GlobalGiving.org: Provide computers for high-risk children in India

Progress Report

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:41:12 GMT

A Very happy New Year to all the ASSET donors and supporters.

Based on the very positive results from the English Helper Pilot project, ASSET India Foundation has entered into an agreement with English Helper (http://englishhelper.com/about_eh.htm) to provide the various modules that will benefit nearly 5,000 girls rescued from sex trafficking at the various centeres in Hyderabad. Similar agreement has been put in place for ASSET students in Kolkata and Delhi as well.

In Mumbai, ASSET will be working in partnership with Kranti ( http://www.kranti-india.org/aboutus ) and Project Crayons which run shelters for children of sex workers. Kranti will be evaluating Akash, a low cost tablet PC as a desktop replacement.

The Forbesgunj BPO project is off to a frustratingly slow start, even though all the important players are on board. The community center in Fotrbesgunj where the BPO will be located is run by our partner Apne Aap. In Forbesgunj, which is on the India-Nepal border, the only income generating opportunity for women is prostitution. The ASSET/Apne Aap BPO is a unique effort to make a difference.

http://apneaap.org/policy-work/our-resources/manuals/sex-trafficking-and-exploitation-short-film-apne-aap-and-equality-

Arunodaya Placement, Sunitha Krishnan after TED

Ray Umashankar — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:39:01 GMT

ASSET partner Arunodaya was able to place 100% of the students in jobs after their completion of the training. Please see attached placement report.

It has been a year since ASSET partnerand Prajwala founder Dr. Sunitha Krishnan was on TED. Here is an update from her, a year later: http://www.inktalks.com/talks/sunitha

Also ASSET introduced SMILE Foundation to American India Foundation to take advantage of MAST (Market Aligned Skills Training) program, AIF is training unemployed youth with a 10th-grade education for employment in high growth sectors, matching the demands of local area economies. MAST's goal is to train 1,00,000 youth across India by 2012. Over 61,000 youth have been trained by now with an average job placement rate of 72%. Corporations like Big Bazaar, Westside, Cafe Coffee Day, HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and numerous call centres and hospitals have recruited MAST graduates. It is our intent to offer MAST training in addition to computer training.

No progress to report on the establishment of a BPO center in Forbesgunj, Bihar where sex trade is the only gainful employment option for girls.

Links:

Going from a No to a Yes

Attachments:

Arunodaya Placement report (DOC)

Training ASSET students to be nurses

Ray Umashankar — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:28:04 GMT

We are in the process of setting up a pilot project in the state of Orissa to train a small group of children of sex workers/girls rescued from trafficking to enter a two year Nursing program

The pilot is being set up as follows:

1. ASSET is working with local NGOs/Government HIV/AIDS agencies to identify five girls from our target population
2. The five girls will already be attending a municipal school and in the high school age group.
3. These five girls should be willing to finish the schooling to qualify for the nurses training.
4. ASSET will provided the necessary support for having the five girls finish their schooling and help them join Kalinga Nursing college in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

5. Once this pilot is underway, plans will be made to replicate it in other cities.

New Partnership

ASSET India Foundation has entered into a partnership with the Tamil Nadu Foundation (TNF) to use their computer facilities and teachers to train ASSET students in Chennai. In May 2010.Tamil Nadu Foundation recognized Dr. Nita Umashankar as a professional under forty making the most significant social impact in Tamil Nadu. The partnership with TNF is in place of ICWO with whom we had to cancel the partnership agreement due to lack of compliance.

India recently passed the Right to Education into law and the link below has been submitted by ASSET's NGO partner SMILE Foundation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HquF5GPlDS4

Links:

I am Kalam- Movie Trailer

New partners and centers

Ray Umashankar — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:07:46 GMT

Greetings!

We are in the final stages of our evaluation of a new partner organization in Chennai. They have a number of projects and one of them is HIV/AIDS intervention working with HIV-infected women and sex workers. They work primarily with the mothers and support their children monetarily. These children are in the younger age group. What we have done is identify their siblings that fall in our target group. They live in central Chennai and attend school in the surrounding areas. Our program would be a new project for them in terms of teaching and working with our target age group.

This is their website - http://www.tcds.in/

One major advantage is the proximity of the training center to the high-tech and automotive manufacturing corridor for job placement and getting volunteers.

Similarly, in Delhi we have completed the evaluation of the site for a new partner (Apne Aap) based on our successful partnership in Kolkata. Also the management of our website will be done by the staff and students of a non-profit organization based in Kolkata that serves children of sex workers.

The partner changes have been necessitated by the lack of adherence to our guidelines and policies by the current partners.

Also ASSET India Foundation has been selected to participate in the YouTube Nonprofit program and is listed as a SUPERSTAR on GlobalGiving! This is the highest level that an organization can reach on GlobalGiving!

ASSET partner Dr. Sunitha Krishnan//Donor visits ASSET-Mumbai

Ray Umashankar — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:09:34 GMT

Greetings!

ASSET India Foundations partner in Hyderabad is Prajwala, founded by Dr. Sunitha Krishnan. She has rescued more than 5,000 girls from sex trafficking. Her talk (link below) is touching and inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE1Ia8yG50A

Also, Mary Ellen Pitruszynski, Executive Director of Sooch Foundation, one of ASSET's major donors visited the ASSET center in Mumbai. Below is her note.

************************************
From: Mary Ellen Pietruszynski <mpetro@sooch.net>
Date: November 26, 2010 6:33:49 PM PST
To: Ray Umashankar <rayu42@gmail.com>
Subject: Visit to ASSET in Dharavi

Hi Ray:

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are doing well. I have copied you on several emails I have sent tonight as a follow up to my trip to India and specifically in Mumbai. We had a wonderful visit and as you can see from the tone of my correspondence we were very impressed with the quality of work being done by both SMILE and Prayog (not to mention Innovaid, as well). Particularly, though I am continually impressed with your ability to seek out organizations in India who collaborate with you to deliver a high quality service to the people who need it. I want you to know that Jasdeep and I were both so impressed with the project in Dharavi and ultimately with your ability to get that work done from your remote location in the US. I will be reporting this to our board and although they will have many questions I hope that we will be able to continue to support ASSET and particularly the work we witnessed in Mumbai.

