Youth Unemployment Looms Large

by Mr. Donglin Li, Country Director, ILO Office for Sri Lanka and Maldives
 

9 January 2012

Alongside the crisis in the Eurozone, youth unemployment has been the hot topic of the news in these final weeks of 2011. The BBC’s ‘The World Speaks’ survey named unemployment as the world’s fastest rising concern. And they’re right to be concerned, as the figures are as alarming as they are depressing.

In Asia young people account for around 20 per cent of the population yet make up almost half of the region’s jobless. They are at least three times more likely than adults to be out of a job, and if they are unlucky enough to be in South-East Asia and the Pacific the ratio is nearly five times. 

In Indonesia the youth unemployment rate is close to 25 per cent, in Sri Lanka over 19 per cent and similarly in the Philippines almost 19 per cent.   As much as youth unemployment rates in Sri Lanka are imperceptibly decreasing as recorded in the Labour Force Surveys of the past three years , youth unemployment is still over four times higher than overall unemployment which rests at 4.9 per cent (2010 LFS Annual Report).  Unemployment for youth between the ages of 15-24 years rose from 18.8 in 2008 to 21.3 in 2009 and has dropped since to 19.4 whilst youth in the age-group of 25 – 29 years improved marginally from a rate of 9.5 per cent in 2008 to an increased level of 10.3 the next year followed by a reduced level of 9.2 per cent in the last year. The youth unemployment challenge in Sri Lanka is compounded in terms of gender asymmetry where female youth unemployment is almost double that of male youth unemployment.  Sri Lanka also records the 20th largest gender gap in employment. (ILO: Key Indicators of the Labour Market, 6th Edition, Geneva 2009).

But the problem of youth unemployment isn’t limited to developing economies like Sri Lanka. In Hong Kong – one of the world’s most prosperous economies – nearly one in six young people were unemployed in September last year.

Yet, although these unemployment figures are high, they tell only part of the story. Globally about 70 million young people are unemployed, and if we add to that the estimated 152 million young people living on less than USD 1.25 per day, we have some 225 million people – equivalent to the total populations of the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan combined - in a very vulnerable and precarious situation.

Those young people who are in work, whatever their pay, face more gloom. During a recession, young people are usually the last to be hired and first to be fired, largely due to lack of work experience.  Others in work may continue, but are de facto under-employed, suffering a pay cut and in precarious job situations.

On entering the job market, young persons who have been lucky enough to go to university face a difficult school-to-work transition, either due to a skills mismatch between what they have learned and what kinds of jobs are available, or a lack of emphasis in education and training institutions on employable skills such as problem-solving, learning and communication. In the US for example, according to the US National Association of Manufacturers, manufacturers have 600,000 unfilled positions because of a lack of qualified, skilled workers.

Sri Lanka’s labour market reflects such a skills mismatch too.  Jobs available are either unattractive to young persons due to the precarious nature of employment, perceptions of youth about the occupation, stigma attached to the particular occupation or sector of employment, or due to the fact that the labour market opportunities simply do not meet their aspirations.  This is more marked amongst ‘educated’ young persons who have often secured a qualification without relevant work experience.  It is perhaps better articulated as a misunderstanding of the demands of the world of work.  Hence once qualified they raise the bar of their aspirational goals, soon to be disappointed and disillusioned.

Many qualified youth in Sri Lanka tend to possess the ‘technical skills’ or appropriate academic qualification for a job but lack the soft skills to convert knowledge into a profession.  English is often taught as a subject rather than as a skill for the world of work.  This lacunae is more often than not an obstacle to many educated rural youth to secure jobs particularly in the private sector where businesses engage with the global community and demand knowledge of a ‘global’ language.  Many of Sri Lanka’s youth have grown up in an environment of war and conflict.  Issues of attitude, conflict management and workplace ethics need more attention in the preparation of youth to transit into the world of work and continue in good jobs.

Queuing for a ‘good job’ is another characteristic of educated youth in the main, particularly young women in the labour market.  Much of this happens with the acquiescence of parents who invariably influence the aspirations of their children, encouraging them to await that ideal job.  Youth seem to lack the confidence to experiment in the world of work or move out of their comfort zones and use their academic qualifications to innovate.  On the other hand, statistics point to the fact that the lesser qualified are perhaps more likely to ‘take a chance’ in the world of work, moving out earlier and ultimately gaining more and much needed experience along the way.  The more qualified being left behind therefore, idle and unable to realise their full potential.

Governments all over the world are struggling to tackle the problem and while there is no ‘one- size- fits- all’ solution, there are a number of key ingredients.  First, we need an integrated strategy for growth and jobs, with clear targets for investment, growth and job creation.  In developed countries, this poses the fundamental question of how to transit from a weak recovery to a strong recovery, when fiscal austerity measures that cripple growth are imposed in a climate where the room for fiscal stimulus is quite limited. In developing countries, the solutions also include growth, but here there are many more structural challenges: productive transformation and diversification, increased competitiveness, reduction in the size of the informal economy, a good balance between export promotion and promotion of the domestic and regional markets.

A second key ingredient is investment in quality education and training and improving their relevance to labour market needs. We need to work closely with the private sector to reduce skills mismatches. This is not just a matter of public policy, it is important for companies and employers’ organizations to take the initiative and collaborate with educational and vocational training institutions. Making sure that during education and training, youth, particularly those from marginalized locations and disadvantaged communties have equal opportunities to gain work experience, via internships, on-the-job training, and other schemes.

A third ingredient is providing a wide variety of incentives and services: hiring subsidies, training and retraining grants; services to facilitate the transition to jobs such as career guidance, effective contacts with enterprises, advice on how to prepare CVs and conduct themselves in interviews, etc. We also need to promote youth entrepreneurship through youth-friendly and youth-specific business development services.

Lastly, we need to promote partnerships: public employment services and private employment agencies, labour offices and municipal authorities, governments, employers and workers, international and non-governmental organizations, and young people themselves, all need to work together.

The conclusion of three decades of war in Sri Lanka has heralded a new era not only for socio-economic development but also for young persons thus far trapped in war and stagnant, to release and realise their potential as equal partners in this revival, rebuilding and development process. Thus Employment and other relevant policies need to harness the full potential of its young population to optimise the dividends of peace after these three decades of war.  Creating an enabling environment ensuring peace, security, human rights and justice, with a view to draw youth into implementing the country’s development plans is a sine qua non.

The youth employment crisis is grave, but not unsolvable.  We are talking about our children. To say that they are our future is a cliché but that doesn’t make it less true.  We owe it to our children to make sure they get a fair chance at making a decent living and securing decent work. [ENDS]

UNDP empowers low-income countries to find way through climate finance maze

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New York, 2 June 2011 —The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a guidebook on “Catalysing Climate Finance”, advising decision makers in developing countries how to tap into growing environmental finance markets.

The guidebook draws on UNDP’s experience managing one-thousand multimillion dollar climate projects in 140 countries during the last two decades. It contains a step-by-step guidance for identification and implementation of an optimal mix of public policies and funding instruments to raise climate finance.

The report is being offered at a critical moment, when new sources of public finance, such as a Green Climate Fund, are being established or becoming available.

