I have gone through the proposal and have the following questions/comments:
I have looked at only the CBR part of the proposal budget and I have assumed that the proposal is for one taluk.
1) It is not clear how many blind persons are affected / served by one such
CBR program (on an average)
2) Which particular taluk has been or is to be
identified for this proposal ? Specific information may be needed to be able to
followup on the project properly. Is the budget for such an identified taluk or
is it an average/estimated budget ?
3) (Almost) all project expenses seem
like overheads for the program. What is the money directly
spent in the rehabilitation of the blind as a percentage of
the project costs ? From the budget it seems to be rather
small.
For example, I could tell that "Rehabilitation Materials" cost Rs. 24,000 annual, "Eye Care/Blindness Certificates" cost Rs. 6000 annual. Conservatively, it seems Rs. 30,000 pa. out of a budget of roughly Rs. 4,00,000 pa will directly affect the blind the rest is all overhead. Roughly less than 10%. Being very generous about misc. expenses etc, it'll still be less than 20% of the budget. Is my acessment correct ?
4) Are the project staff (field workers/supervisors) local people or are they moving in temporarily for the project period from elsewhere? If yes this is good. If not this requires a lot of overheads which are not clearly justifiable like purchase of bicycles for each field worker and a moped for the supervisor. hiring locals generates local employment and income. In addition, local people are more likely to be aware of ground realities.
5) CBR doesn't seem like a new program ... so some specific project
successes/problem areas can be provided. Spcific info such as number of people
served, time frame and budget for an earlier adopted taluk could be provided.
6) Do they collaborate with other local NGOs or organizations
with similar interests ?
7) What is the overall organizational budget? Taluks/districts where they have presence / non-presence ?
8) How many taluks have been reached by the CBR program ?
Other questions/clarification/budget errors:
i) Earlier question on project supervisors/coords/field workers
being locals/non-locals
ii) Is project coordinator per CBR
project or for all CBR project ? (since all of his/her salary is listed in a
"per-taluk" proposal budget)
iii) How many officebearers visit each CBR taluk and how often ? Project visits by these office-bearers alone cost Rs. 12000 per project per year ?
iv) Admin. expenses and misc. expenses are listed as togther costing Rs. 40800 pa. What are these ?
v) What is the office rent ? Is this a per-taluk office ?
vi) What sort of furniture is involved ? Is is special needs etc ? It cost Rs. 25000 ?
vii) A motocycle is being provided .. for whom is it ? Why is it being purchased as a project expense ?
viii) Training expenses are listed for 10 field staff ... the rest of the proposal mentions only 8 field staff. Note that training expenses are Rs. 3000 per field staff (assuming there are 10)
ix) Minor typo perhaps but total yearly recurring expenses are mentioned as Rs. 3,50,400 in the summary but have been incorrectly copied as Rs. 3,50,800 in the second year summary.
Overall impression so far: Proposal of CBR seems to have a good idea. But currently insufficient info is available on the actual program. What specifically is involved (in concrete terms) is not available but can be ascertained through proper communication.
Major worry: That very minuscle part of the budget is going to reach the beneficiaries. Administrative overheads are the largest cost of the program and this is definately something to be concerned about.
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ANIRUDDHA S VAIDYA, Computer Sc. & Engg., Penn State
U. (vaidya@cse.psu.edu)