In addition, I would like to ask if you may be able to consult with our friends at The Miracle Foundation. I know you have met Caroline Boudreaux, their founder. The COO, Elizabeth Davis is continually more involved in the workings on the ground in India. As you know this can be complicated. I know Elizabeth could benefit from conversations with you regarding your experience, successes and issues you have had to deal with in the process of growing ASSET. Please let me know if it would be okay for me to put Elizabeth in contact with you. And please let me thank you for the great work you are doing, Ray. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to witness it!

Very truly,
ME

Using Microfinance for student fees

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:27:08 GMT

ASSET-Mumbai students, guests at annual function

I am pleased to report the ASSET center in Mumbai again has achieved 100 % placement for the students in the last batch. This center is located in the heart of the red light district in Mumbai.

Mary Ellen Pietruszynski, Executive Director of Sooch Foundation- a major ASSET donor- will be visiting the ASSET Mumbai center in November 2010. As we continue to grow, our biggest challenge is to build on the success and make the ASSET project viable over a long period of time.

For the long term sustainability, I am exploring the use of microfinance for student fees. In this model, students will take micro loans to cover the tuition cost and repay within 6 - 12 months after being placed in a job. ASSET India Foundation will be the guarantor for the loans. Average student loan will be $ 100 to $120 ( Indian Rupees 4500- 5,000). This will include annual maintenance for the computers but not the replacement costs. Computers will be replaced by ASSET as and when needed. Here are some preliminary ideas: 1. Each center will train a minimum of 100 students per center Maximum 120 students per year in 3 batches 2. Annual budget per center is $9,000, including annual maintenance of computers and student transportation 3. ASSET is in the process of identifying reputable microfinance organizations in each city where ASSET has centers. 4. Each center should produce the photo and short bio of each that ASSET will post on its website. 6. Donors can donate to the ASSET Microfinance fund pool and request that the money be use fpr particular student (s) 7. . Computer costs not included in loan amount. SMILE and ASSET will identify seperate funds for computer replacement.

8. ASSET has retained the services of INNOVAID (www.innovaid.in) to assist in establishing the microfinance.

ASSET/INNOVAID plan to set up a pilot program at the ASSET Mumbai center by January 1, 2011.

I would greattly appreciate your thoughts, comments regarding this plan.

Thank you

$20,000 Grant from Dell

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:03:11 GMT

ASSET received a grant of $20,000 from Dell. The money is being used for additional computers for our center in Hyderabad. Our partner organization Prajwala has rescued nearly 5,000 girls from sex trafficking. These additional computers will help train more girls in several locations.

Interviews of ASSET students=Mumbai

Ray Umashankar — Sat, 01 May 2010 13:37:25 GMT

This video contains the interviews of children of sex workers attending the ASSET training program in Mumbai. Nearly all of the students who have completed the training are employed contributing to their family. Many students from the U.S. Have visited the ASSET center in Mumbai and have interacted with them.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dwph6svsGPzU&h=75590

This center is located in a dilapidated municipal school building in the heart of the red light district.

The photo below shows Somu Nepali, who successfully completed the ASSET program and now has a job . Here she is addressing girls rescued from trafficking and children of sex workers, urging them to stay in school, finish the ASSET training.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4462174&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=357122095006&aid=-1&id=679411985

Dell’s VP & Chief Marketing Officer Erin Nelson will be a key note speaker and 5 Dell women VPs will be speaking and participating at the upcoming Global Women’s Summit http://www.globewomen.org/summit/Summit.htm, being held in Beijing May 20-22. ASSET graduate Somu Nepali's will be one of 3 featured stories about individual girls who have been impacted by Dell YouthConnect funded programs. The emphasis is on how education makes the difference as the great equalizer – with education, we all have a chance.

ASSET top project chosen by Ericsson to showcase at Tech conference

Ray Umashankar — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:25:30 GMT

ASSET India Foundation's project has been selected as the top project by Swedish Telecomm giant Ericsson who will be promoting it as part of their Technology for Good giving campaign! Only six were chosen out of 1340 projects from 100 countries. Ericsson will be showcasing this page http://www.facebook.com/l/7008b;www.globalgiving.org/technology-for-good/ at a technology conference at the end of March and will be giving out GlobalGIving gift certificates to conference participants to support these projects ASSET India provides hope and successfully eliminates poverty though education and job placement to girls rescued from trafficking and children of sex workers in India. Girls who have completed the ASSET training now work in banks, insurance and software companies. More and more corporations world-wide are letting fans on Face Book decide who should get their donations, your support on Face Book is very important. By having thousands of fans, ASSET will be in a position to compete for the $ 1million dollars prize in 2011 and help more than 5,000 + victims of trafficking. Simple steps for your family and friends to "Join" ASSET on Face Book: After logging into face book, they can open on one of the two links below and "Join" to become ASSET fans: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=ts&gid=357122095006 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=188234189796&ref=ts FAMILY and FRIENDS DON"T HAVE TO DONATE MONEY Thank you Ray Umashankar ASSET India Foundation rayu42@gmail.comject:

JP Morgan/Chase Giving $ 1 Million Facebook Competition

Ray Umashankar — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:26:07 GMT

ASSET India Foundation has made the top 100 among hundreds of thousands of charities and is now competing for the top prize of $ 1 Million. The contest is organized by J.P Morgan/Chase Giving and people around the globe can vote for ASSET India Foundation only on Facebook.

