Sri Lanka Project (GROW II) Advisory Committee
November, 06, 2006 (Monday) 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.
Conference Room, Learning Center
Present: Cindy Campbell, Sharee Clough, Phyllis Cunningham (Chair), Sabiha Daudi, Nalika
Diyadawa, Kay Forest, Jaya Gajanayake, Laurel Jeris, Murali Krishnamurthi, Meena Razvi, Itxaso Tellado,
and Rey Ty
Minutes of the Meeting:
 Corrections to the minutes were suggested by Laurel and Kay. Amended minutes were moved
for approval by Meena and Sabiha seconded the motion.
 Progress report
Jaya gave an update on the project progress in the field as follows:
SLIDA is planning to continue the Diploma program as a fee levying program
Sarvodaya Women’s Movement website is almost ready and close to launching.
CENWOR Website has a news item that says cabinet approval has been granted
for 33% quota for women representatives at the local government level and a
Cabinet sub-committee has been appointed. If this news item is true and valid
it is a remarkable achievement for women activists and women NGOs in Sri
Lanka as well as to the GROW Project.
 Meena presented ideas on developing a future Study Abroad Program to India and Sri Lanka
(tentatively in 2008). Following were some of the ideas Meena presented:
Encourage student involvement in planning the program
Attract non NIU students also to participate
Grant academic credits
Include exposure to rural and urban India
Meet with Study Abroad Office staff as an initial step before going ahead with
planning.
The advisory committee members shared their thoughts on planning the proposed Study Abroad
program; Following were some of the ideas presented:
●Period followed by Christmas will be an ideal time period to take students to India, given the
weather situation in India (Murali)
●Explore linking with Hallbrook Travel Company to get info on good travel packages (Sabiha)
●Invite a staff member from NIU Study Abroad Division for a planning meeting (Nalika)
●Promote the program to students from other US universities as well if it is difficult to recruit the
number required (Jaya quoting what Rick had mentioned at an earlier meeting)
● Strategize for selective program emphasis to maintain variety and depth e.g. popular education,
environmental education (Phyllis)
●Decide on a good combination (e.g. two weeks in South India, with tours to Taj Mahal and slum
areas and one week in Sri Lanka visiting GROW Model Villages. (Phyllis)
●Form an interest group, read Study Abroad Handbook and meet experienced faculty members for
their insights. Laurel/Phyllis
 Kay mentioned that she is currently in the final phase of the GROW II summative evaluation
and invited ideas from the advisory committee on how their involvement in GROW II Project
has benefited them and NIU students. Each Advisory Committee member presented her/his
viewpoints in a round robin fashion. Their comments are as follows:
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Murali:
 The project influenced his teaching the course on International Project Management at the
Engineering College. He added a new module focusing on deadlines and deliverables, to
the curriculum of this course tapping into his GROW experience.
 GROW Project has helped to bring international learning into NIU’s classrooms in many
other ways.
 State Department grant money enabled stimulating a few great faculty members of the
NIU faculty to be in the Sri Lanka Advisory Committee, this enabling international bridge
building.
Laurel:
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GROW Project enabled experiencing/practicing real life teaching methodologies
such as role plays and simulations.
The composition of the Sri Lanka Advisory Committee with a good number of
faculty members from CAHE has tremendously impacted CAHE students.
Two project websites with their comprehensive coverage and information
supplemented by photos and easy navigation was a tremendous resource for
classroom teaching and learning.
Nalika:
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Made several classroom presentations on the GROW project thus sharing the
learning from the project with other graduate students.
Did a conference presentation and contributed to a joint publication on the project,
thus further enhancing the learning among the students.
GROW project has become a “social movement” not just a project (she realized this
when taking the course on Social Movements), and thus it is a very rich learning
experience to NIU students.
Itxaso:
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Demonstrated the value of international education and the fact that people who live far
away could be interested in the activities of the people in another corner of the world.
Cindy:
 In teaching assessment it is helpful to understand the cultural impact on assessment and
innovative ways of assessment that people could easily relate to.
 Personally amazed by the power on the ground and power of collective effort.
 Project demonstrated how ordinary people could do extra-ordinary things.
Meena:
 GROW project is a significant positive experience and impacted her life as a student
 It gave a head start to her doctoral research work.
Sharee:
 As a graduate student, the opportunity to learn about the GROW Project through Laurel’s
and Jaya’s classes was an eye opener.
 Listening to the GROW II leaders from Sri Lanka who visited the class (when they were at
NIU) was a very rewarding and amazing learning experience.
 As a lecturer in community health, learning more about popular education through GROW
Project was quite useful.
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Rey:
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Jaya:
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Received remarkable opportunities to contribute through class presentations and also
during the International Education Week. The development of movie files on GROW I
and II had a direct impact on the project as well as on my learning.
GROW as a project started small and expanded as the project moved forward, acting as
a practical model for similar interventions.
