’s maid’s brother has a ninth grade education and lives in one of the areas where we work. He is also now looking into UMEED trainings. Within a matter of months, this program can significantly improve a person’s financial position, quality of life and confidence.
And I get to come here to work every day. It’s a happy thing.
Posted in Saath, tagged Saath, Urban, Urban Resource Center on October 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The foundation of Saath’s programming is it’s Urban Resource Centers [URCs]. These centers are one-stop shops that live within and are run by community members in slum areas of Ahmedabad. These centers ask families for a nominal annual membership fee of Rs 125. For this fee, the URCs link these families with microcredit, schools, job training, medical care, infrastructure, and crucially, with access to government entitlements and programs to for the poor.
Saath URC
From Saath Donation Website:
“The URC aims to transform service delivery to the urban poor from the NGO model to a market-orientated approach, for self-sustaining development processes. In this model slum residents are market agents in development changes. In addition, it helps develop formal relationship with clients in the private sector to support the livelihood projects and increase access to goods and services for slum communities – a capable and power market.
SAATH recognizes slum residents as capable market agents and an untapped market for the private sector.
URC activity is modelled on a market-oriented approach to poverty reduction. SAATH recognizes slum residents as capable market agents and an untapped market for the private sector. They are consumers and producers and owners of human capital. Slowly the corporate world is waking up to that fact. The result is better lives for the commuinty, increased revenue for the private sector and more tax dollars for the government. ”
Saath is looking to expand this model, from 4 to 10 resource centers. Eventually, they plan to have 75 URCs all over Gujarat, Maharastra and Rajasthan. At scale, this model will reach 375,000 families [times 5, the average household size in India, is close to 2 million people].
On the day of my visit, we attended a parents meeting at a Balghar, or pre-school at Juhapura. Juhapura is the largest Muslim neighborhood in Ahmedabad. After the 2002 communal riots, Muslims migrated here in large numbers, seeking safety and mutual support. Saath, through it’s URC, is providing much needed services to this burgeoning community.
At the Balghar, Saath staff had assembled the mothers of the pre-school students. They told them about other services available through the URCs. Many of the women do paid household work in nearby bungalows. This work is often frustrating as they are paid per task, and do not receive respect from their employers. They could stop by the URC, located right inside their community, and sign up for Saath’s Urmila Home Manager Program. They would be trained as “Home Managers” and be able to command a premium salary, plus the protection of a contract and the Saath seal. If they need credit, they can stop by the URC to find out about enlisting in Saath’s credit cooperative. One woman was recently widowed and found out, through this meeting, that the URC could help her access a pension and funding for her child’s education.
Yakub Bhai breaks URC down for the Ladies of Juhapura.
The URC is run by and for the community. Through membership fees and fees for each service the URC provides, community members come to own the center. They staff the center. They are the eyes and ears in the community, keeping track of needs and making sure community members have access to appropriate services. Community-crafted, community-owned. That is the stuff of good solutions to social issues.
You can check out more pictures here and find out more about Saath’s programs and needs here.
In India 