We won Round I and and received $25,000. Round II of the voting contest starts at:

Midnight (EST) Friday, January 15th

and ends at:

Midnight (EST) on Friday, January 22nd.

ASSET will get the prize of $ 1 million by receiving the highest number of votes on Facebook with your help.

In this contest we are only seeking votes and not donations.

We have identified more than 5,000 girls who are children of sex workers and or rescued from trafficking (many of whom are HIV positive) and only 300 of them are presently able to participate in the ASSET program due to limitation of space and resources.

With the $ 1 million Prize, ASSET will expand its program to serve all the 5,000 + girls and set up centers in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We are working closely with the Clinton Foundation.

Documentary film producer Pat Loewi produced this video of students at the ASSET center Delhi. You can use this for the campaign to get votes in the facebook competition

Here is the link::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCw_KvOpBiM

The voting link is: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/717045

Our target is 100,000 votes and you can help us reach the goal. I am writing to request you to share the contest information and the voting link with all your global contacts, friends and family and urge them to vote now.

Thanks so much for your help

Ray Umashankar 2008 Purpose Prize Winner Executive Director ASSET India Foundation www.assetindiafoundation.org 520-869-2004 (cell)

rayu42@gmail.com

Links:

http://blog.innocentive.com/

A Postcard from

Pat Loewi — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:42:13 GMT

Dear Ray, Vinita, Kiran, and Shayaan, What a pleasure it was to visit your compelling ASSET Program. I so enjoyed interviewing the students, parents, teachers and administrative staff. This program, housed in two small rooms in a low-income neighborhood of Dehli is focused on computer education, English language and Life Skills. The students and parents all felt that their self-confidence has soared since being part of the program. The current job placement rate is 65% but the goal is 90% in the next three years. The students were well-spoken, totally engaged in their learning and this is one of those outstanding programs where everyone seems to be on the same page. Vinita, Kiran, and Shayaan, I was impressed with your understanding of these youth and their many challenges. You truly seems to be changing lives at the ASSET center and, hopefully, my Podcast will be distributed far and wide and help support the continuation of this vitally important program. Thanks for the beautiful flowers and your gracious hospitality. Warmly, Pat Loewi

When asked what he would tell his friends about this project, Pat said: "Incredible: You need to see this!"

Links:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/txbzna

Famous Author Supports ASSET

Ray Umashankar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:16:57 GMT

Greetings! Chetan Bhagat is the author of three blockbuster novels, all of which have remained bestsellers since their release and have inspired major Bollywood films. The New York Times called Chetan the ‘the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history.’ Seen more as a youth icon than just an author, this IIT D/ IIMA graduate is making India read like never before. Chetan supports ASSET and has voted for it in the JP Morgan/Chase Giving contest. Below is his blog titled "3 clicks to change lives" asking all his fans to vote for ASSET India Foundation.

http://www.chetanbhagat.com/blog/general/3-clicks-to-change-lives The direct voting link on facebook is: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/717045

The voting deadline is Dec 11, 2009. Our target is 5,000 votes.. The prizes are: Phase I..... $25,000 Phase II.....$100,000 Phase III....$ 1 Million I need your help. Please forward the following to everyone on your e-mail address book and you will be making a big difference in the lives deserving children.

ASSET Center- Mumbai

Ray Umashankar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:33:58 GMT

Greetings!

The ASSET center in Mumbai was opened earlier this year. The center is located in a dilapidated government school building- in the heart of Kamathipura- Mumbai's red light district! Businesses all around the school including stalls selling everything from cigarettes, vegetables, magazines to phone shops with copiers are controlled by the same people that control the sex trade.

For some unknown reason, the ASSET center and the students that come for the training are left alone.

The results from this center are most gratifying. Students have been placed in jobs that pay well enough to keep the students to stay out of the sex trade. Photos of the students and placement data are in the attachment.

We are in negotiations with three companies that have Rural BPOs in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Our aim is to include the skill requirements of these companies in training so that placement after completion of the training will be easy.

Pat Loewi, an ASSET supporter was in Delhi recently and she has created a documentary which contains interviews with students and parents at the ASSET center in Delhi. The link will be posted here as well as the ASSET India Foundation website shortly.

I highly recommend the book "Half the Sky" by NY Times reporters Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. One of the issues the authors describe is the terrible plight of girls sold into prostitution in India.

Note from Sheryl Wudunn:

From: Sheryl WuDunn Date: Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:15 PM <rayu42@gmail.com>

Ray:

Keep up the great work. ASSET is working in an area that needs so much help, so I"m very gratified to hear about what you do. Your daughter must be a remarkable woman. My hearty congratulations to you and to her for all the work that ASSET does. best, Sheryl ********************** Challenges we are addressing:

1. Partner organizations do not address hardware problems in a timely fashion.

2. Every time a PC breaks down, a new replacement PC is expected.

3. Since ASSET requires that each batch consist of 20 students, slum children that don not meet ASSET guidelines are recruited.

4. In order to financially sustain the ASSET project over the long run, I would like to have the students take out microfinance loans to pay their tuition of Rs. 2,500 ( < $60). The plan is to have them repay the loan within 6 months of getting employment. All the students we have placed in jobs so far earn between Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 4,000. In India when something is given for free, people doubt its value. Since this is a non-traditional Microfinance application, I have not been successful so far in a tie-up with a microfinance lender.

Ray Umashankar

Attachments:

ASSET_Center_Mumbai.doc (DOC)

ASSET Partnership with MILLEE-Carnegie Mellon University

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:15:49 GMT

I am very pleased to announce a partnership with the MILLEE project directed by Professor Matt Kam of Carnegie Mellon University. I serve as adviser to the MILLEE project.

MILLEE stands for : Mobile and Immersion Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies.

