Centre for Women’s Development and Research

Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls

Update – February 2012

The important event during this period is the ‘Thane’ cyclone that hit Tamilnadu and Pondicherry on 30^th December 2011.  33 people dies and thousands if people lost their homes and livelihood sources like trees and crops.  Our working area is not affected much only the nearby Pondicherry and Cuddalore district was affected.   But our building in Panaiyur centre was damaged further, in our last report we mentioned about the condition of the roofs that is made of grass (Vizhal in Tamil), branches of the two jack fruit trees in the campus was also broken by the cyclone.    All this affected our computer skill training programmes  for adolescent girls and entrepreneurship skill women, these trainings are conducted in the campus.  Otherwise we have been continuing our activities as usual.  We have been continuing our life skill and sexuality education for adolescent girls and  education programmes for women.

Life Skill and Sexuality Education Workshops for adolescents:   We have been continuing our life skill, sexuality and vocational skill trainings for adolescent girls.  During the last 4 months we have organized 12 weekend workshops, and nearly 65 adolescent girls and 18 boys participated in these workshops.   During this period we have also distributed scholarships for 30 girls who are daughters of single women.  One of the encouraging aspect of single women are all most all them wants to provide a good education for their children particularly girl children. 

Mr.Bala from Singapore distributes the scholarship

We have selected 30 girls from class 8^th to 11^th and distributed Rs.1000 each as an incentive, to encourage them to continue their education.  Most of the girls drop out when they reach puberty that is usually when they reach 8^th standard, or drop out when they fail in their 10^th standard board examination.  Actually in the coming years we are planning to initiate project g2g-Girls to Graduates and make 1000 girls from 10^th standard complete their university degree.  In the city area we are continuing our netball programme. It is really encouraging for us, to see girls playing, so we have decided to extend it to our rural area also.   We are also continuing our sexuality education programme in schools during this period we have organised in 3 schools and more than 200 girls benefited from this programme.   Our computer skill training helped 45 girls during this period.  The new state government had promised free laptops for students studying in 12^th standard in government schools.  This would help the girls who are trained in our centres. 

Life skill Sexuality education programme in Chennai city

Since most of the girls in rural area have already attended our lifeskill and sexuality education we have made some changes in the follow up training.  To motivate adolescent girls in their village development we have organised training programmes on making village development plans.  Initially we have trained 25 girls from Paniyur area.  In that 3 days trainings they learned the planning skills, they also developed a questionnaire to take survey in the villages.  They are in the process of making village profiles.  The idea is to create village development plans particularly to improve the health and education of children.

During this period we have also organised one week training on street plays, songs and dance.  The trained girls were involved in the 16 days activism to eliminate violence against women.  The campaign was organised from 25^th November, the international day against violence against women and ended on 10^th December the International Human Rights day.  The girls performed street plays, distributed documents to educate public about the importance of eliminating violence against women.  In 16 days they organised the programme in 32 places and more than 10,000 people participated in these events.

Education and Income Generation programme for Women:   During this period we have organised 3 days training on plastic and palm leaf bag and mat making training.  20 women participated in that training.  We are also continuing our entrepreneurship skill training for women.  18 single women participated in that programme.  During this period we have appointed a horticulturist to introduce kitchen garden, backyard poultry, livestock rearing, to the women to increase their income.  This would also help them to improve their nutrition.  We are also organizing regular village level meetings for women.  Nearly 150 women participated in these meetings.    

Palm leaf product making training

As mentioned in our previous report and in the present report we need at least US$ 8000 to replace the roofs of our present training centre.  The center also accommodates staff and volunteers.  In future we will focus on farm based activities to improve the income of women.  This would also help to improve the environment.

Lifeskill and sexuality Education for girls

Palm leaf product making training

CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls

Update – July 2011

April to June is an important period for us because it is the summer holidays for school going children.  During this period we can organize trainings for school going girl children.  This year our focus was on community development programmes for adolescent girls.  The idea is to motivate girls to involve in their community level issues and also motivate them to volunteer for our field level activities. Today’s girls are tomorrows women’ so we also believe that any change we bring in among girl children would reflect in their womanhood.   Most of these girls are first generation school goers and they are open for new ideas and changes.   We have also improved our hand made soap making unit and soon we will be launching it for commercial sales among villagers and in the city.

