Update: Eureka 250 Village Challenge
 
The Eureka SuperKidz 250 Village Challenge is well underway! As you may know, last month we started a campaign to find donors to adopt 250 Eureka SuperKidz villages (villages where the SuperKidz program is planned). This campaign got a boost last month when a group of donors got together and decided to match any incoming donations till end of this year or till we reached our goal! So far, donors like you have come forward to adopt 226 villages. We still have 24 villages waiting to be adopted.
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Kodak Eureka Run For Children
 
On Children's Day (Nov 14) AID India organized the Kodak Eureka Run For Children to publicize the Eureka SuperKidz 250 Village program and raise funds for it. More than 600 participants including several children took part in this event. The run was covered in many local news outlets.
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Eureka & Eureka Teachers: Making a Difference
 
In our case studies section, we learn about Anand, an aspiring graduate and Eureka Teacher from H.Settipalli village (Kelamangalam Block, Krishnagiri District). At the other end, Karthik, Mohan and Prashanth are brothers from the same village who are suffering from speech and hearing disabilities. Anand is helping them overcome their disabilities.

A third case is that of Vignesh, who dropped out of school due to consistently failing in his studies. Thanks to Eureka after-school centers, he is now back and learning at school. We also learn why Tamilselvan is motivated to attend the SuperKidz center regularly.
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Eureka SuperKidz: Creating Social Change
 
What can we expect from SuperKidz? In Cuddalore, children from the SuperKidz center cleaned up key parts of a water canal and brought clean water to their village. In Kalpetta village, the children organized skits, sang songs and took a rally to conserve water.

The SuperKidz from Sabalakh Saraai village in Bihar did even better! They put a stop to the prevalent gambling culture through a sustained campaign. Their efforts won them a top ten place in the Design For Change contest conducted across India.
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Eureka Teacher Training
 
The success of the SuperKidz program depends largely on how well the Eureka Teachers (ETs) explain the subject to students. The ETs themselves, coming usually from poor local families and often just high school graduates, have to undergo training on different subjects and teaching methods. The teaching material, methods and field worker training have all been devised by AID-India volunteers. Teacher training forms the core of the Eureka SuperKidz program.
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Follow us on Facebook
 
Did you know Eureka is present in Facebook? Now you can follow all the developments at your favorite social networking site. Click the above link to visit our facebook page.
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Visit to an Adi-Dravida village school
 
Balaji Sampath, Secretary AID India, shares his observations from a visit to the Eureka SuperKidz center in the Adi-Dravida (tribal) village of Anbil. He interacts with 8 yr old Pavithra and her family, and walks away with insights into a key factor behind the Eureka Superkidz program's success!
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The Balwadi in Chinnati village
 
Shyam, AID India's program manager, takes us to a balwadi (day-care center) in Chinnati village, where we meet 3.5 yr old Selvi and Siddhama - the balwadi care taker. The visit reveals how Eureka Child is enhancing the balwadi experience for children under 5.
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Eureka Superkidz Program: A Synopsis
 
Eureka Superkidz is an innovative village education center that provides quality Science, Math and Language inputs to children from the poorest families and ensures every child reaches his/her full potential. Each Center will teach about 60 children per village. The program spans 600 villages across in Tamil Nadu and Bihar and impact ~36,000 children. In this article, we explain how we want to achieve this.
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The Buzz from India
 
Within India, the program is now being implemented in about 600 villages As awareness of the program spreads, AID-India is finding more partners on the ground that are interested in implementing Eureka in their localities. The State Government is also requesting the Eureka program team to help with training their own teachers.
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Updates from AID-US
 
There has been a flurry of activity among chapters since the beginning of summer to participate in the Eureka Child Program. Chapters and volunteers are stepping up in many novel ways to raise funds and awareness of the program.
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Eureka 250 Village Challenge Fund
 
 In recognition of Eureka SuperKidz programs high impact on the children it touches, a few generous donors have pooled together a matching fund of $125k. The fund available till 31 Dec 2010 will match each donation $ for $ until it is exhausted and we reach our target of 250 villages. For more information and to donate, please follow this link. The matching fund doubles your contribution and enables you to “adopt” a Eureka SuperKidz Center for $500! Should you decide to support at this or higher level, a specific village(s) will be allocated to you. To facilitate frequent and detailed information exchange between you, the donor, and the communities you support, the Eureka Child team will set up the following:

• To keep you always updated on the latest progress reports, we will create a dedicated website for your district. You can share this site with your friends and supporters. Follow this link or click on the image to right to visit the web portal.
  
• Our project managers will update the site every week with weekly field updates and photos from the project.
• Every month, we will also upload a detailed monthly progress report on the website. These reports will include monthly performance indicators by village. At the end of the year, we will also provide an annual learning assessment report that looks at children's performance and areas for improvement.
• We also encourage donors to visit their villages and contribute in other creative ways to their children's education. Site visits and such contributions can also be shared on the site.

Samwad's Arogysasakhis inspire
 
On a recent trip to India, I visited Chiplun, Maharashtra, to meet the arogyasakhis (rural health care providers) at Samwad, an NGO supported by AID Duke. Samwad, in collaboration with SATHI CEHAT pursues a rights-based approach to health care, while empowering rural women with skills to improve their earning capacity and their social status. [Read more...]

Jayaram Venkatesan's Journey to Jeevansaathiship
 
Here's introducing Jayaram, our newest Jeevansaathi. Jayaram started as a volunteer with AID Cincinnati in 2003, before he moved to Los Angeles where he helped start a new AID chapter. Returning to India in 2007, he has been an integral part of AID Tamil Nadu ever since. Before moving on to describe Jayaram's work and future plans, let's look at who this person is and what made him embark on this extraordinary journey. [Read more...]

RTI activists protest non-transparent appointment of Information Commisioner
 
In the last 5 years, a culture of secrecy, of leniency towards officials and of disdain towards information seekers has prevailed at the Information Commission. Left unchecked, this could sound the death knell of the RTI Act, one of the most progressive laws of independent India. With a large number of Information Commissioners completing their five-year terms and retiring in 2010, it is important we act now to ensure transparency in all such appointments. [Read more...]

Kisan Swaraj Yatra
 
Many farmers groups across the country are joining to organize a nation-wide Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a bus yatra concurrent with local mobilization and programs along the way, to bring the small farmer into national focus and  develop a holistic vision for sustainable agriculture in India. The Yatra will start in Gujarat on Gandhi Jayanti, Oct 2nd, and end in Delhi on Dec 10th, travelling across 20 states in 70 exciting days! [Read more...]

Boston volunteers get creative!
 
If you're a volunteer and have a table at an event, picture thousands strolling past, looking for free giveaways, listening to music, and having a good time. The challenge is in getting them to stop, talk, and learn about AID! For the Independence day mela, the Boston chapter came up with many creative ideas that turned out wildly successful. [Read more...]

Impressions from the Right to Food Convention
 
The Right to Food convention, while focusing on the growing campaign to enshrine food and nurtrition as a right in the Indian Consitution, also highlighted the importance of livelihood and education and their impact on nutritional security. We talked to Surya from AID Srikakulam who attended the convention. [Read more...]