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APPRAISAL OF THE CO-OPERATION SIEMENPUU FOUNDATION (SF) & TAMIL NADU PROGRAM (TNP)

Facilitated by
LEAD AUTHOR: MR. CHELLADURAI SOLOMON (DMC) CO-AUTHOR: MR. OLLI-PEKKA HAAVISTO (SF)

Team Members:
MR. KAI VAARA (SF), MR. OSSI KAKKO (SF) & MS. PAULIINA TUOMINEN (SF) MR. ROY DAVID (NAA) & MS. SUDHA (SADED ) MR. L. ANTONYSAMY (TNCT)
DECEMBER 2009 TAMIL NADU, INDIA

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Table of Contents
Preface ................................................................................................................................. 3 Acronyms.............................................................................................................................. 5 Executive Summary & Recommendations ............................................................................ 8 Chapter – 1 Background and Tamil Nadu Programme ........................................................ 14 1.1. Siemenpuu Foundation (SF)..................................................................................... 14 1.2. Siemenpuu India Cooperation programme ............................................................... 15 1.3. Historical background of SF in Tamil Nadu ............................................................... 17 1.4. Tamil Nadu Core Team (TNCT)................................................................................ 18 Chapter – 2 Appraisal of Tamil Nadu Programme & Process .............................................. 20 2.1. Context - Evaluations / Appraisal in SF..................................................................... 20 2.2. Tamil Nadu Programme Appraisal & Process........................................................... 20 Chapter – 3 Findings and Analysis on Tamil Nadu Programme elements .......................... 21 3.1. Organisation of Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM)............................... 21 3.2. People’s Action for Development (PAD) ................................................................... 26 3.3. People’s Education for Action & Liberation (PEAL)................................................... 32 3.4. Youth’s Network to Educate and Empower the Weak (Y-NEEW).............................. 37 3.5. Tribal Association for Fifth Schedule Campaign (TAFSC)......................................... 41 3.6. LEISA-Erode Network............................................................................................... 46 3.7. LEISA-Dindigul Network ........................................................................................... 49 3.8. Tamil Nadu Environment Council (TNEC)................................................................. 54 3.9. Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood (JASuL)........................................................ 62 Chapter – 4 Overall Analysis.............................................................................................. 71 4.1. General Impact - Tamil Nadu Programme ................................................................ 71 4.2. What difference SF’s Cooperation has made to the Partners in TN Programme?..... 73 4.3. How has the Siemenpuu support affected the local power structure? ....................... 74 4.4. How relevant and what is the effectiveness of the programme? ............................... 74 4.5. Project & Process Management ............................................................................... 76 4.6. Learning and Cooperation ........................................................................................ 79 4.7. Analysis on ‘Strengths and Weaknesses’ ................................................................. 81 Chapter – 5 Recommendations.......................................................................................... 82 5.1. SF Level ................................................................................................................... 82 5.2. TNCT Level .............................................................................................................. 82 5.3. TNCT Partners’ Level ............................................................................................... 83 Annex 1: Terms of Reference (TOR)................................................................................... 84 Annex 2: Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP).................................................................... 90 Annex 3: Appraisal Context, Process & Methodology ......................................................... 95

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PREFACE
We have in our hands an appraisal document which will hopefully be utilised fully in developing the Siemenpuu Foundation cooperation programme in Tamil Nadu and its constituent projects further, in making an already fruitful programme into a more targeted and influential one. A special strength of this report is in shedding light into the constituent elements of the programme, that is, the individual projects behind it all. The report brings forth many of the impressive achievements of the projects, and some areas, where there are obvious needs for improvements. But in many cases it is also obvious, that the projects cannot, and should not, be compared from the same footing and angle. Some of our partners have a highly developed managerial NGO kind of approach to their work. Some others can be understood better from a movement perspective. These different approaches need different kind of nurturing and steering from the project management perspective. In some cases even a project structure may be a bit blurred, giving way to processes, which are very slow and gradual, but when moving, also very hard to be stopped. One of the biggest achievement of the programme has actually been the fact, that under the joint framework, there has been initialised cooperation between partners, which otherwise might not have worked together at all. And it has been good to notice, that even though some of the operational principles of the organisations and networks have differed quite much, there have been some very basic values and ideals, which have been shared by all the actors involved. These have related to, among other things, wide-based social, environmental and economical (self-)sustainability and democracy, and solidarity with the most oppressed groups of the societies. Capturing all the nuances of various projects is very demanding in this kind of appraisal. Some of the project personnel, when reading a description of their own projects, might find that there is something crucial missing, or some aspects emphasized, which do not belong to the core of their projects. But hopefully this does not keep each and every one of us from taking a critical look at ourselves, alone and jointly, and see where the projects and the programme can perform even better. The intention of this exercise is not to put the projects in order, and compare, which has the best performance. The main goal is to learn and develop. And hopefully, those who are not directly involved will find the report enlightening in creating ideas on how to get aboard in the processes of the programme. The report in hand do not bring much additional understanding on the context of the civil society in Tamil Nadu, or the basic characteristics and dynamics of the key networks, which are at the core of the programme. It is hoped that additional understanding on these aspects of the programme will be promoted through some systematic processes outside of this appraisal as well. Without quite deep understanding on these aspects, there is always a risk that some aspects of the programme will be progressing through trial and error and without deep enough of cultural and contextual sensitivity. In the programme there have also been incidents, where some people have been feeling hurt, even though all the original intentions have been only good. Some of these could have been avoided, if we knew more about each others and our social and cultural peculiarities, and the processes which have been actively involved in bringing us to the point where we are. But in deeper level we cannot get this kind of deeper learning only through reading books about each other. The best ways of good cooperation can be learned only in direct cooperation, and being patient and open to each others peculiarities. When this process was in its final stages, we experienced an immense loss from the very heart of our cooperation. The Programme Convener Tony passed away on 21st November, 2009. Tony was very instrumental in bringing the programme where it is now, and without his good guidance it is not easy 3 | 101

to bring the programme back to its track. But we are hoping that through his example and in his honour we will find back on the right path again. This report is in memory of Tony, our good and very patient guide! Mr Kari Bottas Tamil Nadu Programme Coordinator Siemenpuu Foundation

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ACRONYMS
ACT AM AIDS AIP ATM CACL CAFAT CAPART CAN CASSA CB CBOs CCFC CEDA CEED CENDECT CGP CIRHEP CRC-TN CRPF CST DLOC DSI EGS ELF ESF EWD FISHERR FFS FMFA FRA FRA GAA GCP GM GMP GMS HILLS HIV HIVOS IAIP IAMWARM ICEF ICT IGSSS INGOs ISF ISRO Association for Cultural Transformation Afforestation Management Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Appraisal Implementation Plan Appraisal Team Members Campaign Against Child Labour Collective for Action of Forest Adivasi in Tamil Nadu Semi-government Body of the Govt Coastal Action Network Campaign Against Sex Selective Abortion Capacity Building Community Based Organizations Donor Organization Centre for Education Development Association Centre for Education and Environment Development Centre for Development and Communication Trust Citizen Global Platform Centre for Improved Rural Health and Environmental Protection Child Rights Committee-Tamil Nadu Child Rights Protection Forum Central Sales Tax District Level Organizing Committee District Science Institute Employment Guarantee Scheme Environmental Lawyers Forum Environmental Scientists Forum Education for Workers Development Financial Initiative for Sustainable Human, Economic Resource Regeneration Farmers Field School Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Forest Rights Act Forest Regulation Action German Agro Action Global Climate Campaigns Genetically Modified Good Manufacturing Practices Genetically Modified Seeds Human Integrated Life Learning Human Immune Virus Netherland Based Humanist Donor Organization Irrigated Agriculture Intensification Program Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water Bodies Restoration and Management India-Canada Environment Facility Information and Communication Technology Indo Global Social Service Society International Non-Governmental Organizations Indian Social Forum Indian Space Research Organization

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IT JASul JJ KIOS KIM LEISA LIC LIFE MADA MAPOVI MFA MLA MS MSSRF NAA NAPM NEW ERA T NGOs NREG NTFP OAP ODAM PAD PCM PEAL POPE PPP PRA PRI PWD RASI REAL REDA RTI Act RWO SAAF SADED SAGE SAM SAP SC SERSA SEZ SF SHGs SIMCODES SINFPAD SLFA SM SRI

Information Technology Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood Jeeva Jothi Kansalaisjärjestöjen ihmisoikeussäätiö Key Informant Meeting Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture Life Insurance Corporation Livelihood Initiative for Empowerment Modified Area Development Approach Movement Against Poverty & Violence on Women Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland Member of Local Assembly M Swaminathan M Swaminathan Research Foundation National Adivasis Alliance National Alliance for People’s Movements New Era Trust Non-Governmental Organisations National Rural Employment Guarantee Non-Timber Forest Products Old Age Pension Organization of Development Action and Maintenances Peoples Action for Development Project Cycle Management People’s Education for Action and Liberation People Organizations for People Education Power Point Presentation Participatory Rapid Appraisal Panchayat Raj Institutions Public Works Department Rural Association for Social Integration Rural Education and Action for Liberation Rural Education and Development Association Right to Information Act Rural Welfare Organization South Asia Adivasi Front South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy South Asia Genetic Engineering Social Action Movement Sustainable Agriculture Practices Scheduled Caste Social Research and Education Service Association Special Economic Zone Siemenpuu Foundation Self Help Groups Sirumalai Evergreen Multipurpose Community Development Society Southern Initiative NGO Forum for Participatory Development Sustainable Livelihood Farmers Association Strategic Management S Rice Intensification

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SSA ST TAAK TAFSC TdH TLLA TM TN TNCT TNEC TNIP TNP TOR ToT TRC TWF UNDP VCD VDC VDS VFS VRDP WFP WORD WSF Y-NEEW

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Scheduled Tribe Tamil Nadu Adivasi Amaipukali Koottamaipu Tribal Association for Fifth Schedule Campaign Terre des Hommes Team Leader and Lead Author Team Member Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Core Team Tamil Nadu Environment Council Tamil Nadu India Program Tamil Nadu Program The Terms of Reference Trainers of Training Tribal Resource Centre Tribal Welfare Board United National Development Program Village Community Development Village Development Committee Village Development Service Village Forest Service Village Reconstruction and Development Project Wild Forest publication Women Organization for Rural Development World Social Forum Youth’s Network to Educate and Empower the Weak

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Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009

Executive Summary & Recommendations 1. Backdrop:
The appraisal of TN Program was perceived within the overall context and program of SF. The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Appraisal of TNP has been developed by the SF’s India Group which is an extension of SF Board in Finland. The implementation of the ToR is based on a joint approval by TNCT and the SF Board. The support and cooperation of Siemenpuu during the last 5 years (20042008) was the period the appraisal process covered. The appraisal exercise was carried out by a team of 9 members with a combination of a facilitator, and representatives from SF, the India Program partners (SADED & NAA) and TNCT. Mr. Chelladurai Solomon (Development Management Consultant-DMC) led the team as a facilitator and lead author. He has a wide insight and experience of the Tamil Nadu civil society circles and has had an earlier consultant relationship with CEDA Trust, which is one of the core network members of the programme through Tamil Nadu Environmental Council. The whole appraisal process was facilitated with a participatory process; visits to partners of TN Program, sample representation of village visits, focus group discussions, review of documents etc. The exercise was kept within the overall focus of the ToR and qualitative aspects, and wherever possible quantitative aspects were brought in as supportive or evidence to the analysis. The actual implementation of the appraisal began from December 2008 and completed by January 2010. The whole process was delayed for various reasons outside the control of the lead author of the report. First and foremost the delay was depending on the extended processing of the report in Finnish end. Furthermore, in November 2009, we heard tragic news about the death of the programme Convener L. Antonysamy. This had left us all terribly devastated and empty.

2. Different impact created:
The finding from the appraisal is that the impact or intensity of interventions may not be spread at a same intensity at a wider level in the state of Tamil Nadu but “it is happening significantly across TN”. The support in the Northern Tamil Nadu has however been less extensive than elsewhere. The contribution and cooperation of SF has helped to look at issues according to geographical situation and connecting them as a whole. The money contribution might have been limited but the cooperation or support of SF other than of money has contributed significantly to the objectives of the SF & TNP. Good numbers of farmers now come forward to adapt sustainable agriculture practices in the project areas of the partners. There is growing awareness among the farmers and the momentum is created at the grassroots level and there is large scope for more farmers to adapt sustainable agriculture methods in the following years. Acres of fallow lands have been converted in agro farming in the project areas. Considerable profit has been earned by the farmers. Farmers’ collectives have been formed and farmers’ families have adopted alternative livelihood in the project areas of the partners. Land alienation has been prevented. Techniques of organic farming such as mulching, vermin-compost, and organic pest control have been widespread in the project areas. Water conservation, green coverage has been adopted in the villages covered by the projects. The practice is spreading considerably. 8 | 101

Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009 Dalit women herbal collectors themselves have added value to the processing of herbs, preparing medicines and selling on their own as against selling raw herbs. Income has augmented to the families. Value added in the production process, standardization and quality control in production has been enhanced. The casualty / mortality rate of cattle has been very much reduced to about 30% in the project areas through the Bare-Foot Veterinarians which increased accessibility to medical attention to the cattle. In all, it has increased the income of the households and the bare-foot veterinarians. The usury system has been stopped by provision of loans to the fishermen. Fishermen Cooperatives have come into existence with family membership. Environment campaign has been strengthened in 30 districts through campaign and advocacy efforts through lawyers collective, environmentalists’ collective, and scientists collective. More and more grassroots people from the districts come forward to join the campaigns. Members are enrolled and networks / forums of farmers are established; organic farmers associations in districts, district level organic farmers associations, Sustainable Livelihood Farmers Associations (SLFA) in 19 districts where IAMWARM project of World Bank is being implemented, and network / state level ad-hoc committee of SLFA. Thus the people’s local collective efforts in the level of their communities, at the level of districts and state have been able to guide the program in line with one of the crucial objectives of the TN Program of “self-reliant and sustainable community-level use and management of land, water and environment”. Similarly, many of the tribal villages in Erode and Salem district where network partners have their field base (250 villages) grama sabhas have been formed. The concept and practice of “self rule” has been spread. The tribal villages practice self rule concepts by selling the NTFP on their own, demanding the government schemes, safeguarding their culture and tradition and taking up efforts to claim their entitlement under the new forest act 2006. Good numbers of tribal families were able to reclaim their land for livelihood with environment friendly agriculture practices. Thus the practice of “self-rule” has helped the tribal communities to be a collective force in solving, clarifying and correcting the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality and to enable the communities decide about the sustainable use of their local environment.

3. Difference made by SF’s Cooperation:
With financial grants and with the ongoing interactions & other non-financial support SF’s cooperation has made significant difference to the TN Program and succeeded in realizing self-reliant and sustainable community-level use, governance and management. (a) Earlier, due to paucity of funds, the reaching out was very minimal. Now, the TN program partners could take up and address wide variety of issues in all parts of Tamil Nadu. They have now made linkages with intellectuals like lawyers, doctors and scientists to make them also feel responsible for the social issues. (b) NGOs in TN have started focusing on livelihood issues with ‘rights’ perspective. (c) There is wider sharing of experience, looking into the new dimensions of issues and addressing them in strategically planned ways. (d) The space for livelihood has been increased and introduced diversification in livelihood options. (e) Working space is created in herbal collectors’ network. The herbal collectors now have value added market. (f) Types of programmes, the partners address have changed from one single focus to wider livelihood issues. There are new initiatives like ‘zero budgeting’, ‘very low external input’ etc in sustainable agriculture practices. (g) Partners have learnt a lot in different aspects related to environment such as water, forest, land, bio fuel techniques. The relationship with Fair Trade practice has begun after the cooperation with SF. (h) Earlier individual farmers focussed with sustainable farming but they have now widened their initiatives and have come 9 | 101

Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009 together as network. Along with the focus on collective usage of land, seed purchasing and marketing the campaign mode is adopted subsequent to the partnership with SF.

4. Influence on the local power structure:
4.1. Relationship at different levels: The formation of TNCT has helped a lot in understanding the SF process. The partners’ meeting make the individual partners feel the space for sharing experiences and learning from each other rather than mere reporting. The relationship with SF is felt to be mutual with comfortable feeling of articulating and sharing with each other. Among the partners, there is a sense of solidarity to support the issues addressed by other partners. There is a common understanding to cooperate with each other in spite of the differences. 4.2. Regarding the “power sharing”: A clear channel of communication exists at different levels; TN Partners & TNCT, TNCT & SF. There is intention to widen the Core Team with representation from other networks and with women representation. There are also efforts to bring closer relationship between NAA, TAFSC & CAFAT, and also in the relationship between TAFSC & CAFAT.

5. Program Relevance and effectiveness:
There is growing anti-people and environmentally un-friendly policies and tribal lands are being taken over by the multi-nationals. There is a need for a radical shift and alternatives; from market force to people centred. Isolated activities may not be sufficient and there is relevance in terms of networking, alliance at the macro levels including political parties, church organizations etc. The TN Program has responded keeping the above as their basic understanding. The ongoing struggle for the implementation Forest Rights Act (FRA) has been strengthened with the cooperation of Siemenpuu. The thrust for sustainable agricultural practices helped families to get shifted from inorganic farming to organic farming. Their family income has improved, external input has decreased, land alienation has been checked and converted barren land into cultivable land. Farmers’ technical knowledge on organic farming has increased and there is gradual policy change in agriculture sector towards organic farming. Advocacy campaign for coastal rights involved fisher people into collectives and fisher cooperatives. It was relevant to use the existing legal provisions; villagers and people were sensitized on RTI, PRI Act, NREG act by providing information and strengthening the peoples struggle. Campaigned on restoration of water bodies by creating mass awareness and campaigned against surface water privatization policies of World Bank. Without such resistance the people at the grassroots will be taken for granted and exploited to the core. Promoted and strengthened Farmers organizations (SLFA) in sub basin areas in Tamil Nadu responding to the vested interests of the World Bank’s irrigation scheme. Thus the grassroots are organized and helped to work collectively with more vigour. Established various dialogue forums such as advocates, environmentalists and scientists, in a situation where the onslaught of industries and multinational companies in collaboration with the local governments is high. This way the different sections of the public were offered common platform to express their solidarity and concerns.

6. Project & Process Management:
At the level of Siemenpuu the planning is carried out by the India Group consisting of members within SF and members from cooperation program at Finland level. The India Group has had sub10 | 101

Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009 groups on the 3 specific themes and they are (a) dialogues, advocacy & campaign on ecological democracy, (b) sustainable agriculture and livelihood and (c) Adivasis & their rights, protecting wild forest and environment with which people can live from the natural renewal of wilds. 6.1. At the project level management: Planning: The partners keep the global and national context in mind while planning. They consult the CBOs, conduct random survey with the active participation of community and staff / organization, and involve the chief functionary of the organization. These amply indicate the formal & informal ways in which the planning is done at the project level. Monitoring: Based on the plan, there is ongoing check to finding whether the plan is achieved or not and undertake course corrections depending on the findings. Some of the partners have fixed formats through which the information / data on the happenings & results are collected & collated periodically. Monitoring is happening at the project level but there is less systematic documentation of the monitoring activities & findings in many cases. Evaluation: So far no external or internal evaluation has taken place in any of the projects of TNCT. This appraisal is the first one which is being done with external team of facilitators. 6.2. At the TNCT level management: Planning: At the TNCT level, it is in the form of consolidation of the planning which comes up from the project level planning. TNCT facilitates pre-planning process which involves capacity building of partners and preparation of context papers. The planning in the future has to be more interactive and systematic involving all the stakeholders. Such process could involve the community in the planning thereby the management at the TNCT level. 6.3. Implementation & Monitoring: In order to strengthen the implementation process, TNCT organized discussions on Perspective Building for the partners of TNP, organized partners meetings and coordinated the visitors from SF. From the point of monitoring TNCT has the mandate to appoint somebody to do the monitoring studies of the partners. So far it has not been taken up and though TNCT is conscious about it. They feel it is something that has to be done in the future phase periodically and on need basis. TNCT also played the important role of compiling and providing articles for publication in North-South magazine. In terms of applications for partnership or decisions on inclusion of potential NGOs or Networks in the TN Partners are left to SF. TNCT prefers this way in order that TNCT does not play a role of “donor” which has certain dynamics and danger, and it is not healthy for the effectiveness of the TN Program. 6.4. Reporting: TNCT collects the periodical report from the partners, consolidates the report and shared it with SF and all the partners of SF. There is no scrutiny of the reports in comparison with the proposed project plans of individual project. It is recommended that TNCT plays a role of facilitator. It would mean that the reporting has to be made not just as ‘mandatory’ but has to be made more meaningful and user-friendly at the project or TNCT level. The reports of the partners have to be scrutinized as well in relation to their proposed plans within the TN Program. 6.5. Sharing: There was also opportunity created by SF for wider dissemination of the report in Finland. In fact SF uses some models of TNP for wider dissemination and published core studies from TNP in North-South magazines. 6.6. Gender Balance: TNP has to ensure that in the Core Team or project level management there is a gender balance / equation maintained consciously. At present, the Core Team has only male members though there are efforts to resolve the concern. The same concern is extended to the TN partners as 11 | 101

Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009 well; How many of the TN partners are headed by woman? How many of the NGO partners of the networks are headed by woman? These are some of the obvious questions. 6.7. Overall Governance: Thus far the governance of the TN Program with the facilitation of Core Team and the Convenor has been good and effective. The Core Team members have collectively wide and multi-dimensional experience in the governance of networks and community-level practices, and they have been used the same in the governance. However, areas as indicated earlier (monitoring, interactive / participatory planning and scrutiny of reports / consolidation of reports of the partners) require attention in the future and TNCT has mandates to perform.

7. Alliance at the TN Partners, TN Program or SF levels:
The individual NGO partners either fitted their projects into SF program or joined the program of SF or shared with the SF program. The question of ‘ownership’ for the total program by all the program and project partners has to be felt. The ‘ownership’ for the three program objectives of SF is blurring and it has to be strengthened with conscious efforts at all levels and especially at the level of SF. To start with SF has to involve members from TNCT to be part of the planning of the next phase.

8. Learning and Cooperation:
8.1. The learning process: Moving towards collective functioning (agree to disagree but live with it and work together), enriching perspective in the collective process, collective perspective & group learning, collective responsibility, democratic functioning, on equal platforms – sharing and teaching, joint action, different activity and group sharing, process between the present situation to the desired situation. The other learning from the process was issue-based solidarity, giving importance to CBOs, collectively sharing, supporting, co-operating and consistently giving solidarity. 8.2. Sharing the learning with wider circles: The sharing of ‘learning’ has been through reports, perspective building meetings / workshops / seminars, newsletters & books, research & report publications like North South Perspectives-magazine, Wild Forest. It has also been through other forums like WSF, e-forums, Web pages, and YouTube. The sharing of learning has also been with CBOs/focus groups, ‘people for self development’, through network, e-mail campaigns, discussion with partners/network meetings, and joint planning. 8.3. Contribution to the co-operation on development between: (i) North and South? Global issues have gained local faces, focused intervention & state to state collaboration, made state an active partner, networked, and publication of NSP &Wild Forest. (ii) Within South? Co-operation between TN and Sri Lanka on Sedhu Samuthiram Canal Program, sharing TNCT’s experience with Indonesia SF partners and SF co-operation partners’ sharing meetings. It is important to note that TN cooperation is regarded as a fruitful model for other areas / countries. (iii) Within North? SF works with many likeminded activist organizations and the co-operation is seen as a valuable approach to be implemented by others. The co-operation program has opened other new exchange and learning opportunities and understanding the reality of the South and extending solidarity

9. Recommendations:
9.1. SF Level:
It is apparent from the findings and analysis of the individual and network partners of TN Program the cooperation of Siemenpuu has contributed to impact in the three areas and has made visible differences; (a) dialogues, advocacy & campaign on ecological democracy, (b) sustainable agriculture 12 | 101

Executive Summary - Appraisal – SF&TN Program – December 2009 and livelihood and (c) Adivasis & their rights, protecting wild forest and environment with which people can live from the natural renewal of wilds in Tamil Nadu. The cooperation of SF needs to be continued in stronger ways of financial support, North-South exchange and including TNCT in the planning process of SF as a whole.

9.2. TNCT Level:
TNCT has been playing an important role in facilitating the TN Program in a proper stream of thinking, supporting the partners in their capacity, linking them with the TNCT, supporting SF with required documentation & organizing / coordinating the visits of SF, conforming potential partners and consolidating the reports of TN partners. The roles of the Convenor and the Core Team Members have been visible and they have been able to use their experiences effectively in the TN Program. In future, (a) the planning has to be more interactive and systematic involving all the stakeholders. The next phase is an opportunity to demonstrate a better interactive planning process for TN Program. (b) There is a need to make the role and responsibilities of TNCT clearer. A special attention has to be provided in specifying the role of identifying potential partners or monitoring role of TNCT since it is bit tricky and dynamic. (c) Conscious efforts have to be taken to ensure there is gender balance in the membership of TNCT as well as in the leadership of TN Program partners.

9.3. TNCT Partners’ Level:
The relevance, effectiveness and impact generated by the TN Program partners have been significant and been in line with the overall program objectives of Siemenpuu. On the other hand; (a) there is tendency among the partners to be more project-oriented than process oriented especially the individual NGO partners. This suggests that the cooperation in future could be given importance to partnership with networks than with individual partners. (b) Their learning and cooperation has been sufficient enough to make themselves relevant however the learning and sharing has largely been limited within the project areas and the State Tamil Nadu. It has to go beyond. (c) The project and process management of the partners has been both informal and formal ways, but it would be necessary to make more systematic management of planning, implementation and monitoring.

