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Community Social Mobilisation Initiative
This project works with the Tamil tea plantation workers in central Sri Lanka, organising training and community groups.
Description
The initiative started in 1990 and became more active after 1997. The target group is Tamil tea plantation workers as they form a large percentatge of Tamils in Sri Lanka. They are closely affected by the ethnic conflict, but their voice is not well-represented in discussions related to the conflict.
In order to make the plantation workers stronger, the initiative aims mobilise them into small groups, empowering them and uniting them together as stronger organisations. They are provided with training to raise their awareness of the ethnic conflict and related issues, which will serve to empower them. Other programmes are also run which aim to ease tensions and improve the relationship between plantation workers and the surrounding communities.
It hopes to include the Tamil plantation workers’ voice in finding a solution to the ethnic conflict.
Aims / Objectives
The initiative aims to strengthen the community based organisations in the plantation community, assisting them to be more effective in their work towards conflict transformation. It aims to increase the participation of Tamil plantation workers in the decision making level of the government by empowering the community to take their own leadership by encouraging, providing opportunity for leadership, and supporting community leadership. It is hoped that this will enable them to make their own voices clearly heard regarding the ethnic conflict and issues relating to them, rather than letting others represent them.
How it is Articulated
We have 47 institutions working with us in this community and there are 1225 small groups who work with them in different areas.
These small groups have formed 102 community based organisations (CBOs) and the CBOs have formed 21 clusters which come together in 6 federations.
Regular community meetings are held and training is provided on identifying community needs and potential conflicts, the groups then discuss how to manage them to transform them positively. The estate workers community are highly dependent and often face financial hardships. Therefore we provide these groups with training on managing their earnings which is an essential tool in preventing conflicts that arise out of financial hardship and poverty within the communities, hoping to help them become self-reliant.
Further we encourage the plantation community to mix with their surrounding (often Sinhalese and Muslim) communities. Awareness programs are conducted on human rights and workers’ rights to improve people’s awareness of their rights and to stop exploitation.
Achievements / Learning Points
We were able to unite the tea plantation community who were earlier divided by religion, or by membership of different workers’ unions. The plantation community is mainly in the middle of the country away from the conflict areas and the workers are almost exclusively Tamils. They form a large percentage of the total numbers of Tamils in Sri Lanka, but have difficulty making their voices heard in the larger Tamil community as they are regarded by some other Tamils as belonging to a lower caste. The minor disputes amongst their community hold them back from claiming their own voice in relation to the conflict.
During the first few years they resisted the initiative believing it was a threat to their trade unions. However, now they have realised that we aim only for their benefit and they are becoming even more interested in taking part in the initiative and our groups.
The youth living in tea plantations who are interested in pursuing new career opportunities are enthusiastic about the training we provide that help them with their lives and with starting new careers. We receive many requests for them for more training in different fields that interest them.
Through the training we have conducted on saving money, these people manage to save from the minimal salary they earn, even when they live below the poverty line. Through collecting these savings they manage to grant small scale loans to their members, thus helping to reduce conflicts that occur due to the competition for resources. Further, they help to establish preschools in the community for their children – having previously paid little attention to education – this is a clear indication of the desire they have to broaden their horizons. This interest in education would enable the future plantation community to allow their voices to be heard in the ethnic conflict (which are not always in accordance with the louder LTTE interests).
The women are in leadership positions in this initiative and we have learnt that they are more likely to commit themselves for the long-term and look to their future welfare.
Geographical Area of Operation
Badulla district
Funding Resources
Sri Lanka Canada Development Fund, Integrated Rural Development Fund, Oxfam-GB