Originally posted as A/M - SCWP, 15 January 2008 on Google Docs

Agenda/Minutes [More →]

Start time: 8pm
Location: Reid

Add anything to the agenda? Ask around - 2 minutes

Report on previous action items - 10 minutes

• Conference application and travel scholarship adden-didi-dum
  • Review and set mailing date
• Hella-legit Letterhead

Conference - 10 minutes

• UWC, WDA, Sadhana to give the introduction speech during the morning
• Report on lunch situation: Find new location (refund conference hall deposit?)? What will be cheapest: relocating or busing people to lunch?
  • Best case scenario: Nehru cuts lunch costs
  • Second best scenario: Relocating to a place where the conference and lunch can be in the same place
  • Worst scenario: Splitting the group up and busing to other restaurants
• Report on confirmed speakers/speech topics and titles
  • Ajit Nimbalkar: “Water Scenario of Maharashtra and the Regulatory Framework”
  • Raechelle Mascarenhas
  • Shyam Divan: “Water Rights and Jurisprudence”
  • Suresh Prabhu:
• Report on confirmed attendees
  • Indicate on SCWP spreadsheet
  • Look at asking more people from Maharashtra to attend (esp. because we have a speaker addressing the region)
  • Subscribe to IndianNGOs.com
• Afternoon workshops
  • CAWST (Successful Technology presentation Bio-Sand Filter)
  • Urban Rainwater Collection: Tim’s contact
• Closing Session: Give the run-down on the water book

Travel Scholarships

• Reimbursing NGOs if they can produce receipts?
• App. Question: What are they doing to raise money in order to participate in the conference?
• Hotels?
  • Joey will research prices

Study group - 10 minutes

• Report on survey draft
  • Jessie and Tim: Review and give Joey feedback
• (Daniel) Where do we stand with Vasant?
• When will UWC begin issuing the survey?
  • UWC resumes on January 19th
  • Schedule WDA call to UWC later this week (Joey will email Anat to find time)

Water book - 15 minutes

• When will we send it out?
  • Showcase the book online before the conference
  • Hand out hard copies at the conference
• Publish in India
• Define scope: Will we stick to NGO chapters and/or include speeches and a directory of NGO contact information
• Report on NGOs who’ve agreed to write a chapter: 4 NGOs confirmed
  • Indicate on SCWP spreadsheet
• To split, or
• Outline structure
• Resources to include?
• Timeline/ list of todos

Outside advisory - 4 minutes

• Mr. Lal has offered to help, what questions should I ask?
• Perhaps he can facilitate invitations
• USE OUR NETWORKS! We should start asking our contacts in India to invite other NGOs

Study Abroad Approval- Future on-campus grants - 5 minutes

• We have approval which gives us the go-ahead to pursue funding on campus: Bob Carson/Presidents Office
• Are there other grants we would want to pursue?

Budget

• Revise and Redo!: Joey/Jessie/Tim
• $448 for the conference hall

Joe’s Role: Yep

• Building a board of advisors, work study funded through presidents office, write WDA handbook, etc. = codify WDA’s scope

Fundraising status - 10 minutes

• Near future projects: Date Auction 7th/8th
  • Assign project leader to coordinate with Kappas
• Take Action! Grant

January Retreat?

Meeting Time for Core Group

• Once per week: 11:30 on Fridays, 12:00 this coming Friday
• Rotate Core members attendance at Fundraising meetings/Fundraising leader to attend Core members meeting

Daniel’s Itinerary

• WDA to reimburse Daniel’s VISA
• Leaving Feb 5th, will be in Pune on the 2nd

End time: 945

Action Items [More →]

• Background research (Everyone)
  • read Melissa’s findings!
• Write formal invitation: Yukta
• Revise Applications: Tim and Jessie
• Meet with Raechelle to determine flights and purchase tickets
• Secure Visas ASAP: Use Traveldocs.com
• Schedule meeting on Saturday to talk with Fundraising group 1:30 pm
• Joey to figure out lunch situation

In attendance:

• Tim Shadix (via telephone)
• Jessie Conrad (via telephone)
• Daniel Bachhuber (via telephone)

Agenda/Minutes
Conference problem with lunches

• Lunch is going to cost us $13 a head which comes out to an extra $2700
• Options
  • Cut conference in half (i.e. only have a morning session)
  • Take people from the Science Centre to somewhere else
    • Networking sesh/get to know each other on the bus, dynamic seating arrangement at lunch

Application we want to create for NP’s to attend the conference

• One application for the conference and an addendum for a travel scholarship
• Conference application includes
  • Basic contact info
  • Paragraph about the NGO
  • Paragraph about the region they operate in
  • Paragraph about their keystone water projects
  • How many people they want to send/ interested in attending
• Travel scholarship application includes
  • Location
  • A paragraph about why they need a travel scholarship (or some way to demonstrate need)
  • What sort of travel conditions/ accommodations they are willing to accept

Travel scholarships

• Our budget says we have $2500 for these, but then again our budget needs an audit

Restructuring the water book

• Jessie’s idea (more of a directory for conference attendees)
  • Part one: name of NGO, paragraph description
  • Also include text from speeches, or essays from speakers
  • Text and synthesizes of workshops
• If we have time: massive case study book
  • Initial content will be compiled before conference
  • Interviews of the NGOs involved at the conference
  • Editing and publication in the two months after the conference
• Conclusion: go forth with first idea and, although we like the second idea, we need to discuss it with WDA

Action items

• Letterhead for formal invites (Jessie)
• Conference NGO application (Tim)
• Travel application addendum (Jessie)

Here is the WDA stuff I have been doing in India:

1. I had a chance to visit the conference hall at the Nehru Science Centre. The payment for the hall had not yet gone through because I needed to sign off a few papers. I will be withdrawing Rs. 19,000 to reimburse my father for the money. The hall itself, contrary to my prior understanding, does accomodate 210 people. We have the hall booked from 9am to 7pm. We will also have one more room alongside the actual hall for a workshop. So, in total after the keynote speakers are done we will have two spaces for workshops. It is important for us to work around this number.
   The main obstacle I have run across with the hall is that they only allow the in-house caterers to provide food on the premises. Now, the cheapest food option they have to serve us for lunch is a whopping Rs. 500 per plate. That would amount up to almost all the money we have fundraised so far. Since my father’s ex-boss is the chairman of the Nehru Science Centre, I have spoken to him about possibly getting a discount. If that does not work out, we are in quite a fix, because we need to provide lunch, but cannot afford to do so.
2. I had a chance to speak to Mr. Suresh Prabhu regarding his topic for the lecture. The phone connection was pathetic, but I know the working title is “Water: The Next Big Challenge in India.” I am going to his house today and if he happens to be around, I can get a lil more info on the topic. But as of now, this should suffice for the invitation card itinerary. Also, he is flying in from a parliment session in Delhi for our conference on the 19th of March. He has requested to speak in the morning for this reason. I know he said he would be able to conduct a workshop but I do not think this will be possible because he will be flying back to Delhi after the morning session.
3. I think it is best for us to drop Mr. Sebastian as a speaker. This is because he just does not seem all that interested in participation willingly and also his topic is not of the tumost relevance. I am on the look out for another speaker. So far the names I am pursuing are Medha Patkar and Aruna Roy. I am trying my best to get in touch with them ASAP.
4. I spoke to Ajit Nimbalkar yesterday about the speaker topic. He has asked me to get back to him via email and will be getting back to me by next week.
5. Mr. Shyam Divan is currently traveling and will have to be contacted after the new year.

That is my update so far.