Dalit Association for Social and Human Rights Awareness(DASHRA)

" Dalit Association for Social and Human Rights Awareness(DASHRA)" works for the protection and Promotion of dalit Human Rights In Bihar with like mind organisations.DASHRA engages in monitoring of dalit Rights violations , providing legal aid, advocacing on behalf of dalit victims, and research on dalit , documenting related to dalits. DASHRA is an NGO since 2002. DASHRA is expertised on dalit Human Rights for our people.

Uday Kumar, ( a Human Rights Lawyer)
Executive Director
DASHRA
House No 96, Road No 12
S.K.Nagar, Patna 800001,
Bihar, India
+91 9334391956,
Cell + fax : =91 612 2526224
udaydashra@gmail.com

Grameen Koota

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/grameen_koota/

Grameen Koota was established in 1999 with the help of seed capital funding from the Grameen Trust. The vision for the program began when Vinatha Reddy, Grameen Koota’s Founder/CEO, was inspired by the Grameen Bank story in Grameen Foundation President Alex Counts’ book Give Us Credit. Grameen Koota’s mission is to help poor women in rural areas and urban slums through microcredit, to constantly deliver need-based financial services in a cost-effective manner, and to become a financially sustainable microfinance institution for the poor.

Operating in Bangalore, ranked as the 13th poorest of 20 districts in Karnataka, Grameen Koota serves an area where an estimated 38 percent of the district’s 1.7 million people live below the poverty line. The microfinance program is also integrated with other social development programs including health, family planning, sanitation, literacy, nutrition, income generation skills, and enterprise development.

Outreach:

Grameen Koota has grown from two branches and 445 clients in March 2001 to 36 branches and 91,478 clients as of December 2006, for an annual average growth rate of 163 percent, and it continues to grow. Cumulatively, the organization has loaned its clients more than $13 million since its inception, and Grameen Koota plans to reach out to 450,000 clients by 2010

Grameen Foundation support:

Grameen Foundation has provided Grameen Koota with financial support to the tune of $110,000, supplied as a combination of grants and guarantees (leveraging more than $1 million) to support commercial bank loans. Grameen Koota is also the chosen pilot site for Grameen Foundation’s path breaking initiative in providing a MIS solution to the microfinance industry – Mifos.

Learn more at: www.grameenkoota.org

Grameen Foundation Launches Mifos Initiative

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/resource_center/newsroom/news_releases/~story=192

Grameen Foundation Launches Mifos Initiative

Breakthrough information management platform will change the way the microfinance industry manages technology

November 13, 2006

At right: Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank founder and Grameen Foundation board member, presents at the Global Microcredit Summit along with Peter Bladin, director of the Grameen Technology Center

Halifax, Canada - Grameen Foundation today announced the launch of a new initiative designed to address the significant technology challenges facing microfinance practitioners worldwide by revolutionizing the way they access and use technology to run their operations. Mifos, an open source information management platform, will be unveiled today in Halifax, Canada, at the Global Microcredit Summit with the support of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs, Omidyar Network, Cisco Systems and other global partners.

“Mifos addresses one of the most fundamental barriers to sustainable growth for the microfinance industry: limited access to affordable, flexible and scalable information technology solutions that microfinance institutions can adapt as their needs evolve,” said Alex Counts, president of Grameen Foundation. “By pioneering a new approach to technology, Mifos empowers microfinance, giving practitioners equal access to a system they not only benefit from, but contribute to and own."

A 2004 survey by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor found that 46 percent of microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world were still using spreadsheets or manual systems to manage their portfolio and client information, severely hindering their efficiency and capacity to scale into the hundreds of thousands. With Mifos, a single technology “backbone” that all microfinance institutions can access and adapt is now available. Its innovative open source model allows microfinance institutions to engage local IT specialists to customize Mifos and to provide ongoing support at local, affordable rates rather than being dependent on one vendor that may sit on the other side of the world.

Grameen Foundation, through this initiative, is committed to putting control of the technology in the hands of those who will use it, and beta-testing is already underway in India and Tunisia. “We looked at off-the-shelf products and even considered having someone build a customized system for us,” said Suresh Krishna, chief operating officer at Grameen Koota, a fast-growing MFI based in Bangalore, India, that serves over 70,000 clients. “But, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. Mifos gives us control of the development of our system and we are not at the mercy of any particular technology provider.” Grameen Koota is the first Mifos beta partner,

Omidyar Network, which is providing a $1.5 million grant to support the initiative, is one of the many key corporate and funding organizations that have thrown their support behind Mifos. "Omidyar Network is committed to advancing technologies that will benefit and transform the entire microfinance industry,” said Elizabeth Clarkson, investment manager at Omidyar Network. “Since 2004, we have supported Grameen Foundation's efforts to promote the evolution of microfinance, and are particularly pleased to support the Mifos initiative. With its open source platform and strong focus on building local IT expertise, Mifos offers the industry a strong, sustainable technology platform, which is critical for the industry if it is to evolve and expand its outreach."

