Goals and Objectives

The aim of the Reaching and Educating At-risk Children (REACH) in India project is to attract and retain disadvantaged children in quality educational programs by strengthening the capacity of Indian NGOs
in selected urban and rural areas. The project complements the Government of India’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), or the program for Universal Elementary Education (UEE).

A key concern of the project is to overcome constraints to the participation of girls in education, both in- and out-of-school. The first facet of the implementation approach is to improve service delivery of
a core group of NGOs while the second facet supports the efforts of established NGOs to build the capacity of smaller and less experienced NGOs to provide basic education services to vulnerable children.

The project will provide grants (totaling US $11.2 million over the project period i.e., 2003-2007) and technical assistance to NGOs that provide educational services to address the basic education needs of
at-risk children -- defined for this purpose as children (especially girls), between the ages of four and 14 years of age, who are either out of school or are in school but in danger of dropping out.

REACH India believes NGOs are a powerful vehicle to realize the dream of education for all. The project will encourage innovations in NGO delivery of educational services to vulnerable children, especially girls, seek out and recognize NGOs and foundations doing outstanding work and provide resources for the expansion and replication of good practises.

REACH India aims to achieve its goals by:

	Promoting improved and expanded delivery of educational interventions to disadvantaged children through grants to NGOs for Direct Service Delivery.
	Providing grants to established NGOs to develop the capacities of smaller, less experienced NGOs to deliver direct educational services and thus, help the smaller NGOs improve and scale up programs.
	Establishing and strengthening local NGO networks to achieve outreach and advocacy goals of the REACH India program.
	Engaging the government education sector.
	Conducting monitoring and evaluation through multiple approaches.
	Disseminating and promoting the adoption of good practices within the NGO and educational communities.

Approach and Strategies

This project isn't just about providing funds to NGOs. In fact, the project's richness lies in its scope; by weaving together various strands of activities targeted at multiple stakeholders, REACH India ultimately hopes to create a tapestry of opportunities for the disadvantaged child.

The goal of the project is to improve access, enrolment and retention of at-risk children in schools by working closely with the Government structure to address its needs and supporting NGOs to fill in the gaps through complementary programs that meet SSA goals. The means of achieving this are varied but leading to one common result: the increased participation of vulnerable children in educational programs.

Guiding principles of the project include:

	Engaging partner NGOs in an organizational development approach to capacity building with the recognition that organizational development is a collaboratively planned process of change in an organization.
	Working with government educational agencies and broader educational schemes. This collaboration will encourage greater (and much needed) complementarity between the goals of NGO educational interventions, including Full Alternative Educational programs, and Government's goals of UEE; promote increased leveraging of resources; and provide training for Government educational personnel.
	Contributing to the development of NGO networks and forums at the state, district and town level that will help bring issues related to elementary education to the forefront of development work. Networks will be established in each of the geographic areas where REACH will focus its attention as well as across the program areas, thus linking activities in geographic areas that might not otherwise have the opportunity to interact. Government agencies and the private sector will be included in each network in an effort to build public private partnerships to broaden local commitment to expanding educational opportunities for vulnerable children.
	Tying a large number of partner NGO interventions in elementary education to a shared Results Framework. These activities will be linked to action research that captures the common vision of REACH India stakeholders and provides data for advocacy and policy work.
	Developing research and policy agendas in each and across all geographic areas where REACH India will work and promoting the active dissemination of good practices through multiple channels. Action research activities will be designed to provide critical information for use in shaping and informing program implementation in an effort to make education work better at the local level. Research results will also be used to frame policy enabling statements related to educational programs for vulnerable children.

Linking partner NGOs to a shared Results Framework enables this project to become a sum that is greater than its parts. Each partner develops plans for action research activities that support their respective program efforts as well as the overall 'cause' of education for vulnerable children. Each partner prepares strategies for engaging the government sector and a gamut of stakeholders in activities and the development of networks that advocate for increased resources for the education of vulnerable children. In short, all partners play a role in creating an identity for the REACH India project and commit themselves to increased and improved educational service delivery to vulnerable children.

The project will function from the ground up, bringing education to
at-risk children through district-, city- and town-level networks of organizations that target such children. It is expected that all REACH India grantees will collaborate with and strengthen grassroots, community-based groups or organizations.

While the project will engage the NGO sector in myriad ways, it will do so with a unity of purpose: the direct and indirect outcome of the REACH India project is the delivery of educational services to vulnerable out-of-school (and vulnerable in-school) children. The essential measure of that outcome will be the numbers of children, especially girls, to have received these services.

Geographic Focus

Geographically, the goal of REACH India is to have impact on vulnerable children in urban mega-cities and in poor rural districts. The six geographic areas - Delhi, Jharkhand, Kolkata, Chhattisgarh, Mumbai and Northern Karnataka -- were chosen using the following criteria:

	Areas where there are large numbers of child-workers, wide gender disparities, high trafficking rates and/or large numbers of educationally deprived children.
	Cooperation and receptivity of state and local education sector officials regarding NGO sponsored activities.
	Performance and credibility of NGOs that function within a given area.
	Potential synergy with other USAID funded activities within a given area, e.g., health, community development, urban development.