Life Skill and Sexuality Education Workshops for adolescents: We have been continuing our life skill and sexuality education workshops during weekends and holidays for adolescent girls and boys.  During this period 80 girls attended these workshops.  We could not organize any workshops for boys. Actually this year we have planned for combined community development training for boys and girls but we could not do it.  Still there is some reservation among parents about conducting combined programmes for adolescent girls and boys.

This year during summer holidays that is during May we have organized a 15 days community development programme for adolescent girls. 30 girls participated in this programme.  The programme is organized in Chennai and  Paniyur Centre 15 girls from Paniyur area and 15 from Chennai city. During these training they learned about themselves, women’s issues, community development activities, leadership skills, songs, dance and acting.   The rural area girls, that is from Paniyur area the girls have visited Pondicherry aurovillae and also our organization in Chennai city.  The city girls visited Panaiyur rural area for an exposure.  In addition to that 25 girls who have completed their 12^th Standard Education from the city area were sent for computer and spoken English classes.  Out of that we found placements for 6 girls, in BPO centers and now they are earning Rs.5000-6000 per month.    Finding employment for rural girl is still a challenge for us.  We are thinking of initiating some rural BPOs and looking for help, particularly volunteers who can help us in setting up this unit.    In Thiruvanmiyur area we have also initiated an outdoor sports activity net ball for girls.  Nowadays girls completely miss sports activities both in schools and community.  Parents never allow girls to play games; if at all there is free time girls are expected to help their mothers in household work.   In collaboration with another organization we have introduced net ball game to girls.  20-25 girls are attending this during weekends.

With the help of two volunteers Ms.Kimberlin, student from Columbia University and Elizabeth we have organized evening spoken English classes in our Chennai office 20-25 girls participated in this programme.

Education and Income Generation programme for Women:

Regular meetings and trainings were organized at the village level for women’s groups.  We have organized 8-weekend leadership skill training for women nearly 140 women participated in these programmes.  We have also organized an EDP- Entrepreneurship Development programme for Single women, 25 women participated in this programme.   Since we are planning to sell soaps commercially most of the time was spent on that.  Ms.Kimberly Rogovin, a volunteer conducted a study on marketing soap and designed labels and packing for the soaps.  The handmade soap ‘Maithri’ will be sold in the local market area and Chennai city.   This would create employment for 5 women in initial stage.  The local level single women’s groups are continuing their credit and savings programme and during this period 22 women given loans to strengthen their business activities like selling fish, vegetables, fruits, making thatch roof, making flower garlands.

In general it was a busy and fruitful period for us.  The only thing is we could not generate enough employment opportunities for educated girls in rural areas.   We are looking for ways of doing it, like opening a rural BPO or initiating a community college.

Volunteer Ms.Elizabeth with girls in spoken English Class

• Julyupdate (DOC)

CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls

Update – April 2011

We have been continuing our regular activities to educate women and adolescent girls. Our work with women  is strengthened, apart from increasing their income and self esteem now they are raising their voices against violence against women and other gender discrimination in the family and community.  Our work with adolescent girls and boys are also continued. Most of the girls who attend our programme wants to continue their education and also wants to marry only  after 21 years of age.  All these things are motivating us to continue our work. Recently the government had announced their plan to set up a coal based power plant in this area, this would again take up lands so most of the local people are opposing this power plant proposal.  Our target women and adolescent girls are also participated in the protest activities.  One more thing happened during this time two volunteers from Belgium Mr.Sylwyan a magician and Mr.Paul a clown stayed with us for a month.  They went around schools and villages performing for the children.

