CORD on 8th July 2022 distributed high quality vegetable seeds such as brijals, bitter gourd, ladies fingers, chillie and long beans to twenty women farmers to support their arming efforts.
They have received a good harvest and increased income of Rupees 139,000/- as a result of using better quality seeds.
CORD distributed dry rations consisting rice, flour, dhall and chick peas to 200 SHG members in Piramandanaru, Ulavanoor, Kallaru, Tharmapuram, Kannahi Nagar, Paranthan, Chavakachcheri & Varani on 28th January 2022 from the donations received from Renu Project, Manoj & Meera Mahenthiran & Dr.Naren Nadarajah from USA.
Successive waves of COVID-19 pandemic have caused untold hardships to poor rural families and school children in Northern Sri Lanka. Frequent lockdowns not only hampered the income-earning opportunities of the poor, but also disrupted food supply chains driving the vulnerable families to near starvation.
CORD Sri Lanka, following the emerging situation very closely, intervened to support its Self-Help Groups (SHG) and school children in October 2021 by providing dry rations and money. Each of the 219 SHG families and sponsored children received dry rations and Rs 2000 each to supplement their meager earnings.
CORD also provided dry rations to 210 SHG families in Ramboda in the Central hill country
Further, to keep the morale of the school children, CORD conducted two inspirational lectures by experts for 50 school children attending classes from Grade 9 up to GCE AL.
Despite many challenges faced during the pandemic, all our sponsored children who sat for the island wide public examination, General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) 2020 for the first time have done extremely well, and have qualified to continue their studies in the Advanced Level classes. Our warm congratulations to all of them and best wishes for their future studies.
Of the total grades, 32.3% has received ‘A’ grade while another 18.5% has received ‘B’ grade and 26.2% has received ‘C’ grade. Only 11% has got ‘W’ grade, mostly in English, indicating they are weak.
CORD and these children are highly indebted to the sponsors, Mrs.Yvonne Jayasinghe, Mr. Anil Metha, Mrs.Shalini Arunanthy, Mr Ananthan Sinnadurai and Mr & Mrs Nallainayagam for their continued support and encouragement given to these children.
CORD initiated an agricultural empowerment initiative for 24 selected SHG women who wanted to develop their lands in a scientific and systemic manner. One objective was to promotes the use of organic fertilizer and natural pesticides. To promote organic farming, beneficiaries were requested to use cattle manure and produce and apply compost at the time of land preparation. CORD recruited an experienced agricultural consultant to plan and implement the program in September with the onset of seasonal rains. Beneficiaries were educated to select suitable crops and variates based on disease resistance, market requirements, and their personal preferences based on past experience. Assisted by CORD field officers, women were constantly monitored and corrective actions were taken as required.
Mrs. N. Pushparan of Vada Varani who earns her living by making palmyrah juggery at home and selling them to shops was supported by CORD to expand her livelihood. She received much needed essential utensils such as large pots to expand her business. She was extremely grateful for the support provided by CORD to her improve her living.
Similarly, Mathanaraj of Vedavarani, a differently abled boy who earns his living by repairing cycles was provided with a new set of tools by CORD to facilitate his work.
A group of SHG women from Ramboada received training on candle making to start a cottage industry to make candles and sell for a profit.
Empowering women to make palmyrah products as a home based self-employment activity .
25 SHG women in Ramboda received month old chicks to start up their backyard poultry units.
Rural women were vulnerable to the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to contain it. They faced severe constraints with regard to their roles in maintaining household food security. Considering the difficulties faced by its members in the Ramboda area, CORD distributed dry rations consisting of essential food items such as rice, flour, sugar, dhal, soya meat and noodles among 110 women at Ramboda Hanuman Temple premises. The members were highly appreciative of the relief they received from CORD.
CORD in partnership with the Recreational Sports and Nutritional (RENU) program of
25 School children supported through CORD Build-A-Future program along with their parents participated at CORD Ulavanoor Office for Pujya Gurudev’s