Project Execution

The need for this project arose, according to Meenakshi, due to the lack of technical administrative knowledge that the team at Sankalp has. While they have always been focused on the quality of education the students are receiving - ensuring the teaching methodologies and resources are functional and beneficial, she felt the team was not able to accurately showcase the hard work being carried out by the organization. Though the team always tried to keep their reports updated, they often found it difficult to retrieve the necessary data and represent it in an appropriate format when reaching out to donors or volunteers. Thus, Meenakshi wanted to come up with a way to represent information about Sankalp’s work, impact and reach in an organized manner by creating templates for various reports. 

From the project kick-off itself, Meenakshi was impressed with the enthusiasm the volunteers displayed to work on the project. At the first meeting itself they have already shown their background research on special schools. The volunteers were also very understanding of the NGO’s external responsibilities, and flexible when it came to scheduling all their meetings. Similarly, both Anuradha and Balashankar appreciated the NGO’s drive and commitment to the project. 

The initial meetings were spent understanding the work undertaken by the NGO and what their needs were. After analysing the NGOs past reports, the volunteers realised that most of these reports were being created on an adhoc basis - as and when the need for them arised. The organisation had no standard reporting format, which made it difficult for the team to collect necessary data when there was an urgent requirement.  It was decided that this project would focus more on creating multiple templates, so Sankalp could be more effective in the future. 

In total, they identified 6 types of reports the NGO may need to create, including an annual report template, grant application template and a CSR report. Once they had created the project plan, the volunteers found it easy to divide the work, and started working on separate templates, which they would get reviewed first by each other and then by the NGO. They would then make edits as per Meenakshi’s suggestions before finalizing the templates. 

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Challenges faced

“Initially, we didn’t know if we were on the right track,” says Anuradha, despite having a successful kickoff meeting.  “For the first two weeks, responses were slow. We had the data, but did not know if we were going in the right direction. We needed that assurance from the NGO.” However, within the first month, they were able to re-establish proper communication with the organization, and to their relief found out that the NGO was very happy with the work they had done so far. 

For Balashankar and Meenakshi, the challenges were more related to time allocation and management.  Balashankar’s day to day tasks used to spill over to the weekends,  and there were a couple of weeks when there was critical work deliverable and he found it difficult to dedicate the time to spend on the project. “I wondered if I should pull out”, he states.  Then I took a pause and reflected. If I am already a part of this project, I don't leave it hanging.”  The NGO’s dedication to the work they do and the support they provided kept him motivated to follow through and ensure successful project completion. 

Similarly, being a mother to a young child and a part time member of Sankalp Trust, Meenakshi also sometimes found it taxing, dedicating the necessary time to the project.  “Working on weekends was challenging,” she mentions, “however, we also connected on whatsapp. They were very approachable, they came from a space where they really wanted to help. The cause we are serving is very important to me, and I was very grateful to have help from someone as passionate.”