SUMMARY
OF 95th MEETING OF SUSILA DHARMA (BRITAIN)
The
Board were happy with the way things went at Congress, and wish to
thank all those who supported SD(B) in various ways. The total
benefit to our coffers was about £1,000, but just as encouraging was
the interest and support shown by many members.
TSLICK.
Our application to the Big Lottery Fund (new name!) has passed the
first hurdle, but there is a list of questions from BLF which need to
be satisfactorily answered before we can hope for success. Lorna
and Sachlan with help from Hamid Kennedy will work on this.
Asociacion
Vivir. SD(B) had offered $1,000 towards the cost of an
assistant for Eliana Garzon, but the funds required had been found by
other SDs. SD(B) has been asked to set this sum aside towards
future expenses at Asoc. Vivir.
Mithra.
Some UK members had visited the school, and Ibu Rahayu had laid the
foundation stone of the new primary school, which will enable the
school to grow up to Year 8 eventually. The school building has
been funded by SD Germany, but SD(B) has taken responsibility for much
of the day-to-day expenses of the school. Obviously, more funds
will be needed the bigger the school grows.
SRADHA.
(Society for Research and Development of Human Abilities). This
is the former Bellur project. It includes women’s micro-credit
groups, vocational training, training for farmers in permaculture and
organic farming, and literacy for women. SD(B) has received a new
application for funding to extend the project to cover 3 villages.
Much work has been done to expand the management of the project, and it
will be considered for funding at our next meeting.
ICDP.
It was agreed to send the remaining $5,000 needed to complete funding
for the second phase of the programme in Nariño, Colombia.
Lailah has been asked to organise and train personnel to enable UNICEF
to extend the programme into 3 new areas of Colombia next year.
The
Board discussed ways in which people could support the work of SD,
without necessarily being Board members. We made a short list as
follows :
-
News co-ordinator.
-
Administrative assistant (thank you letters etc.)
-
Fundraiser/Researcher.
-
Link with BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development)/networking.
-
Link with SICA.
-
Link with each Region.
Anyone who feels attracted to any of these roles – please get in
touch !
Sjarifah
has offered to support Amalia Dickie (one of SDIA’s UN links) at an
International Conference and Peace Festival in Edinburgh next February.
The
Board welcomed Hamid Kennedy to our meeting. We have two other
potential new members to the Board.
Next
meeting. This will be on 11/12 December at Loudwater.