In Pictures: Open Painting Competition on “Proper Sanitation and Safe Water”
Posted on June 21, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, Announcements, News, Awards/RFPs/Competitions, Kids
An Open Painting Competition on the theme “PROPER SANITATION AND SAFE WATER”held on Sunday the 25th May, 2008, by Arghyam & YVU, Thoubal.
Photo credit, Arghyam, write to portal@arghyam.org for more information and usage permission.
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Hiring: Networking Associate For WATSAN Survey
Posted on June 10, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, Job, Announcements
Arghyam is looking for a networking associate to join the WATSAN survey and capacity building activities within the Research and Advocacy unit.
The full time networking associate (project duration:6 months) will be one who can monitor survey quality on field, participate with partners in focussed group discussions, coordinate and participate in local partners training along with active networking and is fluent in Kannada and English.
The position includes extensive rural travel and requires a thorough understanding of rural dynamics. Knowledge on WATSAN issues is a definite plus. The candidate is expected to join the post by July first week.
Renumeration: Commensurate to experience and market standards.
Forward resumes to: Binayak Das, binayak@arghyam.org
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Brief on: Drinking Water Survey by Arghyam via Comat tele-centers
Posted on June 5, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Technology, Announcements, Volunteer
A Brief on the Drinking Water Survey by Arghyam via Comat tele-centers
Background
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Arghyam in collaboration with Comat is launching a survey on the status of drinking water in parts of rural Karnataka. The survey is unique as it involves getting people on ground to send information (through the use of questionnaires) via IT and internet to Arghyam on a real time basis. Many times, this kind of information is unavailable. Again, information on ground situations including surveys from rural areas take a longer time to reach the decision makers. During this period, an inability by decision makers to know about the ground situation hampers in undertaking proactive solutions. The people continue to suffer as they wait for their problem to reach the administration for a reaction.
Arghyam is keenly interested in feedback and comments regarding the methodology and
usefulness of this survey, and how it may be taken to more places. Add suggestions and feedback in the comments section of this post!
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Project: Comat
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A Bangalore based social enterprise works for various rural projects across the country in areas of e-Governance, and information and communication technologies for development offer services to enable governments and businesses get closer to the rural milieu. Comat operates tele-centers in rural hubs across the country. The tele-centers are equipped with computers and internet and the rural populace uses them to gather information and collect various essential certificates. In Karnataka, Comat has 800 tele centers spread across the hoblis. Arghyam working on water related issues and being the anchor of India Water Portal decided that by utilizing the tele-centers, a large amount of ground data on water can be generated from the people (who visit the tele-centers everyday from different parts of rural Karnataka).
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Method
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To generate data on water related issues, Arghyam followed a survey procedure. For the first survey, the chosen theme is “Drinking water” (themes will change over time). Arghyam designed a simple questionnaire that will generate basic information on source, availability, storage, frequency of supply, and hygiene aspects of drinking water. The questionnaire (both in paper and html format) will be hosted on the Comat tele-centers. Visitors to the tele-centers will fill the questionnaire with the help of the tele-centre operator and their input will be transferred to Arghyam database for further output based on the information.
- Scale
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Currently, the survey will be run across rural Bangalore as a test run, and then (by mid-June) will be scaled up to all the 800 tele-centers across Karnataka.
Timeline:
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For the first survey on drinking water, June to August (being high traffic season in tele-centers) has been tentatively scheduled.
Output:
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During the survey period, the monsoon’s presence will influence the answers that can lead to an interesting pattern. For instance as an example, it will help in understanding whether people use government installed sources for drinking water or are dependent on rain during this period. Similarly, Arghyam will correlate various aspects and generate a set of outputs. The output in the form of charts and brief analysis will be hosted in the India Water Portal. The findings will be printed and shared with the concerned authorities in the districts and at the state level. Further innovations with the output can be expected from Arghyam.
Overall, this survey will help in bridging an important gap in regards to availability of real time data from the ground on water and simultaneously, help in disseminating the information to the decision makers.