“In the absence of effective capacity building and appropriate advisory services, there’s a significant risk that only a few emerging economies will fully benefit from these positive developments,” said Rebeca Grynspan, UNDP Associate Administrator. “By some estimates around 90 percent of investments in clean energy go to G20 countries and the remaining 10 percent go to the rest of the world.”

Between 2009 and 2010, clean energy sector investments worldwide grew 30 percent to a record US$243 billion. Only about one tenth of investments went into developing economies, which could benefit from greener, less carbon-intensive growth.

Most governments lack the knowledge and capacity to enter the complex and highly technical climate finance landscape where more than 6,000 equity funds and scores of international public funds and carbon markets are active.

“UNDP’s global presence, expertise in capacity building, and extensive development finance experience allow us to help countries in this process, by supporting them to develop capacities to attract and drive investments towards sustainable human development,” said Rebeca Grynspan.

The governments of developing countries face three major challenges when planning a green, low-emission and climate resilient future: gaining access to new and innovative climate finance sources; creating links between climate change strategies and national development objectives; and identifying how to use limited public finance resources to attract private capital.

“Without doubt public funding is a key element in this equation, alone it will be insufficient to transform economies,” said Rebeca Grynspan. “It needs to play a critical role in creating an environment conducive to catalysing larger scale investment.”

You can download the guidebook here: http://content.undp.org/go/cms-service/download/publication/?version=live&id=3267712.

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For more information, please contact:
Stanislav Saling, Tel.: +1 212 906 5296; stanislav.saling@undp.org

UNDP is the UN’s global network to help people meet their development needs and build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working as a trusted partner with governments, civil society and the private sector to help them build their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

Further information can be found at www.undp.org.

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Time for a new era of growth with social justice

By Juan Somavia*

Discontent worldwide is reaching dangerous levels. In three-quarters of the 82 countries with available information, a majority of individuals are getting increasingly pessimistic about their future quality of life and standard of living. This all points in one direction: mounting frustration with a lack of jobs and decent work.

More than 200 million people are officially unemployed worldwide, including nearly 80 million young women and men eager to secure their first job. Both figures are at their highest points ever, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The number of workers in vulnerable employment – 1.5 billion (around half of the world’s labour force) – and persons working but surviving on less than US$2.00 per day – 1.2 billion – is on the rise again.

The bottom line is this: the current growth model that has evolved since the early 1980s has become economically inefficient, socially unstable, environmentally damaging and politically unsustainable. It no longer commands legitimacy. People are rightly demanding more fairness in every aspect of their lives. This no doubt contributed to mass uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East as well as significant protests in a number of industrialized countries and other regions.

Yet as the economic recovery unfolds, in many places it seems as if the crisis never happened. Policy regressing to business as usual ignores the fact that it was precisely those ways of doing business that almost bankrupted the world economy.

Global productive investment as a percentage of GDP – the source of job creation – has stagnated.Instead, we have a continuously rising share of profits coming from financial operations with negligible employment creation. Global wage growth has been cut in half, trailing productivity increases. Income gaps between the top 10 per cent and the bottom 90 per cent are widening, with the middle class squeezed in between.

There are limits to how much inequality a society’s social fabric can bear. There are many signs that the limits are fast approaching or have been breached.

On a personal note, having witnessed the social devastations of the policy responses imposed by the International Monetary Fund during the debt and financial crises of the 1980s and 1990s in Latin America and Asia, I am deeply troubled to see Europe, the cradle of social cohesion, apply these very same policies with the negative economic and social consequences that are inherent to them.

So what would efficient, socially responsible growth look like?

To begin with, the needs of productive enterprises and workers in the real economy must dislodge financial interests and the bonus culture from the global economy’s driver’s seat.This will not be easy, given the entrenched power interests of banks that have convinced governments that they are “too big to fail” while pushing for austerity policies that wreak havoc in the lives of families and small enterprises seen as “too small to matter”.We need socially responsible fiscal consolidation in which lenders also bear a part of the cost.

There is an urgent need to improve on the market outcomes and gains from international trade and investment. This can be achieved through increased integration between macroeconomic policies and labour market and social policies—for example, by making employment creation a targeted macroeconomic objective alongside low inflation and sustainable public budgets.

This would mean more productive and job-creating investment; expanding the real economy and reducing the space for unproductive financial operations; facilitating hiring, especially in small enterprises; providing for a fiscally sound social protection floor to the 80 per cent of the world population who lack social security; and facilitating the application of fundamental rights at work, in particular freedom of association and collective bargaining.

There is much evidence that these approaches work. Countries – mostly emerging economies and some developed ones – that have applied a combination of these policies are coming out of the crisis faster than those that have stuck to the old recipes. The G20 Leaders rightly want to promote a strong, sustainable and balanced growth. I would add “equitable” to the mix. The forthcoming Summit under French leadership and the planned meeting of their Labour Ministers can open the way for policies that connect growth with people’s aspirations everywhere for a fair chance at a decent job.

In short, we need a new era of growth with social justice inspired by a practical vision of sustainable development—an era where people’s needs are at the heart of policy-making, the benefits of globalization are shared equitably, and voice, participation and democracy can flourish. At the 100^th Session of the ILO’s tripartite International Labour Conference which begins this week, government, employer and worker delegates will consider how they, as representatives of the real economy, can assume their responsibility in meeting these challenges.

* Mr. Juan Somavia is Director-General of the International Labour Organization

Breaking down the wall of mistrust - the story of Sampath­­

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Colombo 09 2011 - Being born into a Sinhala family in Kudarasgala, Mahaoya, I grew up with other Sinhala friends, the only ethnic group in the area. Even though I did not have any opportunity to associate with other ethnic groups, I was always taught to hate Tamils. I was made to believe that this country belongs to the majority Sinhalese only, of which I am a member. I said to myself that I would never make friends with Tamil or Muslim people. This bitterness only increased with the Tamils during the war. When I heard news of Sinhala people being killed, I was not happy with them. I hated them. I wanted my Sinhala people to take revenge. For me, at that time, it seemed as though everyone was fighting against the Singhalese. My perceptions were made up from fabricated stories that filled up my ears.

Now, I see myself as a completely different Sampath. After interacting with people from other ethnic groups in the peace activities that were held for the community in my school, I realized that they are really nice people. I experienced their caring and generous nature.

At a sport-oriented interaction activity held at the Shakthi School in Thrukkovil, I had my first interaction with Tamils and Muslims. They staged a drama that projected a message of regret at the wrong doings that were taking place by all parties, along with their willingness to live peacefully with everyone. Their words really struck me. I was deeply touched. At that moment, I began to change my wrong perceptions.

My new relationship with the Tamils began then. I have gained many friends now, both Tamil and Muslim, whereas I didn’t have any before. I have helped to organize the peace events in my community and have encouraged all my Sinhala friends to become like me and change their opinions on other ethnic groups. I participated in all the activities that took place in my school and even joined the team to go on visits to other schools. I was very happy to have a chance to travel to Jaffna from my school. I was so excited the night before that I could not sleep and waited impatiently for dawn!

