Asha for Education

Asha for Education Fellowship Nomination Form

SECTION I: Nominator Information Name: Gaurav Agarwal Organization (if any): Volunteer with Asha for Education Address: 1781 Spyglass Drive, #244 Austin, Texas – 78746, USA Phone: +1-650-450-3541 Email: [email protected] Affiliation with Asha:  Asha Member (Chapter _____Austin______)  Asha Fellow  Friend of Asha  Staff/Founder Asha partner NGO(Name:______)  Other organizations (Name)

SECTION II: Nominee Information Name: Nandlal Master

Organization (if any): Loksamiti, Navjyothi Shikshan Sansthan, Asha Trust

Address: Lok Samiti Office, Village Nagepur, Post Benipur, Dist Varanasi 221307 UP.

Phone: 91- 9415300520 Email: [email protected], [email protected] Affiliation:  Previous Asha Fellow - Yes  Member/Employee of Asha funded NGO: Navjyothi Shikshan Sansthan  Social Worker/Activist (Org: Loksamiti, NAPM, Asha Trust )

SECTION III: Field of Work Name of Project (if any): Navjyothi Shikshan Sansthan – Asha Samajik Vidyalaya

Location: Village/City/District, State Village- Nagepur, Post- Benipur, District.- Varanasi, Pin : 221307, UP

Which communities will Nominee's work serve? Nandlal is the coordinator of Lok Samiti, and working with Lok Samiti Nandlal’s work would impact about 20-25 villages in the Araji line district of Varanasi, UP. They work on a wide variety of issues from awareness, women’s rights, education of children and adolescents, right to information, MNREGA. Type of work (select three maximum):

Curriculum Development Environment Appropriate Technology Teaching Methods Health and Nutrition Right to Information x Educational Reform Income Generation x People’s Struggles Computer Based Food and Agriculture x Civic and Human Rights Education Adult Literacy Land Reform Other (Please specify)

SECTION IV: Recommendation My relationship with Nominee I was the project-steward for Nandlal’s Fellowship at the Austin chapter from 2006-2012.

How long have you known Nominee? (Give an overview of the context and nature of your interactions in the past with the nominee)

I first heard about Nandlal’s work in early 2006, after two volunteers from the Austin chapter had visited Mehdiganj and spent some time learning about the work done by Nandlal. Later in March 2006, Lok Samiti had launched a struggle against the local bottling plant, and that was when the Austin chapter got involved in supporting Lok Samiti. In May 2006, Austin chapter started supporting Nandlal as an Asha Fellow.

I had a chance to visit Mehdiganj in early 2007 and see the work being done by Nandlal and Loksamiti. I know Nandlal for the last 6.5 years.

Why should Asha support this Nominee as a Fellow?(Include your perspective on the strengths of the applicant, key/unique aspects of the work being proposed, how Asha can create a mutually beneficial relationship with the fellow)

In my visit to Mehdiganj back in 2007, I had a chance to interact with the villagers where Lok Samiti worked, and I quite impressed with the reach of their work and the impact it had on the local community. Over the course of the Asha Fellowship, I have closely tracked the work done by Nandlal and his group, and I feel that the scope and impact of their work has considerably increased.

Earlier their primary source of support was from Asha for Education and from individual contributions; but now there are different organizations (Chance India, Gender at Work, etc) that have started recognizing the work being done and have started supporting new programs with Lok Samiti. The support from the local community has also considerably increased – an example of which is the community marriage program – in its first year they had supported about 20 marriages with some support from Asha, but in the last year they raised all the money from local contributions to arrange for about 45 marriages. Nandlal also has good relations with the local administration officials and is working with them to make sure that the government programs are more effective in the villages they are working in.

Nandlal is a great community leader, and AfE should definitely continue supporting his work. AfE has the chance to learn a lot about the myriad of problems affecting the rural communities and the possible solutions to some of those problems.

Additional Comments:

Signature: ______Gaurav Agarwal ______

Date: ______07/29/2012______