downloadable (pdf) - Kashmir Education Initiative

K ash mi r E d u c ati o n In i ti a tive
k.e.i. newsletter
Fall Edition
2014 with post-flood update
KEI has grown from 12 students in
a pilot program in 2008 to around
500 scholars supported in 2014.
the best education
for the children of Kashmir
1: Our flagship program
and beyond
A report on our largest program (High School Scholarships), the changes being
made, and our move towards supporting the full academic life-cycle of a student.
We continue to improve our High School Scholarships Program, which supports
409 scholars at present. We have improved our selection process by modifying the
ranking algorithm (for the nerds: moved from score-based to distance-based logic).
The ideal candidate has highest merit and lowest family income. Merit and means
are considered equally in a transparent objective process. We are also excited about
additions to our program portfolio to more holistically support the academic lifecycle
of students all the way from foundation-building high school to graduate programs:
Non Financial Support
Mentorship Program
Experiential Opportunities Program
Financial Support (Scholarships)
High School Scholarship Program [HSSP]
Transition Year Scholarship Program [TYSP]
Post-graduate Scholarship Program [PGSP]
Pre-doctoral Scholarship Program [PDSP]
Financial Support (Sponsorships)
Sponsor-1-Scholar Program, which in turn includes
S1S- High School [S1S-HS]
S1S-Transition Year [S1S-TY]
S1S-Pre-doctoral Level [S1S-PD]
Named Scholarship Program [in development]
Fall 2014 - K.E.I. Newsletter
Kashmir went thru its worst flooding in
over 100 years in September 2014. Most
of Srinagar and around 2000 villages were
under water. Hundreds lost their lives.
Financial loss is estimated at US$16 Billion.
Our scholars are all safe but everyone is
affected by the floods - the homes and
family businesses of several scholars have
suffered damage. The efforts needed to
keep them focused on their education
and development are ever more critical.
After establishing our scholars’ wellbeing,
we started a “Donate A Book Campaign”
that elicited great response from people in
Kashmir. Distribution of books and study
material will begin soon in Srinagar, Badgam,
Anantnag, and Kulgam.
In parallel, we are designing programs
specifically for the situation created by the
floods. Ideas in consideration include:
Adopt A School
Help recover from flood damage and
develop a model institution.
Relaxed Scholarship Criteria
Introduce temporary quota for students
severly affected by the floods.
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2: Scaling mentoring
In addition to financial support, we are increasingly focusing on deeper
engagement with our scholars. The growing mentorship program is a major part of
this initiative.
Our mentorship pilot started in Nov
2012 with the realization that guidance
is as important as financial support
for helping our scholars realize their
potential. A need-finding survey
validated our impression. 16 scholars
were selected based on levels of
mentorship needed. We got a diverse
group of boys and girls from different
districts and grades. The pilot’s success
led us to launch a full-fledged program.
Our evaluation showed that both
mentees and mentors benefited.
Scholars got to learn from people from
all walks of life and were eager to interact
with their mentors (typically once a
week). The mentors, volunteers from
USA, UK and Kashmir, were thoroughly
screened and matched to mentees
based on profiles and preferences. We
facilitate interaction at mutually agreed
times. Modes of interaction are diverse
- Skype or other video calling, text chat,
in-person meetings, and phone calls.
The program has grown to 44 mentormentee pairs. We intend to scale up so
that within a year or so, all KEI scholars
are matched with a mentor. This growth
will be in sync with a major push in
volunteer recruitment in 2014-15.
In this issue
Stories of three
KEI scholars
QUICK FACTS
3: We do a lot more than
high school scholarships
KEI engages in a number of activities besides providing High School Scholarships;
experiential workshops - mentoring - support for higher studies - sponsorships
Experiential Workshops:
Give students hands on experience
with journalism, videography, fine arts,
environment and conservation, and
other areas of their interest.
Scholarships beyond High School:
Transition Year Scholarships (TYS): Help
existing scholars transition from high
school to undergraduate studies.
Post Graduate Scholarships (PGS):
Support postgraduate scholars enrolled
in different institutions in Kashmir.
Pre-doctoral Scholarships (PDS): Assist
scholars interested in pursuing graduate
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studies (MS/PHD) in USA.
Sponsorships for multiple levels:
These include the in-design Donor
Named Scholarships and the Sponsor1-Scholar (S1S) programs.
S1S evolved from Sponsor-1-Child (S1C)
following the success of S1C where
donors are matched to and follow
the progress of individual students.
Donor interest in sponsoring scholars
at other levels led us to grow to three
components: S1S-HS (high school level),
S1S-TYS (transition year level) and S1SPDS (pre-doctoral Level).
• Around 500 scholars supported.
• Need to raise $205,000 in 2014,
a task made more challenging by the
Kashmiri community being focused on
raising funds for flood relief this year.
• First corporate match established.
• 26% of total donations raised online
now. Campaigns on Facebook, Amazon
Smile, Google search & One Today.
• KEI HIgh School Scholarships Program
(HSSP) supports 409 scholars;
Sponsor 1 Child is now Sponsor 1
Scholar (S1S). Supports 25 students;
Post Graduate Scholarships (PGS)
support 18 scholars;
Transition Year Scholarships (TYS)
support 11 students with more to be
added soon.
• 6 KEI Scholars among top 20 in 2013
10th grade exams. 2014 exams delayed.
• Based on donor feedback, a Named
Scholarship pilot will be launched soon
where donors can name scholarships in
honour of their loved ones.
_____________________
KEI USA: 113 West Plain Street, Wayland, MA 01778, USA
KEI kashmir: Lily House, Nigeen, Hazratbal, Srinagar, J&K
WEB: kashmirei.org
FB: facebook.com/kashmirei.org
EMAIL: [email protected]
Kashmir Education Initiative (KEI), a non-profit organization
registered both in USA and India with 501(c) (3) tax-exempt
status in the USA, is a non-political and non-religious
organization focused on enabling Kashmiri students to
achieve excellence through quality education.