Life Skill and Sexuality Education Workshops for adolescents: We have been organizing regular life skill and sexuality education workshops during weekends and holiday for adolescent girls and boys.  During this period 90 girls and 30 boys attended these workshops.  After attending the programme, all the girls understand the reproductive health and their rights . Their confidence level also increased, they now ask their doubts and also discuss issues openly. They also participate in the decision making process in their families, and community particularly matter related to their career and marriage. In addition to that girls also  learned computer skills, dress making and folk arts like dancing, singing and using musical instruments.  Since high school examinations are nearing we have also organize supplementary education classes particularly in English and Maths for high school students.  150 girls benefitted from these programme.  During this period two volunteers from Belgium Mr.Sylwyan a magician and Mr.Paul a clown stayed with us for a month.  They went around schools and villages performing for the children.  Children really enjoyed these programmes.  The best part is the programmes are conducted in English and children could able to understand and communicate with the magician and clown.   One of the things nowadays children miss is the recreational activities, because most of the parents want their children study all the time.  After seeing this now we have introduced some outdoor games like net ball, throw ball particularly for girls. 

Education and Income Generation programme for Women:

We have been continuing our training and meeting with women’s groups. We have organized 10 leadership skill training programmes during this period and nearly 180 women were participated .  Now women particularly women from fishing villages play an active role community level activities. They also understand and discuss about gender issues.  As usual one of the major issues discussed is about livelihood issues. During this term we provide loan to 72 women worth of Rs.1, 20,000. We also provide EDP training for 25 women. We organized two training programme for mushroom cultivation and mushroom seed-making. We also provide soap making training to rural women.  We also arranged the exposure visit to mushroom farm in Kanathur. 20 women were participated.  We are educating the women to initiate a cooperative unit like coir making; palm leaves products.  It would take some time for them to work as a collective.  During February a group of 15 women visited Industree organization Bangalore to learn about the income generation programmes.  I t was a rich learning experience for them.  They visited garment making unit, leather goods making unit, bags making unit, jewelry making unit.  They also visited ‘Mother Earth’ shop which sells the eco-friendly products made by Industree and other organizations. UN Millennium Development Goals Review Summit says ‘Women and girls are the answer to global development’ we also strongly believe in that and continue our work with them.

Future Plan:  As mentioned earlier We have to build new building to expand out computer skill trainings in Panaiyur village.  We are also thinking of initiating a rural BPO centre to provide employment for girls trained in our computer training centre.  We are looking for help to build this centre also looking for volunteers to help us to initiate a rural BPO.

Trainings for Adolescent girls

Soap Making training for women

Exposure visit to garment making unit

Clown and Magician volunteers performing for children

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Let’s Together Make it a Reality

Soap Making training for women

Exposure visit to Garment unit

Clown and Magician volunteers performing

CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls

Update – December 2010

We have been continuing our education and income generation programme for women and life skill and sexuality education for adolescent girls.  During this period the focus was on making handmade soaps and 16 days activism from 25^th November that is International day to eliminate violence against women to 10^th December that is International Human Rights Day. These 16 days were spent on campaigning activities to eliminate violence against women.  Adolescent girls and women were preparing themselves by developing scripts for street plays, training themselves in street play techniques and also preparing campaigning materials.

Life Skill and Sexuality Education Workshops for adolescents: We have been regularly organizing weekend lifeskill and sexuality education workshops for girls and also for boys. During this period nearly 125 girls and 24 boys benefitted from these programmes. During this period we had planned to conduct combined workshops for boys and girls but we did not organize combined workshops, because of some objections from parents particularly parents of adolescent girls.  From our experience we have learned it would take some more time the community people are also not supporting this.  We have also organized lifeskill and sexuality education workshops in schools in our working area.  Nearly 250 high school students benefited from this programme.

In addition to that we are also providing computer skill training for adolescent girls.  40 girls were trained in basic computer skills.  During this period we have also received 8 refurbished computers from Infosys company.  This would help us to train more girls.

Art, Music, Dance and Drama workshops for girls: During this period we have  also organized workshops on drawing and painting.  In addition to that to prepare for the 16 days activism to eliminate violence against women we have organized music, dance and drama workshop for 25 girls.  After the training these girls and our staff members performed street plays in different places to educate the public about the importance of eliminating violence against women. During 16 days they have performed in 30 places and more than 10,000 people watched these plays and exhibitions and also participated in the discussions.

We have also organized soap making, embroidery and jewels making training for adolescent girls.  35 girls benefitted from these programmes.