The project has put Sri Lanka on NIU’s map.
GROW Model Villages with modest assistance from the NIU Advisory Committee
members continue their role as rich learning laboratories to other villages, NGOs, and
other development interventions in Sri Lanka, both national and international
Energy emanating from the NIU Advisory Committee is in fact infectious and has
strengthened the Sri Lanka advisory committee.
Decision by the Sri Lankan partners to continue the Diploma Program after the funding
period is a good indicator of the energy created by the GROW Project.
Phyllis:
 Sri Lanka Project is a living and a breathing demonstration. It is like you plant
something and let it GROW enabling change of attitudes and understanding in the
institutions.
 GROW Project enabled the demonstration of bottom up approach to learning and
working.
 This is a good example of community linking with the academic world where
connections are made in the minds.
 GROW Project enabled progressive understanding of the world.
 It helped to change the academic structure of a university in which many are trapped in
their robot roles and hierarchies.
Sabiha:
 When I first joined NIU as a new faculty member, GROW Project provided me a “home”
with a value system close to my heart.
 Project demonstrated the participatory approach development. The project with its 12
underlying principles is a rich learning base.
 Enhancement of student awareness beyond what they hear is important and the GROW
Project experiences enabled just that.
 The excellent communication between the two advisory committees was an added strength
to the project and to us.
Kay reported that for those who are interested in adopting/helping a GROW Model Village, a
micro-financing program administered through KIVA website is a great idea. This is an easy
method of giving financial support as a loan needing repayment back to the individual who lend
the money. Under this program, anybody in North America could make a small contribution,
through the PayPal system. In this way the lended money could be transferred into local currency
avoiding tedious currency exchange regulations. This may be a good method to support, for
example, an income generating project in a GROW Model Village.
 Jaya briefed the committee on her research related to sources of future funding for GROW III.
●At the macro level the total development assistance to Sri Lanka by developed countries has been
estimated close to $ 1,000 million (if Tsunami assistance is added). Japan is the largest donor to Sri
Lanka followed by the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Germany and USA.
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●At the ADB Headquarters in Manila, there is a Capacity Development and Governance unit. ADB
Office in Colombo is quite strong in Governance and they assist civil society strengthening projects
●The World Bank has given a $ 60 m grant to Sri Lanka for poverty alleviation that also has built in
assistance for good governance and capacity building. Also, the Small Grants Program at the Social
Development Department of the World Bank Headquarters in D.C. as well as the South Asia
Regional Office at the headquarters are also good sources.
●USAID in Sri Lanka provides assistance to good governance, as one of its five major program
areas.
UNDP Regional Office in Thailand has a program titled Asia Governance Program. Also, the UNDP
Office in Colombo has a Democratic Governance and Human Rights Division. These could be good
funding sources.
●UNIFEM is also strong in this field. Their headquarters based in New York has an emphasis on
women political participation. UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office based in New Delhi, India has
an emphasis on Good Governance.
●Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mac Arthur Foundation, The Asia Foundation all have
Good Governance as a major emphasis - as one of the four or five major program areas. All these
have regional offices in India, serving South Asia.
●Kathy Van de Vate at the State Department had given a few other funding sources.
●Different funders have different ways of accepting grant proposals. For an example some
institutions need a concept paper first, some others need other methods of initial explorations before
a full proposal.
●Jaya indicated that, as David Stone, the Director of the Office of Sponsored Projects mentioned at a
meeting with her a couple of weeks back, State Department could be our best source yet and she
concur.
●Jaya further mentioned that if it is a proposal to the State Department, given the drastic funding
slashes, we might have a stronger chance if the proposal covers several countries in South Asia.
●This will take us to our next topic in the agenda, the proposed South Asia Initiative for
Development (SAID),which Murali will elaborate.
 Murali elaborated on the idea of a South Asia Initiative for Development (SAID) that was discussed
during the follow-up meeting when Jezima Ismail was here in September.
●He explained that if a proposal for South Asia to be submitted in the future, it is not
premature to start establishing the initial work now.
●Murali also mentioned about the visit of Devika, the Head of Aseema Foundation based in
Tamilnadu, India to NIU in September. Jaya mentioned the lecture she delivered at Jorge’s
class was a great learning experience to the students. She would be a possible partner for our
future proposals representing India in SAID.
● Sabiha mentioned for the next proposal we should include Pakistan, and there is a possibility
of linking with two NGOs in Pakistan as partner organizations. These two partners have their
own websites and accessing that information would be a good starting point.
●Jaya inquired about having Bangladesh as a partner country in the new proposal. Sabiha and
Murali indicated that is it conducive to include Bangladesh in the proposal and there is a good
number of active NGO’s who could partner with SAID as a starting point.
 The next advisory committee meeting will be held on Monday, December 04, 2006 at 1.30
p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.
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