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Concept Paper

1. Introduction

With over 160,000 Nepalis living in the US as per the findings of the Census Committee of NRN NCC of USA, America has one of the largest Nepali communities among the developed countries. And, with approximately 15,000 General Members and 500 Life Members, NRN NCC of USA is the largest national chapter among 77 national chapters of NRNA. In such a big community, common NRNs are facing a wide variety of issues from becoming victims of violence to losing status and from meeting fatal accidents to facing untimely deaths of family members. As immigrants, we are facing a lot of issues daily and natural disasters occasionally such as Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida that displaced significant number of Americans including many Nepali Americans. Inpidually we have a lot of successful people in different fields whose perse skills and expertise can be used to help fellow Nepalis in need and uplift the whole community. Until now, such resources are largely untapped. And, NRNA USA aims to change this. By utilizing the vast network of NRNA USA, NRN Helpdesk aims to realize the true potential of our ability to help each other.

NRN Helpdesk aims to work with NRN State Chapters in the states with State Chapters who will be encouraged to involve representatives from other organization as well as other important social activists and with Focal person or local Nepali organizations in the states without NRN Chapters. NRNA USA plans to establish an initial “Helpdesk” in all NRN states focusing the needs and issues of the NRNs of the respective states. A central committee will coordinate with those Helpdesks. Together, we plan to build a better and stronger community under the umbrella of NRNA USA.

2. Mission

To help Nepalis in need anywhere in the US with available resources, time, and manpower

3. Vision

We aim to build a stronger, more prosperous, and more cohesive Nepali Community in America under the umbrella of NRNA USA by utilizing the vast resources and network of NRNs to help NRNs in need.

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4. Goals

• To provide emergency as well as non-emergency helps to common NRNs in need

• To leverage the network, skills, and expertise of NRNs for the good of NRNs

• To engage NRN State Chapters in implementing this flagship program of NRNA USA and build a strong and positive brand image of NRNA USA among local Nepali communities

• To engage local Nepali organizations as well and build a good collaboration with NRN State Chapters and NRNA USA National Board through this program

5. Scope

1. In Scope

Short-term (6 months)

• Initially, the program will be implemented in states with NRN State Chapters, i.e. 20 states.

• General “facilitation” services will be provided, mostly directing people to the right resources.

• Only non-emergency issues will be handled.

• A “Helpline” with a toll-free number will be installed to report non-emergency issues.

Long-term (6 months+)

• The program will be implemented in 30 or more states attempting to cover all states of the US.

• Educational, informative, and interactive workshops and events may be organized for awareness and preventive measures as well as to inform people of the resources available in need.

• “Helpline” will be converted to 24X7 “Hotline” to report issues programmed with automatic responses when applicable.

• Legal, medical, academic, and professional facilitation services will be facilitated through appropriate units and institutions.

2. Out of Scope

Anything not mentioned in Article 5.1 will be out-of-scope. Some of the major out-of-scope things are listed below.

• NRNA Helpdesk is a committee of NRNA USA without any fund and bank account of itself. It can’t provide any donation from the committee. (It can however raise fund for some specific events/causes as well as provide platform to gather financial support for genuine causes via social media or other channels.)

• No Direct emergency help is provided. Callers will have to dial #911.

6. Structure

NRNA USA is an idea whose time has come. We plan to make it agile and highly effective in addressing the issues of common NRNs. It should be promptly responsive as much as possible to issues reported for which we plan to leverage modern tools and technologies. And, the structure should support his goal. We plan to have a two-layer structure – a central committee and multiple state committees. The tenure of the committees and subcommittees will be 2 years.

1. Central Committee

The central committee shall consist of minimum 7 to maximum 15 members as follows.

• Chairperson – 1

• Co-Chairperson - 1

• Member Secretary – 1

• Members – up to 12 (at least 1 from each region)

      The general roles and responsibilities of Central Committee shall be as follows.

