what are we doing here?

Today we complete our second week of work (India has a six day work week). These two weeks have laid the groundwork for the next three months- we reviewed the organization's annual reports, met the team, and worked with our counterparts (supervisors) on the details of our projects and the path they will take.

Kate:
I am working on our NGO's initiative to promote the education of Muslim and dalit girls in the rural villages. The two year old program is run in Varanasi, about 200 miles away from Lucknow. My assignment is to create a document/report outlining the scope of the program, highlighting its’ successes and challenges, and analyzing the collected data of the girls’ test scores and participation in the program. Right now I am reading all of the existing program material and the week after next I will visit our NGO’s field office in Varanasi and meet the girls in the program. I am excited and overwhelmed by this project- everything I have read so far demonstrates the success of the program- they are using a grassroots approach of not only working with the girls, but also with the local government (the gram panchyats), the teachers, the families, and in some cases, the girls husbands. The aim is to sustainably create a community that advocates for education and empowers these girls to stay in school, instead of dropping out at age 12 to join their families in the weaving industry. This project is unlike anything I have ever worked on before and from everything I have read and heard about the project, I am in awe of it all.

Dan:
In the next few months, I'll be working on creating and implementing a training program for the management-level staff of our NGO. The Director's view is that many of the newly-hired or promoted managers lack leadership skills. However, when I pressed for specifics, I began to realize he doesn't really know the training needs of his managers. Thankfully, my supervisor is giving me a wide berth to interview the organization's staff and try to get to the root of the issue. Once I've settled on the objectives of the training program, I'll begin researching and designing the workshop. The organization's hope is that my training program can later be used by the facilitators here to benefit other NGOs once I've left.

Aside from our specific projects, we are learning so much about the social issues in India- the caste system, poverty, education for women about childbirth, infant feticide, land rights, and the list goes on and on. We will continue to blog about our work, as well as the other aspects of our lives here- everything is an experience…from eating lunch with coworkers to using the squat toilets to shopping in the market to crossing the street.