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Chapters 1-5: Appraisal – SF & TN Program – December 2009

Appraisal of the Co-operation Siemenpuu Foundation (SF) &Tamil Nadu Program (TNP)
CHAPTER – 1 Background & TN Program 1.1. Siemenpuu Foundation (SF)
SF has been operational from Finland since 2001. It was founded by 15 Finnish NGOs working with environment and development issues1. The purpose of the Foundation is to promote environmental protection and fulfilment of human rights, advance peoples’ opportunities for participation and promote more democratic and transparent political decision-making globally all within the field of environment. SF promotes work for ecological democracy, environmental protection and prevention of environmental threats through supporting civil society organisations in developing countries working for environment. SF helps people in the South to get their voices heard while also supporting their work in advancing citizens’ political and other decision-making powers locally and globally. SF also support the activities of the founding organisations and other environment and development movements both in Finland and in other countries by producing and disseminating information on experiences and lessons learned in the co-operation with Southern partners. The aim is to change the unsustainable consumer society both in the North and the South. The Foundation is an operationally and legally independent civil society organisation. Grants from SF go directly to civil society organisations and networks of organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), community groups and research institutes based and operating in developing countries. However, SF economy is primarily based on the development co-operation funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and it reports on the use of received funds to the Ministry. The total budget of the organisation for the year 2008 was 1,25 million Euros. It is important to note that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) supports three Finnish NGO Foundations within three broad categories of support2, to provide small grants to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in developing countries. All three Foundations were established in 1998. Each foundation focuses on different issues – Abilis on disability issues, KIOS (Kansalaisjärjestöjen ihmisoikeussäätiö) on human rights issues, and Siemenpuu (SIPU) on environmental issues. The Foundations report to, and are monitored by, the NGO Unit of the MFA.

For more details of about SF please visit http://www.siemenpuu.fi The Government of Finland channels the NGO funding through three groups of organizations: 10 partnership organizations, three NGO foundations, and about 140 other organizations, which receive projectbased funding. In 2007, the Finnish NGOs implemented nearly 700 projects in 87 countries and regions. The share of the amount of projects for each NGO group is close to one third. In terms of money the partnership organizations receive 43,1 M€ or 63%, NGO Foundations 3,3 M€, 5%, and NGO project organizations 22,2 M€, 32% of the total NGO funding. (Ref. TOR Evaluation of NGO Foundations 2008).
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Chapters 1-5: Appraisal – SF & TN Program – December 2009

1.2. Siemenpuu India Cooperation program
Between 2006 and 2008, SF started a new approach in development which was focused on developing partnership programs. These programs are currently being implemented in India, Indonesia, Mekong area, Mali in West Africa and Latin America. Within the same time there is a limited option for an open call proposals from partners not currently within the partnerships. Siemenpuu India co-operation programme is a new form of development co-operation for Siemenpuu, aiming at more equal relations between the Northern and Southern partners of development cooperation. This programme was set up with the aim of strengthening the options, rights and autonomy of sustainable local, rural, urban and indigenous community life in India against commercial overexploitation of environment and livelihood sources. Siemenpuu-India co-operation is thus committed to provide options and resources for: • Dialogues, advocacy & campaign on ecological democracy, for local, national, regional and global interactions to challenge and correct the adverse global structures which over-consume the Earth; Sustainable agriculture and livelihood - People's local collective efforts to build self-reliant and sustainable community-level use and management of land, water and environment; Adivasis & their rights, protecting, learning and sharing such ways of understanding wild forest and environment with which people can live from the natural renewal of wilds.





These three dimensions of co-operation are considered to need each other to reach successful realisation and thus complement each other in the context of Siemenpuu's overall strategy. The realisation of the three dimensions is led by three corresponding networks of Siemenpuu's partners. So within the India Programme SF has three sub-programmes and they are South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED), National Adivasi Alliance (NAAlliance) and Tamil Nadu Program (TNP). Siemenpuu will provide under them options and resources for the Indian partners to fully participate in shaping, planning, implementing and evaluating the co-operation programmes also by grassroots-level mutual sharing.

1.2.1 TN Programme (TNP)
Tamil Nadu Programme aims to strengthen local communities' collective efforts to build self-reliant and sustainable livelihood by community-level use, governance and management of land, water and environmental resources. Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of the Indian peninsula, is spread over 130 058 Sq. km. (about one third of the size of Finland). It accounts for about 4 percent of the total area of the country. The topography of Tamil Nadu consisted of the coastal plains in the east; uplands and hills proceeds westwards; the plains account for more than half the area of the state. Tamil Nadu has a number of small rivers but not perennial rivers. The climate is semi arid tropic monsoonal. Tamil Nadu has only 17.5 % of the area under forest cover, of which a sizeable area is under degraded conditions. Today, Tamil Nadu is facing a serious phase of desertification. The hills-forest faces deforestation causing severe water scarcity for the plains and the coast; similarly industrialization and urbanization have caused serious problems for all the three categories vis-à-vis Hills-Forest, Plains and the Coast.

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The changes/ill-effects that take place in any one of the three affect the others. Therefore, understanding this inter-relationship is a pre-condition for any intervention. The Tamil Nadu cooperation programme was originally founded by four networks whose representatives formed the Core Team of the programme. This was agreed in a meeting in Madurai in February 2006, where all the then supported organisations were represented, and where Kai Vaara and Heikki Korhonen were representing Siemenpuu Foundation. Within the TN programme Siemenpuu has been supporting state, regional and district level advocacy, campaigns and direct field interventions. The support has been channelled through: a) Activities of the four TNCT member-networks, which are: − − − − TNEC (Tamil Nadu Environment Council) - State level network addressing environmental issues for ensuring ecological democracy JASuL (Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood) – State level network addressing the issues of water, land and livelihood. SINFPAD (Southern Initiative NGO Forum for Participatory Development) – District level and regional network addressing the issues of livelihoods) LEISA (Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture) – District level network; LEISA Erode and LEISA Dindigul, which tries to ensure the livelihood and food security of marginalized majorities.

b) Many individual NGOs and their different forms of cooperation in Tamil Nadu. Some of the NGOs have been supported also to coordinate other network activities between NGOs, action groups, etc., like for example TAFSC (Tribal Association for Fifth Schedule Campaign), which works in state level to address the livelihood issues of adivasis (in concurrence with TAAK and TAI tribal associations.

1.2.2. Siemenpuu support to Tamil Nadu to be assessed
Siemenpuu support to Tamil Nadu started in 2003. First organisations which were supported were Peoples Action for Development (PAD; 6.2.2003) and Organisation of Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM; 13.3.2003). Since then, PAD has got altogether 68 000 Euros for two projects (02041AAS + 05003AAS) and ODAM altogether 50 073 Euros also two projects of (02045 AAS + 05017AAS). The results of this earlier work of PAD and ODAM are also reflected here below even though these projects took place before the TNCT program started. During the TNCT program cooperation, between the years 2006 and 2009, Siemenpuu funding has been distributed within the program as follows: CEDA TRUST/ TNEC JASuL/ PEAL LEISA/ REAL TAFSC LEISA/ Jeeva Jothi SINFPAD PEAL VCDS Y-NEEW WASA 105 812 Euros (projects 06218AAS + 07063AAS) 61 000 Euros (project 07045AAS) 54 179 Euros (projects 06137AAS + 08204AAS) 48 774 Euros (projects 05216AAS + 08006AAS) 37 045 Euros (project 06217AAS) 32 000 Euros (project 08201AAS) 22 000 Euros (projects 08195AAS + 07067AAS) 9 300 Euros (project 08003AAS) 7 350 Euros (projects 05023AAS + 09002AAS) 6 950 Euros (projects 05065AAS + 09001AAS) 16 | 101

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Annai Mary Foundation PURA

3 750 Euros (project 05096AAS) 3 750 Euros (project 05201AAS)

So some organisations have got and utilised remarkably more financial support than some others. The budget variance is basically based on the proposals given by the networks. The networks based on the existing practice, needs and policies, they have applied to the maximum funding level set by SF. Some networks submitted proposal based on their minimum needs hence got less.

1.3. Historical background of SF in Tamil Nadu:
From 2003 to 2006 Siemenpuu has thus given grants for 19 different institutions working in diverse sectors and focus themes. After 2006, under a programmatic approach, there have been more than 15 new or renewed grants. There was an exceptional and accumulating amount of applications coming from Tamil Nadu in 2002-03 - more than from any other individual country in the world – and there was no opportunity to focus to one special area without any good reason. Although the applications were generally fairly good, they were very much in resemblance with each other, so SF had a difficulty to differentiate them. The board decided to send a Siemenpuu representative to Tamil Nadu with the aim to create cooperation between the applicants rather than support only a few individual organisations. Mr Kai Vaara, as a Board Member, decided to take the job. In connection to the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai January 2004, he continued his travel to Tamil Nadu for February. Meeting already in WSF several applicants connected to the SINFPAD network he encountered straight after his landing 50 people in a meeting which was originally only intended to plan the tour among the applicants. And these 50 people turned out to be representing an equal amount of different organisations. SINFPAD network had facilitated these arrangements. And the first group among them that discovered Siemenpuu Foundation through internet was ODAM (Elango) which then forwarded the information to the network, with help of PAD that was coordinating the network activities. PAD was the second to send their application – and first to get supported. During the visit many organisations were visited each day, several times there was more than one organisation represented at one place. Three times a brainstorming workshop was organised to create a joint cooperation project to be supported by Siemenpuu, instead of support to numerous organisations from whom some most important seemed to be difficult to differentiate. This was the origin for a campaign which later was supported with the name JASuL (Joint Campaign for Sustainable Livelihood in regard to the globalisation). But still during the year 2004, on top of this joint and cooperational project, more than 80 applications arrived to Siemenpuu from Tamil Nadu – also because of the visit of the Siemenpuu representative at place. And this created a still more difficult project identification burden to Siemenpuu Foundation. So, the purpose of the visit was to decrease the flow of incoming applications but the result was an increase of maybe four times more. But there was also another result – JASuL. During the brainstorming sessions, it was several times noted that an interest from an outer actor (from Finland) for creation of a joint cooperation or action cannot bring lasting results, that only an inherent mutual process can produce that. But still, and at last, the most critical persons accepted to 17 | 101

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take responsibility for the joint action that was figured out through the process where common concerns and views were summarised for an action plan.

1.4. Tamil Nadu Core Team (TNCT)
In 2006 the Tamil Nadu Core Team (TNCT) was constituted. It is comprised of representatives from four NGO networks – Tamil Nadu Environmental Council (TNEC), Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood (JASuL), Southern Initiative NGO Forum for Participatory Development (SINFPAD) and Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA). The first funding was approved on 12 June 2006 with a total budget of 29,800 Euro for coordination and capacity building inside the programme framework. TNCT was set up to support the coordinated approach to grant making and a deeper engagement with grassroots organisations and to amplify the impacts of Siemenpuu’s grants. Mr. L. Antonysamy – TNEC, Mr. Y. David – JASuL, Mr. Martine – LEISA, and Mr. Rajendra Prasad – SINFPAD were chosen to the Core Team. The consensus on the formation of the Core Team was that the membership in the core team should be based on the existing networks. The Core Team met in a series of meetings in Madurai and Pondicherry and drafted the ToR and submitted it to SF, aiming to support “collective initiatives to bring in policy changes through advocacy campaigns apart from supporting individual initiatives. Siemenpuu Foundation also expects that the individual partners also become members of networks” (from the ToR of the TNCT). The Core Team chose CEDA TRUST to be the authorized legal holder of the TNCT and to take care of the programme coordination and administration. Mr Antonysamy was chosen to act as the first Convenor of the TNCT. The TNCT has defined obligations and has an agreement with SF to undertake some key responsibilities that will help the TN programme partners in better implementation of the programme and to assist SF in coordinating its work more efficiently. The TN Core Team is mandated to assist SF and its working group called ‘India group’ in assessing, processing and finalising the project applications from Tamil Nadu, helping in monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the projects implemented and facilitating capacity building programmes for project implementing organisations. It has also consolidated individual project reports, to give a more holistic picture of the results of the project activities in Tamil Nadu, both for the networked organisations themselves and the wider public in India and Finland. TNCT has given key inputs in: 1. Processing of application: TNCT processed the application in a limited capacity by assessing the legal status of the organisation, track record of the head of the organisation, the content of the proposal etc., 2. Monitoring, reporting and evaluation: Reporting was done on regular basis based on the project reports. However, it was inadequate in explaining the process. We feel that the format should have more room for process reporting. Monitoring was done at the time of partners meeting. However, field visits did not take place for monitoring. 3. Capacity building to partners: Capacity building process took place on various thematic topics, reporting and financial management skills.

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TNCT was formed with the idea that the Indian partners have a key role in negotiating the goals, criteria, themes and conditions of the co-operation and to define and evaluate what is the aim of the development, what are the modes of protection of environment and the funding and governance of these, so that these could become more relevant for the context of life in India. The initial duration of the cooperation programme between SF and TN programme, the TNCT was set between 2-5 years with the funding linked to the funding agreements between SF and its main funder, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In its first programme phase, the programme was to run between 2006 and 2007 but was later revised to run until 2009, the continuation after that being subject to a renewed cooperation agreement. The TNCT members have more than 30 year of experience in the field of social action movements. The social movements were created based on the issues affecting at the grassroots level, such as landlessness, gender discrimination, undemocratic functions of the elected representatives and uneven distribution of government schemes. The members of the action group did feel that they are part of the victims in the society. Therefore every member of the movement/network had a feeling of ownership in taking forward this movement. This force has become a threat to the government. Some of the social action groups are as follows. • Social Action Groups (SAG) – Tamil Nadu • Federation of Social Action Groups - SAG • Voluntary Action Network of India (Vani) - India Before the advent of TNCT during the later part of 70s, there existed also peoples movements initiated by Voluntary organisations, such as Samathuva Samuthaya Iyyakkam, Federation of action groups, Landless labourers movement, and Liberation of bounded labourers. Funding agency induced networks started emerging in early 90s. Before TNCT emerged SCINDA, NEERA, ASW, LEISA, and NESA. The logic behind this development was mainly to reduce the administrative responsibilities of funding organisations. Once the funding is stopped the networks become ineffective. The network functions in Tamil Nadu under the banner of Tamil Nadu SF programme is a donor driven one. But there are two differences; (1) all the partners working towards for promotion of ecological democracy, and (2) all the partners have equal say in the decision making process.

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CHAPTER – 2 Appraisal of TN Programme & Process 2.1. Context - Evaluations / Appraisal in SF:
Between May and September 2008, Siemenpuu was evaluated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Finland. The MFA evaluation covered the activities, performance, and impacts of the three NGO Foundations (Abilis, KIOS & SF) from 1998 until the time of the evaluation being conducted i.e. 2008. This assessment is the first major evaluation of this particular NGO funding modality in Finland. The MFA had also commissioned KPMG Finland to undertake performance audits of these Foundations in 2004 and 2008. The evaluation exercise itself was intended to be a capacity-building exercise resulting in improved capacity of the Foundations, their partner organisations, and MFA, in terms of management and administration of such support, and in terms of increased application of cross-cutting themes (i.e., human rights, disabilities, and environment) and options for the future in Finnish development cooperation. In 2005, Siemenpuu supported one of the India partners (SADED) to undertake a detailed selfappraisal which was useful to both Siemenpuu and SADED and later formed a basis for formulating their existing cooperation program. The appraisal of TN Programme is perceived within the overall context of the SF programme. The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Appraisal were developed by the SF’s India Group in collaboration with the TNCT. The implementation of the ToR is based on a joint approval by Tamil Nadu Core Team (TNCT) and the SF Board.

2.2. TN Program Appraisal & Process:
The primary intention of the self-appraisal is to shed light on the impacts of Siemenpuu-TNP cooperation. The appraisal will also seek to underline lessons learnt and good practice from the specific projects and the general cooperation program. The aim of the self-appraisal is to help the partners involved to further develop their work and cooperation both in strategic issues as well as developing the administrative framework of the cooperation.

In the TN appraisal meeting with the partner organisations in Dindigul 20th January, it was discussed (according to Kai Vaara´s notes ) that: • “We are going to learn; not value statements. • The purpose is not to evaluate but collect the positive cases... • We are going to see what there is -> sharing the positive experiences • What is positive, and what is for concern • To find the significances of various projects...”
Please refer Annex-3 for more details.

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CHAPTER – 3 Findings and Analysis on TN Programme elements
In this chapter there is analysis based on the implementation of most of the projects falling under the Tamil Nadu programme. The criteria for selection of organisations for appraisal visits were: • The organisations are representing each key ecosystems (coast, plain and hills) • The projects implemented by on going networks • The individual NGO projects have been completed

3.1. Organisation of Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM):
Organization of Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM) is a NGO working for development of the women, children and marginal farmers in Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram districts of Southern Tamil Nadu. The head administrative and operational office is in Tiruchuly village, Virudhunagar district with field offices in Ramanad, Madurai and Tirunelveli districts.

3.1.1. ODAM Context:
Prior to the cooperation with SF, the focus of ODAM was on self-help groups (SHGs) but ODAM started pioneering in social issues of ‘land alienation’, ‘environment issues’, ‘alternative dry land farming’ with jatropha etc. Land alienation was reduced by ODAM, reducing the sale of lands in the districts by making the arid and waste land into a productive land. In some villages there were common decisions of not selling / alienating land and it gave good results. All these had to be done against the constant pressure of real estate agents / middlemen like PGF Peers & PACL. According to an estimation of ODAM, in about 230 villages the success of preventing land alienation was felt and visible. The team visited a farmer’s land closer to the model farm of ODAM in Anikkalakkiyendhal village, Virudhunagar district, where about 2 acres of dry land has been cultivated with jatropha. It took 3 years to come to the yielding stage. There were indications of inter-cropping of food crops such as groundnuts and gingerly seeds. Perhaps it was possible when the jatropha plants were small but after a growth to about 4 feet tall with branches of the plant after 3 year period, it does not look possible for inter-cropping anymore. The jatropha plants themselves look dried up and survival of many of the plants seemed to be doubtful. However, according to ODAM, usually by the month of February jatropha plants will lose the leaves and new leaves will rise in March and April and one could see a green canopy. In brief, the unsustainable uses of natural resources in the area has caused low income from natural resources, a decreased productivity on farm land, increased soil and water erosion and seasonal migration from the area. Depletion of the natural vegetation, insufficient extension services, expensive ground water development and lack of funds for development have all contributes to degradation of land which ultimately lying barren for twenty years. Surface water resources have not been fully utilized because water-harvesting structures, water conservation measures etc are lacking.

3.1.2. Major Objectives:
‘Fallow land development through Jatropha and Tree plantation in Tiruchuli, Narikudi and Kariyapatti blocks of Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu’

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Reclamation of fallow land through popularizing and planting Jatropha, bio-diesel production from Jatropha seeds and promotion of bio-diesel utilization in local diesel motors Agriculture based with the objective of discouraging farmers from selling their lands started with Jatropha and tree plantation in Virudhunagar district

3.1.3. Major Activities:
The major projects and activities of ODAM are: (1) Special school for child labour & dropouts covering about 53 girls in Virudunagar district under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) or “Education for All” scheme of the government, (2) Aforestation Management in 2 villages in Virudhunagar district in collaboration with Forest Department of the Government. Income generation program and village forest councils are part of the program to reduce pressure on the forest. (3) Disaster Management in 150 schools from 5 blocks / 33 panchayats in Tiruneveli and Ramnad districts. Training of panchayat committee on ‘what is disaster?’, ‘how to prepare oneself and mock drill?’ and training children in schools on evacuation procedures / drills. Also, has undertaken a study in Koodangulam & Kavalkinaru on the issues of wage & health as negative impact of ‘migration’. (4) Health and environment covering the concerns of anaemic, HIV/AIDS and training youth on such health concerns. (5) Savings & thrift scheme – 850 Self Help Groups; income generation programs, bank linkages etc. (6) Finally, the Siemenpuu supported activities during 2006-07 which are still being continued by ODAM.

Project & activities in cooperation with Siemenpuu:
In cooperation with Siemenpuu, ODAM trained their staff on their capacity in development concerns and implementation, raised jatropha nursery & model plantation, identified farmers and promoted jatropha plantation in their lands, established bio-diesel production centre as model, promoted confederation of producers and consumers, researched on potential bio-fuel seeds other than jatropha such as pongamia, neem, silk cotton and researched on by-products after extraction of diesel from the seeds. • 1st Project – 2005-06: Undertook systematic training on ecology and gender for couples (husband & wife) and women elected panchayat members respectively. • 2nd Project – 2006-07: Campaign against land alienation; identified individual land issues and resolved, raised nursery of jatropha in 16 acres of land. Subsequently planted jatropha in 350 acres in the first year and 250 acres in the second year. Trained 800 women, men and farmers on jatropha and through the training interested farmers were identified for plantation of jatropha. • Experimented with organic farming especially the method of terra preta (mixing of a proportion of powdered char coal with bio-mass) and ODAM has nurseries in their model farms in Anikkalakkiyendhal village with experimentation on terra preta cultivation with different combination; Charcoal powder (water saturated), Charcoal powder, Charcoal, Charcoal and oil cake etc. • Undertook ‘information dissemination’ on the fraudulent actions of real estate agents like PGF Peers & PACL in the alienation of land from the rural farmers / communities. • Inspired by the idea of bio-diesel, with the support of ICEF (India-Canada Environment Facility), erected a model & demonstration plant and machinery for extraction of bio-diesel from different oil seeds like jatropha, neem, etc in July 2007 in Anikkalakkiyendhal village, Virudhunagar district. The total cost of the model bio-diesel unit was about Rs.1.45 million; Rs.0.75 million for machineries and Rs.0.7 million for land and building. The plant is still under process for legal sanction and license from the government for methanol purchase.

3.1.4. Relevance, Effectiveness & Impact:
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ODAM experimentation on bio-diesel from Jatropha has lead to the general promotion of multi-cropping as opposed to single cropping. Their work and concerns about mono-crops has lead to the development of experimental trials on different sources of biodiesel for local use and from non-edible sources. This work has broadened their focus to environmental issues and no longer only focusing on self help groups.
The following were extracted from the focus group discussions and interactions with the staff members as relevance & effectiveness of the cooperation projects of SF with ODAM.








• •



In order to encourage the farmers for cultivation of jatropha plantation ODAM meets the cost of ploughing with the support of Siemenpuu and ICEF. However the whole scheme of jatropha plantation was ruled out for lands belonging to dalits, the most oppressed community. However, the scheme was applicable to them if the land was totally fallow and not used for any cultivation. This seems to be bit tricky from the point of allowing conversion of agriculture land of non-dalits for jatropha and not dalits? About 1800 house titles were changed from the ownership of men to women (husbands to wives), which was considered an indication for gender equity. Women seemed to have changed their traditional attitude to an extent of taking land or fruit trees under lease for income earning. ODAM claims to be pioneer in promoting ‘pro-people’ stance on supply chain of biodiesel oil seeds and at the same time to ensure that there is land sustainability. In this line, ODAM at a small-scale is trying to experiment multi-cropping in their model farms which is adjacent to their model bio-diesel plant. About 265 farmers reported to have adopted terra preta method of farming though ODAM is still experimenting with as indicated above under ‘activities’. It is also important to note that idea / method of terra preta is originally from Amazon region and introduced to ODAM by Siemenpuu. ODAM continued to experiment with it even after the withdrawal of financial partnership from SF. Because of SF and the cooperation, ODAM is recognized by the government, NGOs and private institutions in the area of bio-diesel. Even after SF partnership ODAM continued with the experiment on bio-diesel, terra preta method of farming, information sharing, and tree and jatropha plantation because of its relevance to the present situation. ODAM continues to collect jatropha seeds from the farmers at the rate Rs.8 per kilogram and during competitive period the quality seeds fetches up to Rs.15 kilogram. SF phased out of the project since 2008, but ODAM feels that there is still need for fund to intensify the experiments on bio-diesel, organic farming and disseminate jatropha plantation with mixed crops.

3.1.5. Project & Process Management:
ODAM’s office premise though old has sufficient space for meeting and administering its activities. It is on a rented arrangement with a low monthly rent. The premise is equipped with necessary office machineries and equipments; furniture, telephone computer, internet facility, etc. Besides it is reported that ODAM has also its field offices in the field areas. ODAM has presently a staff profile of about 25; 16 men and 7 women who attached to the main program / projects. The staff members are headed by experienced Project and Block coordinators. Other than this, it is reported that they also have specific project based staff members like 15 local staff members attached to the project on special school for child labour & dropouts in Virudhunagar. The coordinators have wealth of experience in the activities of the organization. The project and block coordinators involve directly in the implementation, and play supervisory & monitoring roles, 23 | 101

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and reporting on the projects. They work under the policy and organizational guidance of the President and Secretary of the organization. The Founder and Executive Director of ODAM is Mr. Jeyaraj and his son Mr.Elango is the Secretary, and the Secretary is a Headmaster in a Primary School. The Executive Director is quite active and the Secretary is very insightful on the issues of organic farming or bio-diesel oil etc. These two are the major force behind policies and program formulation of the organization, and the overall implementation of the projects.

3.1.6. Learning and cooperation:
There has been a concern and issue on the ‘mono-cropping / plantation’ of jatropha; in order to overcome one problem the mono-crop introduces the other problems of reduction in food crop cultivation and sustainability of the land. It sounds like jumping from ‘pan to the fire’, however ODAM indicates that they have come to a stance for ‘multi-copping’. ODAM is consciously trying to ensure that there is supply chain for oil seeds and at the same there is assurance for land sustainability as well, which it is important for a ‘pro-people’ stance. Another learning is with the model bio-diesel plant using jatropha seeds; for small-scale the selfsustainability remains a question. Jatropha cultivation has been a failure which many big companies as well have also tried it out, as it is required certain rain fall and soil condition. Fortunately, jatropha cultivation is not good in good land or else it would have led to rapid large-scale conversion of good agriculture cultivable land into jatropha cultivation. ODAM has constantly been experimenting with other oil seeds like pongamia, neem, pinnai, rubber seeds for bio-diesel. Further, in future there is plan to take up research and experimentation to determine bio-fuel in fish (sardine), animal waste etc. Refer the following Table-3 for more experimented statistics in terms of bio-fuel potential from the seeds of Jatropha, Pongamia, Neem, Silk Cotton, Cotton, Castor, Punnai and Palm oil. Still such experimentation seems to be on board in different government, commercial institutions and NGOs. The waste or jatropha cake after extraction of oil is not useful for cattle but experimentation is still on for production of bio-gas.

