The beginning: This is where the bulk of our efforts for the advancement of women below poverty line are focused. This is also our oldest efforts that began in Jaffna in 1995. In the villages of Neerveli and Puththur in Jaffna we conducted sewing classes for 25 women and donated them sewing machines so that they could take orders and earn some money by working from home. We followed this with training women to make durable snacks that could be packed and marketed. This very first effort, more than a decade later, has grown into projects that span the entire Northeast.

Our projects at village level have touched the lives of thousands of women increasing their income, knowledge, and awareness of many relevant issues. At least 4000 women have raised their income to comfortable levels with our various assistance programs.

 

We give loan for women to cultivate paddy for the season. Women who do not own

We have identified some extremely poor villages and through a holistic project we have initiated several programs that also included income generation schemes for women in need. Other programs for these targeted villages include, rectifying the gravel roads so that children are not prevented from going to school due to flooded streets; a preschool; a common village well; and library. To date we have developed four villages in this manner. All of the management of these projects was carried out by women themselves.

Peanut selling: Iyankan Ladchumi is 60 years old. In their old age they were left with the responsibility of caring for her sisters three young daughters after death of their parents in the 2004 tsunami. The old couple survived by meeting their own needs through selling roasted peanuts by the roadside. With increased responsibility of caring for three girls they would have struggled. CWDR assisted them with Rupees 10,000 loan with which they improved their small scale work. They were able to generate good profit and made some savings.

Retail shop: Sasikala’s husband is partially disabled and they have four children. With CWDR loan of Rupees 10,000 they started a retail shop. They were able to generate a profit. They repaid their loan and again obtained a further loan of Rupees 15,000 and started a poultry farm. They expanded their shop. They also purchased a fishing boat and net and Sasikala’s husband now also goes fishing. With income generated from three different sources they live a contended life.