Annual Report

Annual Report for United Way of Baroda

Financial year 2005 – 2006

In memory of Unique Philanthropist…

End of an Era of dedicated and loving service to Baroda and its citizens came with passing of UWB’s guiding light Shree Indubhai Patel. He possessed a rare gift of creating and sustaining Institutions and visible results are Shram Mandir Trust, Narhari Hospital, Gujarat Nature Conservation Society, Federation Samaj Kalyan Trust and United Way of Baroda. We lost our legend on June 25 2005. He had prepared and handed over torch to next generation with his farsightedness. Now our aim is to make him proud by walking on the path he has shown us.

Under the able leadership of Mr. Atul Patel and entire UWB Board, United Way of Baroda has scaled new heights in all its areas of operations. There were number of special achievements as well as lessons learnt. The needs of our city and communities are diverse and so are projects put forward by our affiliate NGOs. At the beginning of the year a special committee had brain stormed and decided four major thrust areas i.e. Medical & Health Care, Women Empowerment, Disability and Environment for United Way of Baroda.

Even before we officially accepted to participate as a pilot in UWI’s Major Gift Initiative, UWB was entrusted with two major gifts. Shree Vishnubhai Amin and Stitching Fusion Study Foundation, Netherlands showered UWB with responsibility of implementing their dream projects.

We have continued to be the leader and support organization in the Development Sector of Baroda. Organized Resource Mobilization; be it funds, skills or volunteer hours has remained our forte. UWB’s uniqueness amongst its counterparts in other countries and India; has been its strong bond with its affiliate NGOs, partners, citizens of Baroda and all other stakeholders. Networking and Management Assistance Training have been appreciated by all.

We are entering in to twentieth year of our existence, with renewed commitment and setting up higher standard for ourselves to reach to more and more vulnerable population, empowering them to bring lasting and positive change in our city.

Projects we support…

Affiliate NGOs registered with United Way of Baroda – At a glance

Sectorwise Funds Allocations for the year 2004-2005 & 2005-2006

Funds Utilized 2005-2006

We reach to large Population through our Citywide Projects

Health & Medicare Sector: More than 10,000 citizens of Vadodara were covered under “Free screening and Detection of Diabetes, Hypertension and Heart related diseases” project. These services were carried out by eight Hospitals associated with UWB. The results are tabulated as below for the year 2005 – 2006. Total Screening 5,678 Blood Sugar 5,153 Blood Pressure 2,425 ECG 1,105 Total Expenses Rs.2,09,840

Environment Sector:

UWB has adopted Dr. Keshav Udhyan at Karelibaug and Akota Garden for maintenance work. Dr. Keshav Udhyan also received the 1st Prize for the Best Maintenance work from VMC.

The accessible features to make the gardens Barrier Free is also being incorporated by UWB.

Disability Sector:

United Way of Baroda is continuing its efforts to support cause of Barrie Free Environment and Employment of PWD.

Special Features:
• The Drinking Water facility at Akota Garden to be made accessible.
• Dr. Keshav Udhyan adopted by UWB has been working on other areas to make it a model Barrier Free Garden.
• UWB has also made one of the Toilets and the Library entirely accessible at Home for the Crippled Children with support from Shri Dinesh Foundation & Shri M. B. Patel’s Charity Trust.
• The efforts towards making public places Barrier Free continued during the entire year.

Women Empowerment Sector:

The “Bhavai” was performed in the following communities with assistance from affiliate NGOs.

A Bhavai (duration 45 minutes) has specially been scripted with inputs from all NGOs with “Female Foeticide” as the core issue. It also targets other Women Empowerment issues such as Health, Education, Economic independence etc. Each show is followed by focused group discussion with audience.
	United Way of Baroda Children Eye Clinic (Support under Larger Project) Medical Care Centre Trust runs a school vision programme with the support from UWB which has been named as United Way of Baroda Children Eye Clinic. Under this scheme they will be screening 1.8 lac school children, 8% of whom are expected to be referred for treatment and / or hospital care.

Besides Financial Assistance UWB support NGOs with Management Assistance Training Programmes…

 Ø      “Systematic Approach in Caring & Dealing for Persons With Disabilities”

More than 30 NGOs and the parents of the Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) participated in the Training Programme on “Systematic Approach in Caring & Dealing for Persons With Disabilities” on July 7, 2005 organized by United Way of Baroda.

