Design for Change Contest

Govt. Girls High School, Kazibazar, is the only school from Orissa, to win a prize in this year's "Design for Change Contest," conducted by Design for Change, Ahmedabad. This schools happens to be a graduated DE School. As part of the contest which was organized to coincide with the "joy of giving week" the students took up the task to address the sensitive issue of leprosy.

Diagnostic Labels - A Boon or a Bane

I was recently going through an interesting article "A rose is a rose is a flower," by Aruna Sankaranarayanan, in the Hindu Magazine, Sunday, Nov 14, 2010. The article focuses on the pros and cons of diagnostic labels such as "Dyslexia with features of ADHD," "Intellectually Deficient," "Severely Autistic," "Learning Disabled," which more or less serves the purpose of imposing a medical certainty on intractable behavior.While on the positive side diagnostic labels attunes the parents, teachers, school management and society at large to the special needs of the child from a child's stand point labels are more like a cross which a child has to bear with. Check the link below to the interesting article:

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article881892.ece

AYV Lite Training Program

A one day training program for 6 teachers from the three selected schools of Berahmpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar were the AYV Lite program will be implemented from November onwards, was held in the DE State Resource Centre in SCERT Bhubaneshwar. Roopak conducted the training and the workshop was attended by three of the DE team members.

Best Diaspora Philanthropic Organizations Worldwide Selected

A note from Dr. Sanjay Sinho, Chief Executive Officer, AIF, which is highly motivating and calls for celebration:

Dear friends,

Please join me in celebrating an AIF milestone on the eve of our tenth anniversary. Over the past six months, a ten-person team from J-Intersect, a global performance improvement company, conducted an intensive, rigorous research study to benchmark diaspora philanthropic organizations and high value-add best practices worldwide. More than 125 sector professionals from a global network contributed to the study. This independent, third-party study found that AIF achieves ten times more positive social impact from donor contributions than the average peer (also known as a “10x NPB multiplier”). The findings of the J-Intersect Project Report also concluded that AIF has developed a consistent track record of:

· Creating global benchmarks and high value-add best practices

· Innovating and using key performance indicators to continuously improve performance

· Achieving high value-add, high return on resources, and high impact – the “three highs”

As a result of these accomplishments, AIF has been named one of the two best diaspora philanthropy organizations worldwide (alongside its peer Philippine Development Foundation/Ayala Foundation).

If this news wasn't good enough, the Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation announced a new worldwide Knowledge Partnership initiative, and announced an investment of $1.8 million for a Knowledge Partnership with AIF. Founder and Chairman Paul Kazarian remarked, “AIF shares our passion for improving performance at the nexus of the commercial and social sectors, and they also share our passion for the ‘three highs’: high value add, high return on resources, and high impact.”

AIF has consistently demonstrated effective stewardship of donations, which has been recognized alongside its fiscal and financial efficiency through the prestigious – and highest possible – 4-star rating for AIF from Charity Navigator for three consecutive years.

The press release is available on Business Wire at

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101117006837/en/Diaspora-Philanthropic-Organizations-Worldwide-Selected

Highlights from the Project Report are available at www.jintersect.com , under Project Reports.

Please join me in congratulating the AIF family of supporters, partners and staff in its excellent work, and help spread the good word widely within and across your networks!

Sishu Mahotsav

AIF participated in the recently concluded "Sishu Mahostav" which proved to be a grand success. Around 850 students participated from all over the state. They had been selected as part of competitions, which started all the way from village to block to district level from the last week of October 2010, culminating in a state wide mega event, showcasing the best of the talent available. Apart from the students from outside Bhubaneshwar many of whom were visiting the capital city, for the first time about 1000 students from local schools participated every day. Food arrangements were made for 1600 students every day and that too in a meticulous manner. The quality of food was good and even the residential arrangements for the visiting students,the stall details including the layout plan, the cultural events etc. were worked out to the last details, with the personal intervention of the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, which ensured that the event was an all out success.

The Sishu Mahotsav started on the 12th and concluded on the 14th with a mega cultural program and a prize distribution ceremony, with the Chief Minister as the Chief Guest. AIF apart from other activities organized a "Digital Story Telling Competition" which proved to be a grand success. The topic selected for the purpose was "The Spirit of Sishu Mahotsav." 3 teams of four students each, participated over a period of two and a half days in creating their "Digital Photo Essay." Have a look at the photographs of the winning teams by clicking on the slide show below:

Photographs by Roopak and me capturing the spirit of Sishu Mahotsav. It also contains the photographs of the Hon'ble Speaker, Hon'ble Minister School and Mass Education and the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Schoola and Mass Education visiting the AIF stall and an interesting photograph of the Secretary interacting with the kids as part of an open question and answer session.

Second International Conference on Excellence in School Education - 26th - 28th October, IIT Delhi

I recently presented a paper titled "Digital Equalizer Program in Orissa - Retrospect and Prospect," as part of the Second International Conference on Excellence in School Education - 26th - 28th October, held in IIT Delhi. To read the abstract and the complete paper click on the links below:

http://www.box.net/shared/pbvi1ueqrc
http://www.box.net/shared/08cjp4g4tc