When Chaila Sethi from Kendrapara proudly showed us her lush green vegetable garden, which sustains her family of three children and her paralytic husband, we understood what resilience truly means. It represents the indomitable courage of a woman who, despite personal hardships, transformed a barren piece of land in an ecologically fragile area into a productive asset.
Resilience in socio-ecologically fragile areas is often defined as the ability to cope with and withstand external and internal stresses and disturbances. These disturbances can arise from climate-related disasters or socio-political and economic upheavals.
We often forget that climate-related or socio-political and economic stresses can be addressed in both positive and negative ways. A common negative coping mechanism is distress migration, selling off assets, or even resorting to suicide. On the positive side, people manage these stresses by adopting more productive approaches, such as exploring new livelihood options or applying traditional knowledge to solve problems.
External agencies working on these issues have two options: they can either provide short-term solutions, such as offering quick relief and then exiting the field, or they can choose long-term interventions, like providing training for new livelihood options and building local capacities. These interventions can be implemented in various ways, either by focusing on vulnerable families or addressing the needs of the entire village.
One approach is to involve people in the intervention planning process, providing training and building their capacities. Another approach is to come with predefined ideas and simply implement them. The latter often leads to failure, as people may not take ownership of the initiatives promoted, and the solutions may not be well suited to their local environment.
Also, it is important to give people a diverse basket of livelihoods in an ecologically fragile areas so that they can fall back on various options in times of need. This is often overlooked by agencies which are specialising in just one type of livelihood based on their expertise.
Based on this understanding, when we began our intervention in the ecologically fragile Kendrapara district of Odisha, we were determined to promote positive, long-term, sustainable livelihoods by involving people in the planning process and offering them a range of choices.
Kendrapara has been grappling with numerous disasters, such as cyclones, floods, and sea erosion. The district also made headlines when the previous state government allocated Rs 22 crore to develop the Baghpatia Thaithan Colony in Kendrapara as a model resettlement colony for climate refugees from nearby Satabhaya villages. However, the colony is still under development, with nearly two-thirds of the houses unfinished as of last year. Only 10 decimals of land (a decimal is one-hundredth of an acre) were allocated to each family, even though their homestead areas in Satabhaya were 3-5 times larger. Additionally, land titles have not yet been granted to the people.
In addition to direct support, we also helped youth enroll in various skill-building institutes, such as ITIs and private institutions like Shahi Exports, which offered technical training at little or no cost. This allowed the youth to gain valuable skills and later secure jobs with decent salaries. Additionally, women’s groups specialising in trades like incense stick and phenyl making provided training to other women in the area, helping them start similar enterprises.
An inspiring story comes from four girls from villages in Pattamundai, Kendrapara, Odisha, Sumitra Malik, Namita Malik, Manaswini Malik, and Liki Malik. After completing their training at Shahi Exports and securing jobs, they also referred other girls from nearby villages for the same technical training. These girls come from very poor families, with parents working in agriculture or as daily labourers, struggling to make ends meet.
To help people access various government entitlements, such as pension schemes, health schemes, and livelihood programmes like Subhadra Yojana, we organised several facilitation camps. At these camps, participants were trained to fill out forms and apply for these schemes online. Over 300 people benefited from this intervention, which enabled them to secure their entitlements and access free medical treatment. This support is crucial in helping vulnerable communities develop a diverse income base and utilise the funds from these schemes in productive livelihood enterprises for which they were previously trained.
Last but not least, we made efforts to connect women’s groups with various government agencies like RSETI and ORMAS to provide training in different aspects of marketing, including branding, product positioning, pricing strategies, and distribution channels. ORMAS (Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society) agreed to certify the quality of their products at the block level. This certification will enable the women’s groups to participate in upcoming ORMAS exhibitions at the district and state levels, with ORMAS covering their participation expenses. Additionally, the women received training in maintaining financial records and bookkeeping.
These are humble beginnings, no doubt, but the response has been tremendous. People were eager to stay in their villages, repay their loans, and engage in productive work, which is far better than migrating for low-paying jobs with no social security. There is still much to be done in the future, particularly in improving the area’s ecology and developing a green corridor to combat the coastal erosion the district faces. However, the most crucial goal is for youth and communities to remain in the district, engage in productive work, and pursue climate resilient livelihoods, ultimately contributing to building an ecologically resilient society.
Debabrat Patra, Associate Director and Suvendu Kumar Ray, Senior Project Lead, both work with ActionAid Association
Views expressed in this article are individual and do not necessarily reflect that of Down To Earth