It is centered on Cellphone applications that enable children in the developing world to acquire language literacy game-like environments. MILLEE aims to make localized language learning resources more accessible to underprivileged children, at times and places that are more convenient than schools. The design methodology is based on best practices in commercial language learning packages and the traditional village games that children in the developing world play.

MILLEE has received major technology and financial support from Nokia and the project is being implemented in schools run by the Byrraju Foundation in Andhra Pradesh.

MILLEE will be implemented on a pilot basis at ASSET India Foundation's newest location in Hyderabad "Arunodhaya" which serves more than 100 children of sex workers and HIV infected parents.

Major support from Dell

Ray Umashankar — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:48:49 GMT

I am delighted to inform you that Dell Foundation awarded another $20,000 grant to ASSET India Foundation- $10,000 for PCs for the center in Bangalore and $10,000 for instructors salary support.

In addition Dell India staff members will actively volunteer and provide support in the following areas at each of the ASSET centers:

1.Recruitment of students 2. Selection process of students 3.Admissions of students 4. Recruitment of teachers 5. Orientation to teachers 6. Orientation to students 7. Initiation of classes/ Batch inauguration 9. Industry visits 10. Workshops and classes by visiting faculty 11. Monthly/mid terms/ end term evaluation 12.Arrangement of career counseling to students 14.initiation of placement contacts 15.Conduction of pre-placement activities 16Conducting of final tests. 16.Placement week 17.Preparing placement reports 18. End term reporting with case studies and press coverage 19.Post placement follow up and mobilization of second batch 20.Certificate ans award distribution ceremony

Also, Mr. Hersh Goel, an Honors Pre-med student at the University of Arizona will be working as a summer intern at ASSET-Delhi. In addition, Ms.Ruchika Agrawal will be submitting her application for a fulbright fellowship focusing on issues relating to trafficking and ASSET's role in the rehabilitation of trafficking victims.

ASSET Progress Report

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:17:32 GMT

1. All the seven existing ASSET centers have been brought under the management of SMILE Foundation(http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/e_learning.htm) which has an all India presence. SMILE's regional offices will be involved in the recruitment and retention of students as well as the monitoring the performance of teachers and program coordinators. 2. An ASSET center has been opened in Mumbai, in the heart of the Kamathipura red light district in partnership with Prayog and managed by SMILE. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been requested to provide volunteers to meet with students on a regular basis.

3. Students from ASSET/SMILE centers have been placed with Nokia, Cafe Coffee Day, Fun Cinema and HDFC Bank.

4. ASSET just received a $20,000 grant from Dell Foundation for additional computers and teacher salaries. The Purpose Prize award of $10,000 as well as the SHG Foundation grant of $10,000 were received in December 2008. Won the Globalgiving contest first prize of $10,000 by raising the largest amount in a 4 week period

5. At the request of one of our major donors, I have been investigating entrepreneurship models similar to the ones implemented successfully by Grameen in Bangla Desh. I have done due diligence on many of them but none of them was a good fit until I found one successfully implemented by Hand in Hand, a very reputable NGO in Tamil Nadu. (http://www.hihseed.org/). They are a large Microfinance organization and have set in operation 1,400 computer Citizen center kiosks in rural Tamil Nadu.

ASSET adviser Kunal Garg will be meeting with the director of the HiH Citizen center program in order to conduct a focus group among ASSET trained girls and their mothers working in teams.

1. HiH will provide full training, hardware, e-learning tools and all access to various services

2. ASSET will explore providing loans of Rs.30,000 (~ $600) at 18% interest to each mother/daughter team to start these kiosks

3.The monthly income ranges from Rs.1,000 ($20) to Rs.10,000 ($200) depending on location and services offered.

4. The Rs.10,000 per month locations offer banking, passport, photoshop and numerous other services.

Why HiH model may be a good fit for ASSET:

1. Girls trained by ASSET who cannot take up employment for any reason can use their computer skills and work at home with their mothers.

2. HIH is very interested in partnering with ASSET to assist the mother/daughter teams.

3. HIH will bring the best practices to the ASSET partnership

4. The Rs.10,000 per month income is above what sex workers earn in a month and will be a strong deterrent for the mother to get out of the flesh trade and keep the daughter out as well.

5. ASSET will consider starting a pilot project with two or three centers.

Funding

1. For the pilot projects, ASSET India Foundation will consider providing the funds for the loans.

2. Global Giving Foundation is trying out a new fundraising platform developed by give2gether.com and wants to do a pilot for the ASSET computer kiosk project for a $50,000 fundraising campaign. Global Giving will pay give2gether and will not cost ASSET anything. The money raised will be used for microfinance loans through HiH for ASSET girls and their mothers.

Project MILLEE – Mobile and Immersion Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies

I serve as an adviser to the MILLEE project which uses mobile phone game technology for teaching English to students in rural India. ASSET is involved because of the challenges in finding good English teachers and keeping them.

ASSET would like to provide inexpensive mobile phones to its students so that they can continue to learn and practice English usimg the MILLEE technology. ASSET's request for 30 used laptops has been approved by Infosys.

Dr. Matt Kam, my colleague at Carnegie Mellon and Project leaders will use the 30 laptops for MILLEE field work in India in the summer of 2009.

Ray Umashankar awarded 2009 Purpose Prize

Dr. Sue Umashankar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:13:25 GMT

I am pleased to report that Ray Umashankar, Executive Director of ASSET India Foundation was awarded the 2008 Civic Ventures Purpose Prize for Social Entrepreneurs over the age of 60. The cash award of $10,000 will be donated to the ASSET India Foundation for hiring additional English language and computer teachers for the centers in India.

Since the Prize money will not arrive before the Global Giving fundraising challenge ends (Dec 15, 2008), Ray is working hard to meet the goal. He will be leaving for India on December 17th on ASSET work and return on the 31st.