Organizations websites:
Comat:http://www.comat.com/index.html
Arghyam: http://www.arghyam.org/
Indian Water Portal: http://indiawaterportal.org/
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Consultation in New Delhi + usage survey form
Posted on June 1, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Conf, Wkshop, Training, Announcements, Volunteer
Following up on our previous posting on this:
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2008/05/21/630/
We had a good discussion in New Delhi with 30 particapants. We will compile the suggestions received and put them up very soon. Meanwhile we request all users of the Portal (that means you!) to fill out the survey form below and mail it to us (portal@arghyam.org) . We used this survey form at the New Delhi meeting to get feedback from the attendees and if more of you to respond to the same survey form, that would make the sampling more useful. Please take a few minutes to fill out this very short (1 page) survey.
Also given the interest shown in the Delhi meeting, we will certainly do a meeting in Bangalore too with more planning and a fuller agenda. If someone from other cities is passionate about the cause and will help us to organise outreach meetings there too, we would be happy to do that.
Sharada Prasad was there, with his co-conspirator Selje Hernes, and had a lot of stories and some spectacular photographs from his trip. More on that too, on the K2K section of the website, in a day or two: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k
For now then, here are a couple of documents:
List of people who attended the Delhi meeting (few names missing as we were not able to get everyone’s information) : Click here
Survey form for usage of the Portal: India Water Portal Usage Survey
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Water Portal — consultation in New Delhi
Posted on May 24, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Conf, Wkshop, Training, Announcements, Indian Languages, Software, Volunteer
The Water Portal is planning an informal consultation with users and stakeholders on Saturday May 31st in New Delhi.
Date/Time: The meeting will be between 3:00 and 5:30pm on Saturday May 31st. The Solution Exchange Water Community has very kindly offered to facilitate the meeting at their offices :
UN Conference Hall
UN Building
55 Lodhi Road
New Delhi – 3
Landmark: Opposite India International Center Main Building
Agenda:
1.) To hear from users of the Portal about what they find useful on the Portal, and what we should work on to enhance the value of the Portal.
2.) To communicate new initiatives we are working on already, and get your feedback and suggestions for them. These include launching a Hindi version of the Portal soon (and after that more languages) and the use of other dissemination mechanisms including mobile phone and village kiosks
3.) An introduction to the Solution Exchange Water Community, an online community for sharing of experiences and knowledge.
4.) Sharada Prasad, India Water Portal staff member has been travelling on mobike across the country in the cause of water (see http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k). He will join us and share his photos and experiences from across the country. It will surely be an interesting discussion!
The event is open to the public, but please mail us (portal@arghyam.org) to let us know if you are coming in order to get an estimate of the size of the group. We look forward to hearing back from you and meeting up in New Delhi !
We request you to forward this mail to others who might be interested. For clarifications you could contact me at vijay@arghyam.org or 0-98801 37097
A request: As the Water Portal is an open platform for sharing of data and knowledge, we request you to bring with you useful data or other material that could be added to the Portal. It could be in soft- or hardcopy format.
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Water Portal — consultation in New Delhi
Posted on May 21, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Conf, Wkshop, Training, Announcements, Indian Languages
The Water Portal is planning an informal consultation with users and stakeholders on Saturday May 31st in New Delhi.
Date/Time: The meeting will be between 3:00 and 5:30pm on Saturday May 31st. The Solution Exchange Water Community has very kindly offered to facilitate the meeting at their offices :
UN Conference Hall
UN Building
55 Lodhi Road
New Delhi – 3
Landmark: Opposite India International Center Main Building
Agenda:
1.) To hear from users of the Portal about what they find useful on the Portal, and what we should work on to enhance the value of the Portal.
2.) To communicate new initiatives we are working on already, and get your feedback and suggestions for them. These include launching a Hindi version of the Portal soon (and after that more languages) and the use of other dissemination mechanisms including mobile phone and village kiosks
3.) An introduction to the Solution Exchange Water Community, an online community for sharing of experiences and knowledge.
4.) Sharada Prasad, India Water Portal staff member has been travelling on mobike across the country in the cause of water (see http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k). He will join us and share his photos and experiences from across the country. It will surely be an interesting discussion!
The event is open to the public, but please mail us (portal@arghyam.org) to let us know if you are coming in order to get an estimate of the size of the group. We look forward to hearing back from you and meeting up in New Delhi !
