Project Information

The Broadbridge Education Centre, Phi Phi Island, Thailand

With the help of the Melbourne Football Club, Trisha established The Broadbridge Education Centre on Thailand’s Phi Phi Island as a way of helping young people affected by the Tsunami to continue to learn despite the devastation. Trisha believes that “no matter what happens, you have to keep going”. Beyond the Wave: A Survivor’s Story tells of her personal journey before and beyond the Tsunami.
Money raised through this Run up the Rialto will be used to help secure the future of the centre by paying for the teachers’ salary through to 2010.

 

IWDA – Rebuilding women’s livelihoods in the Maldives

The 2004 Tsunami had a huge impact in the small and vulnerable island nation state of the Maldives off the coast of Sri Lanka. Women here, as elsewhere, have borne the burden of the effects of damaged infrastructure, contaminated water supply and the pressure on families and communities hit by a major natural disaster. Female economic participation also dropped, largely as a result of the Tsunami. It is currently 64% of the male rate (UN Human Development Report 2006), down from 80% in 2004 (UN Human Development Report 2005).

The Maldives experienced the greatest economic damage per capita of any country hit by the Tsunami, with more than 70 islands directly affected and the destruction of $470 million of basic infrastructure – some 62% of the country’s GDP. (Maldives Post-Tsunami Environmental Assessment, United National Environmental Programme, p.8)

The Maldives is usually pictured as a tropical idyll – white sandy beaches lapped by azure water, rich marine life and luxury resorts. But very few Maldivisans live like this. While tourism is the major industry, most of the income from this sector does not stay in the Maldives. Wealth is distributed very unequally and those living in rural communities have few economic opportunities. Many Maldivians live in poverty and less than 60% of the country has access to safe sanitation. Life is particularly difficult for women. In most countries, women live longer than men. But in the Maldives women’s life expectancy is less than men’s 66, compared with 67 for men. (UN)

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) will partner with a locally based and registered NGO, Live & Learn Environmental Education (LLEE), an organisation that IWDA already works with in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. This pilot project will establish chilli farms on up to eight island atolls where income generating options are very constrained. Women will be provided with technical support and training to establish the chilli plants, develop small-scale production facilities and produce a high quality chilli sauce for use in the domestic tourism market. Tourism operators have been involved in the development of the project concept.

The project will give women with access to training in micro-enterprise, produce marketing, finance and organisation. Improved skills, livelihood opportunities and income will in turn provide a platform for wider improvements in the position of women within families and the community through practical demonstration of women’s contributions. The project will also draws on learnings from IWDA’s post-Tsunami work in Sri Lanka regarding the value of providing a space where women can talk and share their experiences of the Tsunami, while working towards a shared future.

The idea for this activity emerged from discussions between LLEE and local Women’s Development Committees (WDCs) about how to improve income for women and their families in the wake of the Tsunami. It will build on LLEE’s successful community composting projects in Maldives to develop alternative income sources for women that are environmentally sustainable. The project will promote community level organic agriculture, based on traditional agricultural knowledge that is grounded in local realities and cultural values.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 28th, 2002 under admin.