Table-3 Bio-fuel Potential

Source Jatropha seeds Pongamia seeds Silk Cotton seeds Cotton seeds Neem seeds Castor seeds Calophyllum Inophyllum seeds Palm oil
Source: PPT – ODAM – Jan 2009

Oil content 25 – 33% 30 – 35% 15 – 20% 5% 20 – 25% 30 – 35% 25 – 30% NA

Bio-fuel potential 76% 75% 94% 90% 85% 40% 80% 96%

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3.1.7. Findings & analysis of Appraisal Team:
The following are the major findings and analysis of the Appraisal Team derived at the end of the visit to ODAM. • Capacity building training has been useful and yielded results at the level of the staff of ODAM and women / farmers / communities to noticeable extent. • Cultivation of jatropha is less profitable and failure so far given the present situation. Compensatory and mixed crop would be helpful to prevent the farmers who involved jatropha cultivation from loosing. • Project on bio-diesel using jatropha is not a solution, and ‘mono-crop’ and ‘environment’ remains as a concern. It also remains a question / concern whether jatropha is suitable for fallow-land and whether it will make inroad into agriculture cultivable land. • ODAM has learnt from their experience and has moved from the stance of ‘mono’ to ‘multiple’ crop cultivation and this shift has come more from contextual compulsion. The stance is changed also from the practical reasons and may move ODAM gradually to convictions for multiple crop cultivation. • It is because of SF’s cooperation the focus of ODAM on exploration of alternate energy has come out. It is also the cooperation of SF has prevented ODAM from going with full gear on promotion of jatropha cultivation for oil seeds. At another level, the cooperation has also opened up discussion and dialogue on the issue between North & South. • The cooperation of SF has also sparked and motivated ODAM to take up other environmental projects such as ‘forestation’ while continuing with the experiments for alternate energy, information dissemination, dialogue with other institutions etc. • It was not visible in ODAM regarding any networking or advocacy work for macro focus from the learning / experimentation and the ways to move further in the future. • Recommendation: o ODAM has to ensure that at all times eco-friendly energy sector and it would mean continue the different alternatives for multiple bio-diesel plans and usage of the byproducts; use of the stems, leaves of oil seeds like jatropha for fuel or agriculture, pesticides etc. In this regard, ODAM has to also take the learning from elsewhere in the country. o ODAM is not sure of commercial production of alternate bio-fuel in the next 5 years but there are glimpses of ideas for the long-term measures to go about with the bio-diesel production and marketing. o Efforts to document the experiment on jatropha by-products is important and work in this at a longer run may be meaningful. The initiative has to be supported in a sustainable but with a critical collaboration. o ODAM can be a learning place / model to the agro-diesel, eco-friendly alternate energy and so on. o Not necessarily one has to throw away the bio-diesel experiments especially in a context where there is increasing depletion in the reserves of fossil fuels. However, the alternate should encourage with the cooperation of grassroots people, rooted in the local economy and community based approach. o ODAM should take care and promote that the bio-fuel or organic farm / products should be accessible to local market and the pricing plays a crucial ‘demand’ factor. There has to be constant and concerted efforts for significant intervention at the ‘trade fair’ platform. o ODAM has responded to constructive criticism which has to be acknowledged. They have to be continuously conscious from the point of gender as well as caste (dalits). o Organization or Foundation like SF should have ongoing partnership with organization like ODAM who has different experiments going on. It will be useful for South & South and North & South learning / dialogue. o ODAM has to development measures on management of expertise / scientist in the area of bio-diesel / multi crop for sustained experiments and for wider dissemination of the results. 25 | 101

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o o

The farmers’ interests have to be studied from the point of their sustained interest. At present, there is less attention in this area of concern. ODAM has the scope for environment and livelihood projects with schools but at present the intervention in the schools is limited to disaster preparedness.

3.2. People’s Action for Development (PAD)
3.2.1. Operational Area:
PAD has its head administrative and operational office-cum-centre in Vembar village, Tuticorin district. PAD works with both coastal and rural communities from Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin districts of Tamil Nadu. Fishermen / women, agriculturists and palmyra (palm tree) climbers are the major target sections of PAD. Their coastal target areas (about 125 coastal villages) fall in the coastal lines between Rameswaram and Thoothukudi.

3.2.2. Major Objectives & Activities:
The overall objective of PAD is to strengthen communities; ensure communities (marine, agriculturists & Palmyra) ownership on (a) natural resources, (b) human resources, (c) financial resources, (d) social resources, and (e) physical resources. The overall strategy was to do analysis of the people and context through participatory methods and evolve interventions to strengthen all the five areas of resources indicated above. PAD evolved its programs / projects gradually over a period as the process demanded.

3.2.2.1. Major Activities – Different Donors:
The following were the major activities undertaken by PAD with the support and collaboration of different foreign donors (HIVOS, German Agro Action & TdH Geneva and CCFC), government schemes and universities. It gives an overall picture of PAD’s projects and activities over a period of 6 years i.e. from its inception.
(a)

Research activities: Marine is a difficult area and hence research takes important to conserve the eco system of the community for sustainable livelihood. Crab fattening etc could bring additional livelihood skills and it necessitates the involvement of community participation, feedback etc. • Completed study on mangrove and planted mangrove plantation with the participation of the community. The community has formed mangrove management community and they support the research work. They also help in planting and taking care of the mangrove. • Coral reef and turtle conservation – the Gulf of Mannar coast provides ideal place for turtle hatching / nesting. The staff and community helped in conserving the eggs from destroying and using it for food. Community participated in that and the community helped with providing their boats. Regarding coral reef, community was not involved but PAD took it up for conservation in collaboration with government departments and universities. PAD helps in monitoring the coral reef in the 21 islands situated closer to each other on this coast. PAD has professional divers and marine biologists and works in collaboration with universities. It has helped in the promotion of corals and seaweeds. PAD trained 24 divers and they are employed in wild life department and are watcher in the islands. There are 4 ICT centres (coastal villages) and it is completely owned, managed by the village development committees and it is self sustained, and PAD only gives training. The centre provides proactive and demand driven based on the local needs (material training and linkages 26 | 101

(b)

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with government / institutions). The ICT provides information on local weather, market and fish availability – fishery information. The Centre has local data base and it is in local language which enables the locals to have direct access to these data from the computer. The ICT centre also provides space for computer aid learning program for children. The ICT also becomes the provider of information on the availability of government schemes. There is community newspaper which has demand from the people to get such information. It gets circulated among 24 villages and it is fortnightly.
(c)

Livelihood for people depending on marine and palmyra: Both fishing and palmyra is seasonal and this causes the people to borrow during off-season and normally they pay back only the interests during the season but the principle loan remains the same. The PRA facilitated by PAD created consciousness among these two sections of people and the process also opened up livelihood options like cattle rearing. The PRA process led to taking up the following activities: 154 livelihood groups were formed and they involved in various employment activities such as bare-foot veterinary, crabs and lobsters fattening, skill giving, nutritional powder based on their traditional food, hygienic way of dry fish production and marketing, dosai flour making / marketing, etc. They also involved in collective income generating activities like making of fishing nets, managing grocery and cattle feed shop, extending revolving loan for income generation. Besides the livelihood groups have involved in protesting against and stopping mining / selling of sand to foreign countries, see weed culture, ornamental fish culture and marketing which are considered anti-conservation. Children: initiated child centred community development program like ICT centres used as learning centre for children as well. Work with adolescent girls and train them in essential life (decision-making etc) and health awareness. The mothers also are covered with ante & post-natal health care – immunization, rearing of new-born child, and importance of breast-feeding. Disastrous Preparedness: It is for disaster risk reduction and it was undertaken by PAD with the support of the government & UNDP. PAD trained rescue team, trained people on disaster emergency response etc. A set of interested volunteers from the rural villages have been selected and trained on allopathic cure to cattle livestock (chicken, cows, buffaloes, goats etc). The training was given 4 years before. Skill is updated through monthly meetings with the professional doctors, experience sharing, online referrals. It is believed that the importance to allopathic cure because of new disease that infects cattle and the people’s desire for immediate cure. Like anthrax there is sudden death of goats and the cure is seen only from allopathic. The thrust of the training has been on allopathic to immediately reduce the mortality rate in the livestock.

(d)

(e)

(f)

3.2.2.2. Major activities in cooperation with Siemenpuu: 1st Project - Jan 2003 to Dec 2004:
Siemenpuu came forward to partner with PAD first on ‘participatory economic education program’. The focus of the project was to strengthen good governance and improve rural livelihood system through people’s economy. The major activities of the project were - capacity building of staff and volunteers on economic education, establishing and strengthening CB Interest groups, organising economic education, relieving fishermen from the clutches of moneylenders with cooperative, live stock development, sea based activities (crab and lobster fattening, indigenous sea weed culture and conservation), marine eco system conservation - trained and involved in clean-up activities through primary school teachers, panchayat presidents and youth.

2nd Project - Jan 2005 to Dec 2006:
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The focus of the project was enhancing the livelihoods of coastal poor and marine eco system. The major activities of the project were - studying the impact of tsunami, establishing village knowledge centres (ICT), CB to handle the issues related to sea, and training teachers, panchayat presidents, social advocacy on land rights and housing.

3.2.3. Relevance, Effectiveness and Gross Impact:
PAD has got altogether 68 000 Euros funding support from Siemenpuu for its two projects already before the TNCT program.

PAD community education and information technology support has contributed to community empowerment. The communities are well organised to an extent they have formed a cooperative with a revolving fund of 0.5 million INR. Even after the Siemenpuu funding support was exhausted, they have still managed to continue with their activities and create new linkages with other initiatives etc.
The following are relevance & effectives of the overall projects and activities of PAD over the 6 year period, and the gross impact: • People were able to come over from the status of ‘bonded / slavery’; reduced the middlemen, generated environment friendly employment opportunities and credit systems such as LIFE (Livelihood Initiative For Empowerment) card is a credit/security system distributed to 1000 women headed families. The concept: value of the card is Rs.1000 and it is tied up with a system of providing loan during off season. At another level, developed waste land as useful and cultivable land for additional income. Brought in more participation of women in the developmental activities and most of the VDC the signatories are the women. Parents Committee save Rs.10 per month and it is used for interested children for higher education in the community. • What was the difference the people saw from government and the barefoot doctors / vets? The government doctors were not available immediately but immediate attention is given for a reasonable rate. Secondly, the mortality rate has reduced and people think of immunization and there is confidence in the people to save their livestock. Thirdly, it has become an additional income earning skill for most of the trained barefoot doctors, who practice this as part time vacation. The local doctors earn income from the service depending on the disease and who can afford. Few trained barefoot doctors have taken it up as full time vocation. • PAD has 48 Creative Learning Centres focussed on creative learning, cleanliness and health. Child centred development program covers 27 villages and they have strengthened the children by giving space for the children to learn creativity, crafts, discussion on marine life & resources which is getting depleted and how children could get involved. Child Rights Protection Forum (CRPF): works in 24 villages and 10-18 years old are members of children, covers right to live, survive, etc….. All these have brought changes / impacted the children in the following ways: - Children become more knowledgeable about their rights, marine and have been effective in transferring the knowledge to their parents – usage of nets, leaving the sea turtles etc. - Good number of children has gone into higher education. The awareness / consciousness on child rights among the children and parents have increased. - Trained so far about 1000 students and youth in computer. They work as operators in different towns and cities. Their financial income has improved. • Social resources: Organised community development groups, federation, people’s institutions (Island Trust) covering the 21 islands. The federation worked with PAD – preparatory stage, organizing stage, experimental stage, extension stage and phasing stage. The mechanism starts with clear understanding of these five stages. Island Trust – Federation: it links the livelihood groups among 154 members (94 women & 60 men). The federation and the livelihood group elect its leaders and functions democratically. Works with PAD and manages the money and provides revolving loan. The federation is linked with commercial bank and helps its member 28 | 101

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groups with the preparation for linkages with bank. So far about Rs.0.45 million has been given as credit to its members. It helps with the livelihood and children development program as well. This has brought changes in the following ways: Maximum use of government schemes, community based approach and resolved financial related matters. Also started VDC in all the working villages – 11 members; 6 men and 5 women. VDC consists from all the stakeholders from the community like Livelihood groups, micro credit groups, teachers, panchayat elected members, traditional leaders etc are part of it. The VDC also develops village plan and with the government and NGOs. It ensures no families are left out but benefits individually and community as a whole. It has ensured no competition but cooperation. It facilitates community conflict resolutions also. Created awareness and preparedness on disaster and helped in promoting mangrove on the coast. Used locally available species like salicornia & sweda and promoted these species along with mangrove plantation.

Direct impact from the projects supported by SF & difference to People:
• Emergence of Village Development Committee (VDC), trained and socially conscious youth, better organized and supportive community, organized community groups like livelihood groups etc. Youth have changed their attitudes and approach the government for access to resources / support on their own. People’s awareness on the depletion of marine resources and the danger of the environmentally unfriendly Sethu Samudram Shipping Cannel Project, avoiding of particular nets, unethical fishing etc Started working with Gulf of Mannar earlier (a couple of years) and in 2003 the first support came and it was from Siemenpuu. It seemed to have been a seed tree for PAD and PAD has now grown as a tree. During the earlier time PAD was more in the dissemination of crucial information through cultural activities for ‘economic literacy’. Siemenpuu’s cooperation has helped to understand the local economy, and helped to come out with many additional incomeearning skills and to be environment friendly economic & livelihood activities. Further helped in PAD in the tsunami rehab study, which helped to get the cooperation of German Agro Action (Welthungerhilfe) INGOs. The PRA which was used by PAD for base line survey and became a tool of empowering the participants in the process. This opportunity was provided by Siemenpuu. PAD had cultural troupes and the help from Siemenpuu further strengthened the cultural troupe. Organized 70 NGOs and helped them with the ‘economic literacy’ and that became the network called SINPAD. The network went to WSF with the support of Siemenpuu and the SINPAD has been the base from which the JASuL was evolved and promoted. SINPAD did many social advocacy campaigns on coastal and conservation issues; campaign against Sethu Samundram Shipping Cannel Project, Coastal Management Zone, sand mining, and promoting traditional water harvesting etc. The basic village knowledge centre – ICT centre took off mainly with the support of Siemenpuu. Further the help of MSSRF & ISRO helped in strengthening the same. All the community based organizations, livelihood organizations, federations etc initiated with the support of Siemenpuu. Researches and studies on livelihood options were supported by SF which was subsequently upscaled and it plays significant role in the household income sources; to cite an example, the Fishermen Cooperative called FISHERR (Financial Initiative for Sustainable Human, Economic Resource Regeneration) was started with the revolving fund supported by Siemenpuu. The cooperatives are now self sustained and economically feasible even after the withdrawal of SF and PAD. Environmental consciousness and marine conservation is strongly prevalent among fishermen, women and children, and marine conservation, for instance, preventing plastic paper, nylon threats etc. 29 | 101









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• •

Especially after the partnership of SF, PAD networked with environment forums on many marine related studies / researches. The intensity, extent and variety of issues related to environment disseminated through regional daily newspapers and created dissemination of information and analysis on issues ranged from palmyra climbers to depletion of groundwater3 etc.

TNEC, TNCT and other and livelihood issues were public awareness. The destruction of traditional

3.2.4. Project & Process Management:
PAD is an established NGO with many years of experience. They have their own office and training / meeting place in Vembar. PAD in Vembar is equipped with necessary office machineries (furniture, computers, telephone, internet facility, etc). Vembar is a village and it is almost in the midst of their target people and target areas and PAD has consciously taken the decision to be so. PAD has a total of 75 staff members: Project executive, Coordinators, project managers / directors, doctors, Marine biologists, Field coordinators, veterinarians, accountant etc. 30 percent of the staff are from local villages and the team is a multi disciplinary. Mr. Rajendra Prasad gives overall support / direction and fund mobilization. The management, planning, decision-making, monitoring and reporting is decentralized. There is good team working and the team has community cooking 5 days in a week. Almost all the staff members stay during the week in the PAD’s centre in Vembar and during the weak-end the members go home. There was a feeling of oneness and they complement one another. Though there was specific designation, role & responsibility for each staff member but their commitment for the cause was visible.

3.2.5. Learning and Cooperation:
There were concerns whether PAD has been co-opted by MS Swaminathan Foundation; the MS is considered an ally of multinational companies and vested interests in the government. NGOs have differences on ideologies and approaches from MS Swaminathan Foundation on crucial issues such as ecological conservation, coastal zoning regulation and management and agricultural practices. However, while PAD being conscious of the differences still used relevant project i.e. communication technology for social development of MS Swaminathan Foundation. PAD also claims that they have also provided the people with the critical difference in approaches in the areas of agricultural practices etc. Barefoot vet doctors: The apprehension however is whether the barefoot doctors become exploitative force? In order to avoid such trend the barefoot doctors also teach some basic to the people in addition to the ‘hand manual’ available in Tamil, which people can use easily. Secondly, vegetation, herbal plants and rising of herbal nursery is possible in the campus of PAD. This could promote indigenous knowledge on herbal cure for animals and human. Secondly, the disease comes mainly to the hi-breed varieties, and hence need to promote or cross-bred as the indigenous ones have become obsolete in being economically feasible. Need to think of indigenous varieties but at the same time ensure viability; people prefer hi-breed and hence the attitude has to be changed.

3.2.6. Findings, Analysis & Recommendations:
The following are findings and analysis derived from the ‘focus group’ & ‘key informant’ discussions, interactions etc from the target communities, staff members, director, and from the

3

Articles appeared in regional newspapers over a period of 3 years have been on destruction of Palmyra professionals, ocean marine, fishermen, migration for livelihood, safe water, waste from cities, destruction of sea coral, gender discrimination, destruction of trees, sea erosion, community initiation on creation of pond, sand mining, need for tree plantation, drought situation, struggle for drinking water etc.

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physical visit and verification of the claims. It has to be noted that the findings have focused largely on the project activities and impact produced with the support of Siemenpuu. However, the recommendations cover PAD as a whole and as an organization. • It was important for SF that PAD had connectivity with plains and sea, and participatory approach to development. Now it was also felt very interesting to see the growth and community centred approach. It was very convincing and produced the desired result within a short period of time; PAD has been action since 2002 only. Fisher people, agriculturists and Palmyra climbers have benefited directly and it was visible. The Cooperative Fishermen in Rochmanagar Fisher Colony is an interesting case. The cooperative has 31 members and they have a revolving fund of about Rs.0.5 million in operation. The condition to become a member and availing credit is that he has to sell his fish to the cooperative and the cooperative after deducting a portion from the day’s catch towards the loan & saving, pays the remaining from the sale. PAD has established 3 such cooperative with a total of 82 members and it has been functioning successfully for the past 2 years. The interference of PAD in the cooperative is insignificant. The impact from the cooperative has been very positive; it addressed the indebtedness and provides relief during off-season or during illness, reduced the bonded / slavery of the workers to middlemen and provided faire price to the fish.


Established very good models for sustainability; SF help for study to support the process has been useful. It has impacted the target community positively and has sustained the same in many cases through CBOs or local structures. A good case is the community drinking water tank in Thangammalpuram villages which was reactivated and built with the initiative of the villagers in 2004, in spite of the opposition from the government and local politicians. The water tank now serves drinking water for two villages even during summer months. The maintenance of the tank is totally under the control of the villagers and it is done very well. The VDS, CBO plays important role in the sustainability. On the other hand, the drinking water has reduced the number of health issues the villagers used to have including fatal ones (kidney disease / disorder). People are very confident that they can manage their community needs collectively. Thangamalpuram panchayat has 5 different communities (Thevar, Chettiyar, Konar, Arunthathiyar, Dalits) and there is good cooperation and understanding among them. It is to the extent that they unanimously select the panchayat president on a rotation basis





• •

PAD has practically made the link with sea to plain; multiple concepts of community set-ups or CBOs like VDS, Island Trust, VRC, VKC, etc. They also keep learning and correcting it. Their collaboration with PAD has been minimum and on a need basis. There is no cribbing from PAD saying that SF has withdrawn after 2 years but it is very good to note that PAD used it effectively and moved further to get connected with other resource agencies. Thus PAD has been a learning organization, which keeps exploring other avenues for the development process. ‘Close to perfect model’ of function – democratic, professional, top-heavy. PAD has been resourceful organization for PRA process and its application in the field. This expertise has been helpful to provide services to organization like IGSSS for tsunami rehab work and German Agro Action. It has also helped to practice participatory approach in their organization. Challenges & Recommendation: o More cohesiveness between the 5 resources and the connected results / concept and this would have connected the concept with the activities and results. All the staff as 31 | 101



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o

o o

o

o

a whole should be able to see the fullness. It would be necessary for such presentation to the outsiders, which is important for learning by others. Secondly, veterinary started as livelihood option but there were other concerns, and hence PAD has to be conscious in the beginning itself on the possible unintended effects from the activities undertaken. The balance between technology and community oriented approach has to be maintained consciously at all times; computers, communication, advanced information on marine, etc. Creation of community based cultural troupes is feasible and it can be made active on local and current issues. The expertise in different technical fields like coral reef conservation, marine ecology education, diving among others should percolate to the common man in the village. Similarly, involve students as journalists in the village bulletin / newsletter. Inter-connectivity between activities, results, technology etc with the concept is the need. Secondly, PAD may have to think of consolidating the impact created so far which are left in different pockets of its target areas. This would require a well planned consolidation process which would be a good stepping stone for PAD to launch its next phase. PAD has many things as observed above, to offer to South-South & North & South. A systematic documentation on different models of CBOs, sustainability factors, etc. SF will be connected with PAD through SINPAD which is good for keep the mutual learning and cooperation program.

3.3. People’s Education for Action & Liberation (PEAL)-Sustainable Agriculture Practices (SAP):
3.3.1. Operational Area:
PEAL-SAP has its head administrative office in Madurai and they have their operational / project areas in Virudhunagar, Madurai Sivagangai & Ramanathapuram districts, and it is now also extended to Pudukottai district. PEAL has program promoting sustainable agriculture practices among small and marginal farmers in South Tamil Nadu. The geographical area of the activity comprising of 44 villages from 4 taluk of 4 districts namely Madurai, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, and Virudhunagar.

3.3.2. Major Objectives:
PEAL has an overall emphasis towards “shift in the paradigm of development and would like to do whatever is relevant to the process with or without money”. They have overall program components of working with youth, unionizing unorganized workers, JASuL, CGP (Citizen Global Platform), CAFAT (work among Paliar tribal community) and sustainable agriculture practice. PEAL under the “Sustainable Agriculture Practice” has developed the following objectives: • To organize 1000 small farmers and equip them with skills in sustainable agriculture practice in 44 villages in Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Virudhu Nagar Districts • To strengthen farmers group enabling them to fight for their rights and entitlement to and bring about changes in government policy, programs, legal statute etc conducive for sustainable livelihood resources protection and promotion • To enable farmer group members to prepare agriculture inputs and to facilitate farmers at field level activities to increase their soil fertility, integrated pest management, promote farm bio diversity, crop rotation. • To prevent land alienation

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3.3.3. Major Activities of PEAL-SAP:
The major activities under PEAL-SAP that were visible during the appraisal visit were (a) organization of the farmers into sangam of small & marginal farmers and (b) field level demonstration. About 1000 small and marginal farmers have been formed into village sangams. The sangams becomes the village forum in which the information sharing and dissemination takes places along with related trainings on organic farming techniques, leadership, etc. Through these sangams PEAL-SAP identifies interested farmers for field level demonstration and encouragement to the adaptation of organic / natural farming. Mr.Selvaraj who worked earlier with DSI extended his technical support to SAP programme in this area whenever there is a need. PEAL has a demo farm close to Madurai which was bought in 1983 and infrastructures were developed with other supports earlier. According PEAL, they are now forced to sell the farm due to water scarcity, lack of transport facilities and connectivity (road facilities) and due to upcoming real estate business in the area because of IT Park. PEAL has decided to strengthen the sustainable agricultural practices in Aruppukkottai Farm. The other activities were training to youth from 20 villages around Madurai on environment and their involvement, involved them in tree plantation in selective place like temples, schools during important days every year to which PEAL supplies nursery and involve the youth in PEAL academy which meets monthly twice in Madurai. 3.3.4 Regarding the Self-Appraisal visit PEAL has noted that because the self-appraisal team visit was delayed by more than one hour, the scheduled programmes of interactive meeting and the field visit got disturbed. Because of this, few relevant persons could not be present in the interactive discussion session. While they were waiting in the field the discussion had to be conducted. The farmers present were over anxious to go and irrigate their field in time due to the power cut that was present at that time. Because of all these factors the discussion did not reveal the real picture of the field.