Education and Income Generation programme for Women:

We have been organizing regular leadership skill training for local level women’s organizations.  We have also organized hand made soap making training and Tailoring training for women.  More than 80 women benefitted from these trainings.   As part of soap making and using it we have also organized health education programmes for local level women’s group members.   In all these programmes single women were given preferences. In our 12 fishing villages we have initiated 12 single women’s SHGs_Self Help Groups.  There are more than 250 single women members in these groups.  They were given entrepreneur skill training and loans to start their own small business activities.  50 women were given loans during this period.

Future Plan:  We have to build new building to expand out computer skill trainings in Panaiyur village.  We are also thinking of initiating a rural BPO centre to provide employment for girls trained in our computer training centre.  We are looking for help to build this centre also looking for volunteers to help us to initiate a rural BPO.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Let’s Together Make it a Reality

• GGupdateDec_2010.doc (DOC)

CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls Update – September 2010 During this period we were able to build good rapport with people in our new working area and continued our activities in all the 30 villages. One of girls Anamika who attended our computer centre and was given some help in her 10th standard class scored 472/500 in 10th standard board examinations the highest in her school, she scored above 90% in all subjects, She scored 98% in Mathematics and 98% in social studies. Her mother is a widow and that is why we have helped her, we are very happy about her achievement. Another thing is with the help of Ms.Ingyborg, a volunteer from Netherlands, we have completed a building for soap making and also installed oil extraction unit for soap making. We have appointed a staff member to look after the soap making unit. People are slowly coming out of Tsunami rehabilitation dependency, but of course there are issues like less catching in the sea, there are no drainage facilities in the new housing colonies, livelihood issues because of less fish catch. In non fishing villages again livelihood issue is a major issue because the traditional agriculture work is changing because most of the lands are sold out and very few people are involved in agriculture. Men as usual are migrating to cities mostly to work in construction industry, women and children are left in the villages to fend for themselves.

Anamika in Paniyur Centre

Soap making unit in Paniyur Centre Life Skill and Sexuality Education Workshops: We are continuing life skill and sexuality education among boys and girls. Nearly 700 girls and 150 boys benefitted from these programmes. We are also continuing our computer skill training and tailoring trainings. We have also organized handicrafts training like toys making, jewelry making, palm leaf products. We have also organized weekend arts classes in Paniyur centre. Nearly 200 girls benefitted from these programmes. During this nearly 90% of the girls who attended our programmes passed their 10th and 12th standard board examinations. We have organized career guidance programme for them. We have also organized dance, drama and music classes during weekends. Nearly 120 girls benefitted from these programmes. As usual these trained girls participated in the 16 days activism to eliminate violence against women. Finding employment for educated girls is still a programme in our rural area, there are no colleges nearby. So parents usually think about marriages for the girls after 12th standard. We have to find some ways to help them to continue their education or find some employment. We are thinking of initiating a community college, where girls can learn some skills and also earn a degree. During this period a volunteer from Ms.Janna Vogl, a sociology student from University of Potsdam stayed with us for 4 months and she organized Participatory video training for adolescent girls in Neelangarai and Paniyur centre.

Ms.Janna Vogl conducting Video Workshop

A group of 15 adolescent girls also visited DHAN foundation’s community Radio centre at Nagapattinam.

Life skill and sexuality education workshop Community Development Training This year during summer holidays that is during May/June we have organized a 15 days community development programme for adolescent girls. Actually this year we have planned for a combined training for boys and girls but we could not do it. 30 girls participated in this programme. The programme is organized in Chennai and Paniyur Centre 15 girls from Paniyur area and 15 from Chennai city. The second week of the programme is organized in Chennai for both the groups together. These girls visited different NGOs and other vocational training institutes. During these training they learned about themselves, women’s issues, community development activities and leadership skills.

Music class Education and Income Generation programme for Women: We have been organizing regular trainings and meetings for women’s groups. We have organized 20 leadership training programmes for women and 510 women participated in these trainings. That also includes single women. One of the important issue discussed is improving their income. Since we are providing loans and entrepreneurship skill training only to single women, they also want these kinds of activities. We have been exploring the possibilities of creating employment activities for them. Women also participated advocacy and campaign activities in pressuring the government not to implement the elevated express way along the Chennai beach area because that would affect their livelihood sources. Our focus is more on single women and we are continuing our entrepreneurship skill trainings and regular meetings in the villages. We have organized trainings on jewels making, coir making, soap making, Cleaning solution making and Food process (Masala Powder making). 120 single women participated in these trainings. Single women who received loans during first year started repaying the loans, but because of the delay in repaying these loans during this period no new loans were given. As mentioned in our previous update we are looking for help in strengthening our income generation activities for women, we need volunteers, money and also suggestions to strengthen our income generation activities, we request your support in this regard, if you are interested in helping us please contact us.

