Dear friends,
Association for India's Development, Inc. (AID) is a voluntary non- profit organization committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development in India, by working with grassroots organizations and movements in India. AID supports and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social justice. Within AID is the NE (North East) cell, a focus group comprising of AID volunteers and/or members of the community interested in understanding issues related to grassroots development in NE India. Over the past year the Cell has worked towards identifying groups in NE India that AID could enter into a long term partnership with. In addition, through interactions with social activists such as Sanjoy Hazarika, we have begun the process of understanding the interconnectedness of issues affecting development in the region. For more information about AID's involvement in projects in the North East visit http://twiki.aidindia.org/cgibin/view.pl/NECell/ProjectVisitReports . For accountability point of view, there is a need to review projects - before and after funding, it is important that someone visits project sites and take stock of the progress/feasibility. Normally, AID (NE Cell) volunteers do the onsite visit but since our number is small and there are not many trips round the year, it will help a lot if members of the community can do project visits to areas close to their hometowns. This way, you can also get involved. If you are planning on making a trip to the North East in 2005 or 2006, please update this link - http://twiki.aidindia.org/cgi-bin/view.pl/NECell/DatabaseOfSiteVisits If you have trouble updating this link, please send an email to me at raj.hazarika(ar)gmail.com or Krishanu (kkaushik(at)ford.com) or Partha Gogoi(partha_gogoi(at)yahoo.com) and we will update it for you. For information about AID's activities and fundraising efforts in the recent Tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts, please visit - http://www.aidindia.org/CMS/ http://www.sulekha.com/aidtsunami/ Thanks, and Have a happy and prosperous 2005! RH
