The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Livelihood options for tsunami-hit in focus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 15, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Livelihood options for tsunami-hit in focus

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: The Federation of South India Producer Association (SIPA) held a consultation meeting on livelihood options for people affected by the tsunami at Asha Nivas here on Wednesday.

The meeting, attended by 16 NGOs and two donors, follows a study conducted by the SIPA among affected communities about available and anticipated livelihood options.

SIPA is a non-profit network of groups involved in income generation activity in south India. ``We are trying to get a feel of what the experience of the NGOs has been and are interested in strengthening the businesses of the affected by, say, providing help with the marketing,'' said K. Panchaksharam, Secretary, SIPA.

The participants shared their experiences and lessons learnt during tsunami relief operations.

The need to include people dependent on fishing operations and marginal coastal farmers within the ambit of empowerment activities was stressed.

`Provide equal opportunity'

NGOs were also urged to provide equal opportunity for all affected people, find ways to overcome the dumping of rehabilitation services and realise the need for a participatory, integrated approach towards sustainable rehabilitation.

The number of unviable Self-Help Groups formed after the tsunami and the lack of networking among NGOs were also topics of discussion.

The results of the study conducted by SIPA and the topics of discussion at this consultation will be presented at the regional level meeting planned on the same topic later this month.

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