Handmade soap making unit

Ms.Jonna Vogl- Video Workshop

Lifeskill workshop

Music Class

Women's meeting

CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls Update – May 2010

This is an important period for us, we have extended our activities to 24 villages of Edaikazhinadu Panchayath, that is 18 new villages and 6 fishing villages where we have been implementing Tsunami rehabilitation activities. In the city area we have been continuing our activities in the same 6 fishing villages. In the fishing villages women know that we are continuing our work there beyond Tsunami rehabilitation work so there is good relationship with the women in these villages. This is just not an extension of working area the focus is also switched over from Tsunami rehabilitation to women’s development. It is during our Tsunami rehabilitation work we have realized the issues of single women and in our new working area the focus is more on the issues of single women. In all our activities like trainings and income generation activities single women are given preference. We are also continuing our life skill and sexuality education among adolescent girls. Education and Income Generation programme for Women: Our initial task was to explain our work to the women and villagers of new villages because they were expecting us to implement activities like Tsunami rehabilitation work. Initially our staff members organized village level meetings and also conducted village surveys using PRA-Participatory Rural Appraisal methods. But Edaikazhinadu Panchayath is an unique area because here the houses are scattered and not crowed or houses arranged in lanes. So gathering people is slightly difficult so our field workers walked long distances to meet people to explain our work and also to get information from them. We already had sent you the details of Edaikazhinadu area. One of the advantages in this area is because the houses are scattered each house has few trees like coconut, jack fruit, mango, neem etc. We have organized weekend leadership training programmes for women We have organized 10 such trainings and each training is attended by 20-25 omen. The impact of these trainings are tangible now, in the fishing villages women are given importance in community matters, they started telling their opinions, they also go to government offices, bank and other places. Earlier women were not allowed to go for any meetings, women also tell that they have to look after husband and children, but now they are attending the meetings. So now the family members have to make small adjustments like may be they have serve their food, clean the vessels, bring children from schools, bring water. Even though these are small changes, women are getting their own time and space to discuss about their issues. They also make decisions about their children’s education and marriage. We have also organized men’s meeting in these villages and issues like violence against women, girls children’s education, marriage age and dowry systems were discussed. Still there is some resistance among men but still they understand that they are the problem and solution for women’s issues, most of them are now willing to educate their girl children. Changes in dowry system and marriage age will take time. We have been continuing our income generation programme for women. During this period we have organized entrepreneurship skill training and also training in different income generation activities like food processing, palm leaf product making, nursery raising, handicrafts and jewellary making. Nearly 160 women participated in these trainings and out of which 140 are single women (widows and destitute women). All these women were also given loans through their SHG-Self help groups to initiate their own business or to strengthen their business activities.

A single women beneficiary selling fruits

Life skill and Sexuality Education for Adolescent girls: We have organized regular weekend workshops, these workshops are organized during Saturdays and Sundays. Nearly 300 girls and 50 boys participated in these programmes. After this programme the girls are motivated to initiate ‘Snehidhi’ an association for adolescent girls in their villages. Working with boys is a new experience for us, it is also encouraging. Actually we have planned some combined workshop for girls and boys but after organizing two workshops we realized we are not ready for it, the adolescents are also not ready for it. We also conducted sexuality education in 8 schools – 3 in Chennai and 5 Edaikazhinadu panchayat Adolescent girls learning folk dance We are providing computer skill training and dress making training in our Paniyur and Neelangarai centres. In addition to that trainings on handicrafts like basket making, jewels making were also organized. We found out that these kinds of short term trainings also helps the school going children, that gives a discipline of mind, helps to bring out their creative skills and that helps in their studies. Career guidance meetings are also organized where they learned the options available for them after 10th and 12th standard like the short term training courses like home nursing, beautician, computer hardware service, cell phone service, sales girls, IT enabled services, apprenticeships and open university courses. But most of these things are actually helpful for the city girls for the village girls they get the information but the real opportunities of training and employment is not available in their villages. Exposure visit to a soap making unit Most of the adolescents expressed a need of supplementary education particularly in Mathematics, science and English. We have books guides for students above 8th standard we also have DVDs in those subjects, that they can use it and learn it. In addition to that our coordinators also help individual basis to prepare and pass their high school examinations so that they will not drop out of schools and end of in marriage. Adolescent girls also went for exposure visits, the village girls visited Pondicherry and also Chennai to get some idea about different careers. Chennai city girls also visited Industrial estate and different polytechnics. We take this opportunity to thank all our donors, volunteers and wellwishers, who supported in our attempt to educate and empower women and adolescent girls. We are looking for help in strengthening our income generation activities for women, we need volunteers, money and also suggestions to strengthen our income generation activities, we request your support in this regard, if you are interested in helping us please contact us.

