Good practices in Tsunami rehabilitation

Net distribution by tokens
German Agro Action (GAA)/Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DWHH) and its partner organisation Indo Global Social Sercive Organisation (IGSSS) are distributing 585 sets of nets to fishermen in 22 villages in Cuddalore and in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu. But distribution of nets is not an easy business. Depending on region, season and type of fish fishermen want to catch, different types of nets are needed – and every fisherman has his own preferences.

How to meet all the individual preferences of the 585 fishermen of the 22 villages?
IGSSS has introduced a token distribution system – nets are not given out in kind directly in the village, but in form of a token. A token, which specifies the exact type of net an individual fisher has requested, is handed over to the fisher and he can go directly to the fishnet factory and collect his new net. This has two advantages: everyone gets exactly what he needs – and the fisherman is able to crosscheck the quality of the net on the spot at the factory. If the quality is not satisfactory – he can request a different set.

This way, IGSSS has made very positive experiences with the distribution of nets - the fishermen are themselves responsible for the quality check and no net is given back at a later stage.

In Mullurthurai, for example, 20 fishermen have received tokens for the nets in July 2005. Within two months all of them went to the nearby net factory “Vijai Nets” and picked up their choice of nets – a 15 inch type, 20 kg each set. “Each mesh has to have 15 inches, otherwise the net is not useful for us” explains one fisherman of Mullurthurai and inspects the quality of his net package – Vijai Nets delivers good quality – and so he happily accepts his new net.

Boat manufacturing in women’s hands
German Agro Action (GAA)/Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DWHH) and its partner organisation Indo Global Social Sercive Organisation (IGSSS) are distributing 261 fibre catamarans to 13 villages in Kanniyakumari. In order to give job opportunities to the local communities and to avoid delay from overbooked manufacturing units, IGSSS has supported the rehabilitation of three boat manufacturing units in Kanniyakumari.

In one of these boat manufacturing units, something special is happening: for the first time in the tradition of boat manufacturing, women are employed in boat production. 10 Women of the village Periavilai were given a training on fiberglass cutting, plasting and glueing and are now proudly earning up to 200 INR a day for their work in the boat manufacturing unit “Sharika Boats”.

IGSSS’ has helped “Sharika Boats” to rebuild the Tsunami-destroyed boat manufacturing unit and provided a mould and tools – as a source for additional income generation possibilities for the local community. But since many fishermen had left as laborers to Kerala, the local partner of IGSSS, KODI, approached Mr. Rajan Sundar, owner of Sharika Boats, with the idea to give employment opportunities to women of the village. In the beginning, Mr. Sundar had been very skeptical about this emancipative idea, but his attitude changed: his female workers are always on time, work harder and more accurately than men. Separate latrines and new uniforms had to be invented for the women and the people in Periavilai are still gossiping about the “boats out of women’s hands”. But Mr. Sundar is now very satisfied and wants to accept more of the job applications, which are turned in daily at his office from women of the nearby villages.

Click here to read "Tsunami projects of German Agro Action in India"

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