Canada to provide self-employment help to Jaffna widowed women

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2008, 03:46 GMT]
Canadian government, with the help of the local Humanitarian Organization, Human Development Centre (HUDEC), has initiated a project to assist widows functioning as the head of the family to find self-employment, Rev. Fr. Jeyakumar, director of HUDEC said. 230 women of the nearly 30,000 widows in Jaffna peninsula, were selected from six Regional Secretariat divisions as beneficiaries in the first stage, Fr Jeyakumar added.

The beneficiaries were selected from Point Pedro, Karaveddi, Ch’ndilippaay, Chavakachcheari, Oorkaavatu’rai and Jaffna Regional Secretariat divisions on the recommendation of the respective Regional Secretaries and Village Officers.

Majority of the beneficiaries are fisher families from coastal areas who lost their livelihood due to ban on fishing imposed by the Sri Lanka Security forces, according to civil society sources.

Canadian government has allocated ten million rupees for the first stage of the project.

The beneficiaries are to receive Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 70,000 to rear cows, goats and poultry as means of self-employment.

HUDEC will assist the beneficiaries to draw plans for the self-help scheme.

More than 30,000 widows and their families affected by the continuing atmosphere of war in the peninsula depend entirely on the relief assistance given by the Sri Lanka government.

10,583 widows in the peninsula are found to be the single member left in the family while 5,798 widows are the head of a family with one child, and 3,992 with two children.

3,132 widows function as the head of a family consisting of three children, while there are more than 7,000 of them with more than three children.