Girls learning folk dance

Centre for Women’s Development and Research Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent Girls Update – October 2009 Nearly five years have gone after the Tsunami Disaster, in fact outside people have forgotten the Tsunami disaster. When comparing to the destruction of Tsunami disaster we wonder how people could able to rebuild their lives soon, it is all because people from around the world who supported the affected people, telling them they are concerned about them and they are not alone. It is the support from concerned people around the world gives us lot of hope and confidence to carry on our work. In the process of rehabilitation work the best thing happened is women got visibility and recognition in the fishing community, otherwise they are not consulted for anything. Now women’s groups in the villages plan an active role in the village development, most of their children particularly girl children attend schools. Now we are focusing more on women’s issues in the villages. During 2009 we continued our income generation programme for women, and lifeskill and sexuality education for adolescent girls. Income generation programme for Women: During this period we have provided income generation activities training in palm leaf product making, nursery raising, vermi-composte making, food processing and soap and cleaning solution making. Nearly 200 women participated in these trainings, out of which 160 are single women (Widows and destitute women). Single women’s SHG-Self help groups were formed in 12 villages and 150 women were given loans to start their own business or to strengthen their present business activities like selling fish, vegetables and fruit, cloth selling, Eatables selling. These self help groups also serves as a forum to share their experiences and feelings. We still have to provide further training to improve the quality of the products and also help them in marketing. We are looking for some volunteers with business management background to help us in this regard. We have installed solar power system in our training centre to tackle the power cut in our state. This also serves as a model for village people to understand the environmental issues, global warming and alternative sources of power. Life skill and sexuality education for adolescents: We are continuing our life skill and sexuality education for adolescent girls, during this period we have also started working with adolescent boys. We conducted regular weekend workshops for adolescent girls nearly 250 adolesent girls and 60 boys benefitted from these programmes. In addition to that we are also conducting regular computer skill training and tailoring training. School going girls get supplementary education support. We have also organized classes in dance, music and street play.

Future plan: We are happy about our achievements, but at the same time we still have to go miles to achieve women’s equality. Another area we wish to concentrate is the income generation activities. In the present set up they earn between Rs.1000-2000 per month it is not enough. We have to expand the business activities make it an enterprise where women earn more. For that we have to improve the quality of the product we also have to expand he scale of the business. We need more capital money and also people to initiate and strengthen these business. We are planning to start palm product making- There is lot of palm trees in this area, food processing- there is also lot of fruit trees like Mango, jack fruit and cashew nut trees and soap making. We are also planning to start a community college for adolescents to continue our vocational skill training activities.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights Let’s Together Make it a Reality

Computer skill training

Folk Dance by adoelscent girls

Centre for Women’s Development and Research- CWDR Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent girls Update May - December 2008 This is an important period for us in our attempt educate and empower women and adolescent girls from Tsunami affected area. We could able to achieve our objectives in spite of the hardships like getting enough funding support to continue our work. During this period there was a shifting of focus from rehabilitation work to more of gender issues, women’s development, girl children’s education. In general we are happy about our achievements. The major change happened in the process of rehabilitation work is women from fishing community got visibility and importance in their community. They have been consulted by NGOs and Government, they were meeting often to discuss about their issues and development of the community. We are really happy that we have also contributed in that rebuilding process. Women themselves have proven that they have an important role in disaster management and rebuilding families and communities. During this period 150 women, out of that 100 are single women(widows and destitute women), and 200 adolescent girls benefitted from our activities.

