Northern project to help farmers and fishermen through ILO, Norway assistance
The ILO project on ‘Employment Generation and Livelihoods through Reconciliation’ funded by the Government of Norway was launched in Vavuniya last month amongst a distinguished gathering with the participation of local politicians, key Government officials, donors and the project partners.
P. Ayngaranesan, Minister of Agriculture, Agrarian Services, Animal Husbandary, Cooperative Development graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, and K. Nyfløt, Counsellor of the Royal Norwegian Embassy was the Guest of Honour at the event, according to an ILO media release.
The EGLR project will build on the employment generation and livelihood programme ILO has been implementing in the Northern Province since 2011 and will focus specifically on scaling up the activities in the fruits and vegetable and the fishery sectors targeting the vulnerable communities, with a special focus on women.
The project will be operational in the district of Vavuniya , Mullaitivu, and Kilinochchi. The objective of the project is to create decent employment and income opportunities for the vulnerable communities in the targeted districts. The project aims to extend the support to an additional 2,000 vulnerable households, develop joint ventures and new business models in the fruits and vegetable sector, as well as the fishery sector.
Mr. Nyfløt, Counsellor of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in his remarks stated that the partnership model advocated by the ILO;, namely linking the producers with the markets, has proven to be a very successful model which has been replicated by other agencies and there is still scope for further expansion. “The EGLR project will continue to focus on women, including female-headed households, as it is one of the important foci of the Norwegian development agenda,” he said.
Minister P. Ayngaranesan highlighted some of the achievements of the cooperatives and sincerely t h a n ked t he Norwe g i a n Government for their financial support, adding that “the cooperatives, supported under the ILO implemented project, have made significant steps in improving the livelihoods of the producers, such system of cooperatives should be further replicated beyond the regions of current operation.”
S. Rasenthiram, President of the Vavuniya North Fruit Growers Cooperative Society Ltd, stated “we have achieved the target of working with 200 producers in the North under the LEED project funded by the Australian government. Now with the support of the Norwegian funding, we aim to work with another 150 producers”.