Dear Friend
Welcome to AID and let us begin with a short story. A man taking a walk on the beach comes across a young girl who is doing something strange. She is taking the starfish one by one from the beach and putting them back into the sea. The starfish were washed onto the shore and the rocks by the waves, and were desperately trying to get back into the sea. He goes up to her and asks her "Why are you doing that? There are ten thousand starfish lying on the beach, how can you make a difference?" She looks at him, picks up yet another starfish and places it into the sea; and responds to him “Well it made a difference to that fish!”
That is the spirit behind A.I.D. The problems of India are humongous, and it is easy to be overwhelmed by them. But the people who started the organizations believed that if they work with commitment, they can certainly make a difference to a few villages, and that is a beginning! Over time, they found that this spirit and commitment is also contagious! Many more people from the community started joining in;A.I.D. essentially grew out of the Washington Area Indian community!
A.I.D. or Association for India’s Development is now an organization with 35 different chapters in the US, and 1000 hard-working unpaid volunteers! Every year, AID supports about 100 rural development projects in 22 different states across India, with the help of individual donors like you.
So, how do we approach development work? Firstly we believe that since the problems of poverty, malnutrition, lack of education are all interconnected, therefore we should look for solutions that are also interconnected.
So we take a holistic approach to development – through projects in education, health, rural technology, agriculture, water management and so on.
And how are these programs executed? Firstly, we collaborate with many sincere NGOs/individuals (also referred to as Saathis) working at the grassroots. More importantly, we have our own volunteers and full-timers (also referred to as Jeevan Saathis) in the field in India. They are implementing our own programs in various places. Many talented, highly qualified volunteers have taken up development work full-time – including Balaji Sampath and Ravishankar in Tamil Nadu, Ravi and Aravinda in AP and Orissa, Rachna Dhingra in Bhopal, Kamayani in Bihar, and Madhulika in Rajasthan. They provide the leadership for our work in India.
Before we let you go....
We all have at some point or the other thought of doing something for India but couldn't quite figure out how and what. Well, AID is a platform to do all those things for India that you have only dreamed about.
Sincerely - The AID Team
Friday, August 14, 2009
AID New York Mission Statement
Mission
AID NYC takes its mission from Association for India's Development (AID) which is a volunteer movement promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as agriculture, energy, education, health, livelihoods, natural resources including land and water, women's empowerment and social justice.
Vision
Our focus on sustainable, equitable and just development emerges from our vision that “problems” are interconnected, and “solutions” need to be holistic in addressing the multiple underlying causes. Our method derives from putting people first, partnering with local communities, organizations and activists, learning from doing, combating injustice, and building sustainable solidarities.
Compassion wherever there is suffering
Conviction that the compassion is strong enough to eliminate suffering
Courage to make this conviction a reality
This is AID...
Our Roots
From its humble beginnings in a student's apartment, AID has now grown into a big organization with chapters all over the US, UK and India. We now support organizations in almost all states of India that work on issues focusing on improving health, introducing primary education programs, women's upliftment and development, savings and income programs, and rural development.
AID NYC takes its mission from Association for India's Development (AID) which is a volunteer movement promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as agriculture, energy, education, health, livelihoods, natural resources including land and water, women's empowerment and social justice.
Vision
Our focus on sustainable, equitable and just development emerges from our vision that “problems” are interconnected, and “solutions” need to be holistic in addressing the multiple underlying causes. Our method derives from putting people first, partnering with local communities, organizations and activists, learning from doing, combating injustice, and building sustainable solidarities.
Compassion wherever there is suffering
Conviction that the compassion is strong enough to eliminate suffering
Courage to make this conviction a reality
This is AID...
Our Roots
From its humble beginnings in a student's apartment, AID has now grown into a big organization with chapters all over the US, UK and India. We now support organizations in almost all states of India that work on issues focusing on improving health, introducing primary education programs, women's upliftment and development, savings and income programs, and rural development.
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