The initiative has already garnered strong support within the technology and microfinance communities. Cisco Systems was an early supporter and the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs has coordinated an effort to provide the expertise of a large number of Goldman Sachs technology professionals to help build Mifos. To date, Goldman Sachs people have committed over 1300 hours to this effort. "This is a truly extraordinary opportunity for Goldman Sachs people to work with a global community of IT and microfinance professionals committed to ending poverty,” said Suzanne Nora Johnson, chair of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. “We are excited to collaborate with Grameen Foundation on the Mifos Initiative which we believe will be critical in helping the microfinance industry advance by improving loan portfolio management, customer data analytics, and access to capital markets."

The Mifos initiative is being spearheaded by the Grameen Technology Center, the Seattle-based division of Grameen Foundation that focuses on using technology solutions in the fight against global poverty. Launched in 2001, it has been a leader in driving industry-wide technology innovations that help microfinance practitioners to operate more efficiently and effectively. It is an outgrowth of the pioneering work done by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

Learn more about the Mifos Initiative >

A Life Transformed

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/pentamma_s_story/

Pentamma's story - India

The branch manager wends his way through Village Singeetam, drawing an ever-swelling crowd of curious onlookers. Finally he arrives at the far edge of the village where Dalits ("Untouchables") have been relegated to live. Pentamma is waiting. Though she has never been visited by so many people, she greets the crowd with a calm nod of resolve.

With clipboard in hand, the manager begins the first phase of his assessment to see if Pentamma qualifies to become an SKS borrower. Using SKS's Housing Index, he scores the quality of her home’s roof and walls, and whether there is running water and electricity. Only if Pentamma’s house scores below a ten, thus ranking her among the poorest of the poor, will she be eligible to proceed with the qualifying process. Her husband earns just Rs30 ($.68) a day, while she earns Rs20 ($.45) for the same job as a day laborer when there is work. With the gaping straw roof covering her miniscule two rooms for four people, lacking both running water and electricity, Pentamma's house scores a six, well within range of eligibility.

Pentamma and four other Dalit women proceed to a neighbor's dirt courtyard where they must now pass the Group Recognition Test. Pentamma clutches a large white piece of paper as she sits cross-legged on a straw mat with her group, their SKS trainer and the branch manager. The crowd presses in from all sides to witness the challenges ahead.

For the past five days, the trainer has been teaching these women about SKS microloan policies and procedures: the 50-week loan cycle, 15 percent interest and $.10 weekly savings requirements. They have also learned about SKS’s democratic system of borrower groups, a concept totally foreign to women wh o -- according to Hindu culture -- have no value. They sit in a circle, have elected a group leader, and take turns speaking.

The branch manager signals the test to begin. In unison, the women successfully recite the SKS pledge. Then, placing a pile of smooth green-gray stones in the middle of the circle, the manager asks each woman to configure a symbolic borrower group. Since this group will join six other groups to create a center, he watches as they arrange a circle of 30 stones representing an SKS center.

Satisfied with that portion of the test, the manager next assesses the group’s ability both to count out loan amounts that a borrower may receive (between Rs1,000 and 10,000, or $23-$230), and to calculate weekly loan repayments, interest and savings. They answer each of his questions, and he puts the money away. Now is the time for the ultimate test.

Pentamma unfolds her piece of paper and flattens it out beside her. Finally, it is her turn. She is handed the notebook and pen. Taking a deep breath, she awkwardly weaves the unfamiliar implement between her fingers. Placing the point onto the page in front of her, she very slowly begins to write. She stops, checks her work against what is written her own paper, and readjusts the pen. Pentamma’s marks get larger and start to drift downward, but she continues across the page until the last oversized curve has been made. Pentamma has just accomplished, at age 25, what others more fortunate than her accomplish by age four or five. This illiterate Dalit has just written her own name. It is the only word she can write, but it is enough.

The branch manager nods and everyone, including the onlookers, erupts with applause. A new SKS borrower group has just been born.

Since this story was written, Pentamma has purchased a water buffalo that yields six liters of milk per day. She sells five and keeps one to feed her children. With her profits, she is buying more nutritious food for her family.

Edited excerpts from Dana Whitaker's Transforming Lives $40 at a Time. Reprinted with permission.

Day Laborer Turned Micro-Businesswoman

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/d_ellevva_s_story/

D. Ellevva's story - India

Despite the early hour, the morning sun is nearly blinding when D. Ellevva and her fellow clients gather at a SHARE center meeting in the rural village of Parvatapur in Andhra Pradesh. About 25 women, or five groups, sit on the floor of the school house porch, patiently waiting as each group leader collects loan payments from the women in her group and gives them to the local SHARE center manager. Ellevva, seated in the front row, efficiently gathers up the payments from her group members and counts the bills before giving them to the center manager.