3.3.5. Relevance, Effectiveness & Gross Impact:
PEAL has got from Siemenpuu altogether 22 000 Euros for its SAP projects during the period 20062009. The following are the relevance, effectiveness and gross impact that have taken place over a period of time. PEAL's support has contributed to the gross impact and relevant organic activities that have come into practice. The farmers on their own have got in touch with different knowledge source (experiments of neighbouring farmers, mass media like radio, etc) on organic farming. • It is reported that PEAL-SAP has organized around 1098 farmers from 3 districts. The members are well aware of the effects of chemical intensive farming practices and listen eagerly about sustainable agricultural practices. Secondly, from 44 villages, around 150 farmers started experimenting sustainable farming practice partially in parts of their land. It is in essence returning to the earlier practice of natural manure, silt, oil cake, etc gradually. The farmers started experimenting with organic farming with their own initiative, but encouraged by PEAL. In other words the farmers’ awareness or knowledge or the practice of organic farming is with the support / intervention of PEAL and beyond. The farmers were well aware of the ill effects of chemical farming and were in search of measures to revive the traditional system of farming. The intervention of PEAL through SAP programme has contributed to the revival of the traditional / organic farming. 33 | 101



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Small farmer Goodalingam cultivated paddy as trial in half acre of his land and he used mulching, neem cake etc. In another half acre cultivated tomato and he used vermi-compost, char-coal etc. The yield has been better than using chemical and more importantly, the trial runs have given Goodalingam the confidence to organic farming. The motivation to do that was initially from neighbouring farmers but got strengthened with the exchange of information from PEAL. In another case, SP Balasubramani, a LIC Agent cum farmer practice organic farming in 3½ acres of agriculture land since last 2 years. He prepares his own organic manure, uses mulching technique and prepares liquid nutrient4 and he has been very enthusiastic about the practice and the result in terms of good sustainability of the land, pest control and better yield. He adopted the organic farming with the information and knowledge acquired through weekly magazines and daily newspapers. He collaborates with PEAL-SAP in organic farming and in addition, he also takes support of consultants who are linked with District Science Institute (DSI) which is committed to sharing of knowledge on organic farming. Some farmers have adopted organic and natural farming in their plantation at a large scale; Gurusamy, a farmer from Kavadipatti village adopted natural farming like mulching, intercropping etc for his 10 acre banana plantation. He has been in such practice for the past 3 years. This has given him good yield and buyers prefer products from such farms though it has not attracted special price. Another farmer from the same village Kavadipatti has adopted natural farming in his 6-acre land with mango and guava plantation. According to the farmer, the first year the yield was less and it picked up in the subsequent years. The discussion and visit to Koraipallam village where a temple priest who tried out organic and terra preta farming was rather in the learning stage. The vermin-compost pit in his field indicated that he is yet to learn the technique. • Thirdly, the farmers5 are aware that the present agriculture practice of using chemical manure and pesticide has invited pests and eroded the soil fertility. Urea and DIP led to land degradation and dehydration of soil with no moisture content. The whole cycle of cattle, cow dung, natural manure is not available anymore. The cattle population has come down as there is no more use of manual ploughing and tractors have taken over. Such consciousness has led farmer from Nudunkulam village to raise more number of cattle and it was mainly for manure and he uses no chemical fertilizer or pesticide. This village is known for owning large number of cattle for their livelihood resources; they sold the organic manure to people from Kerala and now, with the awareness on organic techniques, they use all available organic matters for their land development. • Fourthly, there is some exchange of ideas & experience among the farmers casually and it is also taking place through their sangam meetings. The multiple sources of information and encouragement through other sources or PEAL has enhanced the knowledge and affirmed organic / natural farming. However, the organic techniques are still to be standardized and documented for wider dissemination and practice.

Balasubramani has built a cement tank in the farm itself where a system is created to make water nutrient through mixed essence of organic wastes like rotten fruits and waters the field where he cultivates paddy and vegetables – tomato, egg plant, beans, chilly, etc 5 The ATM met the farmers from 6 villages (Keelaramanathi, Nedunkulam, Kamaki, Azhagarsami, Chettikulam and Kavadipatti) at Keelaramanathi.

4

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The farmers have developed receptive attitude towards organic / natural farming. And as indicated above some farmers have experimented and succeeded in the organic farming. However, majority is still in the ‘wait & see’ mode and is still sitting on the fence. They need to be convinced for conversion and the means for their conversion has to be found. Secondly, the information and knowledge has to find its way into the local structure of the governance i.e. panchayat. The Panchayat President of Chettikulam is much informed and practitioner of organic farming and he is also in the village sangams, but he has not taken any measures / efforts to introduce officially into panchayat discussion. Such move could demand the government to consider and respond with support or subsidies like providing subsidized rate for the vermi-compost say Rs.2 per kg instead of the current market price of Rs.6. PEAL has a role in the above situation and that would be the additional value which PEAL can play and whereas PEAL is still trying to come to grip with the additional value they can give to the already interested and enthusiastic farmers. The role and result so far of PEAL has been more of bringing the interested farmers into village farmers’ sangams.



The presence of women was not visible during the visit. But according to PEAL, they were busy in the fields and participated in demonstrations, trainings, sangam meetings and organic farming practices organized earlier by PEAL.

3.3.6. Project & Process Management:
As per the last report of PEAL (June 2008), Mr. Mani is Project Coordinator, Mr. Muniasamy is reappointed as field coordinator and person in charge in Ramalingaswamigal farm, Aruppukkottai area. Mr. Thavasi is in-charge of Sakkilipatti farm and he is in the PEAL farm and involves in all activities in the farm from the beginning, Mr. A.Raja is field coordinator and Mr. Y.David is continuing as the Director of the programme. The status of the personnel during the appraisal was: The total number of staff members were 7 and they were Mr. Muniasamy is recently promoted from volunteer to a staff member, Mr. Thavasi is shifted from Sakkilipatti farm to the new farm, Mr. Raja is field coordinator, Mr. Selvaraj is a consultant giving his service whenever it is needed, Ms. Jyothi is in-charge of Madurai office, Mr. Y. David is the Director and Mr. Maria Selvam, a senior person in the field of organic farming and long time board member of PEAL has been given charge to coordinate SAP programme.

3.3.7. Learning and Cooperation:
PEAL has certainly many learning especially from the point of challenges it has faced, weakness in the closer follow-ups and for added values. It would be in the interest of PEAL, its future interventions and its cooperation with Siemenpuu, PEAL requires to get into documenting the process PEAL may organize assistance of volunteers for the documentation.

3.3.8. Findings & Analysis:
As indicated under the section ‘impact’ PEAL has been able to make their presence in the villages and with the interested farmers. They have been able to form informal village sangams of the small and marginal farmers which are base for any interventions and collaborations with the target people. The experience gained in the Madurai farm is shared through training and demonstration conducted in area meeting and grass root sangam meetings. According to PEAL, the decision of selling the farm at Madurai has been arrived after several discussions in the General body and Executive committee of PEAL. The difficulties experienced in Madurai farm has been reported to SF during the reporting period Nov 2007 – June 2008 under the caption “Has there been any change in your organization”. It is to be noted that the Madurai farm is not the major part for the project partnership between SFPEAL but the farm was used as demonstrative place for farmers who PEAL deals with. Now PEAL 35 | 101

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has adopted another farm in another district and it will take some time to develop this as demo farm. PEAL may require to realigning their interventions from the absence of the demo farm in Madurai. The three programs of PEAL, Network programmes – JASuL, and CAFAT are within larger focus on the livelihood improvement of the poor and natural resource management. However, closer linkages and interactions were desired for the future. Conceptual clarity; PEAL is new to the concept on Sustainable Agriculture. PEAL and its personnel require deeper understanding on the ground reality and the already existing information & knowledge of farmers on organic farming. This will help the interventions of PEAL to pitch at appropriate level added values and for better. The targeted figures or claimed achieved figures of 1098 farmers or 150 model farmers were to be substantiated with quality change for conversion to organic farming. As indicated above, there is interest and potential in the farmers but they are at the cross roads PEAL has to be an effective facilitator and guiding force to them. More analysis and categories into the model 150 farmers the SAP is talking about is necessary for appropriate interventions, for instance the attitude and approach of farmers with irrigated farming may be different from rain-fed farming, or rain-fed farming may have different outlook / approach to organic farming. Though PEAL is not bringing anything new it is revitalising the knowledge system of organic agriculture that existed earlier. Mulching system can be more useful and farmers have to be helped to adopt into it. Gender concerns and involvement of women in the project and development process have to be given due consideration. Ossi Kakko observed that PEAL had established the idea of their new model farm solidly on the basis of the mulch farming with a purpose to demonstrate it to the local farmers as a new cultivation method even though at the same time in the discussions with the farmers they tried to encourage and empower their traditional farming skills and their ancient notions on cultivation. Ideal model of organic farming was not found on the site, but they had already successfully explored these issues in their earlier/first farm. The new model farm was not however mere picnic in wasteland but they had already planted there a lot of seedlings of trees to create a basis for a future mulch farming there to get the withering tree leaves and hay for the mulch, which would decompose more rapidly due to the liquid fertilizer fermented from cow-dung, urine, curd, jaggery and effective micro-organisms, which was diluted with water and poured frequently on the mulch. At the same time they raise awareness on food producing trees. Trees are thus the foundation for this cultivation method, which seems to have strong potential to become a significant farming practice in drought prone areas, at least when its advantages become generally understood and demonstrated. This was a unique approach.

Recommendation:
• There has not been any assessment of existing status and potential of farmers prior to SAP intervening, and such assessment will help PEAL to be more relevant, systematic and effective in its interventions or activities. PEAL-SAP has to derive or work out viable measures to provide close accompaniment as mentor, guider, and technical expert to the 1098 farmers or the 150 model farmers who are spread over 44 villages from 3 districts. 36 | 101



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3.4. Y-NEEW- Youth’s Network to Educate and Empower the Weak:
3.4.1. Operational Area:
Y-NEEW has its head administrative and field operational office in Dindigul. They have their field areas in the blocks of Dindigul. Overall they work in 160 villages from Dindigul district. Every village the people are categorized into 4 – one who involved farming and other non-farming; the regular input on agriculture takes place through the association Sanjeevi. For school goers – there is animation through association Bharathi and for adolescent – education in health aspects, character formation etc through the association Ilaya Bharatham, and for women through SHGs. The specific field area under the project partnership with Siemenpuu is 2 villages (Valakkaipatti & Kallupatti) in Dindigul Block of Dindigul district. The target people are 40 herbal collecting dalit families and 10 producers from the 2 villages.

3.4.2. Objectives:
YNEEW’s coming into herbal collectors was accident; in the process of Y-NEEW involvement with organic farming came into contact with the herbal collectors seeking herbs which are grown in paddy field. Subsequently integrated herbal and agriculture; many herbs depend on paddy field. Picking up from the need, Y-NEEW promoted paddy cultivation and inter-crop system for the harvest of balanced food grains / vegetable and herbs. Then in the second incidence Y-NEEW came across the list of endangered species and suggestion from herbal specialists the way in which the endangered species can be protected. This has led YNEEW to initiate the project with herbal collectors. The title of the one-year project undertaken with the support of SF is Ensuring Alternate Livelihoods to Herbal Collecting Dalit Communities for the period from Dec 2007 to Nov 2008 with a small grant of 3700 Euro (Rs. 210.000). The overall objective of the project is to ensuring alternative livelihood to the herbal collectors; livelihood of the herbal collectors is in danger, herbal habitat is decreasing, need to organize the individual herbal collectors into collectives. This project is one of the four programs of Y-NEEW i.e. sustainable agriculture, employment generation, education for youth / adolescents and health. The focus of the project is • Changing agricultural scenario vs. shrinking livelihoods of herbal collectors • Lack of profitable markets vs. mediators taking the profit • Non-functional herbal habitats vs. endangered herbal species • Fading of oral traditions of grandma recipes vs. lack of documentation. The other projects and activities outside Siemenpuu’s support are (a) Education First with the support of Y-NEEW Sweden and they support 56 students from economically poor and there is preference for dalits in Dindigul district. (b) Allucia Fashion House: started with tailoring with the support of an individual and they are involved in taking order and giving employment to rural young women. So far about 100 women are trained and around 25 have their own machines and make livelihood out of it.

3.4.3. Activities & SF cooperation:
Y-NEEW has undertaken the activities of (a) organizing herbal collectors in 2 villages and organizing into network; (b) training 40 women herbal collectors in handling hygienic methods in collecting and storing of herbs and training them with skills of value addition in order to increase their income like improving the methods of herbal collection; (c) providing external linkages with other NGOs & 37 | 101

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marketing agents and technological support in marketing and system standardization; and (d) managing Grandma Community Herbal Medicinal Centre run with the help of the herbal collectors / villagers Y-NEEW has Provided community education; conducted awareness training, distributed pamphlets, written wall journal. Facilitated group formation; identified herbal collectors, brought them together, sub-grouped them as herbal collectors and valued adders. The group formation also included induction training i.e. training them in home remedies, collecting, storing and marketing. Training them in dosages and awareness on home herbal garden and emergency use. Established one such model in each village and Y-NEEW raises nurseries in its office campus. Standardized herbal formulae - combinations of herbs for different common illness, altogether Y-NEEW have standardized 15 herbal combinations. Also Y-NEEW has common production centre in the office with basic instruments, and this helps in the maintenance of quality of medicine. Initiated income generation from herbal products - making various productions through 3 outlets and participate in the exhibitions cum sale events. Invested Rs. 93.000 and out of this 43.000 is invested in the raw materials such as herbs, labels, bottles etc. The whole transaction is done under a registered cottage industry. As of now the economics of the cottage industry is “no profit or loss”. The cottage industry requires getting Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificate and at the moment.

3.4.4. Relevance, Effectiveness and Impact:
Y-NEEW has got altogether 7350 Euros from Siemenpuu during the period 2006-2009. As indicated by the ATM and the founder of Y-NEEW elsewhere in the report, it is too early to assess the impact of Siemenpuu’s cooperation with Y-NEEW, however, the project and the activities of Siemenpuu’s one-year cooperation with Y-NEEW has been relevant and very effective. Worked with the dalit women herbal collectors and getting into the products of herbal was with the support of SF and this gave space for Y-NEEW to concretize its plan on the ground. Helped to make greater impact in herbal collection, professionalism in collection / process and systematic functioning. The cooperation has improved the presentation of the work or plans of Y-NEEW. Given additional value to the herbal collectors and producers. The partnership has also sparked other ideas like the greater plan for initiating a ‘company’. Y-NEEW has become “earth friendly” and there are many concrete expressions to prove the statement - totally banning flex boards, encouraging wall writing / wall journals etc Initiated and strengthened linkages with TNCT, SF, SAM, Gandhigram and Arvind & Nagarjuna Herbal pharmaceuticals The project was convincing and could see the impact progress indicators in the project of Siemenpuu’s cooperation. Working with children and youth is added value to the project and offer support system to the strength of the herbal project. It provides a discussion point among the family members – women, youth and children. The participation of community is good and there is ownership from the people. Traditionally the dalits are the healers and making them visible is important, and the project has been trying in 2 villages. It should be perceived as a struggle against ‘globalization’ and it should be projected and disseminated outside and it will be politically relevant. The future plan should also have this dimension though there is a plan to cover both dalits and non-dalits in herbal collectors & producers. Present work with herbal collectors etc and the partnership with SF have been effective.

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3.4.5. Project & Process Management:
Y-NEEW has established its own office and campus in Dindigul with sufficient space for different experiments or herbal farm. They also have equipped themselves with necessary office equipments and machinery. The total staff of Y-NEEW is about 7 full timers and 3 on other arrangements; Director (on maternity leave) – 1, Cluster coordinator 2, Project coordinator - 1, Secretary – 1, Office Sec cum sewing teacher – 1 and Farm Manager - 1. Other than this, the non-staff (farm assistants) category is – 2 and 1 marketing person (on commission basis). SF partnership and project support only 2 staff members. Y-NEEW has working area in 160 villages from Dindigul district with few staff members i.e. 6 program staff. All the villages have the 4 categories of working group – farmers, women, children and youth. The staff have regular schedule of days, weekly, monthly and half yearly. They have to cover all the villages based on the need basis. The weekly meeting is the review of the work. It is reported that they were able to maintain the work with fewer staff members because there is no closer hand-holding. Diraviaraj, the founder of YNEEW is the face of the organization and he plays lead role in directing and supervising the implementation. Diraviaraj was working as Young Scientist / Young Professional with CAPART and has still active linkages.

3.4.6. Learning and Cooperation:
Is there any scope of protecting the endangered herbal species?, a study undertaken by Y-NEEW reveals that the herbal plants / species have come down i.e. from 82 to 60 and Y-NEEW plans to have herbal farm to protect the species. Why earlier failures by other NGOs? As per Y-NEEW’s experience and learning, there was more focus on socialization and was no business focus. But the business aspect has to be activated and focused. Require identifying herbal habitats / collectors, organizing and networking, up-scaling and making a company and make it as business. Y-NEEW is clear and is confident to see this success from 10 years from now. It is also perceived by Y-NEEW that the issue of globalization – GM seeds on one side, every aspect of our life is globalized and it will be countered with people centred, company with the demand for alternative like the demand for organic agriculture products. It is anticipated that a company for collecting and marketing herbs and herbal medicines will be formed and constituted by Y-NEEW and people leaders from the associations Sanjeevi for farmers, Self help for women, Ilaya Bharatham for youth and Bharathi for children. An organizational sustainability effort through milk cows is being tried out. So far there has been no problem for Y-NEEW to pay back the bank loan for 22 cows. This experience has helped and decided to replicate with the target dalit families with a grant from Sweden and Y-NEEW is confident that they will make it success. It is for livelihood for dalit women from 8 villages promoting cow-centric economic among dalit women. By the end of 3 years Y-NEEW aims for 8 villages with minimum 75 cows. Secondly, as part of this project Y-NEEW plans to have bio-gas and supply to the villagers, and already there is a bio-gas unit in the campus of Y-NEEW and they seem to have got some experience. Y-NEEW has had some experience and plan to implement yet another idea. Y-NEEW has established mud block with the support of CAPART and it has been a model for cost effective, with no burning of the block and use of fuel wood. Y-NEEW is planning to replicate and implement in 2 panchayats. The objective is to disseminate the technology as cost effective. 39 | 101

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Another idea which is in the pipeline is the effective transfer of alternative technology for employment / livelihood: thatched roof making, rope making with CAPART’s support. There are too many plans / ideas are in the pipe line and there are too many experiments going to be done by Y-NEEW in 2009 at one go or at the same time. How feasible is it going to be, is a question. Y-NEEW has to be cautious and ensure successful trials.

3.4.7. Findings and Analysis:
The specific project partnership has turn out to be good and it is too short a period to see the impact or changes. The herbal collectors have got the value addition in the collection besides the valued addition in the production. The sustainability of the project is high and the small money of SF has helped significantly. Diraviaraj, the founder is a thinker, learner and visionary. He is clear in his conviction, plan and articulates well. Diraviaraj is the face of Y-NEEW and the organization has taken on many challenges. There is professionalism – one man at the helm with clarity and there are efforts to also bring other staff members on board. It has to be appreciated that Y-NEEW has undertaken wide range of activities but connected to one another. They have been able to do so much with limited number of staff members with limited funds. The support and cooperation of SF with Y-NEEW has made significant difference to the NGO and the target herbal collectors and the 2 village dalit community. Support of SF helped to take up the activities, enhanced staff capacity, accounting and management system with the material and guidance provided by SF. The support and cooperation has helped in the value addition to the products and that increased the product value to additional 30%. Brought changes in the collection and storing of herbals in more hygienic manner. Y-NEEW has standardized the formulas. Y-NEEW plans to scale it up to wider geographical areas from the present 2 to 5 villages, and there could be also possibility to spread this to the total working area of Y-NEEW in Dindigul district i.e. 140 villages. Y-NEEW has already identified 112 villages where people are involved in herbal collectors and they are both and dalits and non-dalits.nIt is reported that the next phase will have the coverage of economic poverty. The expansion will have around 60 dalit villages. Y-NEEW is consciously doing to go beyond branding of dalit herbal but focus on ‘herbal habitats’. Y-NEEW has to eliminate certain words in the project title such as ‘dalits’ and ‘alternative’ as this could go against its ultimate aim. The project will have to take an opportunity to bring both dalits and non-dalit herbal habitats. There will be conscious efforts to give dalits the leadership and Y-NEEW seems to be confidence from its earlier experience. Recommendations: It is good idea to make the federations of CBOs into one and to make the CBOs into business collectives (‘people-centred approach’) with the aim to bring fair-trade and equitable resource management. It is important that Y-NEEW consciously works on the people-centred and not to turn out to be a “buyer and seller of herbs”. SF-TNCT could cooperate in the future to disseminate the learning of Y-NEEW at the wider level and at this point it is limited. Y-NEEW has the capacity to document systematically. “Business” thrust of NGOs needs to be analyzed and studied more from the experience on sustainability, social, possible growth of inequality between different sections, culture of NGOs, capacity etc. There is unresolved question whether NGO should be promoting business? However, Y-NEEW is confident that their plan for people-centred herbal business is an outcome 40 | 101

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of 7 years of experience in community trade and 2 years of experience in herbal processing and herbal economy. They would like to take the learning further with legal registration under TIN, CST and Licensing. On the whole, the purpose is to make business a reachable commodity for the grassroots community. There are good examples among the SF partners of livelihood support that sustains the efforts of strengthening the indigenous people’s culture. It all depends on the energy of Y-NEEW and how will they make the business succeed in herbal production. For wider dissemination; an article of this experience with herbal collectors can be in the NorthSouth booklet, and Y-NEEW has to take conscious efforts to link with other networks, organizations and institutions as well. SF support has been relevant and timely. Y-NEEW now on should work out a 5-year plan and approach other resource agencies for support. It should be possible. There may be possibility of more support and appreciation but Y-NEEW should not be carried away by that, and it should not turn out to be one of bureaucratic set-ups. Herbal collectors are already approaching old age (all are 40 years and above) and the children are not motivated to give continuity. There has to be efforts to keep the continuity. Y-NEEW seems to have observed this right from the beginning and something has to be done for continuity in the practice. One way is also to encourage backyard garden. Already the families have the habit of having kitchen garden or multiple trees etc. However, herbal has to be natural habitat and cultivation in lands with manures etc will have less effective and it has to be taken care. It would be a need of the hour to initiate and activate network of Herbal Health and Economy.

3.5. Tribal Association for Fifth Schedule Campaign (TAFSC):
TAFSC is a consortium (Network) of 36 voluntary action groups working among Tribal communities in Tamil Nadu. Village Reconstruction and Development Project (VRDP) is the convening organisation and legal body of the network under the leadership of Mr.Renganathan. VRDP has its head administrative and operational office in Salem, Tamil Nadu.

3.5.1. Special context and Geographical Area:
The proposed project intends to cover 17 districts of Tamil Nadu and support its 25 NGO member organizations and grassroots tribal associations covering about 250 tribal villages spread over the 17 districts in the state. It is estimated that the project will cover 25% out of the 6.53 lakhs tribal population in the whole of Tamil Nadu state. The adivasis population in TN is 0.65 million as per 2001 Census of India but it is estimated that the adivasis population is more than 1 million. The adivasis in Tamil Nadu are scattered over 17 districts both in hills and plains. While the issues of “self governance” and rights over forest as enshrined in the “Forest Rights Act 2006” as the macro issues there are other specific / micro issues such as culture alienation, lack of basic amenities (health, communication, medicine etc), atrocities on tribal’s, land alienation & non implementation of different govt schemes like non issue of patta to revenue lands in the hill areas, non implementation of 2-acre land scheme, education (single teacher schools, no proper infrastructure), development of tourism, hydro power projects etc.

3.5.2. Major Objectives:
The overall objective of TAFSC is to strive and empower tribal communities through awareness generation and organization building and enable them understand their socio-economic-culturalpolitical situation critically and analytically and act upon them to bring about desired changes in their 41 | 101

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communities and keep them sustainable, self reliant and self governing. It is in effect “Tribal Self Rule under 5th Schedule”. The title of the cooperation project with SF is “Bottom-up empowerment of the tribal communities in Tamil Nadu for demand and implementation of provisions under 5th Schedule for Tribal Self Rule and Self Governance” (Panchayat extension Act 1996 in TN). The cooperation period is from 01/11/2006 to 30/6/2008. The specific objectives of the Project are: (a) to identify committed Tribal associations/ people’s organizations and give orientation to them in support of 5th schedule campaign in 15 districts of Tamil Nadu where tribal people are living in good numbers. (b) To capacitate the tribal leaders / representatives in the activities of campaign and lobby, (c) to conduct seminars / workshops / conferences to enlighten the public and opinion makers to become a supportive force in the campaign, (d) to motivate the tribal communities to adopt and implement the privileges enshrined in the constitution, (e) To prepare a campaign team and undertake campaign activities with relevant policy makers / government authorities, and (f) to publish and disseminate information related to tribal policies and programs.

3.5.3. Major Activities:
The major activities under taken in 2007 under the project: Conducted and organized national and state seminars on land rights or forest rights act; agitations for implementation of existing provisions; capacity building for TAFSC members; yatra for land rights under Forest Act 2006 with the participation of about 1200 adivasis leaders covering 1500 villages with a population of 150,000; state & district level workshop on land rights for tribal leaders; state level workshop for the elected tribal panchayat presidents explaining the roles & responsibility of panchayat members/leaders; and organized visit from National ST Commission on special issues like Suriyur. The major activities in 2008 were: Dissemination of Land Rights Act 2006 – more specifically the Claim petition; district level seminar on land rights for 150 members; organized a dialogue over land rights act with environmental conservationists wherein environmental groups, advocates and tribal leaders participated; distributed (1000 copies) Tamil version of forest rights act 2006 and government notification; organized state level agitation to call back the stay on Forest right Act 2006 wherein 1130 tribal members from TN participated; organized public meeting for the implementation of FRA wherein 1000 members attended; and continued the lobby and advocacy with MLAs and state Ministers. Besides collectively opposed the mining plan of the government in the hilly region and organized demonstration supported by other children as well in Salem district in support of adivasis. Protested against the alienation of forest land to the Zindal Company for iron mining and involved in the enrolment of tribal into Tribal Welfare Board.