Two newspaper articles about the award are attached:

1. “UA Prof Wins $10K Prize for Positive World Impact,” by Stephanie Innes, Arizona Daily Star

2.“UA Dean Helps Kids Break Away From India’s Sex Trade: Ray Umashankar awarded national prize for his work,” by Renee Schafer Horton, Tucson Citizen

Attachments:

Purpose Prize- Media Cove (HTM)

July 2008 Progress report

Ray Umashankar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:13:35 GMT

1. Based on the recommendation of ASSET-Chennai advisory board, ASSET will be advertising for a full time administrator to manage the India operations. Ideally the administrator will be a senior level retired executive with a serious interest in social issues.

2. At ASSET-Chennai more than 20 students who completed the training opted to pursue higher education rather than accept a job immediately.

3. There is strong evidence to show that the ASSET training has helped all the students in their confidence, overall academic performance and desire to work hard towrds a better future.

4. The demand to join ASSET classes is much more than the capacity we have. It is clear that both the students as well as their parents are seeing the potential benefits.

5. STRiVE (www.striveindia.org) which has successfully trained and placed students in several verticals has agreed to partner with ASSET and provide the necessary training for the retail management vertical.

6. ASSET is working a recruitment plan and also a student fee payback plan.

7. ASSET obtained used computers from IBM-Bangalore for AWWA( Affus Woman Welfare Association) in Hubli, Karnataka. In addition ASSET is helping AWWA with the computer literacy curriculum.

8. ASSET introduced its NGO partners in Bangalore to the NASSCOM Foundation to facilitate hardware and software donations.

9. ASSET is assisting www.savethechildrenindia.net with hardware and software donations as well as curriculum. Save the Children works with girls rescued from trafficking in Mumbai.

ASSET Progress Report March 2008

Ray Umashankar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:42:41 GMT

ASSET Center-Hyderabad-Photo 1

ASSET REPORT March 2008 1.ASSET has partnered with BeyondCore.com for ASSET students to be trained in BeyondCore’s Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.

2.SaaS automatically measures business process error rates and identifies the root causes of errors. Rooted in the Toyota Production System and Six Sigma, BeyondCore's solution can be deployed in days, pays for itself in weeks, and requires just 30 minutes of training.

3.BeyondCore improves the quality of outsourced and in-house back-office business processes like applications / claims processing, General Ledger, coding and billing in the Financial Services, Healthcare and other industries.

4.As the Indian IT industry gets ready for the next big wave in e-publishing and healthcare tourism, ASSET students will be ahead with their IT skills supplemented by BeyondCore’s TCE reduction solution.

5. One of ASSET's major donors wishes to fund technology based social businesses for ASSET and then introduce microcredit for business development. ASSET has been introduced to Grameen Founder and Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus to explore this further.

6. Catalyst Pharma Group Inc., a pharmaceutical research company based in Pasadena, CA wants all its Data management work done by ASSET students in India. Negotiations are underway.

7.ASSET has completed discussions for opening a center in Mumbai in partnership with Pratham, one of the most reputable NGOs in India.

8. ASSET has been invited to Cornell to meet with Professor Stu Hart and his staff at the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Johnson Graduate school of Management. Cornell is interested in using their Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) business model for ASSET for social businesses that Nav is willing to fund. The Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad is involved as well.

********************

ASSET India Foundation is a finalist for the Stockholm Challenge award

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ulla Skidén <ulla.skiden@stockholmchallenge.se> Date: Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 4:04 AM Subject: You are a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 To: rayu42@gmail.com Cc: maral@stockholmchallenge.se

Dear Mr Umashankar,

We are very pleased to inform you that the jury has selected your entry of Achieving Sustainable Social Equality Through Information & Computer Technology, in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 to be a finalist with a chance to win the Stockholm Challenge Trophy.

The winner in the Education category will be announced at the Gala Dinner and Award ceremony in the Stockholm City Blue Hall (venue of the Nobel Prize banquet) on May 22. The winner will receive the Stockholm Challenge trophy and certificate of achievement and a cheque at that event. <snip> Once again, congratulations on your success in becoming a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008, we look forward to greeting you in May, during Challenge Week! Kind regards Ulla Skidén Director and Earl Mardle Chairman of the Jury www.stockholmchallenge.se

The Stockholm Challenge is an ICT for development programme at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). It culminates in the Challenge Week Event, May 19-22, 2008. KTH offers a broad range of masters programmes taught in English. More information http://www.stockholmchallenge.se/kth *************************** ASSET India Foundation has been nominated for the Tech Museum award in the Equality category. http://www.techawards.org

Attachments:

Life Skills intsructors hired for ASSET/Chennai

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:46:45 GMT

Greetings!

I am pleased to inform our donors that after a meeting with the parents and obtaining their consent, 26 students students from the first batch at ASSET-Chennai will be joining NewGen Imaging in Chennai as interns.

The ASSET students joining NewGen are 18 years are older and legally eligible to work. Parental consent was obtained only to seek their support for the project and to recruit future students.

Formal discussions are under way with the HR manager at NewGen to complete all the necessary formalities.

Two additional instructors are being hired to teach the General Electric Foundation's Life Skills modules to the ASSET/NewGen interns. Special emphasis will be placed on money management, saving for the future, opening savings account, financial responsibility, and philanthropy.

In addition the STRIVE program developed by ICICI will also be taught to develop entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills.

University of Arizona Honors College students are using the ASSET project for their senior thesis and are also exploring ways to implement the ASSET model in Central and South America.

ASSET India Foundation has been invited to partner with Parade Magazine/Case Foundation for their fundraising challenge.

The Contest is managed by Global Giving and ends at 3 pm EST on January 31, 2008 Global Giving link for donating: (minimum $10) -- see link below to donate!