It was a long journey. I passed through the war torn cities where Tamils and Sinhalese have lived together peacefully before the war. When I passed Kilinochchi, all the false things that I was told of by my Sinhala friends came to my mind. It was not as I had heard at all. I understood the suffering that the people in these areas had to experience, regardless of being Sinhala or Tamil. All my misconceptions were replaced by the reality that I saw.

I met Tamil students in Jaffna who took me to their houses. Their parents were very helpful, just like mine, I felt. This very much contributed to changing my views towards them. I realized that our false opinions existed only because we were never given the opportunity to meet them and all we had were made-up stories to base our judgments on. These interschool visits help us greatly to understand each other.  I feel that this is the first step towards building new relationships between the three communities- Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese.

In early 2009 and 2010 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted interactive trainings for people of different ethnicities. I realized that UNDP is very unique in its connecting approach of using sports and recreational activities to deal with conflicts and false perceptions that have dominated our way of thinking and behavior.

It was a privilege for me to get involved and work for UNDP’s C4P, funded by the Government of Australia, since 2008. With UNDP, I have had an opportunity to work and learn from my colleagues and students from other schools. I was also able to assist in the Tamil-Muslim-Sinhala interaction for better interpersonal relationships and to achieve the ultimate goal of building better relationships between people of the three ethnic communities. My interest of learning Tamil increases each day as I wish to continue the valuable friendships that I have made throughout my life!

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index – Sri Lanka

Colombo 09, 2011 - The People Living with HIV Stigma Index was launched for the first time in Sri Lanka at the National AIDS Committee on 2 November 2010.

Some of the key findings from the survey are:

Testing is largely as a result of employment – 32.3% tested because of employment requirements, while 28.3% tested due to health related symptoms and 19.2% tested because a spouse, partner or family member tested positive.

Of concern - 54.5% say they were tested without their knowledge, while 37.4% decided voluntarily. Access to health services is still not universal with 8.1% stating that they have been denied access to health services including dental care. 7.1% have been denied family planning services and 5.1% denied sexual and reproductive services.

Confidentiality - only 34.3% feel certain that healthcare professionals have NOT disclosed their HIV status without consent, with 23.2% having knowledge of disclosure without consent.

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index provides a tool that will measure and detect changing trends in relation to stigma experienced by people living with HIV. In the initiative, the process is just as important as the product. It aims to address stigma relating to HIV while also advocating on the key barriers and issues that bring about stigma - a key obstacle to treatment, prevention, care and support. 

Currently Sri Lanka is experiencing a low level HIV epidemic. The estimated number of people living with HIV as at the end of 2009 was 3000 and the estimated HIV prevalence among adults aged 15-49 years is less than 0.1%. It is also found that people go in late for testing and treatment. Stigma and discrimination clearly contribute to this and present a significant barrier to effective responses.

Three networks of people living with HIV, Lanka Plus, Positive Women’s Network and Positive Hopes Alliance worked together in compiling the research and presenting the findings to the National AIDS Committee, which comprises of government, civil society and development partners.

The Sri Lankan interviewer team consisted of seven adults living with HIV of which four were women. A three day training programme was conducted for the interviewers at the Family Planning Association in Colombo giving them a better understanding of the history and rationale to the survey. The training also provided them a better understanding of the key concepts associated with HIV related stigma and discrimination and time to reflect on their own experiences. Every interviewer gained a thorough understanding of the content of the questionnaire and the associated forms and agreements administered as part of the interview process.

Effecting Change

Networks of people living with HIV are the most significant access point for help with instances of stigma. This suggests that capacity building of these networks to handle instances of stigma to their member and others living with HIV should be the priority.

What emerges as one of the most significant findings of the Stigma Index study is the direction that people living with HIV want those involved to take. These recommendations will be taken forward as steps to reduce stigma and discrimination faced by those living with HIV and AIDS.

The Index is a joint initiative that has been developed and implemented by and for people living with HIV. Those involved in the design and development of this survey includes the Global Network of People Living with HIV & AIDS (GNP+), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS).

Copies of the report are available in English, Sinhala and Tamil at the UNAIDS Office. If you wish to have a copy please contact us on srilanka@unaids.org

Text by David Bridger & Surovi Salgado, UNAIDS

How TREE changed a young man’s life

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The ILO’s Training for Rural Economic Empowerment (TREE) Programme is a proven platform that assists those working in largely informal economies to build the skills and abilities needed to generate additional income. By linking training directly to community determined economic opportunities, TREE programmes ensure that skills delivered are relevant. 

Colombo 09 2011 - Thangavel Nadesaseelan, aged 17, is from the remote village of Panchenai in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. His mother died when he was two and his father remarried and left his young family behind to fend for themselves. Seelan, as he is called by his friends, and his elder sister were left with their maternal grandparents and a widowed aunt.

As in many similar situations, Seelan attended the village school up to Grade 8 but dropped out at the age of 14 to work, because there was no other breadwinner in the family.

With his limited education, opportunities for work were rather restricted. During the agricultural season Seelan worked in the paddy fields and at other times in road construction or any other work that was available, to provide for his family’s basic needs. After his grandmother’s death Seelan had to take on more responsibility, as his grandfather was unable to work due to old age and his aunt was losing her sight.

Despite these difficulties, Seelan was able to give his sister away in marriage and to continue his life with his grandfather and aunt in the small hut that they built.

The year 2007 brought a difficult period in his life, as the war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government forces escalated in the east of Sri Lanka.

Seelan and his family had to move out of their village to stay in a camp. They had to leave all theirbelongings behind; when they returned after the war, all that was left was the land they owned. So for Seelan the struggle for survival started again. Once they were resettled in their own village, he managed to put up a small hut, using the assistance provided to resettled families by the Government and other humanitarian agencies, and started to work again as an unskilled worker.

When the Recovery Coordination Initiative (RCI) – Phase II started in Batticaloa District in July 2009, Seelan’s village, Panchenai, was selected as one of the locations for the interventions. A needs assessment was conducted in all six project locations to identify prospective employment areas. It became apparent that there was a demand for mechanics for agro-machinery and motorcycle repair, so training in these areas was offered to young people in all the locations, through the St John’s Vocational Training Centre and the Vocational Training Authority.

Seelan was one of seven young men selected from Panchenai. Initial group discussions were held on how they could attend the training and complete it successfully. The main problem faced by most participants was leaving their families behind to attend the training, because they were the main breadwinners.

The next problem was commuting daily to the training location. Taking these concerns into consideration, the ILO decided to enrol them in a three-month residential training course at the St John’s Vocational Training Centre in Batticaloa. The ILO also arranged with the World Food programme (WFP) to include these trainees in their Food-for-Training (FFT) programme, clearing the way for them to attend the training while their families were being taken care of by the WFP. The WFP Batticaloa Field Office enthusiastically supported this arrangement and provided dry rations to the families of all trainees during the training period. In addition, all the logistical support was provided by UNDP Batticaloa. The ILO provided the funding and moral support to the trainees by visiting them regularly to monitor their progress and give encouragement. Seelan, together with 15 other boys, graduated as an agromachinery mechanic after successfully completing the three months of institutional training and two months on-the-job training.

He has now been offered employment at the workshop where he underwent training.

