Many villages in Krabi and Phang Nga sustained massive loss of livelihood from the tsunami. In response, the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) has launched the Post-Tsunami Sustainable Livelihood Rehabilitation Project to assist the many thousands of local Thai villagers, small fishermen, and farmers who have yet to regain their livelihoods. They need assistance now to rehabilitate themselves and to be self sufficient in the long term. We urge you to consider helping us return their lives to normalcy.

The Empowerment Process for Community Participation

To ensure that our approach is effective and accepted by all stakeholders, PDA works with the communities to enable them to articulate, plan and implement the activities as our partner. Previously, many public and private agencies have had little success in southern Thailand because their approach lacked community involvement and empowerment. In this region people and organizations from the outside have been viewed with little trust and acceptance. We have been very careful not to be perceived as forcing ideas and activities onto those we are assisting; rather, we first establish an understanding and acceptance by community members. This has taken time and is a crucial stage in working with the villagers, who now believe that by partnering with PDA their lives will be better than before the tsunami and are willing to fully participate.

PDA’s philosophy throughout the past 30 years has been to empower people – not going into a village like Santa Claus with charity – and to foster trust and confidence. This approach encompasses four steps in community preparation and empowerment, as follows:

1. Assessment and preliminary planning
2. Field trips for additional ideas (eye opener)
3. Detailed planning
4. Implementation and monitoring

1. Assessment and preliminary planning

PDA staff has spent a lot of time with villagers, guiding them in the planning process, where they articulate their needs, to ensure long term benefit and commitment. Data collection is undertaken by villagers during this phase. So far, we have been most encouraged by the very positive reaction and engagement after this and subsequent processes.

2. ‘Eye-opener’ field trips to generate new thinking and ideas

Community representatives go on observation field trips to other parts of the country to see what else is possible, including new income generation opportunities and community institution building, to add to their preliminary ideas. Community groups have spoken very positively of the benefits gained from the trip. They were particularly pleased, in one instance, to be able to visit and thank The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) for their generous support.
Representatives from 20 villages (four per village) have so far undertaken this trip, which has had a very positive influence. In addition there have been many smaller observation trips and meetings within the provinces of Krabi and Phang Nga. We will ensure that representatives of all villages in the project area participate in these field trips, as they have proven to be a great learning exercise as well as building trust amongst themselves and PDA.

3. Detailed Planning

Villagers come back from the ‘eye-opener’ trip filled new ideas and aspirations, which they incorporate into the community’s initial plans for rehabilitation. This is a detailed and thorough process which prioritizes activities, adjusts budgetary allocations, and maps out the implementation process within a selected time frame. PDA staff is present to support throughout the process, which encourages the villagers to take ownership of the activities, which will lead to sustainability in the long term.

4. Implementation and monitoring

Planned activities are implemented with full cooperation of members of the community. Designated members monitor and record the progress of each of the rehabilitation activities. The progress achieved by the villagers has been most satisfactory, as can be seen in the following pages.

PDA's Post-Tsunami Activities
PDA’s post-tsunami activities are flexible and designed in accordance with local needs. They fall under three main themes. Click on the links for more details

Youth Development
1. School Lunches
2. School Farm
3. Educational Support Package
4. Youth Psychological Rehabilitation
5. Youth Government
Income Generation
6. Cash for Work
7. Women’s Economic Empowerment
8. Boat Bank
9. Village Bank
Health, Sanitation, and Environment
10. Tree Planting and Water Sanitation

The following is a summary of the abovementioned activities, followed by a note on the progress, where applicable:

Youth Development

1. School Lunches

After the tsunami, many parents have lost their sources of income, but children going to school still need their daily lunch. PDA is providing this meal at a cost of Baht 300 per child per month, or Baht 2,400 for the school year.

Six months on: Since early January 2005, PDA has provided school lunches to 3,611 students in 14 schools.

For example, though no on in the village died, 90% of the children in Ban Ta Maprao school in Klong Tom district, Krabi, come from families that lost their livelihoods, clothes and school supplies in the tsunami. The school lunch program is supplying lunches to 100% of Ban Ta Maprao primary school’s 200 students and will continue to do so through the end of the school semester.

2. School Farm

PDA is following the school lunch programs with school lunch farms that enable each school to maintain a self-sustainable source of food. Teachers, parents and students work together to produce vegetables, chicken and fish. Some of the produce will be eaten for lunch. Some will be sold to buy rice and to invest in the next round of crops and animals. Baht 300,000 funds one school farm.

Six months on: School farms have been set up in 11 out of the 17 schools initially targeted by PDA.

PDA has also helped to set up farms in an additional 8 out of 10 schools receiving financial assistance from HRH Princess Sirindhorn’s Chai Pattana Foundation. In each farm, the schools have begun planting seeds, raising fish and cultivating mushrooms.