3.5.4. Relevance, Effectiveness & Impact:
TAFSC has got from Siemenpuu altogether 48 774 Euros for its projects during the period 2006-2009. The following is an account of individual benefits obtained through the NGO members / partners with the support of TAFSC and the cooperation of SF. The NGO partners of TAFSC have already been in existence working for the causes of tribals and their livelihoods. • Land: Identified and processed claim petitions from 6040 tribal households for 11,182 acres under Forest Claim act. Secondly, the other type of land is purampokku land petitions processed for 1815 households for 3152 acres. Other 2077 landless households claimed land for land under 2-acre land. Govt schemes mobilized were: Old Age Pension (OAP) – 490 got benefits out of 1063 who claimed for the benefit, community certificate – 4246 obtained out of 6463 claims, family cards / ration cards – 403 households obtained out of 627 who claimed, voters cards – 403 households 42 | 101



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obtained out of 1386 who claimed, house titles – 513 got out of 1377 who claimed, MADA (Modified Area Dev Approach) – 257 got out of 847 who claimed, ST welfare board members – 2257 became members out of 48775 who applied, bank loans – Rs.7.7 million mobilized for 591 households, and other benefits for handicapped, pregnant women, children, last rites etc Relevance and progress towards V Schedule & Implementation of FRA 2006: • Strengthened the Tribal Resource Centre and review of the NGO members of the Network. • TAFSC is conscious that most of the influential sections like politicians, corporate, miners, etc have vested interests but not interested in preserving the forests or protecting the forest people. Such vested interests have prevented TN State from including the forest region into V Schedule, which would benefit the tribals immensely. It has been a political issue. It is in this context TAFSC was born to bring V Schedule. • TAFSC is a NGO forum and the focus is on the issue of adivasis. TAFSC believe that adivasis have to take the leading role and hence the parallel organization called Tamil Nadu Adivasi Amaipukali Koottamaipu (TAAK) which is an organization of the tribals is formed. Both TAFSC and TAAK function in parallel and the planning, reviewing etc is done in close cooperation. Whatever TAAK decides TAFSC takes it in its fold. It gives a special strength of sustainability to the activities of TAFSC. • TAFSC took the initiative to form South Asia Adivasi Front (SAAF), however due to financial constrain the SAAF could not sustain too long. In this gap, NAA takes a role in the South. • What TAFSC has taken up is a long-term objective and there is necessity to take the efforts collectively further at the local, state and national levels. • TAFSC has taken the issue of national attention, is able to understand the intensity of the issue at the national level, exchanges / disseminates the issues of adivasis, conducted statistics of different land categories, ownership held, etc. • The adivasis at the grassroots were given opportunities to understand the issues and to become aware of the different legal provisions and the scope for them to raise their voices. • Adivasis have been able to get land rights at a bigger level as it is stated above in the statistics • Adivasis have been able to protest and resist the harassment of the forest department. • TAFSC’s continued efforts and involvement through rally and filing / contesting cases in High Court has stopped the eviction of tribals from their land in Kodaikanal, Valparai and Jawathu hills. • The progress is to the extent that the government has agreed that the adivasis have the rights over the forest through the FRA. The different benefits obtained so far, government’s acceptance of the ‘rights issue’ and continued efforts have created confidence in the movement. The 2000 community certificates in one district (Vellore) have given great base for the people to ascertain their accessibility to education, welfare benefits from the government. • The adivasis have come up confidently and contested panchayat elections and become members & presidents. • TAFSC is considered a leading network / movement in taking the demand for V Schedule and implementation of FRA 2006.

Added Value of TAFSC:
• • • • • Provided timely advises and guidance. Has been able to link NGOs, CBOs, and other activists, bring in the issues of different groups of adivasis and take their / agenda demand further. TAFSC provides a platform for bringing CBOs, NGOs, and activists together from different levels – district, state & national, and raising collective voices. TAFSC also provided different practical skills and capacities to strengthen the individuals and take the collective demand further. TAFSC is a recognized as a representative body of adivasis by the government. 43 | 101

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• • •



TAFSC has given platform for individual adivasis, small NGOs and localized networks to learn and voice their concerns in a wider platform. TAFSC has been a protective body when adivasis are harassed by forest or police officials TAFSC is not only a campaign body for self-rule but also helps the adivasis to practice selfrule at the grassroots by exercising their rights; in many adivasi villages they have their own flags, tax collections, bureaucrats / police have to go through the gramasabhas etc. The training of TAFSC has been useful to upgrade the skills and capacity of NGO staff. The seminars, conferences and workshops have been helpful to get insights into the issues of adivasis.

3.5.6. Project & Process Management:
As indicated above, VRDP is the legal body for the adivasi network TAFSC and VRDP has its administration and operational base in Salem town. VRDP as a NGO has its other programs & projects supported by other resources organizations. They have long standing commitment and work among the tribals . Mr. Renganathan, the director of VRDP is the convenor of TAFSC and the activities of TAFSC are planned, implemented and monitored through different committees. The following are the major components related to project and process management. • TAFSC is a network with informal structure but believes in the principle of democracy and transparency. Helps in promoting in collective ownership of NGOs and through TAAK ensures that the adivasis have ownership over the movement. • TAFSC and TAAK plan collectively for the TAFSC as indicated elsewhere in the report. • TAFSC has a Core Team and they are convenors of the 4 committees and there is also a central convenor. The 4 committees are (a) documentation committee, (b) advocacy & lobby committee, (c) training committee and (d) monitoring committee. • The functions of the committees are o Documentation Committee as the name denotes gets involved in video documentation, compiling paper clippings, documenting different cultural aspects in VCD, recording human rights violations and different occupation skills). Also documenting the regular reports of the different member NGOs; network members’ reports are sent to TAFSC headquarter regularly. o Advocacy & Lobby Committee organizes meeting with officials, meets officials, policy makers etc. o Training Committee takes responsibility for formulating posters, training panchayat members / leaders, providing information on the availability of different govt schemes, etc. The committee facilitates training with the help of resource persons outside the network as well. o Monitoring Committee involves in the ongoing checking / monitoring the activities of the NGO members and guiding wherever necessary. • The network members focus at the level of field actions. But the TAFSC is informed regularly of their ground actions. • TAFSC organizes quarterly meeting wherein the project activities are reviewed and planned for the next quarter or half yearly. All the TAFSC members and TAAK members participate in the meeting. The fund allocation for activities and the nature of activities are planned in these meetings.

3.5.7. Learning and Cooperation:
When issue of land is taken up in one area / village and the struggle can be strengthened with the support of the other groups from other villages. The annual cultural festival of adivasis has been a learning process and has been affirming their traditional folks, arts, music etc. 25 ethnic tribal group from different districts of Tamil Nadu participated in the cultural festival of 2008. 44 | 101

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• •





Provided links with wider forms and information on different issues. TAFSC has been a resource centre for not only its network members but also to other networks, NGOs, activists. TAFSC is in support of the ongoing demand to include several sections of adivasis (Malayalies, Lambadis, Kuruvukarar and Pulaiyar) into the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the government in order that they become eligible for many government schemes and benefits. However, TAFSC is careful not to include any communities into the list like TAFSC opposes the move of the community called Padukas to include in the ST list. Dalits who live in the forest also enjoys the forest rights but they are in the Scheduled Caste (SC) list of the government. There was apprehension whether there is any dispute between dalits and adivasis? Does the dalits participate in the collective struggle of adivasis? In most hill areas the dalits are minorities and there is no scope for dispute. The problem of dalits who object to the total rights to adivasis through Forest Rights Act (FRA) is in Kodaikanal & Cudalore areas where the dalit population is more though it is not a major issue. TAFSC recognizes the dalits rights as well and demand for amendment in the FRA. There was a concern as to why there was no collaboration in organizing annual of tribal cultural festival like there were two events in 2008; one organized by TAFSC and the other one was by CAFAT. On the other hand, few also felt that why it has to be always in one platform as far as there is sharing and mutual learning at different other levels. What was felt important was that it is good as far as there was no feeling of ‘competition’ but was ‘complementing’ one another to strengthen the adivasi movement towards the ultimate goal.

3.5.8. Findings & Analysis and Recommendation:
• Very extensive and impressive activities over the period of 2 years with the support of Siemenpuu in information dissemination, agitation and submission of demands to the govt. It has been done at different levels; local, district, state and national, more at the state level. Secondly, TAFSC has networked with NGOs, community leaders, panchayat leaders, other networks from other states & national level effectively. The financial support SF for TAFSC is limited but the commitment of the network and its NGO members has led the network to undertaken extensive activities and has been taken up movement further ahead. The movement is committed enough to continue even without the support of Siemenpuu. But certainly a continued support from Siemenpuu will enable TAFSC to move ahead with its agenda further in the future. The activities have been slow in the past year due to less financial support and the support to personnel is only on minimum and ‘survival basis’. The activities undertaken and process facilitated during 2008 evidenced without doubts that TAFSC had the focus and importance given on the FRA 2006 for reasons that the demand for proper implementation of FRA 2006 seems closer and feasible than the struggle for inclusion of the tribal in TN under V Schedule. TAFSC kept the collective demand for the implementation FRA 2006 and V Schedule alive and vibrant. They realize it is a long term objective and in the process the immediate needs of people have had to be met, and accordingly through their network members mobilized significant material benefits as reported under the above section “impact”. Facilitated focussed group discussions with the tribal communities (men & women) from Osapalayam and Attanai villages in Kadapur Block. These villages are under the animation of CEED-Sathyamangalam a NGO member of the network TAFSC. Orali and Malayali tribal communities and most of them do not own land especially the Orali tribals, no easy access to health care etc. But they have a long way to reach the destiny of obtaining their rights and welfare.











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Both the villages have been very recently hoisted with the tribal flag symbolizing that they are members of TAAK / TAFSC and believe “self rule & self governance” (control over forest and the produce) as prescribed under the V Schedule. Many of the tribal members / leaders both men and women were participants in the annual adivasi cultural festival, district or state collective events of conference, demonstrations, rallies organized by TAFSC / TAAK demanding implementation of FRA 2006 & inclusion of V Schedule. They are engaged with savings and thrifts, linked with commercial banks for credit and they are engaged / linked with Village Forest Service (VFS) a recognized body which acts as mediator for the forest produces collected by the tribal. The tribal communities less harassment from the forest officials and they are aware the basic features of their rights prescribed in the FRA 2006 and they are interested in being members of TAAK. However, the tribal’s enthusiasm and interests may have to be activated further. There has not been any visible cooperation and collaboration between the three networks namely TAFSC / TAAK, CAFAT and NAA which are within the cooperation of Siemenpuu. Siemenpuu has to play a role in bringing the linkages since they were not able to come together. NAA as a national body has a role to play and similarly TAFSC has a status & recognition in Tamil Nadu and has a role to play.



3.6. LEISA-Erode Network:
LEISA-Erode is a district network of LEISA which has its network members in Erode district. Jeeva Jothi (JJ) is the lead and convenor NGO of the network. Mr. Perianayagasamy is the founder of JJ and District Convenor of the LEISA Erode network. The first project by LEISA-Erode funded by SF was convened by another NGO called WORD.

3.6.1. Context and Geographical Area:
The key problems in the villages (a) are increasing pest and diseases and high external dependency for agriculture, (b) lack of soil moisture and depletion of soil health, depletion of Natural Resources and deterioration of agro bio diversity, large-scale migration and threats of GMO. The network covers 16 villages of the 8 NGOs in Erode district and the target communities are the resource poor farmers and women.

3.6.2. Major Objectives:
The first project in cooperation with SF was titled “empowerment of dry land farming communities through sustainable agriculture alternatives” during the year April 2004- March 2005. The ongoing project is titled “creation of pesticide free bio villages” and it is a network project consisting of 8 NGOs. Besides Jeeva Jothi, the lead NGO, the other members are CEED, NEW ERA, SERSA, WORD, HILLS, EWD & NAMMALVAR TRUST. The major objectives of the project are (a) to reduce the dependency on external inputs in agriculture, (b) to establish pesticide free bio villages and (c) to establish self supportive sustainable agriculture systems and to create models.

3.6.3. Major Activities:
The major activities of Erode LEISA are (a) organising capacity building programs on preparation methods of Vermi-compost, Herbal pest repellent, Panchakaviya, Amirtha Karisal and other bio 46 | 101

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manures, (b) establishment of seed banks, grain banks and organic inputs shops at the project villages, and training on nursery raising, tree plantation and increasing water table, (c) facilitating participatory farmers field experiments, (d) facilitating participatory learning processes such as ToT, FFS, Exposure visits etc., and (e) campaign against GMO and policies affective farming communities (Seed Act, Bio diversity act etc.,)

3.6.4. Relevance, Effectiveness & Impact:
LEISA Erode/ Jeeva Jothi has got from Siemenpuu altogether 37 045 Euros for its projects during the period 2006-2009. The following are the relevance, effectives and the indicators for the impact at the field level. The progress towards achieving the stated objectives of the project is very much on line. • Got encouraged to continue the work of LEISA, trainers team evolved, succeeded in lot of innovations, etc • 10% yield increase, 30% reduction in fertilizers input, created interest in the SRI methods, 30% farmers shifted over to organic farming • More number of farmers involved in vermi-compost production; more collective actions among farmers on common pond de-silting etc. • 145 farmers practiced 6 different types of LEISA technologies and controlled the pest and diseases in 207 acres, and the organic pesticide used were herbal pest repellent mixture, bird perches, intercrop, border crop, neem cake. • There was reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers and more specifically about 553 farmers practiced 11 different types of LEISA technologies like summer ploughing, compost, vermin compost, bio fertilizer etc to improve the soil health in 507 acres. It is estimated the reduction of 30% chemical fertilizers in the land. • The farmers benefitted with water conversation techniques and about 108 farmers practiced 6 different types of LEISA technologies (drying, wetting, mulching, drainage canal clearing, percolation ponds, check dams and par formation to conserve the water in 123 acres. • In another case, the farmers shifted to SRI method of paddy cultivation and about 72 farmers practiced System of Rice Intensification methods in 84 acres. This has reduced their seed, water and other agronomical practices. • 5 model farmers (completely converted in to organic methods) have emerged in the process from the project activities and they act as opinion makers in each of the 8 project villages. • Farmers’ collective actions brought changes from fallow lands to cultivable lands and increase of water table in wells. Increased cultivation of inter-crops. • The change or shift has rather been easy even in the context of aggressive marketing of agro industries but the change has been slow and gradual. • Erode-LEISA has been able to create trainers team at the district level and networked with different organizations like SAGE, IOAM, JASuL and TNEC. • The strategies adopted by Erode-LEISA are very relevant; participatory planning exercises at the project villages with the communities for rapport building and identification of issues, organization of SHGs and social mobilization, farmers field experimentation and exposures and demonstration of sustainable agriculture technologies and exposure visit to organic farms.. The strategy also included the periodical review and evaluation process which was very much part of the project.

3.6.5. Project & Process Management:
Erode LEISA is an informal structure and it is led by District Convenor and is supported by full time District Coordinator in coordinating the activities with the 8 member NGOs and Farmers Societies at the village level in collaboration with the member NGOs.

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The District Coordinator plays key role in providing on-site inputs or transformation of information or knowledge to the member NGOs or the farmers’ societies or individual farmers. The coordinator also plays the role of monitoring the activities promoted by the network with the NGO partners. The convenor, coordinator, NGO members and the representatives of farmers’ associations play role in planning and reviewing the network activities periodically.

3.6.6. Learning and Cooperation:
From the point of farmers – what difference the achievement of LEISA has made to the farmers? First the farmers did not believe in the practice of SRI for paddy cultivation. They experimented and all did not succeed too in the first attempt. But some farmers continued and in one case of 3 acres Mr. Murugesan, a farmer from Pallipalayam, Namakal district succeeded. Murugesan narrated that the economics of earlier method of paddy cultivation used to be breaking even or loss. But for SRI there was less labour input, less input on pesticides since it was bio-pesticide, etc. Finally, he got a gain of Rs.8000 per acre compared to the loss every year. Many farmers around are interesting in learning from his experience and many more will be following in the forthcoming season. Murugesan has also become expert in giving training to other farmers. According to Murugesan the neighbours now provide less water for paddy cultivation after seeing his experiment and success. The farmers also have realized if you put vermin compost there will be less weeds. To control the rat, the local organic method is formed and controlled. The sangam has also started shop for organic methods inputs like organic manure or pesticide. In the future, according to Murugesan, from his village 20 farmers have decided to continue the SRI methods and organic and they have a farmers sangam called Sakthi Vinayakar Organic Sangam. In another case, Mr. Sivalingam had a success with organic manure and pesticide and he has found it be effective on pest control, yield, water consumption and sustainability of soil fertility. He is now familiar with the methods to prepare different organic pesticides. He has made this organic experimentation with his banana plantation and gingili crop. It is his recent experimentation and in his villages there are about 10 farmers are gradually getting converted / transformed. The challenges in the process have been very important to the future interventions and the major difficulties or challenges have been (a) breaking through the farmers and convincing them to believe in organic farming techniques, (b) fulfilling the immediate expectation of the farmers for better yields / results, (c) threats from politically backed up officials when approached for subsidies to schemes like SRI, and attempts of muscle power mafias or religious fundamentalism to disintegrate the groups. The other learning and difficulties were in the collection of cow urine and azolla cultivation, transferring the knowledge on organic techniques into application in the field. How govt will respond when the changes take place at the ground level to organic farming? Will there be indirect force or temptation from the govt? The role of the government has to be looked to this question. There are also scientists recommend for organic farming, on the one hand, as the mood of the people is changing. On the other hand, they cannot say no to corporate like Monsanto. The govt is playing double role. Therefore the approach has to be simultaneously both at the grassroots and policy level.

3.6.7. Findings & Analysis and Recommendation:
• The up-scaling of the successes in the 18 villages to a wider scale would be relevant and the ways to go about. This requires continued commitment from the network partners and enhanced and sustained (minimum for a period 5 years) financial support from the cooperation of Siemenpuu. This need is found to be applicable to all the cooperation partners of Siemenpuu in the TN Program. 48 | 101

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Though LEISA-Erode has developed linkages with other likeminded networks like TNEC, JASul, SAGE but the outcome has been insignificant. There was no visibility of macro level campaigning, networking and advocacy for favourable policy changes for alternate forms of cultivation and organic farming. Need to pressurize the state for democratizing agriculture research, subsidy for organic farming and maximum support price for organic produces. The project or the cooperation with SF has not facilitated bringing out the different experiments and related documentation for dissemination at a wider level beyond the district. The usage of electronic media which is the in-thing for wider dissemination and communication has been absent. With the wealth of experiments that are going on with the organic farming can very well worth to have a website for effective dissemination. It may be good to have demo plots, video documentation of the process of preparation and posters to support the dissemination. Organizing and marketing the organic produces for a better price is important and that will further encourage the farmers to follow organic farming. At ground level there is change towards organic farming, but how far the policy changes are happening and what the network is doing or has achieved for that? The policy makers have very little understanding like on GM seeds etc. The TN policy makers take very little interest in changing the status quo though certain ministers are in favour. To influence policy changes it is difficult and takes time. However, it may be good in the future to come out with specific alternate agriculture policies. There is a move of different agriculture and environment groups to oppose the government policies and agriculture colleges / universities who promote GMS. It has to be taken up at macro level and network like LEISA has to join hands. The LEISA state unit is reported to have played role in campaigning but has not gone too far. The farmers’ federation has also put up demand that the subsidy should be given to the farmers instead of to the fertilizers industries. At another level, the rapid changes at the farmers’ level and at the village level can force the policy makers to come to alternate agriculture policies. Hence, the intervention and change at the grassroots level are equally or more crucial than work at the macro level changes.

3.7. LEISA-Dindigul Network:
The state network of LEISA has been functioning more than a decade at the TN State level. There was restructuring and decentralization of state network into district ones two years before and LEISADindigul is the decentralized district level network and it mobilizes its own resources. At the central level the LEISA works on advocacy & lobby. LEISA Dindigul is a district network of LEISA which has members / partner NGOs in Dindigul district. They are: REAL, CEDA, Y-NEEW, POPE, ACT, CIRHEP, SIMCODESS, REDA, RASI & RWO. REAL is the lead and convenor NGO of the network. Mr. Peter is the director of REAL and Convenor / Coordinator of the Dindigul LEISA network.

3.7.1. Context and Geographical Area:
The key problems identified from the local context and being addressed by the project are (a) mechanization of Agriculture leading to loss of employment, (b) unemployment forcing to migration, (c) lack of marketing facilities with fair price, (d) lack of control over seeds, (e) increase of fallow lands and the process of desertification, (f) the 10 blocks of Northern Dindigul district the situation of water shortage and environment is critical, and (f) threat to the livelihood sources of the small and marginal farmers.

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The project partnership of Siemenpuu with Dindigul LEISA Network began from April 2005. The present phase (Phase II) of partnership is from Nov 2006 to January 2009 and the title of the project is “Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture to Ensure Food Security of the Marginalized People”. The LEISA Network in Dindigul has its geographical coverage of 15 villages from 10 Blocks in Dindigul district. They have a collective of 290 small and marginal farmers but in total they cover 206 are organic farmers and 142 are agro-forestry farmers.

3.7.2. Major Objectives:
The major objectives are (a) to ensure food security for the marginalized farmers by promoting alternative land use system and sustainable agriculture, (b) to combat land desertification process by introducing the participatory management of the alternative interventions including agro-forestry and marketing means, and (c) to establish viable LEISA model farming in 200 acres of land belonging to 200 farmers with the possibility of replication in similar climatic zones

3.7.3. Major Activities:
The major activities of Dindigul LEISA are categorized into five: (i) Promotion of organic farming, (ii) alternative land use (agro forestry), (iii) capacity building, (iv) campaign and advocacy, and (v) promotion of marketing facilities. In other words, the activities at the ground level are promotion of traditional seeds, training farmers, supporting to prepare organic farming etc and the culmination is organic shop. The second set of activities is sustainable agriculture – agro models with dry land farming and thereby preventing the alienation of the land to the multi nationals. It also involves cultivation of fallow land; in each block about 20 acres of land is identified and promoted. The third set of activities is campaign for water resource, subsidies for organic farming etc. The major ground level activities implemented were: Completed 197 acres of land with soil and water conservation, about 600 tons of compost was prepared and applied by 206 farmers, 100 tons of vermicompost was prepared and applied by 45 farmers, about 120 tons of green leaf manure was collected and applied to the soil of 31 farmers, prepared 502 litres of bio pesticide and applied by 110 farmers (herbal pesticide, pancha kavia, palakavia, EM solution, egg fermentation solution, fish amino acid). Traditionally collected 9000 kg of seeds were distributed for cultivation and an estimated around 11000 kg of the seeds were obtained back from the farmers every year. 9798 pits were dug for the fruit seedlings in fallow / dry land, and 10763 fruit seedlings were planted (mango, sappotta, tamarind, amla, cashew nut). Out of which 7387 plants were pot irrigated, 10000 seedlings were of drought tolerant. The multipurpose trees of Neem, Siris, Glyricidia, and Sesban planted in agro forestry area and they were planted along the bunds of experimental fields. The concept and techniques of agro forestry inculcated to farmers and staff. Farmer's capacity training was conducted through Farmers Field School on sustainable rice and vegetable cultivation practices. Technical orientation on IPM relating to paddy and vegetables and organic/ sustainable agriculture was conducted as well to the farmers. Campaign and Advocacy: 1223 participated in awareness and Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS), brought together 835 farmers in national farmers awakening conference against spread of GMO seeds, 2325 school students were given awareness and education on sustainable agriculture, post card signature campaign against the use of genetically modified seeds and alternative model book.

3.7.4. Relevance, Effectiveness and Impact:
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period 2006-2009. The highlights of the impact were converting 290 farmers into organic and agro-forest farmers, and an estimate of 13 tons traditional seeds are transacted. 112 farmers have replicated organic farming. Agro model: 206 acres of fallow dry land is brought into cultivation under agro model and around 20,000 seedlings are planted, and thereby increased the value of the land. Other farmers are trying to follow it up in their own lands. The support of Siemenpuu helped in scaling up the long period experiments in organic farming and helped in entering into marketing though it was still at the infant stage. Further the cooperation has helped with the “alternative land use” and the farmers have gained confidence and skills to cultivate dry land. 206 farmers undertook organic and sustainable agriculture practices; increased soil moisture storage from the initial of 4,5% to 18,5%; realization of average additional income of Rs. 6811 per acre per farmer, enhanced food security for 136 days per year and a total income of Rs. 2759440 for 206 farmers. 205 acres of unproductive lands brought under productive use. Agro forestry has prevented displacement of farming community. The land has created sustainable and enhanced income and the land value has increased. Enhanced the use of organic manure, pesticides and the farmers have become trainers of training. Students and farmers have become aware of organic and sustainable agriculture. The farmers’ conversion into organic farming has been gradual but sturdy and sustainable; the farmers’ sangams endorsing the organic farming has increased or doubled in two years. The farmers are very enthusiastic about the change and committed to disseminate what they have learnt widely. The contribution and support of SF has been the major source to the achievements of LEISA Dindigul network from 2005 i.e. subsequent to the decentralization of the state network. The farmers’ contribution has to be recognized and it has been crucial contribution to the achievements in the 15 villages. SF has also helped in expanding and rooting the different experimentations held in the earlier period. The decentralized Dindigul-LEISA also took on the focus on agro-forestry subsequent to the decentralized set up. The network realizes that though the money support was important the real power was knowledge, skills, understanding and the belief of farmers. Without this there will be no success. It is very positive the farmers within a village meet regularly (fortnightly) besides they meet regularly as a cluster of say 10 villages. Secondly, the farmers have become ‘trainers’ and it is good and relevant.

3.7.5. Project & Process Management
The Dindigul LEISA network is organized into a structure of District Level Organizing Committee (DLO) and REAL is the Lead NGO and Coordinator. The network members are partner NGOs and Field Staff. The partner NGOs have organized and have access to 15 village level sangams wherein 290 small and marginal farmers are members. LEISA-Dindigul emphasizes and follows that the projects are implemented through the participatory method of constant consultation with village committees and CBOs. Beneficiaries were brought under 51 | 101

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a network or federation for collective approach and sharing. LEISA-Dindigul network believes in sustainability at the farmers’ level and hence has taken up leadership qualities to promote decision making among the beneficiary community, reporting and evaluation of the programme. Planning and implementation: Monthly project activities were planned and implemented by the technical staff and coordinator of the project in time. Secondly, the monthly plan of activities prepared by the technical staff was implemented through farmer's sangams and problems raised out of the activity were resolved at the sangam meetings. Thirdly, monthly staff meetings and district level meetings were conducted once in six-month period to assess the earlier work done, problems faced and to find ways to resolve the issues and also for planning the activities during ensuing periods Monitoring: Periodical monitoring and internal field evaluation of the project activities was done once in three months with the involvement of partner NGOs in the network, staff and coordinator of the program. Field investigation was done by the technical staff during the monthly farmers’ meetings, and generated information and data indicating the progress of the implementation.

3.7.6. Learning and Cooperation
It is also quite interesting to note the impact in income difference in rupees per acre from organic farming. The experiments with maize, sorghum, millets, oil seeds, rice, vegetables and pulses indicates that the farmers have realized additional income per acre of cultivation by using organic farming. Please refer Figure-1. It also indicates the relevance and effect of organic farming (sanga farming) in comparison to the conventional farming with chemical fertilizers / pesticide use. Note: The Figure-1 indicates a negative figure for ‘rice cultivation’. Discussion with the network pointed out that during the period of experiment there was unusual rain which affected the rice crop and hence the negative figure, and hence it should be noted that the negative figure is read under abnormal circumstances.

