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| Tuesday, 10 June 2003 |
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Trincomalee correspondent Project specialist Sanath Ranawana who addressed representatives of Non Governmental Organisations in Trincomalee at the Trincomalee District NGO Consortium office about the coastal development project known as the Eastern Province Coastal Community Development Project said the project funded by the Asian Development Bank will be effective early in 2004. The components are to be implemented by Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which need to have certain capacity. The Government of Sri Lanka requested project preparation, technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank to prepare a project for poverty reduction and to support economic development among coastal communities in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts in the Eastern Province. Project preparation was undertaken in 2001 and 2002. In a concept paper presented by Ranawana regarding the Eastern Province Coastal Community Development Project it is stated that Eastern Sri Lanka has suffered the adverse effects of nearly twenty years of internal conflict. This has resulted in fragmentation of local communities, widespread negative human and resource impacts, infrastructure damage, reduced access to services and markets and significant changes in resource access and resource uses. Coastal communities which account for approximately 25 per cent of the population in Eastern Sri Lanka, have suffered in particular due to the constraints on fishing and access to agricultural resources which have adversely impacted on livelihoods. Coastal communities in the East are characterized by high levels of poverty, generally weak and fragmented social infrastructure and inadequate and damaged physical infrastructure. The long period of conflict has reduced livelihoods and household assets, access to resources and resulted in resource depletion, non sustainable practices and resources degradation. Loss of family, displacement and loss of property have traumatized people and resulted in reduced self reliance and motivation and welfare dependence has increased. The coastal areas of the East have a large number of ecologically significant areas that have diverse, fragile and interdependent eco-system. These areas include lagoon and coastal systems that have been identified in the government coastal zone management plan, pristine coastlines and significant biodiversity areas. The project goal is to reduce poverty in coastal communities in the three districts of Eastern Sri Lanka through sustainable livelihood development and around management of natural resources. The proposed project activities and interventions to achieve the project goal are Coastal Resource Planning; Target sub project special management areas (Trincomalee Bay, Batticalao Lagoon and Southern Ampara Biodiversity zone). Targeted Community Improvement and Project Implementation Support. The three sub project areas which were prioritized on community and social need, environmental and ecological criteria as three significant natural resources systems (Trincomalee Bay, Batticaloa Lagoon and Southern Ampara Biodiversity Zone). In these special management areas the target will be to establish interventions at community level in these sub project areas to improve livelihoods and meet basic needs with infrastructure improvements and local capacity building and to support and develop community special area management approaches to improve resource management at the local level. Sub projects in Coastal Resources Management will also include fisheries infrastructure to improve and rehabilitate the Cod Bay Trincomalee and Valachenai Fisheries harbour facilities. There are 396 coastal Grama Niladari Divisions in the project area, comprising more than 800 villages with a total population of 545, 473 persons out of a total of 1,525,315 for the Eastern Province. The average population per Grama Niladari Division is about 1450. Given the proposed project scope to assist in reducing poverty and developing sustainable community based resource management systems. Target beneficiaries will include small fisherfolks along the coast, small fisher/farmers and small and micro entrepreneurs. The project will support the women among those target beneficiaries. As the number of female headed households is high in the project area, number of project intervention will be specifically designed to cater to their needs. The inclusion of activities for youth is considered equally crucial as many of these young people will have to develop new sets of skills to assume productive roles in a society at peace. The Asian Development Bank approved loan amount is $20m and government counterpart financing will be required. Further development partner grant financing is currently being sought to support the capacity building and conflict based activities. |
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