Sustainable livelihood Development projects

Funded by :
Give2Asia
CIDA
JDC

The project was concerned about the saturation of some local markets by an overabundance of similar businesses; lack of access to appropriate markets; poor product design/quality; the creation of and/or strengthening of a dependency culture; a high focus on some sectors with a relative neglect of others; and the lack of sector-specific linkages and strategic planning between districts and national level.

Considering the issues above, livelihood activities through entrepreneurship development were planned and implemented in Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ampara and Batticaloa. CHA, its district offices and other stakeholders who are involved in livelihood recoveries have studied that a coordinated, collaborative approach focusing on long-term strategies is needed to maximize the benefits for people who earn their livelihood in specific sectors. 

Based on discussions with the team, consultations and organizations working in livelihood development, and review of availably the following sectors were selected for starting and improving enterprises.

With the above purpose, four main sustainable livelihood options suitable for a long term development approach especially for sector developing in country were decided. Namely:

  • Rice based products
  • Mushroom cultivation
  • Mushroom based products
  • Pottery/ handicrafts

Before commencement of activities, sectors were closely analyzed in terms of the following criteria:

  • Beneficiary commitment and willingness to start/ improve their lives
  • Existing markets and future marketing opportunities
  • Existing quality of the products including design, packaging
  • Need for training

 

In order to easily understand the projects, the overall entrepreneurial development plan can be laid out as follows;

 

 

  

 Experience gained by the field visit to Thailand (Doitung) was also supported for finalizing livelihoods options. Although the original Doitung concept is difficult to implement fully in tsunami affected area some areas of the concept such as selection of beneficiaries, selection of village with same interest, etc were practiced during the process. 

 

Products based industries
Rice - based products

Rice based products are produced and promoted from the centres located in Kalutara, Hambantota and Baticaloa.   With  technical assistance of CathiRrich Memorial Food Processing Center  providing training to use rice flour to produce bread, cakes, biscuits etc. Currently the following rice based products are being producing in the centres.

 

 

 

 

Rice bread, Rice puff pastry, Rice chocolate chiffon cake, Rice sesami cookies, Rice base normal cake (margarine main), hot dog, rice Swiss roll, Rice  cinnamon roll, Rice base biscuit (not using egg), Rice based coconut roll cookies, Rice baby and mammy cookies, Rice banana chiffon cake, etc.

As a new product to the market, challenges, competition with wheat flour products are there. Both types of cakes and biscuits are promoted with a package while other snacks/ pastry are sold by the centres and in the mobile van.

 

 

 

 

Mushroom cultivation and mushroom based secondary products
Mushroom cultivation is a key activity proposed for Hambantota, Matara, Galle and Kalutara district. 

Large proportion of beneficiaries had received business start-up and follow-up training from a previous grant. A technical training programme was conducted for the beneficiaries in all districts to enhance their technical knowledge on preparation of Mushroom huts and the medium for mushroom cultivation.
After the training programme the necessary materials for the construction of the sheds were also distributed among the beneficiaries. 

Secondary mushroom products are also an industry which could be promoted. On the other hand, new employment opportunities were provided for young entrepreneurs. With the above purpose in mind, selected beneficiaries in all southern districts were trained by the Industrial Technical Institute (ITI).  The centre established in Matara for producing and marketing them is continuing its business with greater success. 5 interested youths are currently working with centre. Experiences gained from the existing business are utilized for further development of new enterprises. 

 

Pottery products

Clay pot making is one of the traditional small industries in Sri Lanka. The producers are mostly based in rural villages where clay is available. The clay pottery sector still has a good market. People in towns and cities demand clay pots for cooking.

This project assists the sector addressing key issues pertaining to beneficiaries and project activities were planned accordingly. 30 individual families in Akkaraipattu who were traditionally involved were selected for assistance. 15 beneficiaries in Batticaloa (both existing and new) were selected for livelihood assistance. A sales centre established in Akkraipattu provided sale services along with other facilities for entrepreneurs. Organizing of numerous trainings for quality products, sales coordination, representation, new information, etc are provided by the centre.  

All products are branded under the name “Urumaya” Social Enterprise (heritage). The current sales centre have received a good response from interested people and a demand for the products is seen as they are high in nutrition/ quality as well as low in price. More information, more training on entrepreneurship, quality control, vocations and way of promotions for self sustain the business has been provided by the project.