Income generation programme for women: We have organized income generation programmes for women. We have organized trainings in mushroom growing, nursery raising, food processing and entrepreneurship skills. 150 women participated in these trainings, out of which 100 single were given seed money loans to start their own business or to strengthen their present business like selling fish, food items, vegetable. In addition to that we have also organized leadership skill trainings in all our 12 fishing villages, 160 women participated in these trainings. We have also organized health camps and health education of programmes for women in 12 villages.

Lifeskill, sexuality and vocation skill trainings for adolescent One of the neglected group in Tsunami rehabilitation work is adolescent girls, Not many NGOs and other international agencies were focusing on adolescent girls, so our contribution was unique and helpful for the girls. Through our weekend workshops we could able to reach out to nearly 200 adolescent girls. Now they openly discuss about sexuality and reproductive health in our meetings, among themselves and with their others. But of course the marriage below 21 years is common and another major issue is the dowry system in the fishing community. These decisions are made by their parents and may we have to educate the parents, in the coming years. We have been providing vocational skill training for adolescent girls, Computer skill training and tailoring is given ongoing in our Paniyur and Thiruvanmiyur centres. In addition to that we have also organized short term vocational skill trainings in paper and jute product making, embroidery, fancy jewel making, palm leaf product making. In addition to they were given information about different short term skill trainings organized by other organizations, information about Open University courses. They were also taken for exposure visits to learn about different vocations. Nearly 200 girls benefitted from these programmes. All most all the girls who attended these programmes continue their education without discontinuing. Actually it is through vocational skill training we get girls for our lifeskill and sexuality education. During this period we have also organized trainings in folk dance, music and street plays. A group of girls were trained in street play and they were involved in 16 days activism to eliminate violence against women from 25th November to 10th December. They performed street plays, distributed hand bills, organized signature campaigns to educate the public about the importance of eliminating violence against women. Constraints and future plan: Apart from funding problems to implement our programmes we also face acute power shortage to run the computer training centre because of the power cut announced by the government. Officially there is a power cut of two hours in the city and 4 hours in the villages. So it is become very difficult to run the computer training centre. According to government announcements the situation will change only during 2010. So we are planning to install solar power system to run the computer training centre at Paniyur village, we need Rs.150,000 (US $ 3333) to run 2 computers, a printer, two fans and two lights. We request the support of friends, well wishers, philanthropists, those who are concerned about girl children’s education, environment to support us in this regard. In the coming months we are also planning to work with the men and boys to educate them about he gender issues and how they can help in creating gender just society. Women’s Rights are Human Rights Let’s Together Make it a Reality

Local Level Womens meeting

Street Play

Three years have gone after Tsunami and for most of the outside people it is very distant in their memories, moreover people think the rehabilitation work is over; new houses are built, boats and nets are given to people, normal life is returned. But there are hundreds of Devis and Sundaris in Tsunami affected villages, where people think girls are burden on families, so they are stopped from schools after puberty and married off, even to marry most of them take huge loans or sell their assets to give dowry. We just want to change this situation educate the community that girls are not liabilities but assets of the family and community

• GGupdate2008.doc (DOC)

Education to Empower 500 Women and Adolescent girls

One of the major changes happened in the fishing communities after Tsunami is women could able to come out and talk, even though it is a small change it is big beginning for women’s empowerment. Men realize the important role played by women after Tsunami in running the families and also in rebuilding the communities, but there is resistance to include women in the traditional Panchayath (village councils). After nearly three years most of the rehabilitation works are over not many International donors or government official are visiting, now it is the right time to talk about gender disparities in the community. Recently Government of India Ministry of Environment had announced a proposed new CZM-Coastal Zone Management plan, already the fishing community is opposing this saying that would affect the traditional fishing and deny their livelihood sources. So now it is become more important to find sustainable alternative income sources for the fishing community particularly for the women.

Herewith we enclose the update document about our programmes and with pictures!

• Update for GlobalGiving (DOC)