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.

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.

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.

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)

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 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

Pictures:

• ASSET Center-Hyderabad-Photo 1 (JPG)

Attachments:

• ASSET Center Hyderabad-Report (DOC)
• ASSET Center Hyderabad-Photo 2 (PDF)
  

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:

• Click to donate to the ASSET-Giving Challenge fundraiser!
• ASSET story that came out in the Arizona Wildcat newspaper(1/17
• Link to ASSET story in the Tucson Weekly

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.

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 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:

• CEOs visit ASSET center Chennai (DOC)
• STRIVE program document (PDF)
  

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

Pictures:

• Photo - children learning Microsoft office (JPG)
• Photo - teacher goes over some computer basics (JPG)

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)

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.

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.

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

Pictures:

• Press Cutting (JPG)
• Opening ceremony (JPG)
• Students with computers (JPG)

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

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

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

Attachments:

• ASSET Management (PDF)
  

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.