Sri Lanka – Reconstruction Project
Natural disasters and human-created tragedies have become the most visible news items both in the print and broadcast media. The Australians who perished will not be forgotten. Their stories remain in our minds and forever affect the way we live our lives.
However, there are also ‘un-heard’ stories. Stories of triumph and success that have flourished even after media attention has waned. These are stories of people who have managed to re-build their lives after tragedies such as the Boxing Day tsunami.
Tsunami hits Sri Lanka:
In the later days of December 2004, after the deadly tsunami struck the southern Hambantota and Matara districts residents who once loved living near the coast were now traumatised by the mere sight of water. Uncertainty and fear ruled their lives; once a serene and calm place to live, the southern coastal towns were now a reminder of the wrath of nature.
IWDA was one of the many organisations who launched appeals in the wake of the disaster. Through the generous response of the Australian public, IWDA was able to address the emotional trauma that Sri Lankan women faced in the aftermath of the tsunami.
The journey to healing begins:
Kantha Shakthi’s ‘Mobilizing for ReconstructionPost-Tsunami’ project, which was funded by AusAID until 2006, has helped women to reconnect socially and develop skills for sustainable livelihoods. 15 women from the affected communities received training in community mobilisation by IWDA’s partner organisation, Kantha Shakthi. The mobilisers have assisted 500 women in the southern Hambantota and Matara districts to cope with their loss and plan for their future.
“We are working to give affected people a sense of hope and confidence that they can rebuild their lives and even improve them,” says Rohini Weerasinghe, Executive Director of Kantha Shakthi. To do this, long-term support is needed. That’s why IWDA has committed to support tsunami reconstruction over five years. Rohini adds, ‘it is not the financial support that is important to us, it is the emotional support. The solidarity that IWDA supporters have shown is very encouraging to us and a great source of strength”.
Project Summary:
Kantha Shakthi and IWDA have worked together since 2004. Initially, a Microfinance project in the South Central Highlands of Balangoda aimed to assist women to gain economic independence through credit, skill development, training, education and awareness raising.
As a result of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the partnership was extended to address the immediate and long term needs of people who were displaced and who had lost their homes and source of livelihood.
Psychological counselling, social recreation, women’s community meetings and setting up women’s savings groups have helped the affected women to cope with the traumatic experiences of tsunami. With renewed self- confidence and motivation, the women were able to start self-employment, using newly gained vocational skills and group funds.
The follow on project to the AusAID funded Mobilising for Reconstruction project which finished at the end of June 2006, will be the Economic, political and social empowerment of women affected by tsunami which will be implemented for the next year from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
During the past 18 months from January 2005 to June 2006 the main focus of Mobilising for reconstruction post-tsunami project was to support women to overcome grief, come back to normal life and reconstruct their disrupted livelihoods and recreate their social networks. These activities have resulted in greater solidarity among women, and exposed them to new perspectives on women’s rights and empowerment. Using management and vocational skills and credit provided by the project, they have initiated economic activities with greater confidence and success than before. But these achievements should not blur the harsh realities of women’s lives in Sri Lanka, particularly in the post-tsunami context.
Research indicates that women killed by the tsunami were 4 times the number of men. There was violence against women during the tsunami aftermath and women have been discriminated against in a number of ways, including in the distribution of various relief goods. Kantha Shakthi staff have observed how local male representatives of INGOs and NGOs in the 2 locations publicly and openly express discriminating views towards women, and there have been reports of intimidation against women. Women have spoken to Kantha Shakthi about violence and severe restrictions placed on their mobility. These facts and many other observations by Kantha Shakthi in the 2 locations during the last 18 months strongly point to the need for much more work be done in the areas on women’s issues and rights.
For this reason, social empowerment of women comes hand in hand with economic empowerment. A strong emphasis will be placed on developing women’s leadership through confidence building of women awareness-raising on women’s rights and issues. Critical to this success is the investment in capacity building of the social mobilisers to work appropriately on social issues with their constituent women.
