Women are welcoming increased leadership roles and livelihood opportunities 2.5 years after the tsunami, according to a recent survey of World Vision’s tsunami recovery projects.
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The independent TANGO survey found that women’s participation in livelihood groups, community activities, meetings and development projects is enabling them to play a more pivotal role in their community’s development.

In India, where communities struggle with issues of education for girls, early marriage, lack of inheritance rights and an unequal balance of decision-making, recognition of the need for gender equality is one of the cornerstones of World Vision programming.

World Vision’s involvement of women as key partners in the design, implementation and monitoring of projects helped to identify gender issues in tsunami-affected areas. Leaders of women’s groups were among the community groups consulted to select beneficiaries.

Homes reconstructed by World Vision included women’s names on the home/land ownership certificate, alongside their husband’s. This is the first time many women have been legally recognised as “joint” owners of their property.

In addition, bathrooms in new homes have ensured increased protection of women, as many feared bathing in open areas at night in their pre-tsunami dwellings. In the study, women expressed great relief at this improved security.

Many women are now conducting financial transactions for themselves and their families and their access to business development and skills training in areas such as tailoring, IT, bookkeeping and driving has increased. Women have been linked to small business grants and introduced to potential employers to secure better jobs and sustainable income for the future.

In addition to the improvement of women’s status in the community, the TANGO evaluation also found that overall, economic security (income and employment) has recovered to a level near or what it was prior to the tsunami. Fishing remains the predominant livelihood, however many communities show diversification of income sources. Men especially, feel strongly that fishing should no longer be the household’s only source of income.

Children were able to express clear positive ideas about their future, including professions they would like, ways they want to care for their families and how they would like their communities to develop.

According to TANGO, “World Vision India’s Tsunami Response has done a great service to the households and communities recovering from the terrible events of December 2004. That World Vision remained in communities well beyond the relief phase allowed them to undertake important medium-term actions to accelerate the recovery process and ensure that communities came away from the tragedy stronger than they met it. The attention they paid to community consultation and articulation of needs at various points during the program design was clearly reflected in the quality of the programming and the appreciation that was expressed by community members.”

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More than 14,000 people lost their lives when the 2004 Asia Tsunami hit the eastern coastline of India, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Since the tsunami, World Vision in India has constructed more than 5,800 homes, community halls, a secondary school, ten pre-schools and child-care centres, plus 200 playgrounds and Child Friendly Spaces. Livelihood interventions include provision of 1,700 boats and nets, skills training, cash-for-work activities and small business support. Medical camps were provided for 15,000 people and 8,000 people attended disaster simulation programmes and training. More than 260,000 people benefited from the India Tsunami Response. World Vision will continue to implement long-term development programs across the country.

Asian Tsunami response homepage