Ms. Neeta Das helped group to understand the paradigm shift in the field of disability from ruthless institutionalization to Individual Centered Programme Planning based of positive outlook. She explained in great details, sharing her experiences interacting with PWDs in mainstream Education and Employment. She also gave presentation on “Essential Life Style Planning” of PWDs.
	Ms. Neeta Das working in New Jersey, USA who has 20 years experience working with individuals and development and mental disabilities was the resource person for the Training Programme.
• Right to Information Act, 2005: United Way of Baroda organized a Training Programme on Right to Information Act, 2005 for its affiliated NGOs. Mr. Sumant Avadhoot – Advocate practicing Law since 1989 shared the knowledge about what is Right to Information Act, 2005, its applicability, objectives etc. to more than 60 representatives.
Celebration of Vadodara Day / Week
United Way of Baroda had coordinated with more than 30 voluntary organizations for participating in the huge rally to mark Vadodara Day. Our affiliates from all the sectors who had contributed towards the growth and development of the city participated with a great enthusiasm.	Vadodara city covered with colourful balloons and the people of the city in the spirit of celebration of their beloved cultural city.
Workshop on “Action Plan for Development Sector for Coming Three Years” United Way of Baroda had organized a half day workshop on “Action Plan for Development Sector for coming three years” on 7th January, 2006 to celebrate Vadodara Day. The objective of the workshop was to bring the NGO executives and the beneficiaries on a common platform to share their views and experience, to chalk out Action Plan for coming three years.
Inauguration of the Workshop by the Vadodara Municipal Commissioner – Mr. Rohit Pathak	Prof. Dr. Mayank Dholakia emphasized the need for Collective Plan of Action to Compliment and Supplement each other’s role without falling in retrace.

The NGOs were divided into groups as per their for each sector which included Goals, Vision, Milestone Indicators and Timeline for Evaluation, Assigning Responsibilities and Contributions. The objective was to bring out conclusive summary of each sector / group.

Each groups presented their summary with recommendations for the development of the city of Vadodara and also the Action Plan in a very precise and dedicated manner

We would like to thanks our entire support group who volunteered to be the facilitator for sectorwise group discussion.

“Overview of Laws Governing Development Sector and Good Governance”

United Way of Baroda organized a Full Day Training Programme on January 24, 2006 with partial sponsorship of UTI Bank Ltd. More than 90 Voluntary Organization, Corporates and Educational Institution participated in this Training Programme.

Mr. Noshir Dadrawala involved in the field of Philanthropy and Executive Secretary at the Centre of Philanthropy was the resource person for the Training Programme who gave presentation on Income Tax Act.

Vital Role played towards Flood Relief Activities during 2005 Floods

• Coordination meeting with Participating NGOs & Local Authorities (VMC & Collectorate office) for mapping, uniformity of Services/Information & avoiding Duplication.
• Coordination of Fumigation & Disinfecting Garbage dumps for Vadodara City with support from Expert Volunteers.
• Door to Door Survey for Damage Assessment.
• Medical Camps with Free Medicines at worst Affected Areas.
• Distribution of Water Pouches, Biscuits during Flood Situation.

Survey & Distribution of Grain Kits

Distribution of Relief Materials:

• 1500 Tarpaulins (Action Aid graciously supported for 500 Units.)
• 1850 Food Grain Kits as per International Standards for a Family for 7 Days.
• 575 Utensil Kits.
• 1000 Plus School Kits.

Public Education Activities…

Inter School Essay Competition – 2005
More than 1400 students participated from 56 Gujarati Medium Schools, 18 English Medium Schools and 4 Hindi Medium Schools in the Inter School Essay Competition – 2005. This year there was a special category of the schools run for the differently able children which was included for essay competition as a part of inclusive education.
All young minds exercised their intelligence and talents responding to subjects like;

Topics for Essay Competition - 2005

United Way of Baroda Rotating Shield for the year 2005:

“Sambandh” Newsletter and other Publications:

• The Newsletter “Sambandh” featured the activities of United Way of Baroda and also the news from Voluntary Organizations.
• “Empowering Baroda” – A Space Marketing feature, a special four page colour feature was published in the “Indian Express” in February, 2006.
 

The Feature was very well appreciated by all well wishers.