Under RCI – Phase II, the ILO has offered vocational training to 170 young women and men in agro-machinery repair, motorcycle repair, heavy equipment operation, tailoring, carpentry, masonry, tractor driving and electrical wiring. They were all also supported by the ILO in finding either waged employment or forming group enterprises. In addition, another 140 women were supported by the ILO with skills training, equipment and tools, work space and other operational assistance, allowing them to start community-based microenterprises. Fourteen such group enterprises, including a group farm, have been established.

Today Seelan wants to be a leading agro machinery mechanic in Batticaloa District and to run his own workshop one day. He dreams of building a new house, making the lives of his grandfather and aunt comfortable and supporting his sister’s family. Above all, like all youngsters, he dreams of driving his own motorcycle. Armed with new skills and training he is confident that he can make all these dreams come true.

Text by R. Sivapragasam, Senior Training Specialist, ILO

Infrastructure projects help to restart livelihood

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Colombo 09, 2011 - It has been three years since Balanchandiran Amuthini (28) was displaced from her home in Kilinochchi district, in northern Sri Lanka. Before that, Amuthini worked as a sewing trainer in Poonakary with two sewing machines, but lost both during the conflict. A widowed mother, Amuthini was selected by her community to take part in a local infrastructure project implemented by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) after the end of the war. In May 2010, she worked on a project to restore Thalanukulam Tank, and in two months was able to earn more than RS. 24,000. From her earnings, Amuthini   saved enough to buy a second-hand sewing machine. She now runs a sewing business bringing her an income of approximately Rs.400 (3.6 USD) a day.

I. Mohanathasa returned to Karachchi DS division of Kilinochchi district in April 2010, after being displaced two years ago. Upon his return, Mohanathasa was offered a job at a local livelihood project. While this job helped him to support his wife and two children, he was also able to make some savings.  Mohanathasa used his savings as a down payment to purchase a solar water pump (amounting to Rs. 345,000 in total, to be repaid over 10 years). Mohanathasa is currently earning Rs. 3,000 a month from the sale of vegetables, but he hopes to earn between Rs. 8,000 and 18,000 as more crops are harvested. These are just two examples of families who have benefited from a range of infrastructure renovation and restoration projects currently implemented by UNOPS in four divisions of Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts.

These projects include labour-intensive work such as clearing, cleaning, and simple repair work of the community infrastructure. Day care centres have also been started, enabling disabled and older persons to contribute to their community by providing care for local children while their parents are at work. These labour-intensive infrastructure projects are driven by local communities. They prioritise the infrastructure that needs to be improved and then help identify families in need.

These community infrastructure projects are vitally important during the transition period from emergency to development. Many families in the North have lost their livelihoods as well as assets; many homes and community buildings including schools and gramodaya health centres have been damaged. But, local markets are starting up again and income gained from these infrastructure projects help families to re-establish their livelihoods.

FACT BOX The DFID-OFDA-CERF funded shelter, water/sanitation and livelihood project, has provided nearly 92,000 labour days for returnees in Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi districts. Activities include: construction of transitional shelters; rehabilitation of rural roads, irrigation ponds and drainage canals; construction of water and sanitation facilities; and repair and upgrading of wells. The USD 3 million project is implemented by UNOPS.

Amuthini is a 28 year old returnee from Maduvilnadu East, who earns a living as a seamstress. She saved the money from the livelihoods project to buy a new sewing machine to replace her machines which were lost during the conflict.

Addressing agriculture and livestock needs in the North

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Colombo 09 March 2011 - Just over two years ago, tragedy struck 40 year old Rasagari Ravikumar and his family. Ravikumar was minding his herd of 80 cattle when he was caught in an explosion. He was rushed to the nearest hospital in Putukurippu, where doctors told him it was too risky to remove a piece of shrapnel that was embedded close to his spine. He was patched up and sent home, where he decided, that it was no longer safe for his wife, two daughters and son to live in. That very same night, he and his family left all their belongings and fled their home. They lived in Menik Farm for two years before returning home to Maritimepattu, Mullaitivu in March 2010, only to find an empty house in a state of heavy disrepair.

Ravikumar and his family received shelter assistance from the Indian Government and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and food rations from World Food Programme (WFP), which ended in December 2010. His family is far from ordinary. His eldest daughter Keerthihar, aged 19, suffers from a hole in the heart, and his second daughter Vaneja, aged 15, suffers from adverse allergic reactions. His youngest, his son Madhushan is only 10 but has the demeanor of someone older, perhaps having seen what he has in his lifetime has forced him to grow up faster than a normal child of his age.

Ravikumar owns three acres of paddy land located quite a distance away and needs much work to be cleared and fenced before cultivation. So instead, he opted to cultivate four acres of leased paddy land closer to his home, in addition to the quarter acre of highland that he owns. He will have to give the paddy land owner six bushelsfrom the harvest for every acre cultivated, out of a potential total harvest of 50-60 bushels per acre.

FAO provided him with sufficient seed paddy along with subsidized fertilizer provided by the Government, and sufficient ground nut and fertilizer to cultivate these extents of paddy and highland under the project “Improvement of Food Security and Livelihoods in Northern Sri Lanka (Phase 1)”, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.This project is assisting up to 7,500 returnee farmer households in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya by giving them the agriculture start up support that they needed during the Maha 2010/11 season and in the coming months to resume their cultivation practices and regain a sense of normalcy.

Ever since the shrapnel attack, Ravikumar has not been able to work the way he used to. His wife Thulasi explains, “Farming is hard work and I help him whenever I can and try to lighten the burden for him, because I know that he should not exert himself too much, or his back will get worse.” But Ravikumar has another very good reason to be hopeful.

After having lost all 80 cattle that he owned two years ago, he had resigned himself to the fact that he had lost them for good. But in 2010, with the support of the UK Department for International Development, FAO began a project to assist Government efforts to round up stray cattle in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. Under this project, ten community based paddocks were constructed in Kilinochchi and six in Mullaitivu with the support of farmer organizations, who signed up to help with the rounding up process. The rounded up cattle aremedically assessed and given the appropriate vaccines, ear tagged for identification and are handed over to original owners, identified through existing records of the Grama Niladhari offices and Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH). Since some farmers still have cattle vouchers for purchased animals, this helped further in the identification and return process. Animals with no brand marks are being distributed to newly identified returnee households having access to resources to feed and manage the cattle.

Ravikumar is one of the farmers who has been actively involved in the rounding up process and so far has had 45 out of the 80 cattle he previously owned returned to him.

“I know farmers who have spent months trying to find their cattle, with no luck. Cattle are valuable assets for us as farmers and I consider myself extremely lucky to have found over half of the cattle that I lost”, says a very grateful Ravikumar.

However, it is not just about luck, as Dr. Ravi Dissanayake, FAO project manager explains, “The success of this project largely rests on the sense of community ownership and level of interest and enthusiasm shown by the farmer organizations, as it is they who volunteer their time and efforts to conduct the rounding up process, which can be a dangerous task since most of these animals have been roaming wild for years and are unpredictable.”

To date, over 5,400 animals have been rounded up and distributed to owners under this project.