3. Educational Support Package

Scholarships pay for books, uniforms, transportation and other necessary school-related items. Baht 6,000 supports one primary school student for one school year, while Baht 8,000 supports one secondary school student for one school year.

Six months on: 500 scholarships have been distributed to students in specific schools supported by different donors.

The scholarships are being disbursed by village committees to students who are chosen based on the family’s post-tsunami economic needs, not on academic achievement.

Scholarships have gone to mostly primary school students because most of the schools in the affected areas are primary schools. Committees are being planned to distribute secondary school scholarships.

4. Children and Youth Psychological Rehabilitation

Children and youth are invited to join activities that allow them to express themselves and reduce feelings of depression, anxiety and uncertainty caused by the tsunami. Baht 2,000 will support one youth for a week-long camp.

Six months on: Two camps have taken place and three more are planned to happen in the coming months. In each camp, youths from Krabi and Phang Nga province traveled to the PDA resort at Sap Thai for a weekend of workshops and games designed by trauma experts to help the participants cope with their experiences and take back important lessons to their villages.

5. Village Youth Government

Four male and four female representatives, aged 14-24 years, are elected to form a Village Youth Government that will become a permanent institution. The youth representatives receive special training to manage future affairs of the village, in particular the post-tsunami initiatives. In PDA’s experience over the last five years, all former youth government representatives have been elected to the local Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO). Baht 200,000 supports the creation of one Village Youth Government.

Six months on: After the initial success of the Psychological Rehabilitation camps, PDA is ready to begin implementing Village Youth Governments. The participants at the psychological rehabilitation camps have become ambassadors for PDA in their villages and we hope that they will take a leading role in establishing the youth governments.

Income Generation

6. Cash for Work

During the interim when there is no income, some people will be invited to work with PDA in building community gardens, making repairs to damages homes, boats and bridges, and helping to identify the felt needs of community members. They will be rewarded on a weekly basis. We are focusing on the more vulnerable groups in the villages, such as women and the migrant workers working in the non-formal sector.

Six months on: Cash for Work was very effective as a way to provide immediate aid to tsunami victims while helping with the initial cleanup phase. After an initial flurry of Cash-for-Work activities directly related to the tsunami cleanup, cash for work is making the transition to more development-related activities instead of relief. For example, future cash-for-work projects include building school lunch farms or other community resources.

7. Women’s Economic Empowerment and Income Generation

Many poor villagers earned income from catching and raising fish in nets and traps that were destroyed by the tsunami. This activity provides them with revolving loans - initially interest-free - to buy new nets, cages, and traps so that they can resume their former occupations. The loan repayments will go directly into the Village Bank. While PDA will provide the villagers with the initial small loan, this assistance will not completely cover all of their needs. We have an agreement with the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) that they will extend additional, larger loans to the villagers as required. This will allow them to rebuild their livelihoods now and expand their businesses in the future.

8. Boat Bank

Small fishing boats and engines will be purchased and then rented to local fishermen for a daily fee that will contribute towards eventual ownership. Buying the boats in small increments like this will help alleviate the debt buildup of the local fishermen as they restart their livelihoods. In addition, the proceeds from the Boat Bank will go directly into the Village Bank, thereby allowing others in their communities a chance to expand their businesses as well.

Six months on: PDA has set up 3 boat banks in 3 villages, consisting of 3 boats per bank. We are currently in the process of buying 10 more boats. However, progress has been slow because there have been obstacles in the boat purchasing process. There is a long waiting list for boats and good quality wood is now more expensive than usual because of the high regional demand.

9. Village Bank

The bank is created through the three following activities:

a) Planting trees (Baht 600,000)
b) Proceeds earned from the Boat Bank (Baht 1,250,000)
c) Funds paid back from the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Income Generation revolving loans (Baht 1,200,000).

The three abovementioned activities will contribute a total of Baht 3,050,000 – 65% of the budget required per village – to the bank for future community projects designed by the communities themselves. One of the aims of the bank is to mobilize savings, the absence of which made the damage of the tsunami felt even more by the affected families. Villagers can borrow from this fund to further rebuild and expand their businesses. Elected villagers, 50% of which will be women, will be trained to manage affairs of the bank.

Six months on: Four village banks have been created in the south. Ten more are in the planning stages. In some “Adopted Villages,” village bank committees were already existing and accepting deposits from the villagers. Village banks are slow to be developed because of the meticulous planning and community building that must first take place.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITIES

10. Tree Planting and Water Sanitation

PDA witnessed several communities that were saved from the tsunami by lush mangrove forests that absorbed the main force of the wave. Trees and mangroves will be planted to replace those destroyed and help to protect the villages in future. Planting trees also provides a way for villagers to fund-raise: for every tree planted, Baht 20 will go into the Village Bank.
PDA will also assist to provide households with rain catchments, water jars and water tanks. Households whose latrines have been destroyed will be provided with new ones. Each village bank loan with also come with some mosquito netting for the safety of the family.