The sixth issue of Solidarity, the newsletter of the Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust, is available below. This issue introduces new projects in Sri Lanka and the Pacific, as well as updates on ongoing projects in Tamil Nadu and Mae Sot.

1. New Projects in Sri Lanka, Mae Sot and the Pacific
2. Worker co-operatives: Tamil Nadu Labour Union leads the way
3. Meeting our fundraising target!
4. Raffle ticket winners
5. Getting skills for work
6. Notes from the Field: Update on Mae Sot Project
7. Online database a first for Tamil Nadu project
8. Comment
9. UnionAID cookbook

Increasingly experts are questioning the role of aid in the reduction of poverty. Some are even suggesting that at times it might contribute to the problem. So what development programmes should we support?

The United Nations has claimed that co-operatives not only achieve the common goals of their members but also promote “poverty reduction, employment creation, empowerment of women and food security…” . Accordingly, they have declared next year as the International Year of Co-operatives.

So the Tamil Nadu Labour Union (TLU) is way ahead of the play. The focus of their work to date has been on participatory development, where Dalit (untouchable) and Tribal (indigenous) people are brought together so they can collectively identify their priorities and develop strategies to improve their lives. This first step has seen communities of more than 30,000 of the poorest and most oppressed people benefit from their union bargaining power. Building on this collective strength UnionAID is now funding a TLU project to set up five workers’ cooperatives. These will provide members with marketing and organisational skills to set them on a sustainable path to economic independence.

Helen Wilson

Gareth Morgan has agreed to match us dollar  for dollar up to $30,000 a year with our fundraising for the new Tamil Nadu project. Thanks to hard work from UnionAID activists, and generous donations from our supporters, we are on track to meet that target for the first six months of the project. Our sincere thanks.

In Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border, new migrants from Burma are learning valuable work skills thanks to the Occupational Training Centre set up by the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) with support from UnionAID.

Yin Yin and La Ka Prae Moo crossed the border in the hope of finding work in Thailand and have come to the training centre to learn the sewing skills they need to get jobs.

Yin Yin, who is from the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma, said that life became hard after her village was hit by Cyclone Nargis and her family home was destroyed, so she decided to try to find a job in Thailand. She likes to sew and hopes to make a living by sewing when she returns to Burma. In the meantime she will get a job at a sewing factory in Thailand and save some money to take home.

La Ka Prae Moo comes from Karen state, where she said “it was very hard to survive”. Her family needed income, so she decided to come to Thailand in search of work. “My ambition is to save some money in Thailand for the next two years and then with my sewing skills and savings I will return to Burma to be a tailor.” She said that the sewing course was very useful, especially since it included learning how to sew details like collars and pockets.

As part of the course, the trainees learn about Thai labour laws and the role of workers’ organisations like the FTUB. The trainees are aware that employers don’t always follow the law and that workers’ organisations are there to help if there are problems. Yin Yin says that “learning about labour laws was good, but we don’t know yet what it will be like in practice, because we are new here”. As La Ka Prae Moo added, “if we have problems at work we know we can contact the trainer and also to the workers’ organisations.”

Nick Henry

• On track to exceed target of 350 trainees in twelve months
• All 297 trainees to date have obtained jobs
• High quality of training has been praised by trainees and employers
• Buildings all completed including accommodation for trainees and staff
• Vegetable gardens have been established and 200 kgs of white carrot and 40 kgs of pumpkin produced.
• A fish pond has been developed and the stock of 2000 fish will provide food for the centre.
• A pilot frog farming operation has proved successful.

An online database has been developed with the help of Susan Iversen of Karo Data Management in Wellington. This will provide statistical information to evaluate the Tamil Nadu economic development project.

To gather this data a small survey was designed in collaboration with project directors in India. This covers demographic data and three measures which will identify changes to: a) daily income b) household indebtedness and c) school attendance for boys and girls. It was decided that these three ‘indicators’ would be a simple way to provide evidence of improvement in the lives of participants without making too much extra work for the project staff.

Because the majority of participants are illiterate the information is collected orally. The data is then entered onto the LimeSurvey database by staff in the Labour Union’s Madurai office. Twenty five surveys can be entered free each month and Karo has generously sponsored another 2000 extra entries. To date 528 surveys have been completed and data entered for agricultural workers and basket weavers who have signed up to the first two co-operatives.

Only $10 Selling Fast

Mouth watering Indian and South Asian recipes: discover the delights of Burmese cookery. All ingredients available locally.

Only $10 from Wellington Moore Wilsons Fresh, Maranui Cafe , Queen Sally’s Diamond Deli or order online at:
unionaid.org.nz/2011/09/order-a-cookbook/

It has been a very successful year for UnionAID. We have established new projects in India, Sri Lanka, and the Thai-Burma border, and we are working on possible projects in Vanuatu and Samoa.

It is exciting that the new projects have been able to build on our earlier training and capacity building to now develop cooperatives and micro-enterprises in Tamil Nadu, and skills development of Burmese migrant families in Mae Sot. These are innovative projects led by our very competent and resourceful project partners. It is great that we are also able to fund 20 scholarships to provide vocational skills to young people graduating from the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma High School in Mae Sot.

A new project in 2012 in Eastern Sri Lanka will assist Tamil women, in garment factories being established in areas previously affected by the civil war, to establish a support centre and organise as a union. These factories are in Free Trade Zones where working conditions are tough. Our partner there is very excited about the potential benefits from this project.

These projects have to be funded of course and, through some very hard work by our team of volunteers, and a steadily increasing number of Kiwi Solidarity Members making monthly donations, we have been successful in almost doubling our funds raised this year. This has also meant that we are well on track to be able to take up the generous $1 for $1 commitment from Gareth Morgan for our Tamil Nadu project.

So a very warm thanks to all our volunteers and supporters. As you can see from the stories in this newsletter, your contributions are making a real difference.

Ross Wilson
Executive Chair, UnionAID

The fifth issue of Solidarity, the newsletter of the Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust, is available below. This issue introduces you to some of the people helping to  organise more than 30,000 people in dalit and tribal communities in Tamil Nadu.

1. Cooperative economic development
2. Join us on UnionAID Facebook
3. South India: building economic independence, cooperatively
4. Study tour to Mae Sot and Bangkok January
5. Don’t miss out on our 2011 fundraisers!
6. Regular donations hit $3000 a month!
7. Mae Sot project success
8. Comment
9. Social networking help wanted

An exciting new UnionAID project in South India will develop 5 cooperative based businesses and more than 120 micro-enterprises over the next 3 years.

This new project will build on the UnionAID project work of the past 3 years which has organised more than 30,000 people in Dalit and Tribal communities and will help them to achieve their goal of economic independence. India may be prospering economically but this prosperity has failed to impact on two of India’s poorest and most disadvantaged groups: Dalit (untouchable) and Tribal (indigenous) people.

The goal of this project is to take up this challenge at a grass roots level and, by breaking the cycle of poverty and discrimination, improve the livelihood choices and economic security of Dalit and Tribal (including previously nomadic) communities in Tamil Nadu, South India over the three year term of the project. The project will assist these communities to:

• establish five co-operative-based businesses: a Goat and Sheep Rearing Co-operative, an Agricultural Farming Co-operative, a Sandal makers’ Co-operative, a Bamboo Basket Weavers’ Co-operative, and a Gypsy Craft Co-operative.
• form 120 micro-enterprises which will include floristry, jewellery crafts, and organic manure products.
• train 155 key Dalit and Tribal representatives to deliver basic vocational skill training to 1045 participants from local communities to develop business skills, and increase earning capacity and employability.


Basket makers' president Angali