Text and pix. by Nihani Riza, National Reporting Officer, FAO

Heavy rains may impact farmers in the North

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Colombo, 8 March 2011 - Mahilwahanam Rajagopal, 58 lives with his wife in Selvanagar, Kilinochchi. They live in a small neatly kept cadjan hut and have one daughter and one young grandson who live with them. His daughter and grandchild have temporarily moved to a relative’s house in Jaffna to escape the heavy rains that Kilinochchi has been experiencing in the last few weeks.

Rajagopal and his family were displaced in September 2008, and had no choice but to live in Menik Farm, before returning home in March 2010. Rajagopal has been a farmer for decades and his wife and daughter help him with the cultivation and harvesting of crops. Although he owns paddy land, he has cultivated only vegetables and other field crops in recent years.

“I am not as young as I used to be, and for me it is easier to cultivate vegetables and pulses in the seven acres of highland close to my home”, explains Rajagopal. “The 2 acres of paddy land that I own is quite far away and I find that cultivating this extent is not worth the higher risk and lower profit margin I would get”.

Rajagopal received sufficient green gram, cowpea, black gram and ground nut seed from FAO to cultivate ½ acres per crop. Rajagopal says he feels fortunate to receive this assistance, considering that there is no active farmer organization in the area where he lives.

“Farmers living in this area have migrated from different parts of central Sri Lanka, and there is a general lack of social cohesion among the community here”, explains Gracian Vijayaratnam, FAO District Officer in Kilinochchi. “This is why it was all the more important that FAO, working in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, was able to identify and select these farmers as beneficiaries, so that they were not left behind in FAO’s large scale programme to support returnees in the North”.

However, the heavy downpour of rains experienced in Kilinochchi has affected the quality and growth of the pulses that Rajagopal cultivated. He is unsure of the produce and resulting harvest.

“If the rains were not as heavy as it has been in the last few days, I am sure that the harvest would have been good because I was confident of the quality of seeds that FAO provided”, says Rajagopal. Like Rajagopal, other farmers in Kilinochchi who have cultivated other field crops may also face crop damage due to heavy rains. It is too early to make accurate estimates of the damage but overall 5% crop damage is estimated in the North, unlike the significant damage experienced due to the rains and flooding in the East.

Text and pix. by Nihani Riza, National Reporting Officer, FAO

The dreaded bus ride: sexual harassment in public transport

Dilanthi got into the bus and looked around fearfully, wondering where to sit.She notices two empty seats at the back and goes towards it.She sits down hoping no one will sit next to her.

An elderly man in his fifties sees the empty seat next to her and makes his way towards it.He grins lecherously at Dilanthi and sits down with his shoulder brushing against her.A few minutes later, the man reaches down to his leg and briefly touches Dilanthi’s knee.She pushes him away and moves closer the window of the bus.The elderly man then puts his arm on the back of her seat and touches her neck.

Dilanthi feels sick and gets up to leave her seat.As she passes him, he whispers ‘why don’t you come home with me’.She looks at him scornfully and hits him with her handbag. Dilanthi is used to the situation she encountered.It happens each time she uses public transport.She is not alone.Women that use public transport go through this type of harassment each time they travel on the bus.It is a constant battle to reach one’s destination without being touched, squeezed, pinched and being subject to the lewd comments of fellow travelers.

Sexual harassment takes place in the street, in the workplace and in public transport.Many of us are aware of what sexual harassment is.But there are many others who are unaware of what it entails.From catcalls on the street to the dangerous practice of asking for sexual favours in return for workplace perks, the kinds of sexual harassment that takes place are many.Many of us are conditioned from childhood to accept sexual harassment as a way of life and do not question it.We must move away from this thinking and proactively take steps to speak up against it.It is important that people are made aware of sexual harassment and its connotations and what steps they can take to report it.It is only by being proactive that we can end this type of behavior.

Sexual harassment was made a criminal offence in Sri Lanka in 1995.Section 345 of the Penal Code criminalizes sexual harassment and the offence carries a punishment of up to five years imprisonment if found guilty. Yet, how many of us are aware of this law?How many women would report an incident of sexual harassment in the bus to the police?The numbers are negligible.The majority of women would suffer through the harassment in silence, while a few maybe pushed into reacting the way Dilanthi did.Some may feel embarrassed and will not want to ‘make a scene’.The fear of retaliation and more violence keeps women silent.The further humiliation and callous treatment at the police station deter women from making a formal complaint.There have been instances where women have asked bus drivers to drive to the nearest police station where harassers have been handed over the police.This is an effective way of deterring would be harassers.

If we are to end sexual harassment in public transport, then we need to speak up against it.It is not only the victim of harassment that has to take a stand, but those who watch the harassment taking place that need to speak up against it.If we stay silent, then we condone such types of behavior.



By Shyamala Gomez, Gender Advisor, Office of the UN Resident Coordinator

Strengthening democracy by improving access to information

20 information centers established in Galle District, Southern Province

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Despite improved economic conditions over the past few years, the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, with their predominantly rural population, have limited access to information, especially about Government programmes. This is particularly felt during election times, when outreach activities of both the Government and non-governmental organizations often do not reach the people in this part of the country. Due to lack of knowledge, the percentage of invalid votes is quite high. There also have been incidences of electoral malpractices, corruption and violence. To remedy this situation and include the marginalized sections of society in the development process, the Saviya Development Foundation (SDF), an NGO, initiated a civil society empowerment project in the province in early 2010 to strengthen inclusive democracy and good governance amongst communities. The project is supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in association with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The initiative was flagged off early this year with a series of activities on community mobilization and awareness raising about the principles of democracy, transparency and gender mainstreaming. This was done through the existing network of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the region. As a next step, 20 information centers have been set up in Galle district using the well-developed public library network of the region as a platform. Serving as nodal points, these centers now provide the citizens and CBOs with information on a range of topics like the Sri Lanka's Constitution and political system, the country's natural resources and livelihoods, systems to deliver health and education, social and political rights etc. They are operated by librarians, who are responsible for giving information and also maintaining records of queries. It is envisaged that once the communities understand the benefits of obtaining information from the information centers, they will remain motivated to do so on their own or through the CBOs.

The centers were inaugurated on 10th November at the Galle District Secretariat, where the librarians along with CBO  leaders and community development officers of the local government, participated in a day long training session about the importance of access to information and good governance. Through interactive sessions, the participants obtained a solid overview on topics like democracy, rule of law and right to information with reference to the Sri Lankan context and their everyday lives. Mr. Shan Wijelal De Silva, the Honorable Chief Minister of the Province, the Chief Secretary and other senior officials from the province attended the event and encouraged the participants to make use of the centers. The Chief Minister appreciated the fact that the information centers involved the close participation of the local Government. While distributing information booklets for the centers, he appealed to the librarians and CBO leaders to take on the important task of empowering people by providing them with information.

Another 27 information centres will soon be set up in the districts of Matara and Hambantota, also in the Southern Province. The project further plans to launch a gender and democracy manual, which will be used in conjunction with capacity building of 250 women self help groups in the Province.

This initiative is part of the project titled "Civil Society Empowerment Project in Sri Lanka to promote Democracy and Integrity", supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).

