RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Summary of Annual Report of Financial Year 2008-9
We want to thank our members for your support in the financial year 2008-9, which ended on March 31. With your help we accomplished the following:
Projects with MSSRF (www.mssrf.org):
· 2,000,000 yen sent for an up scaling of Community Learning Centre at Reddiarchatram, Dindigul to 10 more village hamlets. These centers use innovative tools for increasing literacy and computer skills in villages.
· 700,000 yen sent for Micro Credit Banks Federation building at Kulumai, Tamil Nadu.
· 60,000 Rupees provided as Micro-enterprise grant to self-help groups (SHGs) to produce an innovative natural pesticide that exemplifies the pro-environment, pro-women and pro-poor approach of MSSRF.
· 20,000 US$ sent for improved livelihood training of the coastal artisan fishermen in Poompuhar.
· 150,000 yen sent for post-harvest processing training of millets and paddy by the tribal women SHGs in Kolli hills.
· 7 new micro credit banks launched.
· All micro credit banks donated so far are now in action, and Fall reporting to all donors was completed.
Projects with other organizations working with the MSSRF philosophy of "Pro-poor, pro environment, pro-women":
· 300,000 yen provided to Philippine Christian Foundation for education of children of rag-picker families in Manila. Katie Baker, our former co-chair is working with them now. (Education Initiative)
· 750,000 yen grant to PUKAR/URBZ (www.urbz.org) to establish Dharavi Community Cell, which will work to empower the community along the lines of MSSRF Village Knowledge Centre (Digital Bridge Initiative)
· Funds provided for a PC projector to NESCONN in Nepal (Education Initiative)
· Funded operation for one year of one Mobile Crèches to (www.mobilecreches.org) childcare centre for migrant laborers in Delhi (Education Initiative)
· 2,000,000 yen provided to Arpana Trust in Delhi (www.arpana.org) for micro credit loans to SHGs for building their own micro housing in Molarbandh (Micro Credit Initiative)
· Desks and benches provided via Armene Modi/ Ashta no Kai in a village school in Khandale near Pune. Photographs attached. (Education Initiative)
· 150,000 yen provided to Komazawa University Student Fund (under the guidance of Prof. Yuko Nishimura) for training of village people in Kovalam to build eco-san toilets (Education Initiative)
Most of the projects have been personally visited by board members Kylie, Lindy or Geeta. Further details are on our website www.asiainitiatives.org. All this would not have been possible without your support. We look forward to your continued partnership this year. We still need to fund 6 more micro credit banks for self-help groups at MSSRF. We also welcome your feedback and ideas, so please do write.
Summary of Annual Report of Financial Year 2007-8
• Micro-credit Banks: Our target of establishing 20 new MCBs a year was met in the first 6 months of the year! We added 25 new banks to our portfolio this year and now have nearly 140 MCBs, thanks to the generous donations of our members.
• The Festival of Colours 2007 was held on 19th May at the Shinsei Bank in Tokyo. This, our largest fund-raising event, raised over 10 million yen for our projects. This sold-out gala event included fine Indian cuisine, entertainment and a live and silent auction.
• “Masters of Modern Photography – Japan” Exhibition at the Tokyo American Club, November 2007, helped raise over 1 million yen. A remarkable portfolio of limited edition prints by twelve internationally renowned Japanese photographers, each known for their personal impact on the history of modern photography in Japan, was compiled by expert curators with works donated to AI by the photographers.
Our Major Initiatives of 2007
With M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
1. Micro Credit Banking (MCB) Initiative: 20 new micro credit banks with the donation of US$1,500 each and 5 partial banks with a donation of 50,000 Yen each were donated this year, bringing the total number of banks donated by Asia Initiatives in Japan to 150. 128 of these banks are already operational, and preparations are underway to launch the remaining. These banks are in located in villages in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Orissa and Gujarat. 223 enterprises have been started with the help of these banks over the past five years, enabling the poorest families to double or triple their incomes.
2. Self-Help Group (SHG) Confederation Enterprise Initiative: Based upon the success of the Self-Help Group (SHG) Micro-credit Projects over the past 7 years, MSSRF has been helping them to form representative confederations so that they can govern the MCB projects by themselves. The Confederations are also keen to start larger projects that can be started by smaller SHGs. In response to this, Micro Enterprise Marketplace (MEM) program has been devised to provide Confederation projects - selected in a competition - with grants of 30% funds to supplement the 70% that they will borrow from the MCB. Sustainable projects that help in health, education, and employment generation within the community will be selected under this program. The first project supported by MEM is the production of affordable biodegradable sanitary napkins for rural women. Inadequate hygiene related facilities have resulted in a very high incidence of cervical cancer in rural women and this project is expected to help with this situation. 135,000 yen has been given as a grant for this project.
3. Bridging the Digital Divide Initiative: Village Knowledge Centre (VKC) Besides the US$ 20,000 grant given by Lehman Brothers Foundation in Japan to MSSRF, an additional funding of three million yen was allocated this year. Farming regions in Maharashtra that have experienced a failure of crops in recent years were given 2 million yen to set up VKCs to offer market, health, education, e-governance and e-education information to farmers as well as Computer Aided Learning Programs (CALP).
Our Complete Annual Report 2007-2008 can be downloaded here