(only one donation per credit card will be counted towards the contest) Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

Sincerely,

Ray Umashankar

Links:

Exciting developments/Progress report Nov 2007

Ray Umashankar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:23:29 GMT

1. High tech company in Chennai has agreed to employ ASSET- Chennai students as Interns/employees . The initial salary that includes training will be around Rs.3,000 and at the end of year 1 they can earn up to Rs.5,000 and at the end of year 3 the potential is to earn up to Rs.15,000 a month.

This was made possible by Raghu Rajagopal CEO of www.energeate.com who is on the ASSET advisory team in Chennai. Similar CEO teams are being set up at all the ASSET sites.

2. Received additional funding of $40,000 from Sooch Foundation towards hardware purchase, salaries for English and IT instructors.

3. Received $5,000 matching grant for ASSET Hyderabad Center from Saxena Foundation

4.Received a grant for 20 new Dell PCs from Dell Foundation, Austin-Texas for the ASSET Chennai center to replace the 20 used PCs donated by TCS.

4. Received donation of NComputing X-300 for all ASSET centers. NComputing won the WallSreet Computing Technology award in October 2007.(www.Ncomputing.com )

5. Received used PCs from IBM-India for various NGOs in rural areas.

6. Received donation of Aptech curriculum ( www.aptech-education.com), textbooks for all ASSET centers

7. Job offer for 35 students from Delhi ASSET center

8. Deloitte consulting joins ASSET advisory board in Hyderabad

9. ASSET centers started operations in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

10- Innocentive Challenge has approved the Solar-powered wireless routers development project for ASSET and it has just been posted on the Innocentive website with the award amount of $20,000. Solar powered wireless router will make it feasible for outsourcing work using wireless mesh networks from metro areas in India to rural areas which are trafficking hubs.

September report/CEOs metoring ASSET students

Ray Umashankar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:04:11 GMT

Greetings!

The ASSET Kolkata center in partnership with Apne Aap(http://www.apneaap.org/activity.html) is fully operational. Students from Aapne Aap's facilities in Topsia and Khidderpore (red light district) are enrolled in the classes.

Students from Aapne Aap- Subhash camp, Delhi will be attending classes in the two ASSET centers in Delhi.

ASSET has formed a working group of CEOs/Executives interested in Corporate Social Responsibility for each of the ASSET centers. Our ultimate goal is employability of our students and the following from the CEO team in Chennai is a good road map to follow for all the other centers.

Our centers in Hyderabad in partnership with Prajwala (www.prajwalaindia.org) and Ahmedabad in partnership with SAATH (www.saath.org) will be starting very shortly. Ray Umashankar

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Raghu Rajagopal < Date: Sep 17, 2007 10:01 AM Subject: RE: ASSET Meeting on Sept 12 To: Ray Umashankar , kunal Cc: "A.J. Hariharan" < fieldmaster2000@hotmail.com>, Nitin , ANILKUMAR S G /RFGRM/IBANK/CHE , Srinivasan Viswanathan

All,

Here is a model to think about which I am very positive in addition to the one given below that we discussed.

______

ASSET works with ICWO to train the students.

Training completely catered to a certain field – eg: retail, data entry (as discussed below in kunal's notes)

Some of us will promote a company that has a social angle (eg: rural bpo)

Get the funding from sources like IFMR Trust or elsewhere ( I have access to some)

This company will take the employees from ICWO trained students

This is a complete cycle that I was talking about.

Regards,

Raghu Rajagopal

CEO, Energeate

www.energeate.com

---------------------------------------------

Hi All,

I have summarized below the points we discussed in the meeting. Please add any points I may have missed.

The meeting began with a discussion on Vishy's September 10, 2007 email.

As Vishy very articulately put, the bottom line is that we want to increase the 'employability' of these students. Given that, Nitin pointed out that STRiVE model could be an ideal way forward.

Nitin discussed in detail the set-up of STRiVE and the IFRM Trust ( www.thenetworkenterprisesfund.in) along with its model. The idea is bascially to provide employment opportunities to youth from the underserved segments of society, bringing them into mainstream economy by enhancing their inherent capacities and integrating their skill sets to the needs of the market in a viable and sustainable manner.

Under this, STRiVE has a demand led approach in which the corporates share with them their training material, this is taken to a training partner that has the ability to source students and has infrastructure. Since the students will be trained as per the same yard sticks that a corporate would, it can be expected from the corporate to give a placement guarantee.

This guarantee in turn helps the student to access loans to pay for the training. This is the STRiVe Model per se, how exactly it can be implemented with the ASSET students is something yet to be discussed.

STRiVE on its side can being in the corporate contacts, facilitate the access to finance, and content. ICWO has the infrastructure and the ability to get trainees.

Nitin also mentioned that STRiVE already has collaboration with the Retailers Association of India which has given their training material and access to employer database. And STRiVE has an ongoing training program in retailing in Hyderabad. Given that, we can think of bringing the vertical of retailing for the ASSET students (to begin with).

Additionally, organisations such as ICICI One Source (now First Source) need a number of data entry operators. We can think of training ASSET students in typing skills and linking them up with BPOs.

Retailing and ICICI One Source (the BPO industry in general), could be the two verticals that we can look forward to. We can divide the current group of students into two batches and train them accordingly.

Of course, meanwhile we can still think of other options or better employers. But again we must not forget that we should be primarily aiming for employers from the local industries. Also, it was agreed that instead of including programming languages like C in the curriculum, we need to focus on training to increase general computer 'awareness', typing skills, people skills and communication skills (most of which was covered in Vishy's email) which will be much more useful for their immediate job requirements. Regards

Kunal ******************** Dear Mr Umashankar, It is heartening know about the work being done by ASSET for the vulnerable children. I am asking my team to engage with ASSET and provide possible help. STM Eswar, who is head of HCL Education will work on this. Rajendra Kumar

Executive Vice President

HCL Infosystems Ltd.

