Almost two years have passed since the tsunami and Assisi's response continues to focus on:-
- Providing medical, psychological and health services in several camps and villages.
- Assisting women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) re-establish credit cooperatives and income generating activities.
- Dealing with the difficulties faced by widows, orphans and the elderly who have lost their support network.
Since the tsunami, AF&TC has been able to use its local knowledge and ideally located office infrastructure to successfully network with UNICEF, Care India, Plan International, Save the Children and other international and domestic NGOs. Assisi has pinpointed specific areas of need and brought support to them by the teaming up of skills and resources.
Some of the programmes we have partnered with other NGOs to bring into the area are: -
- Supporting small business initiatives run by women's self help groups. They involve a party hire buisness and the manufacture of fibre bags, sanitary napkins, men's shirts and snack foods.
- “Cash for Work” on community development projects
- Maternal and child health care and monitoring services
- Construction of 91 houses and repairs and maintenance to many more.
Trade Centre open for business
In the town of Ambassamudram, Assisi has opened the first of two planned Trade Centres for tsunami-affected Self Help Groups. Creating opportunities for families to earn their own living is a major goal in all Assisi’s development projects.
The Trade Centre provides marketing focus and is a “shop front” to increase opportunities for Self Help Groups to generate income for themselves. It is a place where Self Help Groups can extend their markets and sell/trade their produce outside their own villages. Local and regional retailers will be able to view samples and place orders for future delivery of goods from these points.
Our regular development programs continue in areas not directly affected by the tsunami where there is still an urgent need for assistance to break the cycle of poverty
The Assisi Fleet - 2005 tsunami project
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