Supporting government efforts to  boost local milk production

One of the national priorities of the Government of Sri Lanka is to enable a rapid growth of the dairy sector in order to meet 50 percent self-sufficiency in national milk production by 2015. The present contribution of buffaloes to national milk production is approximately 16 percent, however it is considered that there is a high potential to increase this further.

Sri Lanka has about 300,000 buffaloes out of which, approximately 30 percent produce milk. The average daily milk production is 1 litre, which is far below the expected level of 3 - 4 litres a day. The main challenges and gaps identified in the buffalo industry of the country include a lack of quality breeding animals, an appropriate health care system, the absence of an animal identification and a record keeping system, as well as poor management and marketing of milk and milk products.

FAO, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation is presently providing  assistance through a pilot project based in Kurunegala and Nuwara Eliya to establish a record keeping system and provide appropriate training to outreach services. These aim to advise farmers on the proper care and management of buffaloes. The system can be used to collect vital data, analyze trends and improve the efficiency of the milk production sector, which can be expanded to include other districts and provinces. The training will enable outreach services to advise farmers on best practices in buffalo rearing to increase local milk production levels, thereby increasing the income of small-scale farmers and improving their food security and livelihoods.  

Helping mothers to stay healthy

Ramesha, a schoolteacher, waits patiently for a prenatal exam at a mobile clinic in this former battle zone. After being displaced 13 times in two years, she has finally returned home. She has come to a facility run by the Ministry of Health and the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka with support from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Ramesha got married in May 2008, just as the military conflict in the North intensified. Soon afterward, she and her husband ran away to escape the constant threat to their lives from heavy shelling and gunfire that continued into the night. Her husband was hit by shrapnel as they fled and his leg had to be amputated. He spent months in a hospital while Ramesha moved from one IDP camp to another.

Reunited
Finally, at the end of May 2009, the war ended and Ramesha was reunited with her husband in Manik Farm – the largest IDP camp in Vavuniya, housing 280,000 people at the time.

Over a year on, the tents remain in Manik Farm but the barbed wire has been removed, people are moving about, shops have reopened on the roadside and over 220,000 former displaced people have left to return home.  

In Kilinochchi, where the heaviest battles between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were fought, billboards advertising mobile phones now line the streets. Amid the shelled, roofless houses, a new railway line is being built. Buses race along the A9 highway, carrying thousands of southerners to a region they have not been able to visit for over 30 years.

Peaceful environment
For Ramesha, the return to a town free of shelling and gunfire was unimaginable. “I left without knowing when I would come back,” she says. “My house caught fire and only the walls remain, but I am happy to be back home and to know that I will not have to run away soon. Most of all, I am happy that I will be able to bring up my first child at home and give him or her a good education in a peaceful environment.”

Kavinda, a midwife, has just received a new bicycle for her home visits in Kilinochchi. She too was uprooted to Manik Farm, where she looked after some 5,000 pregnant women. Now she is mobile and has fewer women to cover. However, as she explains, other problems remain: “We have difficulty keeping track of people, as most have lost their birth certificates and records along with their belongings, and we still have limited facilities so we have to sometimes conduct clinics under the trees.”
 
“The hardest thing is to talk to pregnant women and get them to open up. Sometimes they look dazed and seem too confused to start life all over again, let alone bring up a child. These women may be free now, but there is much to heal. It will be a long way for them to get back to normal,” Kavinda adds.

Feel the freedom
Ramesha expresses similar sentiments. “As a schoolteacher, I am surrounded by children. I still see traumatized and unsettled looks on their faces. One year on they are yet to feel the freedom.”

UNFPA has been at the forefront in catering to the reproductive health needs of women and girls in conflict-affected areas of northern Sri Lanka. At the end of the military offensive, UNFPA partnered with the Ministry of Health and the Family Planning Association to conduct some 441 mobile and static clinics providing prenatal and postnatal care, voluntary family planning and counselling services to more than 20,000 clients in Vavuniya IDP camps. Over 32,000 hygiene packs containing sanitary pads and other toiletries were distributed among women and girls to facilitate their mobility and maintain their dignity.

UNFPA has now moved these services to the resettled areas like Kilinochchi, and continues its support to restore the health infrastructure through the provision of reproductive health supplies and equipment, and in training health staff on emergency preparedness. As a next step, it will set up safe and accessible spaces for women like Ramesha and Kavinda, to provide psychosocial support, legal aid, livelihood training and awareness raising on women’s rights and gender-based violence.

Unique partnership  for HIV prevention in Sri Lanka

by Revati Chawla and Surovi Salgado
Sri Lanka continues to have very low HIV prevalence. UNAIDS estimates that about 4,000 Sri Lankans were living with HIV at the end of 2007, yielding prevalence of less than 0.1 percent.

In low prevalence settings, the focus of HIV prevention programs should be the most-at-risk populations. However data indicates that people who buy and sell sex and men who have sex with men are at higher risk of HIV infection, yet little is known regarding the size of these groups making it difficult to guide the country’s HIV prevention efforts. If these groups are not adequately addressed, Sri Lanka will be vulnerable to an increase in HIV infections.

To build a baseline of strategic information, the Joint UN Team on AIDS at the request of the National STI/AIDS Control Programme in Sri Lanka, supported to develop a methodology to map and estimate the number of people infected with HIV among the high-risk populations. The World Bank provided technical assistance and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund and UNAIDS gave funding to carry out the methodology in the four districts of  Colombo, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa and Nuwara Eliya.

The study’s findings published in May 2010 estimate between 35,000 to 47,000 sex workers and between 24,000 to 37,000 men who have sex with men in Sri Lanka.

Partnership key for effective HIV prevention
A constructive new partnership emerged from the process. Representatives of men who have sex with men and sex workers met regularly with senior government officials from the Police and the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition to implement the public health programme.

“For the first time in Sri Lanka a public health issue is being addressed by non-traditional stakeholders who have come together for a common cause—the prevention of HIV among key populations at higher risk,” said Dr Palitha Mahipala, Additional Secretary – Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition and chair of the steering committee created to guide implementation.

Community groups were briefed by a team who worked on similar exercises in Pakistan and India who ensured that the methodology was adapted for easy use in Sri Lanka.

“Community members received excellent training on planning of field work, data collection, data entry, analysis and basic knowledge on micro planning for prevention services for sex workers from the University of Manitoba,” explained Chandra Kanthi Abeykoon, Project Coordinator Community Strength and Development Foundation.

Filling the evidence gaps
The mapping was first undertaken in Colombo and Anuradhapura where initial results suggested that the numbers of sexually active men who have sex with men and sex workers were much higher than previously thought. According to the study team, participants from the community organizations appreciated the value of understanding exactly where hotspots for sex work are to ensure that HIV prevention programmes reach people in need of services.

Guarding the confidentiality of participants was a key concern in the project. To safeguard identities it was agreed that only community groups had access to the data with street names and locations which is relevant for prevention outreach activities.

The mapping was extended to Batticaloa and Nuwara Eliya. For the first time, the National STD/AIDS Control Programme used the broader averaged data from three of the districts to produce an evidence-based national estimate for key populations at higher risk.

