Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

For poor women

Special Correspondent

Livelihood project pays off in villages

SUPPORTING LIVES: Readymade garments being sold at a centre in Velankanni on Wednesday.

NAGAPATTINAM: A community based livelihood project launched by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok, with Development Promotion Group (DPG), , for the poor women of tsunami-hit villages at Velankanni has paid rich dividends.

Nearly 50 women have started producing readymade garments after a month's training.

They have started their maiden sale by opening a counter at Velankanni.

Their garments have been nominally priced, with a profit of about 10 per cent.

V.S. Vijayakumar, CSI Pastor of Good Shepherd Church, Chennai, inaugurated the sales centre and Juliet Arputharaj, Chairperson of Velankanni Special Town Panchayat, purchased the first garment.

R. Bhakther Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of DPG, who presided over the function, said that under the UNESCAP-DPG livelihood project, a sum of Rs.50 lakh had been earmarked for providing training to women in garment making.

The DPG would achieve the goal of livelihood support for affected people through the field project in the district.

He said that this was the first attempt by the UNESCAP with an NGO in India to initiate a scheme with public-private partnership for tsunami victims.

Intensive training in garment making would be given to 50 to 100 women and the DPG would establish a production unit in consultation with the UNESCAP.

It would be owned, managed and administered along with the community with the back-up support from the DPG and the UNESCAP, he said.

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