Figure – 1 Income Difference in Rupees per Acre

Source: REAL-LEISA PPT-2009

The 45 farmers who are members of the farmers’ sangam in Vangamanoothu village claimed that though the help from the network partners POPE was not huge they have been able to do so much because of their conviction and at the end they have been able to enhance their income marginally from the dry land. The farmers were unanimous in stating that the soil fertility of the dry land has 52 | 101

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increased. The 45 farmers have totally stopped chemical fertilizers and pesticides and they largely preserve and use their own seeds. Nevertheless they are yet to get special or better price for the ‘organic produces’ which is becoming the market practice elsewhere. The initial support provided by POPE was in ploughing, seedlings such as mango, tamarind, teak, etc and basic materials for organic farming. What was also important was the training the farmers got on organic manure, pesticide, seed preserving etc. Learning from the experience, LEISA-Dindigul has planned to include terra preta method of cultivation and promotion of agro forestry method for alternate land use.In addition, they feel the importance to strengthen the marketing facilities and providing linkages for the organic products. Further, the network has planned to focus on lobby and advocacy with duty bearers for promotion and expansion of organic farming

3.7.7. Findings & Analysis and Recommendation:
The ATM is impressed with the fast growing changes in the agriculture with organic farming and the good result. It is also impressive that all crops except rice were proven profitable economically with organic farming. The LEISA-Dindigul network has produced tangible results even though it was a difficult task to convince the farmers; the farmers believe only after seeing and that too they would like to have positive yield or result in a quicker time. The change is happening at the ground level and to some extent it is also responding positively to the issue of ‘climate change’ and signs to reverse the process of desertification. This way the SF contribution has been meaningful and requires to be continued. SF’s support has been helpful to continue the momentum of sustainable agriculture after LEISA who went into decentralization. Good initiatives at the ground level were evident from the ATM’s visit to Vangamanoothu village which is one of 15 target villages of the project. The agro-forestry work in this particular village was implemented by POPE, the partner NGO of LEISA Network-Dindigul. It was good to see the green trees in dry land and there was improved opportunity to make the land better. It was also very interesting to see very little water was used (pot irrigation) and it also raised a realization that how much water was getting wasted in some places. There was spill-over effect; after having seen success in the village in agro forestry the neighbours have also started agro-forestry in their dry lands. In the Vangamanoothu village, the seeds of maize cultivation in one of the farmer’s field were bought from outside and such trend will make the farmers depend on outside market. On the other hand, the ATM witnessed the situation of the villagers preserving the local variety of maize. Perhaps, there can be more awareness to avoiding dependence on outside market for seeds. Secondly, there is a need for marketing organic produces, LEISA-Dindigul has made small initiative (with one shop) but it has to be strengthened. Thirdly, it is also important to strengthen the change at the grassroots for sustainable agriculture and this in turn will be a form of resistance to the chemical use. Fourthly, there is a need to widen the experiments at the grassroots level. The budget seems too little for a network of LEISA. Secondly, it has to be also noted that supporting of networks are proved effective rather than individual NGOs and there is healthy learning and enthusiasm in networks.

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Fifthly, it is important go for multi species in tree plantation and to protect the native species and animals. Finally, it is important to keep the macro level pressure for polices such as integrated agriculture policy, subsidy for organic farming, etc.

3.8. Tamil Nadu Environment Council (TNEC):
TNEC as the name indicates, it is a Council of members or associates from all over Tamil Nadu State. CEDA TRUST is the lead NGO and Mr. L.Antonysamy alias Tony has been the Convenor of TNEC. CEDA TRUST, lead NGO and legal body of TNEC works at both micro & macro level and it has its head administrative and operational office in Dindigul. It extends direct and support service to CBOs, NGOs and Donors. CEDA TRUST is committed to the vision of equity and justice and is with the mission to facilitating people organizations, networking and building alliance among civil society organizations. The overall goal of CEDA TRUST is to create a culture of equitable human rights. CEDA TRUST fulfils all the legal sanctions of the State6. CEDA TRUST takes lead role for TNEC (environment council) and plays as Convenor of Siemenpuu-TNCT Cooperation. CEDA TRUST also has publications and many of them have environment focus: Naalai (child right issues), study & publications on the issues of children, Agonizing Angels (gender issues), Tourism & Women (environment), Status of Tamil Nadu’s Environment (environment), Status of Tamil Nadu’s Rivers(environment), Bt. Brinjal (environment), Environmental Activists Handbook (environment), Chutruchoolal Seithigal (environment), Nizhal (environment quarterly).

3.8.1. Context and Geographical Area:
The Western and the Eastern Ghats have already faced severe deforestations and deterioration of the hill ecology and bio-diversity. Mining in the forest areas is another area of serious concern. This is affecting the eco–system especially the bio-diversity and seriously affects the livelihood and the very existence of the tribal communities. Forest remains the major source for the plains both for irrigation purpose and for consumption purpose. But the efforts taken to preserve forest resources remain inadequate and there is a lack of understating about this phenomenon both at the civil society level and at the policy level. Tamil Nadu has 17 Major River basins and all are polluted by untreated industrial chemical effluents. All water catchments areas are facing severe extinction due to deforestation, urbanization resulting in desertification. Tamil Nadu, which is known for its tank irrigation and had more than 39,000 tanks (ponds, lakes) and is now facing severe water crisis due to improper maintenance of water bodies, and industrial pollution. The irrigation tanks are encroached and converted for constructing buildings etc. Water marketing by transnational corporations, sand mining, contract farming and cash cropping patterns also affect the eco-system seriously in Tamil Nadu. Industrialisation and urbanisation have made great changes in the land use pattern affecting the very vulnerable eco-system in the plains.

CEDA TRUST works at the micro level with children, women, sustainable agriculture and Tsunami response. At the macro level, CEDA TRUST has wide alliance and is lead NGO for some of the forum or network of children, women, tribal, environment and civil societies / NGOs. They have alliance with campaigns of children namely CACL, CRC-TN, CASSA. On the issues of women they have alliance with MAPOVI, for livelihood resources they have alliance with TAFSC and CAN, and for sustainable agriculture they have alliance with LEISA.

6

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Present Trend in ‘water’: Water is a ‘need’ and ‘not rights’. There is provision under article 21 of Indian Constitution saying water as part of livelihood and as rights. However, the government has signed up with World Bank to get aid for projects on water and under that there is a move to charge price for the water and make it commercial. There is a gradual shift from ‘rights’ to ‘needs’ which is not good sign / trend. Mr. Natarajan, Engineer, Ex-Public Works Department (PWD) official: “There was a plan to get the river Cauvery water to benefit several others with an estimate of Rs.500 crore7 but the government and political leaders were more interested in finding out how much money they can get out of it than the real benefit reaching the people. There were also efforts on experimental basis by the government to get drinking water from seawater but it has been not successful. Hence, it is important that govt takes up projects, which are sustainable. I am eager to take on environment issues in collaboration with TNEC and I have contributed to the Status Report brought out by TNEC”. Mr.Amalraj, Engineer, ex-PWD official: “I have involved with the fact-finding mission of TNEC to search for the lost river – Kirudumal River. There are 39202 open tanks in Tamil Nadu and it is equal to minor dam and good system for rain harvesting. The urbanization has destroyed good number of open tanks and government itself has destroyed the open tanks. Secondly, improper maintenance of tanks and encroachment of river bed areas. Thirdly, the traditional tanks have become dumping ground of garbage”. Dr.Santhanakumar – Environment Scientist & Professor (State Convener of Environmental Scientists Forum, ESF): “The scientists’ forum has provided basic studied data through fact-finding on specific cases and in generally proven environment related data. TNEC has a greater role to play in finding out the lost rivers. The scientists’ forum along with TNEC has provided data for advocates to fight cases like Dalmia Cement. The policy makers or ministers for pollution may have no idea of the pollution and its ill-effects”. Dr.Jayakumar – College Professor (and Tuticorin District Convener of Environmental Scientists Forum (ESF)): “I have helped TNEC for taking up the development of mangrove in Kayalpattinam in Tiruchandur. I have come to realize the effluents from DSW Chemical Works and went ahead with the mangrove plantation and it is coming up well but there was opposition from the industry to prevent the plantation as they had the fear whether forest dept will come in and interfere in their interests”. TNEC through its 950 associate organizations or lawyers’ forum or scientists’ forum and individual associates reaches the whole of the State Tamil Nadu. TNEC has established its associates in every district of the State.

3.8.2. Major Objectives:
The past two years the Council has been focusing on the issues of water and climate changes. SF has been supporting the projects of TNEC since 2004. The present phase is from 2007-2009 with a total grant of Euro 101,912. The current project title is “Addressing and Monitoring Environmental Issues Affecting Livelihood Resources of the Marginalised Communities w.r.t. the hills-plains-coast”.

3.8.3. Major Activities:
The following were the major areas of the activities that were undertaken and facilitated by TNEC since the cooperation with SF from 2004. a) Participatory Research Study and Publication on the Status of the Tamil Nadu Environment, Rivers and Tanks.

7

One crore equals to 10 million.

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b) Publication of Environmental Activists Handbook with Environmental Legislations and Some Judgements and Mechanisms c) Facilitating the Environmental Scientists Forum and Environmental Lawyers Forum d) State Level Yathra Highlighting the Environmental issues of the hills-plains-coast e) Fact Finding Missions on environmental and livelihood issues f) Organizing press meetings, public hearings, networking, advocacy and lobby. g) Supporting grassroots initiatives and struggles h) Documentation and Publications like “Nizhal”, “Suttrucholal Seithigal” etc. i) Coordinating SF-TNCT Cooperation and Editing North South Perspective

3.8.4. Relevance, Effectiveness and Impact:
CEDA TRUST/ TNEC has got altogether 105 812 Euros from Siemenpuu for its projects during the period 2006-2009. The added value and difference the cooperation of SF makes to the process is that TNEC has extended its base to people’s organizations and scientist & lawyers’ forum, and enhanced the cooperation within the country and outside. Secondly, it has influenced the agenda of environment concerns into NGOs in TN. Thirdly, the state network has changed the perspective on Mullai Periyar issue thereby TNEC could mobilize the farmers from neighbouring areas and got the support to the Mullai Periyar issue. Fourthly, the fact-finding has created impact on several cases and in some cases it has influenced immediate response from industries by clearing or preventing the waste or pollution into rivers or underground water. Fifthly, the environmental activist campaign has empowered the panchayats and they were able to mobilize compensations from the industries which were polluting the water and land. Sixthly, TNEC has promoted and strengthened the struggles of the people against environment pollutants and forcing the attention of the government or Pollution Control Board. Seventhly, the efforts of TNEC at the education institution / college level changed the syllabus in the colleges on the subject of environment (Holy Cross College). Newspapers have used the material from the publication of TNEC and used it for wider dissemination. Finally, the recognition gained by the Council from the public has led to attracting more and more environment and livelihood issues reaching the Council for collective actions, ongoing support and solidarity to the local struggle of the affected sections of TN State. TNEC has been vibrant at the TN State level and especially in the areas / districts where environment issues are taken up by the district division of the Council. This has led to recognition from the public, university, socially conscious lawyers, scientists and civil societies. The following individual cases are indicative of the recognition the Council carries and the impact it has created. The Govt recognizes that the awareness of the public on environment has been considerable and hence it feels compelled to respond to the different environment issues in the State. The TN Govt has decided to consider the demand for separate ministry for water due to the constant lobby and advocacy. In another case, the different district authorities have changed their attitude and brought in thinking on environment. Similarly, the Govt has taken efforts to charge illegal quarrying in Krishnagiri district. Govt has sanctioned and allocated budget to deepen the tanks in Kodaikanal and the Kodaikanal administration has declared Kodaikanal as “plastic free area”. There was proposal and plan for licensing for about 12 paper industries in Namakkal district and the govt has now stopped the plan due to the lobby and advocacy of the Council. In Namakkal district the Govt also has taken initiatives to understand to what extent the land encroachment has occurred. TNEC provides scientific data on specific issues related to environmental like status on water bodies, climate change etc through expert forum. TNEC members have access to provide such data in their sharing or presentations in different other forums. 56 | 101

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TNEC may not have resolved all the environment issues but certainly have made efforts to highlight the issues and it has given confidence in the people to take up and continue the struggle. The efforts with and through TNEC have succeeded in preventing many environment hazardous industries or projects. Whenever there are environmental issues the district convenors are approached by the mass media for opinion. The following were the cases where the District Convenors and Zonal Convenors of TNEC have taken up the local environment issues in collaboration with the other civil societies that affected people. The District Convenors have been relevant and effective in taking up the issues in proper procedure and strategies to ensure success. At district level several environment issues are taken up and depending on the situation the issues are approached – some are taken up at the level grama sabha meetings for solution. The handbook for environmental activists produced by TNEC has been of great guidance to the district activists, its associates and district convenors. There have been many major issues that were taken up district level and the following were few of those issues. • Convenors have played role in the organization of the people around specific environment issues. In Nagapatinam, there is reduction in the prawn cultivation, sand mining, increased awareness to govt officials, school students, Mahalir Thittam. Govt officials have come forward to say ‘let us do together’ on environment concerns. In another case, the districts convenor of Thiruvannamalai along with their organization took up awareness campaign and organized the people under Goundhimalai Protection Movement against the move for mining by the company Jindal and saved thousands of trees which otherwise would have been felled creating environment hazard. The Thiruvalur district convenor and TNEC has taken up the issues of three major Rivers in Tiruvallur which face sand mining, Pullikat lake which face pollution from the industries of Ennore (thermal power station and other industries), and pollution caused by Kingfisher breweries which creates damage to the agriculture land which uses the Koovam river to let its effluent.





TNEC has been helpful in bringing out the issues related adivasis and forest related mining & environment issues. One section perceives environment from the point of wild life but TNEC gives and supports the perception of human rights and at the same time preserving the environment issues, and similarly with the fisher people. The ATM met, heard and discussed with the district representatives who in collaboration and solidarity with TNEC fought and continues to fight on different issues. These representatives were from the districts of Tamil Nadu – Krishnakiri, Kanchipuram, Dindigul, Tuticorin, Karaikal, Virudunagar, Namakal, Cudalore, Theni, Sivagangai, etc. The representation also included the neighbouring Puducherry State Environment Council, which has taken up and challenged many environment & livelihood issues. The following briefs the different cases from different districts and how the support and solidarity of the Council has been: • Case 1: Kanchipuram district – pollution from breweries and it has polluted the water and thereby the agriculture land from 2 panchayats. The issue was taken up and submitted petitions to govt officials. The breweries have even made the local people drunkards and alcoholics by providing free or subsidized liquor to keep the people quiet. TNEC has made fact-finding on the issue and there is plan to file a legal case against the breweries. At the moment TNEC and locals are in the process of strengthening the case by producing linkages between health hazards and the polluted water. The case was presented by the Ozhalur Panchayat President Ms. Easwari herself. Case 2: Kurumalai, Tuticorin district – 18 villages, 30,000 people with 12060 dalits. The people depend on the local tanks for irrigation thereby the livelihood. The nearby hillock is now taken 57 | 101



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over by a company and it is being mined. The hillock used to be the source of herbs for traditional home or herbal medicines for the villagers. TNEC has gone to the area on factfinding mission and conducted capacity building for the people to sustain the struggle against the mining. • Case 3: Vilampatti from Dindigul district – the pollution of private paper industry has spoiled the drinking water and agriculture land in the area. TNEC has gone to the area and helped to study the water and soil. The victims and TNEC have approached the govt officials and published the issue in paper. Still no proper action is taken against the pollution. The local govt officials have been influenced by the company and the govt is claiming that the land is not spoiled and asking the farmers / villagers to prove that the land is polluted. The case was represented to the Loss of Ecology Authority, Chennai and a Team of Experts visited and recommended for compensation for the affected farmers, and other farmers have also come forward to take up the issue in a similar way. Case 4: Denkanikotta, Hosur – the Sanathkumar rain-fed river has been almost blocked and filled by the stone quarrying and stoner crushing. There has been demand to block the license for stone crushers and submitted petition to the govt officials with the support of TNEC. The govt pollution control board is trying to avoid the issue and not taking it seriously. The local forum has filed writ petition and contested it further legally. It is important to make it mandate that the stone quarrying should also be under the pollution control. So far the local forum with the support of TNEC has conducted studies, signature campaigns, photo documentation and submitted petitions and filed cases. Case 5: Kabilarkuruchi, Namakkal district – pollution from the paper industry has caused severe damage to the agriculture land and the ground water. The villagers have been organized and demonstrated several protests collectively in front of the factory, govt officials. Women from MahailarThittam and children from the schools have organized protests repeatedly. Studied the pollution and submitted the statistics to the Pollution control board with the support of TNEC, the factory was temporarily stopped working for 15 days. However, it was revoked the order and the factory started working again while the case was being contested with legal procedures. TNEC should help with this case and get compensation for villagers who lost their livelihood. Case 6: Vaduvarpettai village, Trichy district – pollution from Dalmia cement factory affecting the surrounding villages with the population of about 70,000. The struggle against the pollution has been going on since 2006. TNEC has supported with several studies and these are the base document for the support of the struggle. First the people approached the govt dept (from tahsildar to district collector), and subsequently the government formed a peace committee between the locals and factory, but nothing was happening in favour of the people. The pollution control board has given certificate that there is no pollution from the cement factory. TNEC organized a press meet in Trichy and disseminated the findings of the fact-finding study. Even now the struggle is going and the govt officials are avoiding the issue. Recently organized a protest rally and there was opposition from the govt officials in conducting the protest meet. The police did not give permission for the meet. It was after persistent struggle the police gave permission for the meeting. The local people would like to adopt a new strategy and they want help from TNEC to seek vital information regarding the factory licence under RTI Act. Case 7: Karaikal, Puducherry Union Territory – coastal area, the industries have taken away the livelihood of the people from the coastal region with the pollution from the industries more specifically 7 big industries (Kothari & Chemplast are two of the 7) in to the Pravadayam river. The people from the area have been made aware and organized to understand the negative effects (health hazards – kidney failure, jaundice, etc) caused by the pollution. The people have been demanding the removal of the industries. On the other the local politicians have 58 | 101









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manipulated one section of local people saying the industries were providing employment to them etc. The struggle against the pollution has taken in the form of mass protests, petitions etc. TNEC has linked the lawyers’ forum to take up legally and organized Public Hearing. • Case 8: Alathur panchayat – Kirudumal river (lower portion) flowing through Madurai, Sivagangai & Virudunagar districts – feeding a number of water tanks in the region which has lost its right to get the ‘water right’ and link with the Vaigai river, and this causes to suffering of about 1 lakh8 people from the region. The locals have taken up the issue and in the process TNEC has been ongoing strength with advocacy, lobby and networking for the issue. Case 9: Kodaikanal – Hindustan Lever Ltd (Unilever), which uses mercury and produces thermometer. The pollution from the mercury causes environmental pollution and health hazards like affects the central nerve system, kidney etc. The pollution has even entered into the water lake and killed the fish in the lake. There is a struggle going against the Hindustan Lever and the struggle against the industry has successfully stopped the industry from functioning. The struggle has even forced the industry to take the mercury waste back to America. At the same time there is demand to compensate the workers who are about 1000 in number. The struggle has also taken measures with the support of TNEC, to plant trees in big number and bring about good environment.



Interviewing with key informants indicate the following in terms of the issues and the contribution of TNEC. • Dr. Margandan, ex-vice chancellor – Gandhigram Rural University: “The struggle for good environment has been going on for long and the politicians and government has been the biggest obstacle. The industries have all the support from the government and on the other hand, there is no one takes the side of the people, and that is where the stance and role of TNEC comes in. He has been part of the fact-finding missions from TNEC and the experience has been risky. He has been part of the different struggles as part of TNEC and struggle against GM seeds. The work of TNEC is ‘swimming against the current’ and requires strength to continue the swim”. Mr.Martin, Advocate – State Convenor of Environmental Lawyers Forum (ELF): convenor of Lawyers Environment Forum: “Collective struggle is important in winning over situations and hence the lawyers forum or scientists forum are crucial for fighting the issues of environment and livelihood. It is important to have forum or lawyers and scientists wherever there are issues of environment. The present situation is such even there are justice who can give verdict / clean chit to worst polluting industries due to vested interests. The forum (TNEC) assures whatever they can do within their capacity to support the environment protection movement”. Mr. Gnanasekaran, Advocate – Hosur, Krishnagiri District Convener of Environmental Lawyers Forum (ELF): “Mostly the judicial courts review only the statistics and only few judges look from the social views. The government officials change their policies or views on the procedures according to the interests of the political leaders. I have taken up cases and TNEC or the convenor’s guidance has been very useful to contesting cases. TNEC provided also contacts and links to the lawyers and activists to participate in conferences like the conference on water in Vardha from Maharashtra state. They were resource persons and TNEC provided documentation to their sharing”.





3.8.5. Project & Process Management:

8

one lakh equals to one hundred thousand. So, 100 lakh equals one crore.

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TNEC‘s base is the TNEC Associates; forums, NGOs, professionals (lawyers, scientists, university professions) and activists. As on Dec 2008 there are about 950 members or associates have written their willingness to be part of the Council and would involve in environment & livelihood issues voluntarily. The word ‘associate’ is used consciously to indicate their volunteerism & independence. Again TNEC does not want to call their associates as ‘members’ as it carries certain characters which is kept consciously away. There is an associate (membership) format which confirms the associates’ commitment to the issues and willing to support the environmental causes. There are district level convenors (associate and on voluntary basis), 5 Zonal Convenors and State Secretariat. CEDA TRUST is the State Secretariat and Tony is the Convenor. The district convenors have to work with the associate members in the respective district. Besides there Environmental Lawyers Forum and Environmental Scientists Forum at the district level and they work in parallel with the Council. Like TNEC in Tamil Nadu there is also Puducherry Environment Council and there are State Convenor, State Secretariat and District Conveners. Both work in close collaboration. There has been 4 paid staff members under the TNEC with the support of SF and they are Coordinator (Tony), Documentation Incharge (Ms. Backiam), and Field (Annadurai and Mathivanan). They have worked more of peer groups and there has been lot of sharing among the four members. The field members travel frequently to the field areas. Half yearly the committees (district, zonal & state convenors which is about 40 members) meet for planning and reviewing the activities, and it normally happens in the beginning and in the middle of the year. It is normally a one-day meeting but at the Secretariat the 4 members meet monthly. The agenda of the meetings are derived from the 4 members from the Secretariat. The structure of TNEC is a liberal one and it provides scope for all sections who are interested in environment to come and to be part of the struggle. The district and zonal convenors and the structure provide a link to the whole of the state. TNEC follows a strategy of networking with other campaigns or forums or networks like LEISA or farmers movements. It is because of the open and positive structure TNEC has been able to create significant positive results and impacts. There is also coalition among different communities like coastal people, farmers; for example when Puducherry wanted to do a study on coastal environmental issues the different communities like scientists, lawyers are brought for consultations. There is always mutual help between local organization / associates or TNEC; bring out the local issues; strengthen the struggle process, etc. TNEC is a large, democratic and vibrant forum in TN, which works for the environment concerns. All the major decisions are taken in consultation with district and zonal convenors. 3.8.6. Learning and Cooperation: There is a realization that there should be more support service from TNEC directly to the grassroots or victims of the different environmental issues in the State. The environment concern and its awareness have been spreading among children especially school children. There is enormous interest generated among the children. It is also important to focus this section from the point of sustainability to the ongoing struggle and it is the children who will have to give continuity to the struggle. It is in this line of thinking, undertook yatra on water conservation Kanyakumari to Madurai which involved the Green Army (PasumaiPadai) from the school children

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There is ongoing request and learning from the process that it is crucial to have forum of medical doctors, retired govt officials, for wider mass base and solidarity to the initiatives of TNEC. TNEC has learnt that more and more local people come forward as volunteers to take lead role. The struggles and campaigns taken up by TNEC are with the mass support, linking with other NGOs, activists and professionals. The affected people have felt that there is a forum TNEC to address the issues. This has given a red or warning signal to the government and pollutants that there is a forum to take up such issues. The issues are largely taken up by the affected communities / people with the local NGOs and TNEC provides strength and support to strengthen the struggle. TNEC consults and finds out the needs and supports and accordingly it intervenes and that is how it has learnt to go about.

3.8.7. Findings and Analysis:
The differences made to interventions of TNEC with the cooperation of SF are: TNEC has been able to succeed in extending the focus/base from NGO to People’s Organisations and Professionals like Lawyers, Scientists and Engineers etc. Secondly, the Cooperation had enhanced the credibility of TNEC and its associate organisations. The associate organisations have included environmental issues for their interventions as one of their focus areas with confidence. ATM is quite impressed with the success of TNEC, deeper knowledge of different people and good network of professionals linked to the network. TNEC may not have resolved all the issues taken up but kept the support alive and the momentum of the pressure on environment violators. The local problems are well connected with the wider (macro) levels. Good progress is going on at wider levels but also at the grassroots level it is going on. Lot of success recorded which is very crucial. There is good information dissemination through different media – print media, radio, television, documentation & publication. How much ordinary people know about TNEC and campaigns? What is clear is when local issues are going on in a particular area or district and the people from that areas are aware and get involved. How people contact TNEC when they are not aware of TNEC? The cases like Dalmia Cement, the locals came on their own hearing about TNEC and got linked with the service & support of TNEC. There are magazines like Pasumai Vihidan (Green Vihidan) giving information indicating “for any environmental support please contact TNEC”. What is interesting is that TNEC is not going about propagating about its existence but other magazines, which is unique. The structure is quite effective and it might be bit simple. It is very good to have the forum of scientists and lawyers separately or it might give problems. Each individual ‘associate’ is independent and the professionals are coming together with scientific analysis for people to act. It is also impressive to see that there are people willing to contribute their time and energy instead of counting their time in terms of money / material benefits they get out of it. It indicates the commitment for the issues and the community at large. The community at large is taking up for ‘community rights’ and it is important for the sustainability. The individual right oriented approach can be broken and go without sustainability. There is total relevance of the services of TNEC; there are growing environment concerns and there is no support for marginalized communities. Secondly, TNEC is considered a credible state forum to highlight environment issues and provide linking forum. 61 | 101

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TNEC has been providing additional value of organizing fact-findings, providing back-up supports, linking the professionals, and being a credible forum present ion Tamil Nadu. There is remarkable change from 2004 to 2008 and the support of SF has been very meaningful. For instance, there was no environmental lawyer or scientists’ forum or Puducherry chapter of the Environment Council in 2004. The event of the appraisal visit to TNEC was organized well in a professional way. There was a good learning atmosphere not only the Appraisal Team but also for the participants of the day. The display of accounts and membership, project funds received year-wise was creates new positive culture among the civil society.