During the project, the study team faced some challenges where local authorities intervened and questioned the exercise as it concerned behaviours that are regulated by punitive laws: both homosexuality and sex work are illegal in Sri Lanka.  Members of the study team from the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition and community organizations travelled to the research sites to meet with district officials to discuss and agree on the goals of the exercise.

Building momentum
The government and civil society partnership received a grant from round nine of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in early 2010. The grant will enable to extend the mapping exercise across the country and to reach most-at-risk populations as well as people who inject drugs in prisons with increased prevention outreach.

“This process has been a critical first step in building effective prevention for key populations at higher risk here in Sri Lanka,” said David Bridger, UNAIDS Country Coordinator adding that it was a solid way of ensuring that HIV will remain at low levels in this country.

However, barriers to effective prevention still remain and will continue to affect the implementation of the Government’s HIV prevention programme for key populations at higher risk over the next five years. Laws that criminalize certain behaviour push populations at higher HIV risk underground and away from HIV prevention services will need to be raised and more openly discussed. 

In Sri Lanka, cricket leadership programme helps former child soldiers

Gopi, 16, makes a dash and lunges to take the catch. “You’re out!” she yells. Elated, with her short hair bobbing from under her cap, she joins the rest of her team to celebrate the victory.

A former child soldier, Gopi is part of an innovative sport-for-development programme in conflict-torn Sri Lanka. Through the vehicle of cricket, partners including UNICEF, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Government of Sri Lanka are working to help rehabilate former combattants like Gopi.

Child recruitment
Life was quite different a year ago, when Gopi was abducted by the military group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and taken to one of their training camps in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province.

Forced to work as a driver for the LTTE, Gopi would have to transport those killed or wounded in Sri Lanka’s long civil conflict. Twice she tried to escape, but her cropped hair – typical for a LTTE girl combatant – made her easily identifiable and she was caught.

Throughout almost three decades of civil strife, many Sri Lankan children were abducted and recruited by armed groups. Since 2002, UNICEF has registered some 7,000 of them – likely only a fraction of the real number of child soldiers throughout the country.

Gopi did finally manage to escape. Just before the close of the war in May 2009, she surrendered to the government forces.

“We were registered by UNICEF and were taken to a special rehabilitation centre in [the capital] Colombo,” she said. “I started studying again and made lots of friends.”

‘Beyond the boundaries’ of sport
Since the end of the conflict, nearly 600 children formerly associated with armed groups have benefited from UNICEF-supported education, vocational, recreational and psycho-social activities.
A key aspect of rehabilitation is 'Cricket Peer Leader' training – a unique sport-for-development partnership with the ICC, UNICEF, the Government of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Cricket and the non-governmental organization Cricket for Change UK. “Cricket can be rightly proud of helping to develop a project which goes beyond the boundaries of our great sport,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Logart.

Gopi was among the first children to benefit from a week-long training on 'Street 20', an accessible version of cricket involving limited equipment. “I really enjoyed myself and especially learned about team work and leadership,” she said.

Leaders off the field
Beyond helping children learn the sport, the Cricket Peer Leader programme also helps children appreciate the values of trust, respect and fair-play off the cricket field.

UNICEF Representative in Sri Lanka Philippe Duamelle said that the programme had been successful in helping some of Sri Lanka’s most marginalized children. “We are using the power of sport through this great partnership to reach out to vulnerable children and help them realize their full potential,” he said.

With the support of Sri Lanka Cricket and UNICEF, the Cricket Peer Leaders will return to their homes and run their own cricket programmes, reaching out to other disadvantaged children. “Now, I want to teach others what I have learned,” said Gopi.

Combating harmful organic pollutants

Recent studies suggest that a large number of organic pollutants are hampering the health of those engaged in the infrastructure and development industries.

Studies indicate that Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have become a threat not only to humans but also to the environment. Due to the ability of organic compounds to exist in the environment for long periods of time, the compounds tend to affect the life cycle of species in those environments. Already 12 such types of organic pollutants have been identified.  

There are many ways in which living beings are exposed to POPs. For instance, the most common means is through consuming contaminated water and food, inhaling polluted air while spraying pesticides during harvesting, or through inhalation, while using industrial chemicals.

In a bid to create awareness on the harmful effects of POPs, the People to People Volunteers Project was established through the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) at UNDP provided funding to the NGO to carry out a range of activities. The objective of the project was to minimize the effects of long term organic pollutants and the project was initially launched in Welimada, Badulla district. The project which was operative through 2007 and 2008, carried out awareness programmes to minimize the emission of toxins such as Dioxins and Furans into the environment.  The programme, in collaboration with the District Council, undertook to minimize open burning of waste and introduce composting of waste in the area.

The organization also raised awareness on the dangers of using a  pollutant compound known as Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in the Kalutara district. The chemical was first identified in 1986 and is found in the oil used for operating transformers in Sri Lanka. This oil contains dangerous amounts of PCB and  could enter through the skin if used without protective cover. Small home-based industries such as welding plants usually buy the used oil at a cheaper price when discarded and use it in their appliances. They use their bare hands while working with this oil.

People to People Volunteers had the oil tested with the support of the Industrial Technology Institution (ITI) to confirm the presence of the chemical in such instances of usage. The group conducted survey reveals that 3,000 welders and workers in affiliated activities in Kalutara district are affected. Workers who handle welding tools were given systematic medical examinations. While the results are still pending it is believed that these tests will be effective in determining the extent of damage caused to the human system through PCB contamination. Medical examinations have been organized for workers performing maintenance and repairs for transformers as well.

In addition, awareness and educational programmes have been conducted through schools, governmental organizations, and NGOs in the district. It is also believed that precautionary methods such as avoiding waste incineration, using eco friendly methods of waste disposal, and maintaining a compost bin in the garden could minimize the release of toxins into the air.  

The group recommends the factories that manufacture products with natural rubbergun powder, paints and filler should be situated at a reasonable distance from human habitats and those involved in the production of these materials should avoid contact with the skin, and avoid disposing waste material into the environment.

(Special thanks to People to People Volunteer Organization - Kalutara)

A village comes alive

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The sight of a temple being constructed and children attending school at the Maniyarkulam village, in Vavuniya District, hints at the revival that is taking place within this quaint hamlet. Situated 3km south of the highway to Poovarasankulam, the village is lush and green and its inhabitants warm and friendly. Mr K. Thavarajah is the head of the Farmers’ Organization in the community and the unofficial leader of the village.

Mr. Thavarajah took some time off to discuss the progress made by the farming community in the village since the initiation of the Livelihood Development Programme by UNDP and the Japanese Government in 2008.

 “Those who moved back to this village took to farming by using the resources of the Maniyarkulam irrigation tank. The village possesses 160 acres of land which is mainly used for paddy farming. Some of the farmers depend on rainfall while the others depend mainly on the water from the lake for their farming. However, despite these natural resources, due to the lack of a proper canal in the area, only 50 acres of this land could be cultivated,” he said.