E-4,5,6, Sector – XI, Noida – 201 301

www.hclinfosystems.in

www.hcl.in ********************* Thank you for your mail and congrats on the good work done. the centres look like a wonderful idea. we are headquartered in gurgaon and should be able to help in some way in a centre in the proximity. would also like you to give some further detail in the kind of cooperation required. we are fairly active in CSR and tend to close in on our charities at the beginning of the fiscal. Thanks

Deep Kalra Chairman and Managing Director MakeMyTrip.com Gurgaon, India

CEOs visit ASSET center in Chennai

Ray Umashankar — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:12:23 GMT

CEOs of hitech companies and the program manager for the STRIVE program visited the students and staff at the ASSET/ICWO center in Chennai on Wednesday August 29th.

Their observations and recommendations are attached along with the IFMR Trust's STRIVE program.

Attachments:

Observations from a project visit

Meredith Landis — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:31:09 GMT

Photo - children learning Microsoft office

In the greater Chennai region, many women resort to sex-work in order to survive. As a result, there are nearly 10,000 children of sex-workers that are ostracized from their communities, keeping them from acquiring the skills needed for gainful employment.

Ray Umashankar and Abishek Kumar founded a program to help train these children so they will be able to find employment. ASSET teaches these children valuable skills such as computer programming, accounting, and other skills useful in the IT and Business Process Outsourcing that are booming in Chennai. Currently, the children are learning essential Microsoft Office tools.

Once students complete the course, ASSET works with local placement agencies (i.e. Ma Foi) to find them jobs. Most of the IT and BPOs offer jobs for 4-5 hours per week where employees can earn an average of 5,000 rupees.

In order for the ASSET Center to be successful, the project leaders work closely with IT companies and BPOs to develop a curriculum that teaches the specific skills the companies look for in potential employees. Also, since all public instruction is taught in English, the ASSET Center is in the process of finding a volunteer organization to help find English tutors to help the students.

Currently, classes are 15 hours per week. Students take three classes, which run 4-6 hours each. To encourage students to attend, each student receives travel vouchers to pay for their transportation fees. Upon finishing the course, students receive a certificate of completion.

As a result of the success of the ASSET Center in Chennai, there are several plans for a major expansion of the project.

Project Goals: - Have one instructor in each center that will run three classes for three batches of students. - 3 centers established by March (two in Chennai, one in Gorapur) - Centers established in five cities by the end of 2007 - 10-15 Placement organizations for employment for each center - 5 NGO partners in each city to help with outreach and support - Make the entire program community-run - Hire country manager by 2008

Photo - teacher goes over some computer basics

Aptech training/Microsoft software-June Report

Ray Umashankar — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 23:23:24 GMT

JUNE 2007 REPORT 1. English classes are in progress at the ASSET centers in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Gorakhpur 2. Proposals have been submitted to Dell Foundation for DELL hardware donations for cities where Dell has a presence. 3. Microsoft India will donate software and the Unlimited Potential program to all ASSET's NGO partners. 4. APTECH (www.aptech-education) the computer training company with the largest market share in India and China is providing training in the ASSET centers in Chennai and Kolkata (see attached) 5.APTECH will also help with placements of our gradutes in internships/jobs. 6. I have been introduced to Rufina Fernandes, CEO of NASSCOM Foundation NASSCOM is India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT software and services industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with over 1100 members, of which over 250 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan and China. NASSCOM's member companies are in the business of software development, software services, software products, IT-enabled/BPO services and e-commerce.

Attachments:

ASSET- Aptech Training program Curriculum.doc (DOC)

Progress report

Ray Umashankar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:33:52 GMT

Present enrollments are:

Chennai- 60 students Kolkata: 22 Gorakhpur-20 Delhi-60 Hyderabad-20 Bangalore and Pune are yet to start.

Mr. S.S.Krishnan, currently the Executive Chairman of Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited ( CIBIL-www.cibil.com) will join ASSET as its India Country manager in November 2007. Mr. Krishnan has over 36 years of banking experience with State Bank of India (SBI) where he retired as Deputy Managing Director and Corporate Development Officer. .

Firstsource (www.firstsource.com) has expressed interest in developing a plan for hiring ASSET graduates. Firstsource is among India's leading BPO companies providing business process management services to global leaders in Banking & Financial Services, Telecom & Media and Healthcare. We are working on the "ASSET Wireless Mesh Network" (AWMN) project. AWMN will allow data processing projects to be sent over wireless networks from Metro cities in India to interior and border towns where there is a large population of trafficking victims and children of women in prostitution. AWMN has immense possibilities, especially in reducing the migration form rural to urban areas which is the leading cause for the formation of slums. We are working on strategy for a pilot project with Rajendra Joshi, Managing trustee of Saath (www.saath.org) a very reputable Ahmedabad based NGO and Gagan Sethi, CEO of Janvikas in Vadodhra. The wireless network infrastructure plan (AWMN) is on the basis that if projects from the U.S can be outsourced to India, we can certainly do the same within India. The proposal is based on how technology can be used to outsource data entry projects from a major hub/metro city in India to the outlying remote interior and border towns.

This plan will engage the best technical minds in India and the U.S and also allow students to live and work in their own towns and earn a livelihood using modern communications technology.

Chairman of Convio joins ASSET Advisory Board

Ray Umashankar — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:36:00 GMT

I am very pleased to announce that Vinay Bhagat, Founder, Chairman and Chief Strategy officer of Convio has agreed to serve on ASSET's Advisory board.

http://www.convio.com/site/PageServer Vinay Bhagat, Founder, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Vinay founded Convio in April 1999 after volunteering at a public television pledge drive and being struck by the opportunity to leverage Internet technology to drive better fundraising results. Today, as chief strategy officer, Vinay oversees business and corporate development, strategy and consulting services and works with many of Convio's largest current and prospective clients.