• To coordinate with and support state committees

• To draft the guidelines and ensure their compliance by all state committees

• To create the annual calendar of events

• To create short-term and long-term plan of actions and implement them through state committees

• To get feedbacks from state committees in all above tasks

2. State Committees

The state committee shall consist of maximum 21 members based on the size of the population and the needs of the state. A state committee may be pided into sub-committees to cater to the needs of cities or areas with large Nepali populations within a state such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego in California. NRNA USA State Chapters will coordinate the activities of the State Helpdesks (State Committees) in states with NRN State Chapters. In doing so, NRN State Chapters should coordinate and collaborate with local Nepali organizations in the spirit of Sub-articles 68 (b) and 68 (c) under Article III (State Chapter) of the Bylaws of NRNA USA. The President or some other member from the Board of NRN State Chapter shall the State Helpdesk Coordinator in states with NRN State Chapters.

• State Coordinator – 1

• State Secretary – 1

• Members – maximum 19 (can be City/Area Coordinators)

The general roles and responsibilities of Central Committee shall be as follows.

• To organize educational, informative, and interactive events for awareness and preventive measures for various issues faced by the community people

• To provide support to the victims by facilitating connection with the right resources (professionals, experts, and organizations)

• To support NRN Helpline by receiving calls and acting on the requests for help

• To maintain documentation of the activities of State Helpdesk

• To work with Central Committee in aligning the activities of respective State Helpdesks to meet the goals of NRNA USA Helpdesk

3. Logical Diagram (Example only)

7. Roles and Responsibilities

1. Central Committee Officers and Members

The roles and responsibilities of the officers and members of the Central Committee (CC) are as follow.

7.1.1 Chair

1. The Chair shall convene and preside on meetings. In case of his/her absence, s/he will delegate that responsibility to Co-Chair, and if Co-Chair is not available, to Member Secretary, and if Member Secretary is also not available, to any other CC member.

2. S/he shall ensure the roles, responsibilities, and actual activities of the members are in compliance with the Bylaws of NRNA USA.

3. S/he shall make the committee members aware of their roles and responsibilities and ensure fulfilment of them.

4. S/he is the primary liaison between the NCC USA Board and NRNA USA Helpdesk.

5. S/he shall submit various reports to the NRNA USA Board as required.

6. S/he shall coordinate the activities between central committee and state committees.

7. S/he shall sign any official documents that represent the committee decisions without which the document is considered invalid.

8. S/he shall pide the tasks among CC members and State Coordinators and get the status updates and Progress Reports.

7.1.2 Co-Chair

1. The Co-Chair shall act as the Interim Chair in absence of the Chair and execute his/her roles and responsibilities in his/her absence as delegated and approved by the Chair.

2. S/he shall convene and preside on meetings in the Chair’s absence. In case s/he can’t do it after taking up the responsibility, s/he will delegate that responsibility to Member Secretary and if Member Secretary can’t do it, to any other CC member.

3. S/he shall help the Chair to ensure the roles, responsibilities, and actual activities of the members are in compliance with the Bylaws of NRNA USA.

4. S/he shall help the Chair to make the committee members aware of their roles and responsibilities and ensure fulfilment of them.

5. S/he shall help the Chair to submit various reports to the NRNA USA Board as required.

6. S/he shall help the Chair to coordinate the activities between central committee and state committees.

7. S/he shall follow up on the status of the tasks pided among CC members and State Coordinators as delegated by the Chair, maintain Tasks Log, update the statuses of the assigned tasks, and also maintain Progress Reports.

8. S/he shall submit the Tasks Log and Progress Reports to the Chair and review them with the Chair.

7.1.3 Member Secretary

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1. The Member Secretary shall schedule meetings as directed by the Chair and communicate the agenda to all the committee members before the meeting.

2. S/he shall create minutes of the meetings and distribute them to all the members.

3. S/he shall draft various reports and other documents as directed by the Chair.

4. S/he shall ensure that accurate and sufficient documentation exists to meet legal and procedural requirements and maintain the records of such documentation.

