Provide computers for high-risk children in India

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-

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

• Arunodaya Placement report (DOC)

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:

Links:

• I am Kalam- Movie Trailer