A frequent speaker at conferences, Vinay has addressed events hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Independent Sector, Integrated Media Association, Politics Online, Public Broadcasting System and National Voluntary Healthcare Association. Vinay also is a widely published author, with chapters in The Nonprofit Handbook: Fund Raising Third Edition 2002 Supplement and Nonprofit Internet Strategies: Best Practices for Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising Success; his articles appear regularly in DM News, Journal of the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation and on OnPhilanthropy.com. Vinay serves on the board of the ePhilanthropy Foundation and the Education Committee of the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation.

Prior to Convio, Vinay was director of ecommerce at Austin-based Trilogy Software, working with Fortune 500 companies to develop their Internet strategies. Before Trilogy, he was a consultant at Bain & Company in London, Hong Kong and Kiev. Vinay holds degrees from Harvard Business School (MBA), Stanford University (MS) and Cambridge University (MA) in England. He has worked as a volunteer for public television stations, an AIDS hospice and Convio clients.

Opening of the ASSET Center

Ray Umashankar — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:27:48 GMT

Press Cutting

I am pleased to inform you that David Feldmann, Vice Consul, U.S. Consulate General participated in the program and officially opened the ASSET center on Thursday, March 22 at 6 P.M.

The real celebration will be when we place these students in internships and jobs. That is the only metric that matters. Please see Press cutting and photos attached, and additional photos are in the photo gallery. Warm regards Ray Umashankar Executive Director ASSET India Foundation

Opening ceremony

Students with computers

Why ASSET will succeed

Ray Umashankar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:35:43 GMT

I returned last night from India and wish to give you a brief summary. A detailed India trip report will follow in a couple of days. I wish to highlight three specific areas: 1. Lessons learned from NGOs who tried but failed in computer literacy programs We learned that many NGOs attempted to provide computer literacy to girls rescued from trafficking and children of sex workers but failed due to the following reasons: a. Lack of focus on English language, poor understanding of industry needs in terms of specific IT skills like Document Processing, Data Entry etc. b. Children of all ages were trained without a well designed curriculum without focus on industry needs. The ASSET team devoted tremendous amount of time to the understanding the educational system, English curriculum in public schools, Industry needs and has embarked on designing a 2 year curriculum for high school juniors and seniors. The team will work with IT companies in each major city to obtain internships after year 1 and jobs after year 2. Students going into year 2 will mentor incoming freshman. 2. Why ASSET computer literacy programs will succeed a. Virtually all the NGOs working with our target population are providing alternate livelyhood skills such as sewing, bag making, embrodery that pay at most 500 rupees per month ( $12), where as from sex work the monthly earnings are as much as 6,000 + rupees a month ($150+). The newly learned skills provide no relief from poverty and the return to sex trade is high. b. In consultations with IT professionals, the ASSET team has determined that even the lowest paid IT job has a pay range of Rupees 6,000 to 8,000 a month ($150 to $175) and the ASSETstudent can replace the sex trade income with a comparable income through the ASSET program, without selling her/his body and risking HIV/AIDS. c. Development of a strong curriculum (two year) that will take care of problems of past like english, industry needs etc by a strong team from IIT Madras 3. Poverty, drug use and sex trade a. In Bangalore, Ashoka Fellow Renu Appachu, Executive Director of Jagruthi, our NGO partner told me about a 7 year old girl addicted to sniffing white-out correction fluid and performing sex on old men to support her habit. The men pay her Rupees 20 ( Less than 50 cents). b. In Kolkata, our NGO partner Apne Aap took me to the red light district Kidderpore, where I saw 12, 13 and 14 year standing by the the streets, waiting for clients. These girls have been brought into the trade by pimps who promised them entry into the movies and TV soap operas and sold to the brothels instead. c. In the tea estates outside Darjeeling, I met with laborers who fell victim to the lies of brokers/pimps who promised to get their daughters married to rich men. The pimps pad the parents Rupees 500 ($12) and sold the girls to brothels in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. d. In the town of Siliguri in North Bengal, I saw young boys and girls addicted to chewing Band-Aid, injecting liquid brown sugar in their veins and selling their bodies to support their drug habits. These young people where trafficked from neighboring Nepal, Bangla Desh, Sikkim and Bhutan. My wife, daughter Nita and I are overwhelmed by what we saw and heard. We are motivated more than ever before, convinced that ASSET is on the right track and will work to make a difference, no matter what the obstacles are.

Ray Umashankar Executive Director ASSET India Foundation

Partnering with SMILE Foundation, Delhi

Ray Umashankar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:07:04 GMT

The programme is encouraged & supported by

Academic Partner

Ray Umashankar [right], Executive Director, Asset India Foundation, USA who is also a Dean at University of Arizona, handing over partnership papers to Mr. K. K. Varma [Chief - Projects & Partnerships, SMILE] and Mr. Santanu Mishra [Trustee - SMILE] during a meeting at Smile Foundation office in New Delhi. ASSET and SMILE have partnered under Smile Twin e-Learning Programme.

Links:

ASSET Center Delhi

ASSET Management

India Abroad — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:39:03 GMT

Please click below to read an article about ASSET which appeared in the Feb. 9th issue of India Abroad!

Attachments:

ASSET Management (PDF)

ASSET Center- Report for November

Ray Umashankar — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:02:34 GMT

There are currently 17 students (14 girls, 3 boys). It will be 20 students very shortly. We will be offering English language lessons starting in 2 weeks.

We will be starting a mother/daughter computer learning class shortly.

The Children are very motivated and they want to do well. They help keep the learning environment clean. I They are excited, attend regularly on their own and are excellent learners.