Recommendation:
• • • • The environmental issues cannot be resolved in short times and it is long term. In that sense, it is importance children become aware and get involved in the project and process. It might be important that grassroots people or farmers become aware of the aspects of ‘rights’. It would be good such a model of TNEC of networking is shared with the people / forum in other States. There should be linkages beyond TN – at present it is very minimum level like with Equations in Bangalore, Centre for Science for Technology in Delhi. Other forums beyond Tamil Nadu are South Asia Genetic Engineering (SAGE), World Social Forums, Campaign on Agro Fuel, RIOD, however the link and sharing of information sharing is occasional and inconsistent. Strengthen the district level support system through district level lawyers and scientists forums for closer accessibility to people who are in need. TNEC has to reach out to more and more people’s organizations and local panchayat bodies in the future phase. It is very crucial and strategically important for Siemenpuu to continue its partnership with TNEC. Conducting / facilitating meeting or event such as the one organized for the appraisal, it would be good to have the “stick method” which is effective in ensuring participation of all the participants. TNEC can think of organizing a conference for South-South dialogue where NGOs / networks from the other Southern states and resource organizations could participate. It will be an opportunity for interactions for cooperation beyond Tamil Nadu. Siemenpuu could also organise or facilitate a Conference of North South NGOs to share the ecological issues, interventions, successes and challenges in the context of globalisation. Donor Agencies could be invited to participate and a Dialogue session between them and the South NGOs.

• • • •





3.9. Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood (JASuL):
JASuL is a network of NGOs spread over 29 districts in Tamil Nadu State. Out of the 29 districts, 19 districts have the main concentration of the World Bank funded irrigation project / scheme IAMWARM (Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water Bodies Restoration and Management) which is being implemented. PEAL is the lead NGO and legal body of the network and according to PEAL, there are about 510 NGOs from the 29 districts are members.

3.9.1. Context & Geographical Area:
There were the unsustainable practices in water, land and agriculture; exploitation of water resources through the encouragement of bore wells coupled with bad management of water in general, the deforestation, land alienation, contract farming practices. The erratic rainfall during recent years has 62 | 101

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led to severe drought and cumulative effect is the pauperization of the rural masses and large scale migrations to cities. In 2004, TN faced a severe drought and it was immediately after WSF in Mumbai. Mr. Kai Vaara / SF visited Madurai during this time and held discussion on the situation, and the idea of forming JASUL reported to have emerged then. A core committee was formed (Y David as convener, Mr.Rajendra Prasad etc) and it was decided to study in 80 villages prior to undertaking program. The study process had zonal and district meetings and 80 villages from 25 districts were studied excluding Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Tiruvarur. Participatory tool (PRA) was used for the study. Subsequent to the study a state review meeting was held and it finalized to focus on ‘water’. Major findings related to water were: government schemes alienated people from water resources like the well irrigation etc. Findings regarding the land were: land ownership, deteriorating farm lands, land rights of women and so on. Also exposed the shift in the practice of agriculture; people to the companies, organic to chemical fertilizers, healthy food to poisonous food etc. The findings reported to have derived the vision for JASuL: Just, participatory, eco-friendly, gender just and equitable society. The mission of JASuL is empowering local communities’ command over the local livelihood resources, in terms of protection, promotion and management. At present the World Bank scheme called IAMWARM has become a major issue for the farmers who have realized the thrust behind the scheme which is commercialization of water. The farmers could already see that they will have to purchase water for irrigation and drinking. An absolute need is emerging from the farmers in the districts to protect them from the commercialization of water which would inevitably make the farmers inaccessible to water. At present JASuL have its NGO members spread over 29 districts in Tamil Nadu as mentioned above. The secretariat of JASuL is attached to PEAL’s office in Madurai. PEAL has its own office premise with necessary office equipments and machineries.

3.9.2. Major Objectives:
“Campaign for Restoration of Water bodies and livelihood resources (land, agriculture, livestock & forestry) in Tamil Nadu” is the current three-year campaign project under JASuL. The partnership and cooperation between JASuL and SF began in 2004 and it has continued till date. The specific objectives of the Project are (a) to restore and manage the water bodies or village ponds, lakes, tanks and similar water bodies, (b) to build up a wider people’s movement with sensitised civil society members and strengthen the alliance in Tamil Nadu and beyond and (c) to pressurize the governments (State & Central) to prioritise livelihood issues especially the restoration of water bodies, review and reformulate the existing policies in favour of poor and marginalised with ecological perspectives.

3.9.3. Major Activities:
The report on the status of rural livelihood situation in Tamil Nadu – a study on the Endangered Livelihood Resources of Tamil Nadu was facilitated in 2004, which subsequently gave focus areas for JASuL. Participated in Social Forums and organized a seminar on Sustainable Livelihood with special emphasis to Water in Indian Social Forum (ISF). Organized communities and people and campaigned on issues related to land encroachment, water ponds / lakes etc. Used the means such as pada yatra (rally), vehicle yatra, agitation, demonstration and protests collective to pressurize and get the attention of the government authorities on the issues. 63 | 101

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JASuL by virtue of being State wide campaign took efforts to establish linkages with other organisations / NGOs and movements at the wider level such as CGP (Global Climate Campaign), WSF and ISF, etc. Organized and conducted regularly the Steering Committee meetings and zonal & district level meetings of JASuL at the respective zone / district. As per the statistics of JASuL, between August 2007 & June 2008, JASul has organized 261 District Committee Meetings, 52 Zonal Committee Meetings and 17 State Steering Committee Meetings. It is indicative of the decentralized level of functioning and of facilitating participatory process at all levels. Besides, the district and zonal level units of JASuL organized studies and trainings / information dissemination on issues such as IAMWARM. JASuL and its different units took up, organized grassroots farmers into associations and facilitated actions against land, water and anti-poor irrigation schemes / projects.

3.9.4. Relevance, Effectiveness and Impact:
JASuL has got from Siemenpuu altogether 61 000 Euros for its projects during the period 2006-2009. NGOs and CBOs have been organized at the district level on the water and land issues such as encroachment of riverbeds, World Bank project for irrigation water etc. More particularly in the recent years the district / zonal convenors actively involved in Hogkenakkal project campaign work, impacted on awareness among social action groups regarding the IAMWARM scheme of the World Bank which is expected to come as a bang for “commercialization of water”, and organized farmers / CBOs for collective actions. ATM met, interacted and discussed with the Zonal convenors of JASuL and the interactions have recorded the following as the relevance, visible intervention process of JASuL, its effectiveness and its progress towards results: • Trichy (Pudukottai&Perambalur) Zone: It is one of the districts where the project IAMWARM is being implemented. The zonal convenor got involved with the projects of IAMWARM and it was observed that there was lot of corruption and it was not delivering what is expected. He got involved in educating the people leaders and collected information regarding the project. He motivated local people to become aware and motivated to take up the issue of the project. Kanyakumari (Tirunelvel & Tuticorin) Zone: Study Circle for NGOs members of JASuL has been functioning and it has been useful. Secondly, the zone took up the issue of sand and organized 5 agitations aligned with JASuL, SAM & NAPM. Thirdly, protested the felling of trees on the coastal area in alliance with other networks. Fourthly, organized a rally with students & public highlighting issues of water which is bottled and sold on high price, pollution of local ponds with the feed for fish cultivation, etc. The rally focused on the encroachment of the 230 water ponds in Kanyakumari district. The other issues were protest against the liquor shops that were closer to schools / collages or religious places and awareness / petition against pan parag which contains harmful ingredients like powder of lizard. Cudalore (Villupuram-Tiruvallur) zone: Organized NGO members and talked about IAMWARM project, and land encroachment. Similar training was given to farmers and encouraged to approach govt authority for proper use of water projects. Used the meetings of SHGs and brought the topic of the World Bank scheme, importance tree plantation etc. 64 | 101





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Organized meetings of the farmers and submitted petition to the officials of World Bank demanding them to withdraw the conditions that are against the farmers. Also demanded the scheme to have assurance for the water users association to have role. • Coimbatore (Nilgirs& Erode) Zone: Conducted zonal meetings, took up the water pollution issues and depleting forest in Nilgiris. Farmers try to be critical of their participation in the IAMWARM. Salem (Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri&Namakkal) Zone: Persisted on the issue of Okannekal water project for continuity. Also participated in the ‘fast unto death’ and at the end there was a promise from the government to resume the project work soon. Secondly, the issue of Special Economic Zone in Krishnagiri district was taken up; organized a meeting with the local MLA and in fact the small and marginal farmers were in favour of selling their land. The study findings revealed that the main vegetable supply to the nearby Bangalore was from these areas. Though the ongoing protest may not bring much success but the struggle continues to avert the SEZ. Thirdly, the PWD scheme of using excess water for irrigation in Salem is to be benefitting people and hence organized a rally in alliance with political parties in favour of a water canal project. About 10000 people and political parties (left) and NGOs attended the rally. JASuL provided information on the scheme and supported with pamphlets and material support. Fourthly, Vasista River –the IAMWARM project was being implemented but the local farmers were not properly informed about the project. JASuL took efforts to disseminate the experience on the implementation of IAMWARM from Anumanathi. From this the local farmers association is well informed. Based on that the farmers demanded for de-silting & deepening the lake instead of building only bunds. However, the project continued its work of strengthening the bund and not taken the people’s demand into consideration. Madurai (Dindigul & Theni) zone: In Theni & Madurai districts the IAMWARM project is being implemented and 28 NGOs from the districts as part of JASuL is involved. Information provided to the farmers of the pros and cons of the project using the Anumanathi experiment has encouraged the farmers to be critical of their collaboration in the scheme. Conducted a pilot study on IAMWARM project in Anamanathi in Theni. The farmers want to implement the project with some conditions; the farmers users associations to be strengthened so that the failures will not be repeated in other places. The study revealed that 70% of the IAMWARM project money is already spent in short span during the rainy season and it has had negative effects. The ownership goes to the government and farmers have to depend on govt. In-appropriate technology like supply of drip-laterals, solar dryers which are lying idle with the farmers. Subsequent to the study JASuL decided to provide the information, motivate them to get involved in critical manner, and strengthen farmer users associations. Thanjavur (Thiiruvarur & Nagapattinam) zone: 42 NGOs are members of JASuL from this zone which includes 3 districts. The zonal convenors conducted training for NGO members with the help of a PWD engineer on water concern in a particular canal in (Kadaimunai area – last area of the Cauvery River) in Thiruvaur district. There is an association of the local people to demand for measures to make use of the water which otherwise reaches the sea. Secondly, in a situation of flood, the affected people were given immediate relief with rice, clothe and relief materials collected from other districts. Thirdly, to respond to the encroachment of all the 7 lakes in Tanjore city, undertook training and awareness on the importance of water and the ill-effects of encroachment of the riverbeds. Kanchipuram (Thiruvallur& Vellore) Zone: Formed a district committee in Kanchipuram and in the other district. They conduct study circles regularly. 65 | 101











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Tiruvannamalai District: Conducted training in 2007 for the NGOs of the district on water management and IAMWARM project. Met the farmers from the area / basis of Varaganathi River. At the initial stage, the farmers felt that this project was totally useful but JASuL took efforts to explain the pros & cons and informed that the project is taken up on a loan from World Bank. Also disseminated the study findings / booklets on Anamanathi, Tirunelveli Dt. The farmers were also given the exposure to the areas where the scheme was being implemented. Secondly, organized the farmers to submit the petition to the government demanding that the canal must be deepened, food crops should be prioritized, no tax collection should be enforced from outsiders but local panchayat, the scheme should be discussed at the local panchayat level, etc. They have farmed a SLFA (Sustainable Livelihood Farmers Association) committee to support and continue the struggle. JASuL has been offering support in all the activities. Pudukottai Dt: 22 NGOs are part of this zone and the meetings are regularly conducted. In all the meetings, livelihood resources, water etc were the main thrust. IAMWARM issue also became an issue for discussion at our meetings and invited the officials to talk about the project for explanations. After hearing from the officials people indicated their liking to the project. However, it was decided to do a field study with the representation from the villages of the project area. Learnt the issues involved in the water tanks and the politics & vested interest in the projects. Also realized that farmers were willing to sell their lands. JASuL was helpful in getting the contacts and links with other NGOs and forums. The govt officials were unwilling to give more information on the project but JASuL was helpful in getting that information. Realized the importance to organize the farmers continuously train them on the project with the help of other experts on the projects. Finding of this area study was published in North & South.



ATM met with the farmers who were the representatives of SLFA (Sustainable Livelihood Farmers Sangam) Adhoc Committees9 from Pudukkottai, Madurai, Theni, Pudukottai and Tirunelveli districts. There were also 2 engineers who took part in the meeting. One was Engineer Chelladurai, Panchyat president – Ellathur, who actively took part in our Hanumanathi Model project study and continousely supporting JASuL with his time and travelling arround Tamil Nadu and giving lectures on Hanumanadhi model project. The second one was Engineer Balasuberamniyam – Union Counseler, Manamadurai. He is considered to be a real asset to sensitizing farming community and involving in his own council areas. The following are the findings from the interactions: • Witnessed different committed actions of farmers like shaving off hair in protest against the un-cared attitude of the government on common property or defunct open water ponds / lakes in Theni district, or declaring their panchayats as ‘model green panchayat’ - Mr. Jeyachandran, Ex Panchyat president, during his denure at village panchyat, he decleared his panchyat as “Model Bio Village”. The farmers strongly feel that in all the schemes IAMWARM, the projects have to be planned and decided with the participation and consensus of the farmers.



9

These Ad hoc Committees were formed during the 4 regional level farmers’ consultation cum training about World Bank involvement in TN water sector in relation to IAMWARM project and globalization. From the Ad hoc Committees consisting of 45 members, JASuL is reported to have invited only 15 representatives to the self-appraisal meeting, who could also give leadership in feature as well as who understand the fund based work.

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A Case in Sivagangai: According to the farmers, what is important is to de-silt to the original depth of the pond, not merely strengthening the bund. The local panchayat presidents or counsel members or even MLA are not aware of the details and the district collector claims that it is not necessary that they should know the details. Such ignorance can only create more scope for the district authority to manipulate and corrupt practices. Shifting of one measure mud and putting it on the bund costs only Rs.3000 in normal case whereas the PWD with the IAMFARM scheme charges Rs. 16000. The authority says that it is internal matter and not for the local president to know. The people are angry and want to do something to put the scheme correctly. There are many contradictions in the scheme and there is manipulation at every stage finally towards privatization of water. The government on the other hand is not bothered and promising all free schemes like delivering ration rice to the door steps of the people indirectly making the people totally dependent. According to the farmers, even the govt officials are not aware of the total scheme. Another Case in Pudukottai: Last 3 years since they first started with building the channel and the scheme has not touched the water tank so far. So far no result has been delivered. Secondly, the election held for the users association of farmers was not transparent and the powers of the selected association farmers are not clear. The farmers are not given the information properly yet. The users association is basin based and there is utter confusion in the members of the users’ association. The officials are not able to complete the job. Now the water users’ associations have been formed and if there is will at the level of implementers the association members can be used to strengthen and to ensure the project comes in favour of the farmers. But that was not happening. The work is being done bit by bit based on the responsibility of each department (PWD, Fisheries, and Irrigation) involved in the scheme.



3.9.5. Project and Process Management:
JASuL has a Steering Committee which is a decision-making body and consists of 15 members from the partner NGOs and JASUL has its presence in 19 districts of Tamil Nadu. The State steering committee members are from zonal committees (9 zones) and district committees (29). There are about 216 NGO members are part of JASuL. The membership criteria of JASuL are that the NGO should be involved in livelihood issues and should be willing to do in collaboration. It is restricted to NGOs during the current 3-year phase. JASuL facilitates quarterly state and zonal level meetings and monthly district level meetings to review the activities and to plan for the next quarter. There are also opportunities for interactions between all the layers of the structures (district, zonal & state levels). State level plan is different from the zonal and district level. The district may have different plans but it has the overall state issue as focus. The zonal plan contains the common activities in the zonal districts. The budget is discussed in steering committee and allocates district level allotment of Rs. 20000 per year. In general terms, most of the activities are done at the voluntary level. The zonal level budget allotment is Rs.30,000 per year. The zonal budget comes in handy when particular districts needs more budget. The district and zonal budget is used for snack expenses, actual travel for zonal. The budget is also spent on training. Some of the training activities are conducted from the central budget. Local contribution is collected for yatra, and farmers meet their own travel if it is within the district. Zonal convenors have to guide and monitor the district convenors. The convenors have to take the travel expenses from the zonal budget. Since they are all part of the NGOs they have salaries from other sources excepting the ones which do not have any other resource partners. Zonal Coordinators are based in Madurai, Trichy and Tanjore and they are given specific responsibilities: Each zonal coordinator covers about 9 districts and they ensure district meetings in 67 | 101

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all the districts, emphasis for study circle, assess the training need and participate in the district meetings. He / she plays as a resource person. The Central office of JASuL is with 4 coordinators (1 State and 3 zonal coordinators – 3 men & 1 woman with a salary of about Rs. 6000 per month), and 1 accountant. Central budget is about Rs. 10 lakhs for 2 years (63,029 Euro).

3.9.6. Learning and Cooperation:
The learning in the past has influenced JASuL to focus on restoration of water bodies, and Tamil Nadu has 39366 small ponds and lakes. Secondly to campaign against the privatization of water and ensuring Community Rights over the water. Thirdly, lobbying and advocacy with governments for enacting people centred policies on water issues and promoting broad based mass movement for water justice and justice in other livelihood resources. JASuL has gained significant knowledge, understanding, insights and implementation aspects of the World Bank’s project IAMWARM. However, the dissemination of the experience has been confined to the grassroots people or CBOs or NGOs from the particular areas / districts where the scheme is being implemented.

3.9.7. Findings and Analysis:
As it is seen from the interventions and the progress as reported under 4.9.4, JASuL has collaboration with their zonal and district convenors and they have been facilitating activities of awareness on the issues of land, water and environment. They have also been able to come together as CBOs and as farmers with their consciousness on the issues raised by JASuL. However, the process or the interventions are yet to yield concrete visible impact and it could be a possibility at the longer-term. As indicated earlier IAMWARM is a World Bank loan scheme and is being implemented in 19 districts of Tamil Nadu state. A closer insight into the scheme on Irrigated Agriculture Intensification Program (IAIP) – Hanumanadhi Model Project indicates that it is with a budget of about Rs. 120 crores. The main activities are building supply channel, strengthening the bund and slice repairing. The schemes cover about 10000 water tanks in 19 districts out of the total of about 36000 tanks accounted in the whole of TN. JASuL has identified this as an issue to be taken up collectively and accordingly it is aligning its intervention plans. JASuL’s present position on IAMWARM project of the World Bank: “We can not stop that programme. Next alternative is to capacitate people for critical participation. Transparency from the government side (RTI act) and critical participation from farmers' side and our role will be to facilitate the critical participation from the farmers’ side. Though we accept the physical implementation of IAMWARM, we are not in favour of the conditions dictated by the World Bank and the final goal of privatization. Our role is to help the people to understand the World Bank involvement and to stand against the privatization”. Members of the Centre for Development and Communication Trust (CENDECT), a quasi government setup, support JASuL in conducting studies such as the one on IAMWARM. Dr Pachamaal who is also the founding member of JASuL is a board member of CENDECT, and he provides the working link between the two organizations. Subsequent to the studies, JASuL gets involved in disseminating information to the NGOs and become link for NGOs. As mutual support, the network NGOs of JASuL participates in CENDECT’s projects in the rural areas. From CENDECT, Dr. Marimuthu, (who took part in the Self-appraisal meeting at JASuL) involved in JASuL studies both Endangered Livelihood Resources in Tamil Nadu and Hanumanadhi model project as the member of JASuL on behalf of Dr. Pachamaal not from his institutional capacity.

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Farmers are now aware of the IAMWARM as the instrument for water privatization and thanks to the contribution of JASuL to the information dissemination process. JASuL involvement has created enthusiasm on the concerns of IAMWARM. The question is what JASuL should do? JASuL is grappling with the concerns. According to the farmers, JASuL should continue and should take concerted efforts to disseminate information on the scheme as still a good portion of the people in the villages are not willing to listen to the critical areas of the scheme, and hence awareness creation is very crucial. The information should reach the panchayat presidents, members and existing people’s associations as well. Secondly, people should get involved in the planning and implementation of the scheme, and that involves collective demand from the people to the government. So far the farmers have participated in meetings but not planned out the actions for this particular IAMWARM. So far there were 4 regional level meetings but all the farmers may not have participated in all the meetings. From these 4 regional meetings, JASuL has formed State Level Farmers Associations' (SLFA) Ad hoc Committee at state level. State level Ad-hoc Committee has met first time during the appraisal meeting, but JASuL has a plan aimed at one Farmers consultation about SLFA formation and another big event (one day conference) at state level through mass mobilization for raising JASuL's demands to the state, central government and World bank. Still SLFA is in the beginning but it is a ongoing process for unifying farmers against neoliberal policies in the local context. It is important for the Farmers Associations to take position on the issue. But the farmers feel that it is difficult to get the party oriented farmers’ associations to come in support. But what is possible is to bring the non-party farmers associations from the regions / districts where the scheme is being implemented. There are 3 such farmers associations and they can be brought together first and plan it or strategize the future actions with the NGO partners and JASuL. There can be joint and independent decision between farmers associations and JASuL. ATM is impressed with the wide number of NGOs working together and the voluntary work provided by the NGOs or the CBOs for taking up the local issues. There are committed members in JASuL and in its partner NGOs. IAMWARM has been the focus of JASuL during the last two years. JASuL conducted a study on the issues of IAMWARM and CENDECT members who are involved in JASuL have participated also to the study team. Subsequently district and state level discussions / consultations, trainings and awareness activities have been carried out based on the findings of the study. It has become clear to the farmers that IAMWARM is an instrument to the privatization of water. It is important task for political party too including the rightist parties to take up the issue. JASuL has attempted already to include the political parties in the process. But the political parties have their own vested interest. The major political parties seem to be taking the opposite side of the peoples’ interests. Though JASuL started is interventions with broader objectives but it has been more relevant on the issue of IAMWARM. The emerging SLAF can have focus as forum for small and marginal farmers and not be swallowed by the interest of the large farmers. JASuL has to be cautious and has to become clear with the concept or stance prior to approaching the people or govt and World Bank representatives.

Recommendations:
• • It is important to analyze the crucial aspects of networking that have worked effectively and document them so that others can use this experience. JASuL has to consolidate the awareness and enthusiasm created among the farmers & CBOs in the issues related to the World Bank Scheme, IAMWARM. If it is not done properly and in 69 | 101

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• •





time the people’s confidence in JASuL will fade away. Such a situation will make no relevance anymore for the network to exist. JASuL has to continue focus on awareness on the issue of IAMWARM. Need to review the contribution of the staff members (4 members) and how it can be handled; salary, manageable work etc. The coordination of JASuL has to be strengthened for effective delivery of results. The presentations (slides) should have data and more specifics, and should not be in general. Secondly, it would be good to have time limit and plan the presentation before the meetings – some took too much time and some little. Perhaps the meetings should be planned out with more breaks in between. The appraisal team observes the involvement of very few women in the whole process, activities and in the NGO partners. The self-appraisal process witnessed scanty representation of women. There has to be conscious efforts in the future for the involvement of women10.

10

In an e-mail JASuL has sent a resposnse to this gender question: Special attention has been given to promote women leadership in decision-making structures of JASuL at District level. Usually, if the convener is a mal,e the co-convener will have to be a female and vice versa. Women Leadership constitutes 40% of the total leadership. Elections were already held in 29 districts. As per the last report (Jan – June 2008) Annexure A, From district committee leadership, 15 women represent either as convener or co convener

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CHAPTER – 4 Overall Analysis 4.1. General Impact - TN Program:
The following are the significant indicators to the impacts of the Tamil Nadu Program generated with the support and cooperation of Siemenpuu during the last 5 years (2004-2008). Please refer Chapter-4 for more details on the impact indicators. The impact has been largely with the support of SF but there might have been contributions from other sources in some places, and the SF support has been helpful to scale up the impact in many cases. The contribution and cooperation of SF has helped to look at issues according to geographical situation and connecting them as a whole. The money contribution might have been limited but the cooperation or support of SF other than of money, has been very helpful as well. The grassroots groups have also contributed to the strengthening of the process and the impact.

