RESTORATION OF WOMEN’S LIVELIHOOD PROJECT
Introduction, Background and Justification
Women comprise of 49.2 percent of the total population of Maldives which is, 270,101 and 70% of the country lives in rural islands. In the past, Maldivian women were involved in various activities in the country’s main industry, fishing. Women also played a significant role in the cultivation of crops and making of handicrafts. With the rapid economic growth and move towards industrial and service oriented activities caused many women to leave the labour force, as the traditional economic activities that they were mainly engaged in declined.
The massive tsunami that inundated the Maldives set back the country by several years of economic development. Nearly 5 percent of the population was forced to evacuate their homes and were placed in temporary shelters with their homes and property destroyed.
The disaster has had highly detrimental effects on the livelihoods of families. The destruction of land and properties and its environmental implications would have negative long term implications, especially for women. The barriers to mobility faced by women as well as the societal norms would make it difficult for them to seek alternative sources of income. The destruction of livelihoods of women also puts them at a greater disadvantage as women have limited opportunities at island level for a means of income.
The destruction of farming lands would deprive women farmers of their income as well as their opportunity of earning an income while staying in their home islands. The destruction of equipment of women involved in the fisheries sector as well as self-employed women and women who are involved in community income generating initiatives would cause considerable setbacks in their quality of life. The overall destruction of property and land would also have adverse effects on families causing economic constraints increasing the burden on men, with negative implications on health and nutrition of families.
Assessment trips to two of the worst-hit Atolls (Meemu & Thaa) conducted by the Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security(MGFDSS) mainly focused on the impact of the tsunami disaster on the income generating activities of the displaced and host families and their psychosocial situation and needs. The assessment involved discussions with the Island Office, the Women’s Development Committees, focus group discussions and visits to displaced/host households.
It was found from these assessment trips conducted by the Ministry that there is a great need for financial assistance to be accorded to such women who have lost their means of income to help replace what has been lost or to find an alternative source of income, in order to decrease the dependency of women as well as to decrease the economic burden on families.
Project Objectives
The project would cover affected two islands from Meemu and Thaa Atoll, two of the worst hit areas in the tsunami disaster and would aim to provide assistance to women and women’s development groups
- to assist them in restoring their economic status prior to the disaster and also
- to encourage women’s participation in economic activities by providing assistance to start up small business enterprises.
Project Activities
The project would seek to achieve this by:
- Provision of small-scale grants for women in affected islands who have suffered losses with regard to their means of income to replace what may have been lost or damaged.
The grants would be dispersed among 2 islands that were worst hit. The number of grants would be given to the island would be based on the most severely affected livelihood areas of the selected island. The islands were taken as target areas by verifying the extent of damaged to those livelihood areas of women observed by the team from the assessment trips to the islands. From Meemu atoll, a total of 5 grants for the fish processors and 1 grant for the sewing would be given to Naalaafushi, and a total 8 grants for sewing would be given to Kolhufushi Island. From Thaa atoll, a total of 10 grants for sewing would be given to sewing and a total of 20 grants for sewing would be given to displaced women from Vilufushi living in Buruni.
Project Outputs
- Restored status of affected women to the situation prior to the disaster
- Improved economic situation of women in worst-hit islands and reduced economic constraints faced by families in the island.
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