Mr. Thavarajah said it was amidst this hardship that the Livelihood Development Programme project enabled villagers to cultivate more land.  As part of the programme, financial assistance was granted to the Farmers’ Organization to construct a 300 metre canal. The perseverance of the villagers finally paid off and they built a 340 metre cement canal, resulting in more land being cultivated.

Mr. Thavarajah said another key issue that farmers had to deal with was the inability to transport their produce, without an access road to the Vavuniya market. Many farmers suffered heavy losses. Subsequently, UNDP helped them to construct a 2.2km road connecting Vavuniya Chettikulam to Maniyarkulam. Heavy vehicles transporting the produce of these farmers, are now able to reach their destination and support the livelihood of this community.

Following the completion of the road, officials at the Transport Board agreed to allocate buses along this roadway. This initiative contributed immensely to supporting the educational needs of the children who travel by bus to school in this village.

Mr. Thavarajah added that the community is also receiving a rice mill and paddy store house. This project, also supported by UNDP and the Japanese government,will be completed soon. The store house will enable farmers to retain the quality of their produce.  Mr. Thavarajah also said that the monthly income of the villagers has risen by 25 percent owing to the commencement of this particular project. He pointed out that previously the produce had to be sold immediately once harvested, due to a lack of storage facilities and most often, at a cheaper rate to the private sector.  

In addition to infrastructural support, UNDP is also providing technical training and capacity building support. UNDP is training CBOs in the village for better management of resources and services. The community is pleased to see its efforts bearing fruit. They quote the well-known Tamil proverb- ‘those who persevere will succeed’.

Bittersweet return to a place called home

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In Mannar’s coastal village of Thevanpiddy, Mariananthini sits on the steps of a church, gently combing the hair of a small girl crouching at her feet. She leans over and whispers something to her husband who is sitting beside her holding on to two other children. They both smile, seemingly unfazed by the scorching heat and short bursts of dust-filled winds mixed with the odour of salt and fish. The scene could easily be captured on a picture postcard - a beautiful family, simply happy and content to be with each another.

But their surroundings tell a different story. Heavily damaged homes and buildings, some even reduced to rubble, still remain as reminders of Sri Lanka’s bloody war which ended last year. Tractors loaded high with bags of clothes, household goods, bits of furniture and the people themselves indicate that after the end of the conflict last year, Thevanpiddy is getting its life back. But the hundreds of people lined up near the trucks filled with humanitarian aid show their desperate need for help.

Mariananthini is among hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s conflict. “My parents, my 11 siblings and their families all lived here. So when the sound of shelling drew closer in July 2008 we decided to leave together and find a safer place,” she said.

But that safety never came. They moved from place to place, desperate to get away from the devastation unfolding around them. Then tragedy hit the family. Five of Mariananthini’s siblings were killed, as they were trying to keep safe. Among those killed was Mariananthini’s 25 year old sister and husband, leaving their three children orphaned.  

But inside the conflict zone, there was little time to grieve. Once again the remaining members of Mariananthini’s family moved from place to place until they finally came across members of the Government forces and were transported out of the conflict zone to safety.

Subsequently Mariananthini and her family were accommodated in Sri Lanka’s largest displacement camp, Menik Farm located in Vavuniya district. By the end of the conflict over 280,000 internally displaced persons were accommodated in many camps spread across the country’s North.  “It was quite difficult at the start. There were many people in the camp and our entire family of ten people had to manage inside one tent. We got dry rations and other items from agencies, but the biggest problem was money to buy supplementary food. Since we couldn’t leave the camp, we couldn’t find work anywhere. But when the camp opened in December my husband started leaving regularly to do some labour work. So we had a small income from that. ”

Then in February this year, spending almost one year in Menik Farm, Mariananthini’s family was informed by camp authorities that they would be returning home soon.  A few days later Mariananthini and her family were among 99 families from her village on a bus making their way back to Mannar. They joined 89 other families in the village who had returned from camps in Mannar the previous day.

Mariananthini is among more than 180,000 persons who have left displacement camps in Sri Lanka’s North since August last year, to return to their places of origin under the Government-facilitated return process, to live with host families and friends, or to be taken care of at special institutions (i.e. the elderly and orphans). The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners are supporting the return process, by providing the returnee families with basic household items like plastic mats, mosquito nets and jungle clearing tools as well as items of clothing and slippers to help them get back on their feet. Returnee families can also use the tarpaulins included in UNHCR’s return package as basic initial emergency shelter until the repairs are carried out on their homes or transitional shelters are built.

Like Mariananthini, many are unable to return directly to their homes which are either heavily damaged or destroyed.  Therefore as part of its assistance package, UNHCR has provided each returnee family in the North with Rs. 25,000 ($220) through the state-owned Bank of Ceylon and the local authorities to help them with shelter repairs or any other urgent needs. The returnees are free to use this money as they see fit, either towards rebuilding their houses or use it to start up an income-generating activity. The shelter cash grant also contributes towards boosting the local economy in the area.

In addition, UNHCR staff visit the return areas on a regular basis to speak with the returnees and help raise any concerns they may have or identify gaps in assistance.

Now that they have returned to Thevanpiddy, Mariananthini says her family will focus on repairing their homes, restart fishing to earn a regular income and return to at least a semblance of the life they had two years ago. All the while, they will be remembering those who were lost during their time in displacement. She and her husband have decided to adopt her late sister’s three children and ensure that they grow up to be well-educated, respectable citizens of Sri Lanka. ”My husband and I can never replace their parents”, Mariananthini says pulling her three children close. ”But what we can do is make sure that we do our best to lessen the sadness and loss in their lives. ”

Paving a path to peace

Four villages in Mannar district comprising multi-religious communities share a common cemetery and a 500 meter road leading to the burial ground which was in desperate need of upgrading.

The communities banded together to renovate the road, but during road rehabilitation work, various disputes between communities hindered the renovation process. These differences not only affected the road construction, but shadowed the importance of burying loved ones.

The local government authority and the President of the Village Development Society brought these concerns to the Youth Coexistence Committees (YCC) in the respective villages. The causes of conflict identified appeared to be a result of lack of understanding between communities from different religions, castes and professions as well as relocated families living among the local population hosting them.

An agreement was reached to raise funds and seek local government support. With funds collected, the YCC met community members and advocated for a common work approach. The community soon realized that they needed to look beyond their differences in order to work towards a common goal and within one day the community came together to complete 300 meters of the 500 meter road, and subsequently the remaining 200 meters.

For the past three years, the Community Rehabilitation Programme funded by the Australian government (AusAID) and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has supported development activities that promote durable peace in Sri Lanka.

In addition, the Community Rehabilitation Programme creates awareness through specific peace-building activities that promote confidence among different communities and improves their engagement with local community support structures.

Under this programme, IOM in partnership with the Foundation for Co-Existence (FCE) - a local NGO, supports the establishment of Youth Coexistence Committees (YCC) among different ethnic and religious groups at community level in the Mannar district.

Youth are also encouraged to be involved in social work that addresses needs of the most vulnerable groups in their villages. FCE is mobilizing the YCCs to identify and reach out to vulnerable groups to gather information and address social issues such as child abuse, drug addiction, child labour, sexual harassment, domestic and gender based violence, land dispute, early school drop outs and refer them to relevant authorities if necessary.