5. S/he shall act as Spokesperson for the committee. S/he shall handle the official communication approved by the Chair and endorsed by the committee. It includes communicating Press Releases to the media.

6. Member Secretary will automatically be an Admin for communication mechanism of Help Desk Central Committee i.e, Viber group, blogs, email group, web site or any communication media.

7.1.4 Member

1. A member shall attend all committee meetings in good faith barring circumstances that prevent her/him from doing so.

2. S/he shall actively participate in the meetings putting forth her/his opinions on the agenda of the meeting.

3. S/he shall go through and always be knowledgeable of important documents (including Concept Paper and any Policy documents) and committee decisions.

4. S/he shall coordinate and work closely with State Coordinators in states of his/her region in implementing plans, policies, programs, and activities passed by the Central Committee in those states.

5. S/he shall take up any roles and responsibilities delegated by the Chair and endorsed by the Central Committee and execute them with good faith.

8. S/he shall actively engage in building State Committees (State Helpdesks).

9. She shall maintain committee discipline and follow codes of conduct endorsed by the committee at all times.

2. State Committee Officers and Members

The roles and responsibilities of the officers and members of the State Committee (SC) are as follows.

1. State Coordinator

1. The State Coordinator shall convene and preside on all State Committee meetings. In case of his/her absence, s/he will delegate that responsibility to State Secretary and if State Secretary is also not available, to any other SC member.

2. S/he shall ensure the roles, responsibilities, and actual activities of the SC members are in compliance with the Bylaws of NRNA USA.

3. S/he shall make the SC members aware of their roles and responsibilities and ensure fulfilment of them.

4. S/he is the primary liaison between the State Committee (SC) and the Central Committee (CC).

5. S/he shall submit various reports with regards to the State Helpdesk activities to the Central Committee (CC) as required.

6. S/he shall sign any official documents that represent the SC decisions without which the document is considered invalid.

7. S/he shall work with other State Committee Coordinators in organizing joint/partnership events and activities.

8. S/he shall work with all major local Nepali organizations in the state to implement State Helpdesk programs and activities.

9. S/he shall work with other non-Nepali organizations to organize events that help Nepali community.

2. State Secretary

1. The State Secretary shall schedule meetings as directed by the Chair and communicate the agenda to all the committee members before the meeting.

2. S/he shall create minutes of the meetings and distribute them to all the members.

3. S/he shall draft various reports and other documents as directed by the State Coordinator.

4. S/he shall ensure that accurate and sufficient documentation exists to meet legal and procedural requirements, if any, and maintain the records of such documentation.

5. S/he shall act as Spokesperson for the committee. S/he shall handle the official communication approved by the State Coordinator and endorsed by the committee. It includes communicating Press Releases to the media.

3. Member

1. A member shall attend all committee meetings in good faith barring circumstances that prevent her/him from doing so.

2. S/he shall actively participate in the meetings putting forth her/his opinions on the agenda of the meeting.

3. S/he shall go through and always be knowledgeable of important documents (including Concept Paper and any Policy documents) and committee decisions.

4. S/he shall take up any roles and responsibilities delegated by the State Coordinator and endorsed by the State Committee and execute them with good faith.

5. She shall maintain committee discipline and follow codes of conduct of the committee at all times.

6. S/she shall support NRN Helpline by receiving calls and acting on the requests for help.

7. S/he shall communicate the issues reported by the callers with the committee via group email/text/Viber and provide status update on the progress in the same group messaging chain.

9.0 Mandate

As per the mandate of NRN NCC USA, the Chair of NRN USA Help Desk Central Committee may make any appropriate decisions towards adjusting or reshuffling Central Committee, Sub-Committees, giving special assignments to committee members, issuing incentives and memos to Help Desk personnel respecting spirit of Help Desk team members and NRN bylaws rules and regulations for the wellbeing of NRNA and general public.