Fall 2014 - K.E.I. Newsletter
Art shared by KEI scholars
on our facebook page:
https://facebook.com/kashmirei.org
SANA SHEIKH* lives in Bemina. She and her sister have both been KEI scholars. We have been engaged with Sana since she was in 6th grade. In her
words “I would never have been able to attend a good private school if it was not for KEI’s support”. This year, after passing 10th grade, Sana heard
about the United World Colleges in one of KEI’s interactive sessions with scholars. KEI provided mentoring and support throughout the application
process and Sana got admission in the prestigious IB program with full scholarship. Sana and her family see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Sana’s dream is to work in the public sector and help society. She is interested in the efforts for conservation of the Dal Lake in Kashmir and helping
students pursue their dreams. She feels inspired by the impact KEI’s efforts have had on her life, and wants to give back.
MEHVISH NAAZ* was supported by KEI since she was in 11th grade. When KEI conducted a workshop on journalism and videography with the 1947
Partition Archive in Srinagar, Mehvish was excited to be a part of it. Though Mehvish was busy with her exams, she was eager to learn about a period in
history that she had just heard about in passing. The workshop introduced her to experts in the field and Mehvish enjoyed learning from them. After
the workshop, Mehvish became a fan of videography and interviewing, and started collecting stories on her own. Using equipment provided by KEI,
4. Stories of three KEI
scholars
Glimpses from the lives of three KEI scholars
* name changed
she made videos (interviews of people narrating their life experiences) for the 1947 Partition Archive and was recognized as an Oral Citizen Historian.
Her interviews are now part of the archive. Mehvish was interviewed and her story published in the newsmagazine The Week. At present, Mehvish is
studying for her B.Tech in Computer Science.
MOHSIN RESHI* on his experience with the KEI mentorship program: “The mentorship programme that was launched by KEI was a well-timed good
idea. It was useful for scholars who were in need of guidance, who were trying to find a way. So, mentors were set up for the selected scholars including
me. As my career interest and obsession (as I may call it) is Software Engineering, a mentor familiar with area, Samir Malik, was set up for me. We
communicated every Sunday and had a great time chatting. I talked about my career interests and he gave me some good tips and useful advice. For
example, he directed me to a website where I would learn coding and stuff. That proved a lot worthy. He was very friendly on his part and respected my
opinions. We even shared things beyond my career interests and often talked about things such as our cities. He encouraged me and that was great.
Mentoring is a valuable resource for students seeking guidance.“
Fall 2014 - K.E.I. Newsletter
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5: Fund-raising & outreach
How we did last year and what we need to do by end of 2014.
We are happy that last year we beat our fund-raising goal of $140,000 by
raising $160,370. We expanded our base by conducting fund-raisers in 5 US
states (CA, DC, MA, NJ & NY). We grew online donations (from our website) to
26% of total raised. Many donors setup monthly recurring donations. We are
reaching out to a wide demographic online thru initiatives such as joining
Google’s OneToday and Amazon’s smile.amazon.com. We participated in the
annual ISNA conference (Washington DC) and promoted the KEI vision among
thousands of attendees. Our community fund-raisers are opportunities to
present our work and mission to the donor and volunteer base, and seek
feedback. New Orleans, Buffalo, Atlanta, and Myrtle Beach are new candidates
for community fund-raisers. We must raise $205,000 in 2014 to sustain our
programs - a bigger challenge than usual in the aftermath of the floods.
6: A word from the president
A note from Tahir Qazi (President, KEI USA) on our strategy, what our plans
for the future are, and how we will execute on them.
We will select 150 new scholars from
9th grade for each of the next 4 years reaching 600 scholars in HSSP by 2017.
This batch will move to our transition
year scholarships and eventually to
graduate and post-graduate programs.
This uniformity greatly simplifies
planning for expenses and fund-raising.
The other idea to emerge is scaling our
mentorship program to include every
scholar. With a couple of new program
officers hired, mentorship will improve
in quality and reach. The third idea that
emerged is separating the strategic
work of the boards of directors from
daily execution of projects. This helps
develop different competencies in
the board and staff and will enable
efficient scaling of our operations. We
decided to clearly define ownership by
functional areas rather than projects,
so that directors develop deeper
competencies. We will employ new
marketing efforts that utilize digital
as well as traditional fund-raising
methodologies, and expect our donor
mix to evolve as a result.
KEI is poised for sustainable and
deliberate growth in the next five years
and has all the elements necessary to
deliver high quality services to the
scholar pool. With the passion, hard
work, and focus of an excellent team
of strong leaders and staff, KEI can
become an example for non-profits
that want to deliver fundamental,
positive, and inclusive efforts in
conflict-ridden areas like Kashmir.
“The organization is
poised for sustainable
and deliberate growth
in the next five years
and has all the elements
necessary to deliver
high quality services to
the scholar pool”
We are lucky to have talented Directors with complementary skills and the
ability to articulate different points of view. These are entrepreneurs, doctors,
engineers, business leaders, researchers, and scholars. Recently, the KEI
leadership team met for a two day strategy session to analyze results from
previous years and glean insights from collected data. With that context and
a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats discussion, the team put
together a five year strategy to scale the organization in areas of governance,
financial planning, organizational design, and operational planning.
One of the key ideas to emerge is creating a uniform pipeline of KEI scholars.
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Get involved
Consider helping the students of Kashmir
by giving
your time and/or money
http://kashmirei.org/donate
http://kashmirei.org/volunteer
https://facebook.com/kashmirei.org
Fall 2014 - K.E.I. Newsletter

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