We request you to forward this mail to others who might be interested. For clarifications you could contact me at vijay@arghyam.org or 0-98801 37097
A request: As the Water Portal is an open platform for sharing of data and knowledge, we request you to bring with you useful data or other material that could be added to the Portal. It could be in soft- or hardcopy format.
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Arghyam — funding for projects in wastewater management
Posted on May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Announcements, Awards/RFPs/Competitions, Urban Water, International Year of Sanitation
Arghyam is a public philanthropic trust based in Bangalore focussing on the water sector. Arghyam was founded in 2001 with a private endowment from Ms. Rohini Nilekani. Arghyam financially supports and anchors the India Water Portal. More about Arghyam at www.arghyam.org
During the current financial year (2008-09) Arghyam is looking to support innovative projects/interventions in the field of wastewater treatment & management in a rural or peri-urban area. If you have an interesting proposal on these lines please send your brief Concept Note to us for consideration. More information on the project selection process is at:
http://arghyam.org/content/view/59/68/ . You can also contact us at manohar@arghyam.org
S. Mahohar Rao
Arghyam
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Hiring Social Development Specialist - Arghyam
Posted on April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, Job, Announcements, Urban Water
Arghyam is looking for a dynamic individual to join our Urban Water Initiative in Bangalore as a Social Development Specialist.
Post Location - Bangalore
Start Date – Immediate
No of Positions-1
Pay –Commensurate with experience
Resume to be forwarded to manikeshwari@arghyam.org
Arghyam is a not-for-profit organization working in the water sector in India. Arghyam’s vision is “Enough water, safe water….always and for all”. Through partnerships and grants we support strategic efforts that address issues relating to equity and sustainability for all citizens. www.arghyam.org
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And He’s Off !!
Posted on April 24, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, News, Software
Sharada Prasad is leaving for his all-India trip in a couple of days.
Here’s a message from him on the occasion. Follow his trip on http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k
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Hello Friends,
The day is almost here. I would be taking off on Saturday, 26th April at 9:00AM from Madivala Lake. The co-ordinates are 12.908700, 77.614846
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=12.908700,+77.614846&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr
It will be a very informal ceremony. I will request you all to make it to the event to the extent possible. Please note that I need to leave exactly at 9:00AM just to reach Pondicherry in time for the first community interaction scheduled at around 17:00hrs.
In any case - here are the few words for people (Sripad and Lokesh) who started planning with me for the trip and for some or the other reasons will not be able to join me on this trip - I will surely miss you all. Without your ideas and support, I would have not thought of doing it.
Thanks to Ashwini Manjunath, Anand Alur, Nandini, Padmini, Ashok, Somashekhar, Lakshmi, Tulasi, Ranganath and many others who helped me get the right gear required for the trip.
Special thanks to Prashanth Pillai, Navroze Contractor, Raghavendra P and Srivatsa for the last minute help and support and to Santosh and Manju Moms for continuous encouragement.
I will be available on this BSNL number - +91 9480447094 . Leave a message. I will call you people back. I would be accessing internet intermittently. You can also leave a message with Manikeswari at my office on +91 - 080 - 41698941. She will convey the message the moment I am on network.
You can follow me on twitter - http://twitter.com/sharadaprasad . I will be updating my lat-long almost every two hours (you need to paste them into Google Maps search box to get my latest location). Depending upon the internet connection, I would be updating blogs, GPS tracks and photographs on http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k/ Please follow my ride there and leave your comments.
I am deeply indebted to Arghyam for the financial and logistic support and to its partners and friends for helping me with community interaction.
I will keep you guys posted.
So long, my friends.
Regards,
Sharada
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“K2K - In search of water” — Road Trip
Posted on March 30, 2008 | Filed Under Arghyam, IWP, Announcements
Water Portal staff member C.S. Sharada Prasad is off from late April on a 75 day, 19,000 km. motorcycle ride across the country. He has made “Water” the theme of his trip. Simply put, the objective of Sharada’s ride is to discover what water means to people across the country.
We’ve started a new section on the Water Portal covering Sharada Prasad’s trip:
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k . Here you can follow him real-time during his journey as he uploads notes and photos from all the place that he is visiting.
After reading about his trip there, if you want to be a part of the journey in some way, write us a note !! He would like to accomadate as much interaction with local people as possible.
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