Pragathi
Pragathi is a US-based, registered, non-profit organization, with a mission to accelerate progress in the areas of literacy, Women's empowerment, and improving the standard of living in India.
The organization's strategy is: "...to bring the best practices and programs to its Focus Areas. Pragathi works with multiple Non-Profit Organizations, picking up on their Core-Competencies and Implementing and Funding to achieve its Mission. For example, in the area of Literacy, Pragathi has partnered with several local Non-profits to reuse their programs..."
Current projects
Pragathi has 7 current projects (As of March 15, 2009). Some of them are multi-school projects, targeting schools in a specific area, instead of individual schools. The projects they are working on are: Project Indian Ocean, Accelerated Reading Program (ARP) with the Akshara Foundation, Yelahanka school teacher supplementation, Notebook project with Sikshana, Drinking water for village schools, Odanadi – half-way home, and Project Pipeline.
- Project Indian Ocean:
Objective: Help improve the school environment by providing desks, benches, library books, teaching and learning material, lab kits, sports equipment etc.
Scope: Twenty five rural government primary schools with appx. 2200 children
Location: 24 towns/ villages in the Kodihalli cluster which is appx 125 km from Bangalore
Budget: $46,000.
Pragathi partnered with Rotary International in India and in the US on this project. Pragathi's contribution was raised through the fund raising concert Indian Ocean in Austin.
Status: Project implementation in progress
- Accelerated Reading Program (ARP):
Objective: Improve basic reading skills through the accelerated reading program developed by the Akshara foundation (Pratham). Pratham’s research has found that one of the most critical problems facing government school children in India is lack of basic reading skills. Many children are unable to read simple sentences even when they are in grade 7.
Scope: Twenty five rural government primary schools with appx. 2200 children
Location: 24 towns/ villages in the Kodihalli cluster which is appx 125 km from Bangalore
Budget: $1,750
- Yelahanka school teacher supplementation:
Pragathi has been working with this school for nearly three years and has seen vast improvements in both the school environment and learning levels as indicated by standardized tests.
Objective: Alleviate severe teacher shortage and prevent deterioration in learning levels
Scope: Single government primary school with 225 children. Most of the children belong to families of migrant laborers who are living in the outskirts of Bangalore.
Budget: Appx $1,500 to appoint 2 teachers for an academic year
Status: Two teachers have been appointed
- Notebook project with Sikshana:
Objective: Strengthen writing skills by providing notebooks
Scope: Children of government primary schools
Budget: Appx $5000
Status: Completed
- Drinking water for village schools:
Objective: Provide drinking water in three government schools by providing connections from the village borehole.
Location: Remote villages in the clusters of Ane Doddi, Maralavadi and Harohalli
Budget: $200
Status: Field visits with a plumber complete. Expected to be completed in 2008
- Odanadi – half-way home:
Pragathi has been supporting Odanadi, a half-way home for women and children rescued from exploitation in India, since 2004.
Objective: Support half-way home for women and children
Budget: $3,000
Status: Funded
- Project Pipeline:
All round improvement in 60 government schools in 4 education clusters. This will be done in several phases.
Accelerated reading program: Based on results of the current program, scale up the accelerated reading program
Accelerated math program: This program aims to improve basic math skills through activity based learning.
Capacity building through teacher training in the district of Chamaraja Nagara which is home to tribal children. Pragathi is in preliminary talks with an NGO in this region.
References
Rao, Satish (2008). "Pragathi". Pragathi. Archived from the original on 2009-02-28. Retrieved 15 Mar 2009.
Author, Unknown (2008). "Asha Meeting Minutes 12/07/08". Asha Austin. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
Author, Unknown (2009). "Austin TX Tax Exempt/Non-profit Organizations". Taxexemptworld.com. Retrieved 11 April 2009.