The World Today
If earth’s population was 100, there would be:
• 52 females and 48 males
• 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's
wealth – all 6 would be from the US
• 80 would live in substandard housing
 70 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
 1 (yes, only one) would have a college education
• 1 would own a computer
Literacy Rates Worldwide
Source: UNICEF 1999
Literacy – Where Does India Stand ?
Total Population vs. Illiterate Population
4 times the population
of Germany
Source: Calculated from census data
India – Where is it ?
Social Disparity
Variation in Literacy Rates
90
80
60
( in % )
Literacy rate
70
50
40
30
20
10
0
Total
Persons
Source: Indian 2001 Census data
Rural
Males
Urban
Females
Social & Regional Disparity
Variation in Literacy Rates
100
94
91
88
90
80
76
70
65
60
60
54
48
50
40
34
30
20
10
0
Kerala
Persons
Source: Indian 2001 Census data
A ll India
Males
B ihar
Females
An outline map of India
The Vicious Cycle
Lack of
Education
Dependence
Poverty
Why Education ?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Awareness of Rights
Ability to Exercise Civic Rights
Improved Access to Opportunities
Economic Mobility
Improve Gender Equality
Overall Development
Is there a hope ?
Can We do something…
…to make a DIFFERENCE ?
HOW ? ?
What Asha Means ?
Asha in Hindi and in many regional languages
means
‘Hope’
The hope that we want to bring into the life of
every child
Our Mission
“To catalyze socio-economic change through
education for the underprivileged children in India”
Asha – An Introduction
• ‘Asha for Education’ is a non-profit organization
• Asha hopes to provide education for underprivileged children in India
• Run entirely by volunteers
• Contributions go entirely to beneficiaries, since
Asha has no operational overheads
Asha supports socio-economic change
Asha – An Introduction
• Projects have sustainable performance
• Use of alternate teaching methods
• Projects visited on a regular basis
• Has no political or religious affiliations
Asha supports socio-economic change
Asha Founder –
2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award Winner
• Dr. Sandeep Pandey is one
of the founders of Asha for
Education
• Received the Magsaysay
Award
in
Emergent
Leadership category for his
work towards upliftment
of underprivileged in India
Asha – What do We Stand for ?
• Social, political or national development – starts
with education of children
• Money raised through fundraisers to help groups
involved in children's education
Asha – Some Facts
• Started in the USA in UC Berkeley in 1991
• 51 chapters in India, USA, Europe and Australia
with 1000+ active volunteers
• 600 projects in 20 states in India sponsored by
total disbursements of over $3 million till now
• In 2002 Asha chapters raised $1.13 million and
disbursed close to $970,000 to over 200 projects
Our Projects
Dots represent the distribution
of projects across India
Asha – Our Achievements
1200
1000
800
250
Funds Raised
Funds Disbursed
Project sponsored
200
150
600
100
400
50
200
0
0
91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02
Number of projects financed and percentage of funds
disbursed to funds raised on the rise
Number of unique projects
Year on Year Performance
Project Monitoring
• Monitoring done by Asha volunteers
• Projects provide finance statements, progress
reports and correspond on management issues
• Projects monitored for
–
–
–
–
reduction in dropout rate
commitment to socio-economic change in the region
increase in number of students
improvement in facilities
Asha Munich
• Asha Munich is a Chapter of ‘Asha for Education’
• Came into existence in January 2003
• Started by a group of Indian professionals working
in and around Munich
• The objective – mobilize Indians and Germans to
collectively support education in India
• Raise
funds
through
cultural
programs,
tournaments,
fundraisers
and
voluntary
contributions
Our Plans
• Concerts – Pt. HariPrasad Chaurasia on 22 Nov ’03
• Events
• Individual and corporate tax-exempt donations
• Work an Hour (WAH) annual fundraiser
• Sale of merchandise – T-shirts, greeting cards, etc
Pandit Shri HariPrasad Chaurasia
Pandit Shri HariPrasad Chaurasia is an
eminent
artist
recognized
for
his
outstanding contribution in popularizing
Indian art music throughout the world. In
Europe he is hailed as ‘Chopin of Flute’.
His consummate artistry has distinguished
him as the greatest living master of the
bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute.
In addition to his performances and
compositions, Pt. Chaurasia is a dedicated
teacher with several students throughout
the world.
Panditji has been felicitated with the ‘PadmaVibhushan’
(second highest civilian award)
How Can You Get Involved ?
Learn More
About Issues
Volunteer
YOU & Asha
Publicize
Support a Project
Asha Wide Participation
• Stay up-to-date with Asha activities, worldwide.
www.ashanet.org/mailing-lists.html
• Asha in India – The next time you visit India, stop
by our projects or our chapters all over India like
Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Lucknow, Bangalore, etc.
www.ashanet.org/projects.html
Our Dream, Our Goal
All over India !!
Contact Details
More Information:
• Asha for Education: www.ashanet.org
• Asha Munich: www.ashanet.org/munich
Registered Address:
c/o Gosain/Walz
Guntherstrasse 21
80639 Munich
Germany
Email: asha_munich@yahoo.com