Let's Connect For A Cause: Tête-à-tête with the founder-director..the year that was

This is the first article in the Q n A series with CACR core team members

Q: As the founder director,how would you describe the last year 2014 for CACR?

A: It has been a very positive 2014 for our Ngo CACR for a variety of reasons--One of the most important reasons for CACR's existence is ensuring citizens participation towards improving the functioning and quality of education in public schools and we are probably the only Non-profit, which has come up with the idea of members observing the Neighborhood Municipal School.In the past year,we are pleased to have almost 75+ citizen members from different municipal wards (city areas), from various walks of life, supporting our vision, and helping us to amplify the voice of underprivileged children and demanding improved functioning and accountability in the system.

Our members have been participating in the functioning as SMC members as per RTE Act, and ensuring that the education department functions efficiently. Our aim is to make the system more robust rather than replace it. CACR has been the only NGO which has been sharing its observations and suggestions with the hierarchy of the Education Department consistently to ensure that there is corrective action taken.Though the road is very long and the journey has just begun, CACR has been able to make their presence felt in the BMC Education Department in a positive way.

CACR Action-packed Calendar for 2014

Q: How has CACR impacted the lives of children ?

A: Some of our Impact stories are as follows:--

We have implemented the IIT B Computer Literacy Programme in municipal schools,that has made almost 1400 children computer literate during the past year,
Virtual Classroom have been properly utilized to ensure proper functioning of expensive equipment lying unused in most municipal schools in Mumbai,
Our members actively participate in school management committees- SMCs formed under RTE Act,
Organizing community meetings empowering parents to know about the rights of their children,
Ensuring timely distribution of facilities and amenities to all children,
Sensitizing the self help groups to provide improved quality of mid day meals,
Getting the School Infrastructure Cell to budget more than Rs.6.5 crores towards major repairs in some municipal schools and overseeing the work in progress to ensure proper utilisation of funds and scope of work,
Participation of more than 500 children in the Annual MustRun event,
Organising plays and activities for children during the Cleanliness Week in municipal schools, have been some of the highlights during the year.
Most importantly raising concerns about commercial exploitation of spaces in municipal schools with a specific instance leading to expulsion of the NGO and getting classrooms back for children in the municipal school,which happened only because of the presence of vigilant CACR members and volunteers, were the highlights. All these success stories strengthen our belief that active participation of citizens DOES make a difference.
Surprisingly, we have also been able to get fairly good support from most of the authorities of the Education Department, who consider our NGO as a Partner in Progress and despite our fair bit of criticism on the functioning of the department, the AMC, DMC Education, Education Officer as well as the Education Commissioner are very receptive to our observations and suggestions and generally take necessary corrective steps towards implementation of our unbiased and selfless suggestions.

Q: What challenges do you see ahead in 2015 for CACR and how you plan to overcome these?

A: On the flip side, our major challenges are -

ensuring sustained citizens participation in specific projects,
scarcity of funds for few proposed projects,
strengthening the E Learning Programmes through Virtual Classroom Studio,
implementing important clauses of the RTE Act like SMCs, Inclusive Education,etc. efficiently Some of of our initiatives do not attract the donors or corporates, as the outcome is not very easily visible,etc. and hence is a major challenge
.At CACR, we firmly believe in working within the framework of the system, so the real challenge is in overcoming the lethargic approach in implementing various initiatives suggested and taken by our NGO.
Proper utilisation of School Development Funds, implementing the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Clause for every child, ensuring Inclusive Education for children with physical and learning disabilities remain tough tasks.

Eg. While implementing the Computer Literacy Programme, our objective is to also get full time teachers involved and trained so that the programme continues to be implemented irrespective of volunteer support, proper maintenance of the systems provided,

On a positive note, CACR's proposal to have full time Computer Teachers in every school,and have sufficient numbers of properly maintained computers in every municipal school has been accepted and we expect to see a big change during this year.

Reaching out to larger number of citizens, activists, networking with like minded NGOs, extensive use of

Social Media, Fund Raising Programmes, to highlight the issues and success stories to motivate participation, are some of the steps which need to be taken and constant interaction with authorities of the Education Department at Corporation and State Level will help in improving the system to a large extent.

It is also important to understand that a lot of officials, who have risen from lower ranks to position of Administration Officers, Superintendents, Dy EO and even EO, have done so primarily due to their experience of working in the department.Unfortunately, most of them are never oriented or trained to become good managers, which is the primary reason for their abject performance, despite having the necessary experience and understanding of the system.

Also the fact that an important issue like computerization of various sub-departments and even connectivity with schools is a major hurdle and needs to be tackled, to improve transparency, efficiency and accountability within the system.An important aspect which has also contributed to the downside in the functioning has been the participation of NGOs who have been instrumental in creating parallel systems rather than working in tandem with the department and ensuring proper deliverance of government schemes, amenities and facilities to the actual beneficiaries....

Q: How would you describe the team and work culture at the organization Any changes you want to introduce in 2015?

A: Being a start-up NGO with extremely limited resources, is always a difficult situation and it is only due to the sincerity and dedicated involvement of a handful of members, shouldering extraordinary responsibilities consistently, our NGO has been able to make reasonably good progress.Moreover an organisation with voluntary members requires a lot of passionate, committed and dedicated members who have a common vision and believe in the cause and direction taken.

Though having an organisation with sufficient resources and funding does not necessarily make it successful, it is extremely important to strike a right balance between sufficient funding as well as passionate and dedicated team of people with innovative ideas and the ability to be resourceful in implementing the various projects, which help in making the organisation credible, which ultimately makes it donor friendly in the long run.
The culture is inclusive, team-oriented and candid and you can easily see this when you interact with our team members and see our work both in schools and on social media platforms.
In 2015 we plan to start the CACR Youth club with help of our interns.

Q: Any new projects that you plan to execute in 2015?

A: There are many more projects which are being conceived and CACR will work towards implementing the same during the coming years.

Skill Based Vocational Training Programmes for children in municipal schools,
Counselling sessions to prevent dropouts and importance of ensuring basic education for all children,
Cleanliness, Health and Sanitation Programmes,
Organizing Value Added Educational Excursion Trips during the year to the Nehru Planetarium, Museum, Science Center,
Spreading Computer Literacy in as many schools as possible,
train full time teachers, implement the Spoken English Programmes for vernacular medium children,
Making schools disabled friendly
Introducing co-curricular training for sports, martial-arts, dance, art,etc

Q: Any appeals you want to make to the audience?

A: When I started as a volunteer with CRY-Cry relief and you almost 6 to 7 years back, I never imagined that there will be a day when I decide to start my own NGO dedicated to rights of children with specific focus on improving the functioning and quality of municipal schools (inner city schools in Mumbai)

Based on this experience, I feel that all of us have a very strong but hidden desire to make some difference, it is only a question of identifying the cause that needs to be supported.

I would tell anyone who wants to make a positive change to improve your knowledge and understanding of the issue, team up with like minded people, activists, experienced NGOs, during the journey in bringing about a change so that we leave this world a better place.

If you believe in the cause and our approach in handling this very important issue of ensuring good quality education for all children and strengthening the functioning and quality of education in municipal and government schools, do strengthen our hands with your support by being an active member or Donor of CACR.