The buck never stops

CARE, along with its Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) partner ANNAI, restored people's livelihoods in this village and designed a project to provide milch animals to 22 of the most vulnerable families.

As well as giving people animals which provide milk, the project sought to provide shelter for the animals, fodder, a drinking water source and insurance. The participants were all women who, because they lost their husbands in the tsunami, had been forced to become the main income earners for their families. They all belonged to two self help groups, in which the women supported each other and clubbed together to save money.

Each group had a revolving savings fund from which each of the women has an opportunity to take out a loan and use the money to pay for necessary household items or to invest. The women in the groups were trained on livestock management and the basic veterinary support required to keep the animals healthy and safe.

The financial support provided by CARE was channeled through partner ANNAI to the groups and then to each participant, and used to procure an animal for each participant, set up a shed and insure the animal. A common fodder bank and water source were set up in the village and maintained by the women.

Fodder was purchased in bulk through a Milk Producers Co-operative Society for a subsidised rate by the two self help groups and distributed to the project participants as per their request on a soft loan basis. These women were now back on their feet and had their livelihoods restored to normality.

There were however, many other households in the village who were not as fortunate and were still struggling for survival. Within a period of two months, the women were ready with a repayment amount of Rs 10,000 to buy an animal for another member of their group. A month later, there was enough for one more. Soon, each member of the two groups had a milch animal and the women settled on a slower repayment model to complete their loan payments.

The story of Vanagirikuppam displays clearly how a great sense of ownership and participation can lead to the quick and effective restoration of livelihoods. CARE incorporates many elements into its livelihoods strategy – one of the crucial elements is community participation and ownership of initiatives, assets and decisions.

The participation of communities from the very initial stages of planning, right up to implementation and monitoring instilled a deep sense of ownership and responsibility among its members, as showcased by the community in Vanagirikuppam. This contributed to the replication of benefits and to long term sustainability of the project as the women themselves took up the task of ensuring equity and replication of efforts within their community.

CARE's work in this area has now evolved into a longer term reconstruction phase, where NGO partners, various stakeholders and CARE work together to diversify and strengthen existing livelihoods in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Community participation still remains at the heart of the livelihoods initiatives and CARE continues to find this an effective and vital element of working with communities for long term sustainable development.