Chapter History

Asha Chennai started in 2002. The initial impetus was provided by a group of US based volunteers who were from Tamilnadu. But quickly a group of Chennai based volunteers took over the functioning of the chapter. The chapter now has over 15 highly committed volunteers. We execute projects all over Tamilnadu. We are currently executing projects in 6 districts of Tamilnadu. We also occasionally help coordinate work with other Asha supported NGOs in TN.

Asha Chennai also has 80+ staff — 70+ teachers, 5 project coordinating staff and 3 software engineers. Asha Chennai has evolved a model for sharing the roles between the staff and the volunteers. Funding, hiring, and other broad decisions are to be made by the volunteers. Within that constraint try to be as non-hierarchical as possible. Staff provide inputs to proposals. Staff have leadership roles where other staff report to them. Pay raises are based on performance and done in a transparent manner. Fundraising is handled by volunteers. Donor coordination at early stages is also managed by volunteers and then it transitions so that staff also play an equal part. Publicity is handled by both staff and volunteers. Project Stewards (volunteers) become like project managers in corporate terms. They are assisted by project coordinators (staff). Project stewards visit projects probably a couple of times a week (except for remote projects where the project coordinator does most of the direct management).