United Way Mela – 2006
Theme: Empowering Baroda

The United Way Mela – 2006 organized from 4th to 6th February, 2006 has an overwhelming participation of 110 UWB Affiliate NGOs and Seven Government Welfare Organizations. In addition Vadodara Municipal Corporation Participated with Campaign of Clean and Green Baroda and Exhibition of Traffic Awareness from the Traffic Department. The puppet show, the on going cultural stage programmes on social issues, Cartoon Characters, Games Zone and Month Watering food items made it a must visit event for all Barodians.

Resource Mobilization Activities…

18th Annual Resource Mobilization Event Navratri – 2005 was vibrant, colorful and immensely successful with active Participation of Donors, Sponsors, Food Stalls holders and Resource Mobilization Committee Members. After initial slow response due to looming rains and restriction of Garba timings; Fund Raising Activity was quite successful.

The event received wide coverage in print and Electronic Media; National – International and Local Channels.

Two Way Benefit Card & Gold Card Scheme:

Appreciating Volunteers:

Awards were given to Twelve Members from Resource Mobilization Committee for their Outstanding Contribution towards the Resource Mobilization which is listed as under.

Name of Member
1.      Mr. Dhirubhai Patel	2.      Mr. Pinakin Shah
3.      Mrs. Geeta Goradia	4.      Mr. Dhaval Patel
5.      Mr. Dushyant Patel	6.      Mrs. Anuradha Gupta
7.      Mr. Minesh Patel	8.      Mr. Ravi Jain	Mr. Pinakin Shah received award for his outstanding contribution.
9.      Mrs. Tinoo Chawla	10.  Mr. Abhishek Gangwal
11.  Mr. Pankaj Choksi	12.  Mr. Karan Grover

Mr. Karan Grover also received the award for his outstanding contribution and scintillating décor for United Way Mela held since last five years.

Goodwill Ambassador: Mr. Irfan Pathan has graciously accepted to be our Goodwill Ambassador and has agreed to support the noble cause in following manner.

• Be present and endorse major Fund Raising drives of United Way of Baroda.
• Endorse support for specific areas where United Way of Baroda is active through its Public Awareness Campaign or assisted services such as Prevention of HIV/AIDS, drive against Female Foeticide & Women Empowerment, Clean & Green Baroda etc.
• In specific instances like natural calamities such as Earthquake, Floods etc where United Way of Baroda is always active; help United Way team to raise funds for Relief and Rehabilitation Activities.

Fusion Study Foundation:

• Stitching Fusion Study Foundation – Netherlands has selected UWB for awarding Scholarships to brightest minds with very little resources from Gujarat and Rajasthan.

• Two rounds of applications, especially in vernacular languages resulted in good response. 165 applications were received from far away places from both rural and urban areas.

Criteria considered for the scrutiny of applications:
 

• Students having 70% and more in 10th and 12th Standards. Few applications with proper justification of the essay have also been considered of the students having 67% and more. Some of the students who have done Diploma in Engineering and wanting to pursue higher studies in Degree Engineering have been considered.

• Total 46 students were called for interview on 3rd and 4th April, 2006 was Ms. Linda van der Wijk and UWB – FSF Committee interviewed them for final screening.

Participation in UWI Conferences and Trainings:

UWI’S Asia Pacific Conference:

Ms. Sushama Oza participated in UWI’s Asia Pacific Regional Conferences at Beijing, China during June 8th-11th 2005. It was quite an enriching experience in terms of knowledge/ experience sharing. Workshop on Gifts In Kind, sessions on Donor Advised Giving, Major Gift programme, Outcome Measurement Challenges, Writing and presenting Business Proposals to donors were very informative.
 

In workshop titled ‘Help Your Neighbour’ she presented ‘United Way Mela- Unique NGO Fair’. It was acclaimed as one of the ‘best practice’ shared with the group.
 

A session on ‘Asian Tsunami Response’ was very touching and informative.
 

Major Gift Initiative Training:

The training was held at UWI headquarter, Alexandria, Virginia, USA during first week of March 2006. All representatives from all pilots were invited to attend training with local United Ways. It was a sponsored training. Full day training was scheduled to gain insight into the importance of Cross Boarder Giving.
 

Besides invaluable lessons on the subject, we could experience very positive impact in changing views about Cross Boarder Giving and relationship between UWI and UWA & its members.
 

United way of Baroda has selected Mr. Minesh Patel to lead Major Gift Efforts in Baroda.
 

The objective of the training was to learn basic definition, components of Major Giving and Planned Giving.