Hello,

Thank you for taking out time to read this.

I am Monalisa Barman and I come from Tura, a small town of Meghalaya. This is an appeal to help me pursue my Master’s in Public Administration at Columbia University (USA).

I belong to a minority tribe in Meghalaya. Although a matriarchal tribe, women in my tribe have lagged in education due to social, cultural, and economic reasons. I am probably the first woman from my tribe who would step out of this country to pursue higher education. To leverage this opportunity would mean paving a pathway for many like me who could use education as the means to break the wheel.

Studying abroad is expensive, I can’t entirely afford it with my father’s retirement savings or my social work background. This is a vicious cycle – can only those who afford it, deserve it?

I have been a meritorious student. I have studied BA.LLB and later went to Tata Institute of Social Sciences to study social work specializing in Dalit & Tribal action. After my post-graduation I’ve worked in human rights-based organizations and did the following:

• Researched on the tea plantation workers on taboos related to abortion and created an advocacy group to translate my research into action
• Researched in Nagaland, Orissa, Assam, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and various other states on reproductive rights for women and helped draft petitions with the lawyers from the said State High Courts to get justice for the women who faced violations
• Researched various witch-hunting cases across India and advocated through legal ways to punish the offenders
• Have undertaken legal human rights training across the country and have voluntarily conducted several training programs on women rights with women and youth groups in my tribe
• Worked on Northeastern trafficking cases in Delhi for their rescue and rehabilitation

With my legal expertise and social sciences knowledge in the field, an advanced public policy degree will unlock so many opportunities to aid thousands of other SC/ST women to achieve education and health facilities especially in the northeastern part of the country.

Your contribution will be of great help to me. In advance, I sincerely thank you for spreading this campaign through your personal and professional networks. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at monalisa.kle@gmail.com, as I would like to be as transparent as possible with this campaign and its funding request!

Fees & Living Expenses:
The Whole Costing Structure is provided from the University
Course fee and Admission deposit = 66,580 USD equivalent to Rs. 48,80,048 approx.
Heath Insurance Fee = 1,270 USD for one year (Rs. 93,162 approx.)
Living expenses = 25,200 USD (Rs. 18,48,936 approx. )
Emergency expenses incl. rent insurance: 2,400 USD(Rs. 1,76,989 approx.)
Total = 95,450 USD (Rs. 70,81,966 approx.)