Ellevva’s quiet confidence and sense of responsibility make her an ideal group leader. It was a 5000 rs loan from SHARE eight months ago that gave her the opportunity to capitalize on these skills and use them to grow a micro-business. Ellevva and her husband, Durgiah, live in a small, one room house made of mud and sticks. Before taking a loan from SHARE, both worked as day laborers for meager wages (usually 20rs per day for a woman and 40 rs per day for a man) and struggled to make ends meet.

With her first loan, Ellevva purchased a buffalo that recently gave birth to a calf. It will now produce milk that Ellevva can sell in the market. With a second “special” loan of 3000 rs, she purchased two goats and some vegetables. When she purchases vegetables, Ellevva sells some a nd grinds the rest (the pulses [legumes] and dal [lentils]) into flour. Already thinking ahead to her next loan, Ellevva wants to purchase another buffalo.

Though it is only eight months since her first loan, Elleva can see the difference it has made in her life. “I am very happy to have gotten a loan,” she says. “Now I have my own business, earn a regular income, and no longer have to work as a day laborer.”

“Make education must for Dalits”

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Hindu/400x60/0

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: Education has been a distant dream for many a Dalit child whose everyday life is a struggle and the government should make it compulsory under the law that every child gets good education, said Lourdunathan, professor, Government Arts College, Melur.

Addressing a ‘training and consultative’ meeting for Dalit teachers here at the De Nobili centre by Network for Dalit Empowerment, Tamil Nadu on Sunday, he said that necessary information about the higher education should be easily available for Dalit students.

Speaking on the topic ‘Education and Dalit Women,’ Diana Christie, lecturer, Lady Doak College said that measures should be taken to make sure that Dalit women, who were the most marginalised, get education till the university level without dropping out.

Stating that education was the only panacea for the problems of Dalits, she said that getting better education and employment would not alienate Dalit students from the rest of the society as it would help them cope with changing conditions in these times of globalisation.

About 150 teachers from southern districts attended the meeting, which was chaired by M. Edward Arockiadass, organiser, Network for Dalit Empowerment, Tamil Nadu.

The resolutions passed at the meeting included free education to all students till Tenth Standard for which the State government should provide assistance and an amendment brought in the Constitution and opportunities created in such a way that Dalits themselves conducted special category schemes for their upliftment.

Satara based MVSS is first NGO to get Community Radio licence

By Anita Iyer
Radioandmusic.com
(25 July 2008 5:40 pm)

MUMBAI: A Maharashtra based NGO Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha-MVSS has acquired the licence to run a community radio last week, becoming the first in the NGO sector in the country to join the CR (community radio) network.

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news.aspx?action=view&id=2649

Feature: scaling new heights for India’s lowest

Hiking doesn’t get much harder, or higher, than the Himalayas, but two Church of Scotland members are up for the challenge. Paul Beck explains why …

Sharon Rose is team leader for 20 British hikers who are being sponsored on their climb to raise funds for India’s Dalits.

Sharon serves with the Christian charity Operation Mobilisation. Responding to the Dalits’ cries for help, to date OM has established 80 schools across India that are providing 13,000 Dalit children with an education. At the request of local leaders, the students follow an English-medium curriculum emphasising a Christian worldview of personal worth to God. Each Dalit Education Centre also hosts adult evening classes, health seminars and self-help groups for the local community.

Despite India’s recent economic advancement, its 250 million Dalits face extreme poverty and every conceivable form of discrimination. The country’s growing wealth does not reach those living outside Hindu’s caste system, labelled the ‘untouchables’ of society. Dalits cannot eat with or even drink the same water as people of a higher caste background. They are relegated to the lowest jobs and face humiliation daily. In a recent case, a six-year old girl Dalit girl was pushed into burning embers after she walked on the ‘wrong’ path.

As part of the trek through the Nanda Devi region, Sharon, husband Philip and the team will visit one of the schools OM oversees.

“We wanted a first hand, physical experience that would make this more real to us so that we can make it more real for others,” explains Sharon. “To meet the people, to visit their communities, to see the schools, to witness the transformation that is taking place and to be able to say 'I have been, I have seen and I have my own stories to tell'.”

The eight-day trek will doubtless be draining. Starting at 6am for a hike of an average of five hours through difficult terrain, the group will be pushed physically and mentally. However, Sharon hopes that being surrounded by the awesome scenery of God’s creation will also ‘uplift’ her own faith. “I am sure we will learn a lot about perseverance and team work. This is a chance to literally grow closer to God!”

Philip and Sharon will certainly need the prayer and support of others as they prepare for departure on 13th September. Those wishing to sponsor them and raise funds for a new Dalit Education Centre in the state of Jharkhand can visit www.uk.om.org or e-mail pkrose2u@aol.com or sharon.rose@uk.om.org