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President's Message
Since its inception, Ashraya's goal has been to provide a helping hand to young girls and women to improve their well-being and to help them stand on their own two feet some day. In pursuant of this goal, Ashraya supports projects education and training support to girls. Education support is provided in the form of scholarships to girls for basic, secondary, and post-secondary education. To ensure income targeting, scholarships are only provided to girls completing their studies in government or government-aided schools. The children enrolled in these schools are among the poorest families. Vocational training can be both informal and formal. Informal vocation training is provided in centers funded by Ashraya in low-income areas in cities and in villages. Formal vocation training is normally of 6-12 month duration and is arranged through a suitable training center. In the early years, Ashraya also provided support for early childhood development, school health, and for upgrading poor schools. While we continue to be open to supporting such activities, our main focus now is on education and training, areas that has the highest demand and payoff. In our financial year ending March 31, 2011, Ashraya was able to support 216 children, adolescent girls and women in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, bringing the total number of beneficiaries in Ashraya's ten years of existence to over 6,000. We have been able to do so at a modest cost of less than Rs. 1,400 (about US$35) per head. While we are proud of these accomplishments, we are also keenly aware of the vast needs. All of us working with Ashraya believe that we must do whatever we can within our means. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the volunteers who helped me manage Ashraya's operations in India: Dr. Inder Sud, President of Ashraya-USA continues to provide us not only financial support but also invaluable guidance in our work. On the ground, we could not have done without the hard work of the many people who actually managed the projects supported by us. I would particularly like to acknowledge the contributions of Mrs. Asha Thakur, Mrs. Bina Butail (Himachal Pradesh), and Mr. V.K. Sud. I am also grateful for the cooperation and support of the principals of the schools in helping identify for us needy and deserving girls for scholarship support. No members of Ashraya's managing committee or the project sponsors received any compensation for their efforts, allowing Ashraya to keep its administrative expenses extremely modest. I would also like to offer my heartfelt thanks to our friends in India and abroad who contributed to Ashraya. You can be assured that your funds are supporting very worthwhile efforts. May God bless you all. Mrs. Manorma Mayor |
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