[edit] GUEST SPEAKERS

Zankhana Patel, Program Manager, Project Monitoring for Vibha in India will be one of the guest speakers for the conference. She currently:

• Visits projects that are being evaluated for funding by Vibha and those that have been funded.
• Provides monitoring reports after observing the project activities in progress, inetracting with the beneficiaries ,staff and other stakeholders.
• Developes and streamlines procedures for monitoring and capacity building, advising
• Guides other project monitors in aspects of monitoring and report generation.

Her conference notes and speaking agenda will be posted as the conference nears.

Her past experiences are available here: Zankhana Patel's bio

Jatinder Arora started as a Journalist for the Rajasthan Patrika and Times of India before founding Prayas in 1994. The organization provides special education and vocational training to children ages 3-15 with mental disabilities and children from socially deprived backgrounds. In April 2004, Prayas organized a workshop on the PWD Act and National Trust Act for the welfare of mental retardation, multiple disabilities, autism and cerebral palsy which analyzed and critiqued the Acts. In May 2005, Prayas organized the first ever Disability Fair in the state of Rajasthan, during which the Cabinet minister Mrs. Meira Kumar addressed the people and issued 350 Disability passes. Prayas has also helped to activate schools, advocacy for birth certificates, disability certificates and water problems for the community and children.

Her resume is also available here: Jatinder Arora's bio

E.S. Ramamurthy is the founding member of Sikshana. The program is aimed at improving the quality of education in the public school system at the primary level, with the goal of evolving a sustainable and replicable model through adoption of modern management concepts and techniques. Working from within the system and building on its strengths and circumventing its weaknesses, the program has been making significant progress since its inception. Sikshana covers presently 46 schools with more than 10,000 kids. Plans are on the anvil to increase the coverage to more schools so as to get statistical validation of the results obtained in the first phase. Details on the program are available under the web site www.sikshana.org.

His brief bio is also available here: E.S. Ramamurthy's bio

[edit] CONFERENCE THEME & AGENDA

Please note that the agenda is subject to change. If you have registered for the conference, we will also update any future changes via email.

Friday, 1st June 2007

Informal Session Begins at 7pm. Topic: Volunteer Perspective on Future Direction & Top five achievements & Challenges at Vibha.

Venue: club house in apartment complex at: 4849 Frankford Road, Dallas, TX - 75287.

Saturday, 2nd June 2007

Venue: 100, Nedderman Hall (Engineering Building) , The University of Texas at Arlington, 416 Yates Street, Arlington, Texas - 76010.

Saturday, 2nd June 2007

Evening Informal Session Begins at 7pm. Ice Breaker & Fun Activities.

Venue: club house in apartment complex at: 4849 Frankford Road, Dallas, TX - 75287.

Sunday, 3rd June 2007

Venue: 100, Nedderman Hall (Engineering Building) , The University of Texas at Arlington, 416 Yates Street, Arlington, Texas - 76010.

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               - Dallas