Practical Action’s fisheries project provides some good case-studies on developing non-fishing livelihoods. This one concerns the fishing community at Koggala lagoon in the Galle district of Sri Lanka.
The project introduced an ecosystem management mechanism with the fishermen and women in Koggala lagoon. Developing alternative (non-fishing) livelihoods was part of the work.The project team used market chain analysis along with other livelihood assessment tools to identity possible options for the community fishing in the lagoon.
One of the gaps highlighted in the market chain analysis was net mending. This has to be done every other day after fishing trips. Women in the community, who were part of the livelihood assessment exercises, requested training in net mending. It was high on their list of alternative livelihoods.Other options were available that would generate more income but they were not considered as important.
As a result, the project provided training for women on net mending and net making. Subsequently all twenty of the trainees began to mend and make nets at home, both for their own families and for others. The women who were not trained brought their husbands’ fishing nets to the trained net menders for repair.
After a few months of observation, the project team decided to find out why the women had chosen net mending as their alternative livelihood. A post- training evaluation was carried out with the 20 trained women, which led to a discussion with about the factors that influenced them to choose this training.
Women training in net making !
It emerged that the reason was that the women wanted their husbands to stay at home after fishing trips. Often, when fishermen returned from fishing in the lagoon, they went away to get their nets mended. While their nets were being mended the fishermen spent their time drinking, resulting in them spending all money they had earned from fishing! If the women were able to mend the nets at home, they could (strategically!) put an end to their husbands’ destructive habit. This was further supported by other women who did not undertake the training, but who were now able to bring their husband’s nets to be mended locally.
The evaluation of the training also covered women around the lagoon who had not been training. This revealed that many families had managed to save money by minimizing the incidents of fishermen’s heavy drinking. Indirectly, this has also reduced the number of social conflicts in the fishing villages.
To find out more about “alternative livelihoods” for small scale fishing communities, please follow this link to the full paper - “Developing non fishing livelihoods for small scale coastal communities”.
September 17th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Dear Sir / Madam,
We have the pleasure to inform you that through community participation and involving the rural womenfolk (Self Help Groups) as the front-line soldiers in Our Mission we have initiated a program aimed at bringing an Organic Revolution statewide in Odisha. We have been urging the community people in all categories irrespective of rich and poor to be Organic in Every Sense of their Life.
Moving on the way forward, in the first step of our Mission, we have been successful in motivating the people, particularly few rural SHGs, for adopting our Innovative Pattern of Vermicompost Production in Integration with Mushroom Cultivation as a Sustainable Source of Income Generation through producing Nutrient Enriched Organic Fertilizer (Profile & Concept Note attached).
Since the trend and demand of Organic Fertilizer and Mushroom Production is increasing day by day, we have been converging the people particularly the rural womenfolk in different parts of our state to produce Vermicompost and Mushroom at the back yard of their houses for their socio-economic development and agricultural prosperity as well.
In some pockets of our State people have started this innovative (Vermicomposting+Mushroom) joint venture as a model of Rural / Micro Entrepreneurship. They are getting a handsome amount of profit from this tiny entrepreneurship and demonstrating a simple way of Waste Management sitting at their doorstep. They have started terming this innovative practice of Vermicompost Production as most easy, user friendly, economic and appropriate pattern of micro entrepreneurship.
Since you have been promoting number of philanthropic and human welfare activities under your Flagship CSR Banner with an aim to prosper the socio-economic status of the people living in the periphery of your existence, we honestly seek your support and cooperation to bring success in the Mission at both the ends. Joining hands together we can make Poverty a History in the area of our operation.
Hope to hear from you at an early date.
Regards.
Binod Nayak
Director – GOT
S/6, Green Garden, Kalinga Vihar, Bhubaneswar – 751019
Tel.- (0674) 2475036 / 88951 70459 / 9861003935 (M)
E-mail – globalorganicagriculturetrust@gmail.com / binodconsultancy@gmail.com