Two
years ago, Swedish national Kerstin Bohman was working deep
in the jungles of Indonesia as part of a university research
team. Living was basic. She stayed with local villagers and
spent her time studying causes of deforestation and how it affected
the environment and the livelihoods of farming communities.
Today she is sitting in a room surrounded by a group of women
from Thirukkovil in Sri Lanka’s eastern district of Ampara.
The room is quiet as local Red Cross staff carefully explain
details of a new livelihoods project under way in the community.
Kerstin is the driving force behind the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ post-tsunami
livelihoods programme in Ampara District. “I volunteered
with the Swedish Red Cross in 2006 to possibly go back to Indonesia
and help on their tsunami operation. Instead, I was sent to
Sri Lanka,” she recalls.
“In a way the work is similar. It involves working with
people in rural and developing areas - understanding their constraints
and options for their daily life – how they use available
natural and other resources. Livelihoods should be suitable
to the environment and the community. Only then can they be
sustainable.” she adds.
The assembled women start to explain their current situations
through a translator and talk about their hopes for the future.
Some work in the fields helping with the paddy harvest, others
rear poultry, others work as seamstresses. “I wake up
at four every morning to travel on foot and then by bus to Akkaraipattu,
several kilometres away, where I cut grass for cattle or help
in the harvest of paddy,” explains S. Rajeswari. “I
hope to learn how to manage a small business and set up a small
shop close to home. Then I can also look after my two daughters,”
she says.
Another member of the group, K Rasanayaki, talks about how her
skills as a seamstress support her four children. “I hope
that what I learn from the Red Cross project will help me and
other women in the village get together and set up a small business
where we can buy cloth, sew clothes and sell them,” she
says.
Kerstin listens intently, interjecting with the occasional question,
before explaining how the success of the proposed livelihoods
project will depend upon community participation. The programme
planned for this particular village in Thirukkovil aims to train
community members, mostly women, in how to establish home based
businesses, market products and improve production skills.
The Red Cross will partner with the British NGO Practical Action
to help villagers identify needs and potential markets. A Community
Based Business Resource Centre will also be established, enabling
community members to support each other as they set up and build
new commercial endeavours.
“The aim is to empower families and communities to regain
lost livelihoods or improve and diversify on what they already
do,” explains Kerstin.
An hour’s drive away and Kerstin sits down again with
Red Cross colleagues and members of a fishery cooperative to
discuss a project being implemented in the village of Ninthavur.
Here, the Red Cross is providing funding to the 40-member cooperative
and will assist them to set up a small shop where both members
and other fishermen from the area can purchase fuel, nets and
other items at low cost. The scheme will mean that they will
no longer have to pay exorbitant travel costs or pay inflated
prices with local traders in order to get the materials they
need to earn a living.
As a collective the fishermen will purchase supplies in bulk
at cheaper prices than would be the case if bought individually.
The items can then be sold with a small mark-up, which will
go towards the running and upkeep of the shop, as well as to
small loans to cooperative members to purchase fuel, nets and
fishing tackle.
When the tsunami struck, the fishermen lost thousands of dollars
worth of fishing boats, nets, engines and equipment. Some of
this has been replaced under a government funding programme
but these short term loans will help members purchase other
equipment or provisions needed to conduct day to day fishing
activities.
According to Kirsten Bohman, listening to the communities needs
is vital before the finer details of the livelihoods projects
are worked out. “The discussions we are having with the
villagers in Thirukkovil and fishermen in Ninthavur ensure that
the people who will ultimately benefit from such programmes
are being involved in their planning and implementation right
from the start.”
|
 |
 |
|
|
As
part of its post-tsunami livelihoods programme, the International
Federation is supporting this fishing cooperative in the
district of Ampara to set up a small shop where both members
and other fishermen from the area can purchase subsidised
fuel, nets and other items . The scheme will mean that
they will no longer have to pay exorbitant travel costs
or pay inflated prices with local traders in order to
get the materials they need to earn a living. (p15293)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
"My
work involves working with people in rural and developing
areas - understanding their constraints and options for
their daily life – how they use available natural
and other resources," explains Kerstin Bohma, head
of the International Federation's livelihood programme
in the Sri Lankan district of Ampara. "Livelihoods
should be suitable to the environment and the community.
Only then can they be sustainable.” she adds. (p15294)
|
|
News