What is the level of intensity in the different impact created?
The finding from the appraisal is that the impact or intensity of interventions may not be spread at same intensity at wider level in the state of Tamil Nadu but “it is happening significantly across TN”. The support in the Northern Tamil Nadu has however been less extensive than elsewhere. Good numbers of farmers now come forward to adapt sustainable agriculture practices in the project areas of the partners. There is growing awareness among the farmers and the momentum is created at the grassroots level and there is large scope for more farmers to adapt sustainable agriculture methods in the following years. There is reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers. In the same way the farmers also now practice organic methods in pest control in the project areas. Practical demonstration of SRI has brought about attitudinal change among the farmers about the cultivation. (See LEISAErode in the previous chapter.) Good numbers of acres of fallow lands have been converted to agro farming in the project areas. Considerable profit has been earned by the farmers. Farmers’ collectives have been formed and farmers’ families have adopted alternative livelihood in the project areas of the partners. Techniques of organic farming such as mulching, vermi-compost, and organic pest control have been widespread in the project areas. Water conservation, green coverage has been adopted in the villages covered by the projects. The replicability of the practice is quite large and is spreading considerably. (See LEISADindigul in the previous chapter.) Beneficiary families from 2 villages in Dindigul district or the 42 dalit women herbal collectors themselves have added value to the herbs process, preparing medicines and selling on their own as against selling raw herbs. Many people have become aware of the various types of herbs and know the techniques of preparing medicine. Income has augmented to the families from the 2 villages. Value added in the production process, standardization and quality control in production has been enhanced. (See Y-NEEW in the previous chapter.) Land alienation has been prevented and the rate of alienation has been reduced in Virudhunagar & Ramnad District. The panchayats have been motivated and they have resolved not to sell the land to outsiders. Drinking water problem has been solved by the panchayat by demarking one pond for drinking water purpose and another pond only for cattle. The villagers themselves maintain and upgrade the system further. (See ODAM in the previous chapter.) 71 | 101

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The casualty / mortality rate of cattle has been very much reduced to about 30% in the project area of a partner through the Bare-Foot Veterinarians which increased accessibility to medical attention to the cattle. In all it has increased the income of the households and the bare-foot veterinarians income increased. (See PAD in the previous chapter.) The usury system has been stopped by provision of loans to the fishermen. Now 37 Vallams covering 185 families have been redeemed from usury. Fishermen Cooperatives have come into existence with family membership. (See PAD in the previous chapter.) Environment campaign has strengthened 30 districts through campaign and advocacy efforts through lawyers collective, environmentalists’ collective, and scientists collective. Members have been enrolled throughout the State and each district has about 50 activists. Besides, more and more grassroots people from the districts come forward to join the campaigns. (See TNEC in the previous chapter.) Created good number of activists in 29 districts across the State through Study Circles, and they are made politically sensitive to the issues of livelihood, environment and development schemes / projects that are anti-people and anti-environment. (See JASuL in the previous chapter) Members are enrolled and networks / forums of farmers are established; organic farmers associations in 3 districts, district level organic farmers associations in 3 districts, Sustainable Livelihood Farmers Associations (SLFA) in 19 districts where IAMWARM project of World Bank is being implemented, and network / state level ad-hoc committee of SLFA. The project IAMWARM is taken up at a wider level to make it favourable to the farmers. Farmers associations have been formed in villages where the partners have their field base and have planted good number of fruit and timber trees. Thus the people’s local collective efforts in the level of their communities, at the level of districts and state have been able to guide the program in line with the crucial objectives of the TN Program of “selfreliant and sustainable community-level use and management of land, water and environment”. (See JASuL in the previous chapter.) Similarly, many of the tribal villages in Erode and Salem district where network partners have their field base hoisted Tribal Self Rule Flags, and grama sabha has been formed in about 250 adivasi villages. The concept and practice of “self rule” has been spread. The rights of grama sabha have been written in tribal village that are practicing self rule concepts such as selling the NTFP on their own, demanding the government schemes, safeguarding their culture and tradition and taking up efforts to claim their entitlement under the new forest act 2006. As is indicated under sub-sections 3.5.3 & 3.5.4 of this report, good number of tribal families was able to reclaim their land for livelihood with environment friendly cultivation practices. Thus the practice of “self-rule” has helped the tribal communities to be a collective force in solving, clarifying and correcting the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality and to enable the communities decide about the sustainable use of their local environment. (See TAFSC in the previous chapter.) The activities are not stagnant and they are progressively producing results and some of the progressive indicators towards generating impact are: (a) regarding the herbal medicine production, the process moves into getting license for marketing the medicines in the open market. (b) People take their own initiatives in addressing the local issues motivated by the NGO partners. (c) The adivasis are convinced of their land and forest rights and constantly make collective demands for ensuring their rights. (d) Demand for a separate Ministry on Water and Water Resources Protection is on its way. (e) 5 organic food and input shops have been opened in Dindigul, Erode and Madurai. Farmers are gearing up to get better prices for organically cultivated vegetables. It also helps the promotion of awareness among the consumers. Out of the five, 2 shops are in the beginning stage and are still in the process of being established.

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4.2. What difference SF’s Cooperation has made to the Partners in TN Program?
There has been a wide diversity in the amounts of financial support which different partners have received from SF. The results of the work of different partners naturally reflect quite well the different amounts of financial support which they have got. 11 Difference from Cooperation: The following are culled out as the difference in projects or programs before and after the cooperation from SF. In other words, the following are the differences made from the distribution of funds from SF and succeeded in realizing self-reliant and sustainable community-level use, governance and management. a) Earlier, due to paucity of funds, the reaching out was very minimal. Now, they could take up and address wide variety of issues in all parts of Tamil Nadu. Secondly, earlier network like TNEC focused only with the people who are affected by environment issue. Now, they have made links with intellectuals like lawyers, doctors and scientists to make them also feel responsible for the social issues. b) With SHG growth and Tsunami programmes, the NGOs in TN had a shift moving away from ‘rights based approach’ but the continuous voices of SF partners in livelihood issues and with ‘rights perspective’, now it is found that lots of other NGOs in TN also have started focusing on livelihood issues with right perspective. c) There is good documentation of issues, research findings and experiences in the implementation which helped for wider dissemination. There is wider sharing, looking into the new dimensions of issues and addressing them in strategically planned ways. d) The space for livelihood has been increased and introduction of diversification in livelihood options. e) Working space is created in herbal collectors Network. Earlier it was an idea for seven years and now it is realised. Earlier the herbal collectors were individual collectors but now as collectives which has increased their bargaining power. The herbal collectors now have value added market. f) Types of programmes, the partners address have changed from one single focus to wider livelihood issues. There are new initiatives like ‘zero budgeting’, ‘very low external input’ etc in sustainable agriculture practices. g) Take up wide variety of issues; from mere dalit or environment to multiple approach or integrated issues / approach. Documentation and creation of data based documentation through researches, economic income and depletion of income in poor households, environment, traditional medicines, etc. h) Partners have learnt a lot in different aspects related to environment such as water, forest, land, bio fuel techniques. The relationship with Fair Trade practice has begun after the cooperation with SF. i) Earlier individual farmers focussed in sustainable farming but now widened their initiatives and have come together as network. With the base work from LEISA support, the timely support from SF has helped LEISA to consolidate and strengthen the earlier work and move towards the next phase. Along with the focus on collective usage of land, seed purchasing and marketing the campaign mode is adopted subsequent to the partnership with SF.

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4.3. How has the Siemenpuu support affected the local power structure between the (a) different NGOs, (b) networks and (c) project partners?
Relationship at different levels: a) The formation of TNCT has helped a lot in understanding the SF process. There is transparency and quick communication which makes the partners feel comfortable. b) Partners do not feel the presence of SF as threatening but consider as a collective on equal planes. The partners’ meeting makes the individual partners feel the space for sharing experiences and learning from each other rather than mere reporting. The relationship with SF is mutual with comfortable feeling of articulating oneself. Among the partners, there is a sense of solidarity to support the issues addressed by other partners. c) TN is known for networks and only selective NGOs come together on issue based. Given this situation, it is good to see the solidarity among the TN Partners of SF. d) However, difference of opinion comes up in SF partners too, which is natural, but there is a healthy effort to live with differences. There is a common understanding to cooperate with each other in spite of the differences. Regarding the “power sharing”: There is clear channel of communication at different levels (TN Partners & TNCT, TNCT & SF). After the TNCT was formed the partners were able to accept and understand better the other partners & partner networks, by • discussing with the partners the need for regular and systematic reports was emphasised. • reports were collected consolidated and sent it to SF on time. • during partners meeting we get to know better each other. • whenever a state-level activity is launched by one network other networks also join – such as cultural yatra on environment, campaign for water ministry, campaign and agitation to put down zindal iron industry, agitation against CMZ etc. Nevertheless, there are different needs felt by different partners on that how the Core Team could be widened in some ways to include different new members in a balanced and equal way. Inclusion of woman representation was another concern. It is recommended that TN Partners and SF come to a decision on this concern soon. Secondly, there is an outstanding concern in the relationship between NAA, TAFSC & CAFAT, and also in the relationship between TAFSC & CAFAT. It is recommended that the concerned members sit together and resolve the conflict of interests at the earliest. It would be important to communicate to SF as well the understanding and resolutions arrived at.

4.4. How relevant and what is the effectiveness of the program or cooperation of TN Program & SF?
There is growing anti-people and environmentally un-friendly policies and tribal lands are being taken over by the multi-nationals. There is a need for a radical shift and alternatives; from market force to people centred. Isolated activities may not be sufficient and there is relevance in terms of networking, alliance at the macro levels including political parties, church organizations etc. Community based initiatives is very crucial at the present time / context and in the era of globalization where the local communities are gradually losing control over their local resources. The decisions of adivasis or farmers are normally made based on the values and culture but it is now done elsewhere and it goes against the traditional system which protected the local resources.

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The TN Program has responded keeping the above as their basic understanding. The following examples are indicative of the relevance and the effectiveness of the efforts in favour of better environment, sustainable agriculture, rights of tribal etc. The ongoing struggle for the implementation Forest Regulation Action (FRA) has been strengthened with the cooperation of Siemenpuu. This helps 30,000 tribal families with traditional and customary rights who otherwise have no supporters. The thrust for sustainable agricultural practices helped 2400 families to get shifted from inorganic farming to organic farming. Their family income has improved, external input has decreased, land alienation has been checked and converted barren land into cultivable land. Farmers’ technical knowledge on organic farming has increased and there is gradual policy change in agriculture sector towards organic farming. Advocacy campaign for coastal rights involved about a population of 125,000 into collectives and fisher cooperatives. It is relevant to use the existing legal provisions and accordingly 131 villages were sensitized on Right to Information Act, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or PRI Act by providing information and strengthening the peoples struggle. Campaigned on restoration water bodies by creating mass awareness and campaigned against surface water privatization policies of the World Bank. Without such resistance the people at the grassroots will be taken for granted and exploited to the core. Established various dialogue forums such as advocates, environmentalists and scientists, in a situation where the onslaught of industries and multinational companies in collaboration with the local governments is high. This way the different sections of the public were offered common platform to express their solidarity and concerns. Promoted and strengthened Farmers organizations in 63 sub basin areas in Tamil Nadu responding to the vested interests of the World Bank’s irrigation scheme. Thus the grassroots are organized and helped to work collectively with more vigour. These kinds of efforts have been crucial to promote the essential objective of the program, “people's local collective efforts to build self-reliant and sustainable community-level use and management of land, water and environment” (see above 1.2.1.). It is important in this respect however to reflect how has this focus of communities' local collective efforts been able to guide also the decisions of the program itself. According to the ToR of the “Appraisal of the co-operation between Siemenpuu Foundation and Tamil Nadu India Programme” the scope of the appraisal will be guided also by “a learning process linked to sustainable local community self-rule as defined by those living within sustainable communities”, helping also “in solving, clarifying and correcting the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality” to “enable the communities decide about the sustainable use of their local environment.” (2.1. and 2.3. of the ToR) TNCT encourage the partners to involve the people in planning, shaping and formulating the proposal and implementation and evaluating the project. Most partners follow the participatory approaches in planning and implementation process and it should be integrated in the regular work. The “Agreement on goals and general nature of Siemenpuu India Cooperation Program” says on this 75 | 101

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that: “Tamil Nadu Core Team strengthens local communities' collective efforts to build self-reliant and sustainable livelihood” so that the Core Team works also “by community-level problem solving also to clarify and correct the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality.” Therefore, while we are pleased that many of the supported groups are based on community level work, it would be important for the program to consider and assess also how do all the Core Team members and other partners see the way how the funds have been shared and how could the cooperation empower community level decision making within the program and its management.

4.5. Project & Process Management:
How the project level management is being practiced?
a) Planning: The partners keep the global and national context in mind while planning. They consult the CBOs, conduct random survey with the active participation of community and staff / organization, and involve the chief functionary of the organization. They facilitate participatory methods of setting the goal, objectives and activities for the interventions. Most often, the process may not happen as strictly as described but there is a process in which all the stakeholders are consulted. The Chapter-3 has dedicated a section for ‘Project & Process Management’ under each of the project. They amply indicate the formal & informal ways in which the planning is done at the project level. At the level of Siemenpuu the planning is carried out by the India Group consisting of members within SF and members from cooperation program at Finland level. The India Group has sub-groups on the 3 specific themes and they are (a) dialogues, advocacy & campaign on ecological democracy, (b) sustainable agriculture and livelihood and (c) Adivasis & their rights, protecting wild forest and environment with which people can live from the natural renewal of wilds. b) Monitoring: Based on the plan, there is ongoing check to finding whether the plan is achieved or not and undertake course corrections depending on the findings. Some of the partners have fixed formats through which the information / data on the happenings & results are collected & collated periodically. The collection of periodic data on the happenings differ from the ‘project activities’ and ‘campaigns’. The project activities provide more quantity data whereas more quality data from the campaign activities. Monitoring and collection of data is done through formats prescribed by each organisation and analysis is done. Almost 30 to 40% organisations are using this method and based on the analysis, the plan restructuring also is done. Half-yearly mid-term assessment & internal assessment, review at a higher coordinator level, at village development committees level. Monitoring is happening at the project level but again it is quite informal and there is less systematic documentation of the monitoring activities & findings.

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c) Evaluation: So far no external or internal evaluation has taken place to the project supported by SF. This appraisal is the first one which is being done with external team of facilitators.

How the program level management is being practiced at TNCT?
a) Planning: At the TNCT level (i) it is in the form of consolidation of the planning which comes up from the project level planning; (ii) TNCT prepares context paper with focus on the program priority of Siemenpuu; (iii) context paper is consulted with the networks and consolidated; and (iv) facilitates pre-planning process which involves capacity building of partners. It is felt collectively during the discussion with the partners of TNCT that the planning in the future has to be more interactive and systematic involving all the stakeholders. Such process could involve the community in the planning thereby in the management at the TNCT level. b) Implementation & Monitoring: In order to strengthen the implementation process, TNCT organized a workshop titled Perspective Building for the partners of TNCT. It might be relevant that monitoring can be done in the future phase periodically and on need basis. In the ToR of the TNCT there is written that TNCT can “help Siemenpuu Foundation in monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the projects” and that there is mandate for: “Evaluation (to evaluate the realisation of the objectives of the project), only if felt by Siemenpuu Foundation... once in three years or five years, evaluation could be conducted” so that “a team of evaluators both internal and external would evaluate the projects.” With TNCT's future mandate to appoint external evaluators, Siemenpuu and the whole Core Team would need thus to participate to define how can the externality of such evaluator be ensured to have an equal neutrality towards all the partners and towards anybody responsible for negotiating the contract on payment/employment of the external Lead Author. In the implementation process TNCT also takes the responsibility for organizing partners meetings and coordinating the visitors from SF. TNCT also plays another important role of compiling and providing articles for publication in North-South magazine. In terms of applications for partnership or decisions on inclusion of potential NGOs or Networks in the TN Partners are left to SF. So far TNCT received no application directly from NGOs or Networks but they are directed via SF for studies & recommendation. SF does the preliminary study and scrutiny prior to sending the applications to TNCT. TNCT prefers this way in order that TNCT does not play a role of “donor” which has certain dynamics and danger, and it is not healthy for the effectiveness of the TN Program. In relation to the new project supports of 2009 there has been some obscurity regarding this – still after the Self Appraisal tour. There has been insufficient information sharing in inviting the concept papers/ proposals by the TNCT conveners' side and by the Siemenpuu office. What would be exactly SF responsibility in 'preliminary study and scrutiny' is left quite open in the program ToR but in reality it depends crucially on practices organised for that how the concept papers are invited from the Indian partners. As far as one person/organisation acts as the only one who decides which are the groups to be informed how or when concept papers or proposals to apply funds can be sent, one adopts a 77 | 101

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problematic position in relation to playing a role of “donor”. (Especially as far as Siemenpuu and most of the Core Team are not even aware of the practice and criteria how, and which, groups are invited to send concept papers). On the whole, TNCT plays a coordinating role and being liaison between SF-Finland and TN Program. However, there is a need to make the role and responsibilities of TNCT clearer with more specificity. A special attention has to be provided in specifying the monitoring role of TNCT as it is bit tricky and dynamic. However, it could be made in such a way that the monitoring or internal evaluations are done periodically and on need basis with or without external consultants. But there has to be well articulated purpose and ToR to the exercise of monitoring or internal evaluations which could be a “regular occurrence”. TNCT should play an objective mediatory role in this process. The external evaluation is something which occurs during the end of a program period of 3 years or 5 years where a team of members and external consultants are brought in. These evaluations should give role for the representatives from the community; practically community representative can also be in the evaluation team. According to the ToR the assessment which happens “once in three years or five years” would be made by “a team of evaluators both internal and external” and as agreed by the whole of the Core Team and Siemenpuu Foundation. c) Reporting: collects the periodical report from the partners, consolidates the report and shared it with SF and all the partners of SF. There is no scrutiny of the reports in comparison with the proposed project plans of individual project. It is recommended that TNCT plays a role of facilitator. It would mean that the reporting has to be made not just mandatory but has to be made more meaningful and user-friendly at the project or TNCT level. The reports of the partners have to be scrutinized as well in relation to their proposed plans within the TN Program. d) Feedback: Response to the report submitted to SF has been in the form of clarification from the SF Desk and during the visits to the partners from the SF representatives. The feedback on the report is also shared during visit of representative from TNCT to SF / Finland and TNCT members are given opportunity for interaction with the staff of SF and Finland government officials. There was also opportunity created by SF for wider dissemination of the report in Finland. In fact SF uses some models of TNCT for wider dissemination and published core studies from TNCT in North-South magazines. e) Funds Sharing: The over-view of the grants (Refer Annex-2) decided and distributed indicates two patterns; greater share for networks compared to the share to individual NGOs. It is quite understandable as the networks have wider geographical area, cover more member organizations and undertake more number of activities in comparison to the individual NGOs. The TN Partners feel the funds given to individual partners or district level networks are insufficient. f) Gender Balance: TNCT has to ensure that in the Core Team and in the project level management there needs to be a gender balance / equation maintained consciously. At present, the Core Team has only male members though there are efforts to resolve the concern. The same concern is extended to the TN partners as well; how many of the TN partners are headed by woman? How many of the NGO partners of the networks are headed 78 | 101

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by woman? These are some of the questions. The answer is that it is a ‘serious concern’ which has to be resolved gradually with serious efforts at all levels. g) Overall Governance: Thus far the governance of the TN Program with the facilitation of Core Team and the Convenor has been quite good and effective. But it also belongs to the TN Core Team's tasks to strengthen local communities' collective efforts to build self-reliance so that the Core Team works also “by community-level problem solving”, “also to clarify and correct the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality” (“Agreement on goals and general nature of Siemenpuu India Cooperation Program”). The Core Team members have collectively wide and multi-dimensional experience in the governance of networks and community-level practices, and they have used their experiences. However, areas as indicated earlier (monitoring, interactive / participatory planning and scrutiny of reports / consolidation of reports of the partners) require attention in the future and TNCT has mandates in these areas. It would be thus particularly important basis for this that all the Core Team members will consider, assess and give their views on that how do they see the way how the funds got shared and how the program administration works in this regard and also in other respects. It would be also good that TNCT has a clear list of ‘dos’ and don’ts and decentralized responsibilities within its overall objective of guiding the program. As a first step, TNCT can initiate interactions among themselves and come out with a detailed list of roles and responsibilities in the background of their past experience and the recommendations of the ‘appraisal’. It can subsequently be discussed with SF and decided upon.

How do the alliance between project at the partners or networks level and program at the TNCT or SF level takes place?
The individual NGO partners either fitted their projects into SF program or joined the program of SF or shared with the SF program. The question of ownership for the total program by all the program and project partners has to be felt. The ‘ownership’ for the three program objectives of SF is blurring and it has to be strengthened with conscious efforts at all levels and especially at the level of SF. To start with SF has to involve members from TNCT to be part of the planning of the next phase. To have program we have to have projects. There has to be balanced importance to networks and NGO partners in future, whether it is for creating models or campaign activities. Otherwise there could be artificial creation of networks. All the major impact indicators have come up from the partner organizations. Need to develop political conscious / position and should be moving out from ‘a political’ positioning.

4.6. Learning and Cooperation:
Four charts with questions12 were presented by the ATM for participants to respond on the ‘learning processes’ in the co-operation between TN partners, TNCT and SF. The following is the outcome culled out from the response and discussions with the partners.

12

1. What has been the learning process? (for the whole partnership, relationship, programmes, India-programmes, partnership Fin-India etc)

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a) What has been the learning process? Moving towards collective functioning (agree to disagree but live with it and work together), enriching perspective in the collective process, collective perspective & group learning, collective responsibility, democratic functioning, on equal platforms – sharing and teaching, joint action, different activity and group sharing, process between the present situation to the desired situation. The other learning from the process was issue-based solidarity, giving importance to CBOs, collectively sharing, supporting, co-operating and consistently giving solidarity. The examples are: the solidarity during the CMZ protest, Sedu Ship Cannel Project protest, and campaign against Zindal company mining, sand mining etc., To work towards a ‘change’ common understanding and common action is essential. Program level planning and implementation and monitoring needed as they are in ‘project level’. The “success” of cooperation program is fitting well to a ripe base/situation in TN for a movement & NGO cooperation towards better environment and livelihood sources of people.

b) How has the learning process been shared with wider circles?
The sharing of ‘learning’ has been through reports, perspective building meetings / workshops / seminars, newsletters & books, research & report publications like North South Perspectives-magazine, Wild Forest (publication). It has also been through other forums like WSF, e-forums, Web pages, and YouTube. The sharing of learning has also been with CBOs/focus group, ‘people for self development’, through network, e-mail campaigns, discussion with partners/network meetings, and joint planning.

c) How has the project /program contributed towards mutual learning?
The mutual learning has been through Partner's meeting / workshop, participating in others' programs (networks), records / reports / management system, study circle, etc. After the formation of TNCT in 2006, many opportunities were created for the partners to come together at Tamilnadu and India level towards mutual learning. On an average, yearly two times this sort of mutual learning takes place. This process should be intensified in the future.

d) How has the partnership contributed to the co-operation on development between:
(i) North and South? Global issues have gained local faces, focused intervention & state to state collaboration, made state an active partner, networked, and publication of NSP &Wild Forest. After formation of TNCT, the Tamilnadu partners have participated at least at WSF Nairobi, ISF at Delhi, UNFCCC Bali. This has developed south-south cooperation between Sri Lanka and Tamilnadu towards addressing the Sedu Shipping Cannel Project issue. The process is still going on. (ii) Within South? Co-operation between TN and Sri Lanka on Sedhu Samudram Shipping Canal Project, sharing TNCT’s experience with Indonesia SF partners, and SF co-operation partners’ sharing meetings. It is important to note that TN co-operation is regarded as a fruitful model for other areas / countries.

2. If there has been learning, how has it been shared between a wider circle/network? (shared with e.g. a network, national level, how has learning been shared?) 3. In terms of project/program, what has been the mutual learning? (from a network to other, from you to NAA, SADED or vice versa..) 4. How has the partnership contributed to the co-operation on development between: (a) North and South? (b) Within South? (c) Within North?

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(iii) Within North? SF works with many likeminded activist organizations and the cooperation is seen as a valuable approach to be implemented by others. The co-operation program has opened other new exchange and learning opportunities and understanding the reality of the South and extending solidarity

4.7. Analysis on ‘Strengths and Weakness’:
In order to analyze the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ of SF-TN Program co-operation each participant was given chance to make his or her individual opinion on separate sheets of paper, then the sheets were collected, clarified, analyzed and summarized.

a) Strengths:
Democratic and clear power structure, state level solidarity, mutual commitment, cordial relationship, regular meetings among the partners and transparency & cohesiveness take the top rank in the strength. Next in the rank are that the state networks have wider coverage, common goals, address environment and livelihood issues, dissemination of materials & knowledge exchange. Third in the rank are organizing, guidance and capacity building, evolution of partnership structures, recognizing individual partner’s capacity, research and documentation capacity, dialogue / sharing or coordinated efforts and maturity to work with differences. The least in the rank of strength are timely and unique support, participatory partnership model, quick conflict resolution, understanding the global context, following systems and procedures, North-South cooperation, people centred approach / right based approach or perspective, conceptual clarity and collective decision.

b) Weaknesses:
Insufficient fund and lack of assurance for continued funding was on the top rank of the weakness in the SF-TN Program cooperation. Next in the rank of weakness were the approach is project oriented than process-oriented, lack of process oriented project planning, lack of coordination among the partners and short notice for meetings. The other weak areas pointed out by the partners, which rank the last in the importance were support to similar projects, tendency for individualist approach, domination of established NGOs, lack of common planning, lack of support for reporting, non-release of funds in time, lack of monitoring and evaluation, creating more networks, lack of activities to strengthen convergence between different networks, lack of opportunities to enhance S-S and N-S cooperation, lesser importance to North part of Tamil Nadu and lack of regular partners meetings.

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5. Recommendations: 5.1. SF Level:
As it is apparent from the findings and analysis of the individual and network partners of TN Program the cooperation of Siemenpuu has contributed to impact in the three areas; (a) dialogues, advocacy & campaign on ecological democracy, (b) sustainable agriculture and livelihood and (c) Adivasis & their rights, protecting wild forest and environment with which people can live from the natural renewal of wilds in Tamil Nadu. The cooperation of Siemenpuu has made visible differences (i) to the interventions of the partners, (ii) to the continuity of the development process – ecological democracy, sustainable agriculture, livelihoods & adivasis rights, (iii) to taking side with the specific sections of the society (adivasis, small & marginal farmers, dalit women herbal collectors, fisher people, etc) who are vulnerable in the onslaught of globalization, (iv) to dissemination and exchange of learning and (v) to providing added value to the development thinking and approaches to pursue. The cooperation of SF needs to be continued in stronger ways of financial support, North-South exchange and including TNCT in the planning process of SF as a whole.

5.2. TNCT Level:
TNCT has been playing an important role in facilitating the TN Program in a proper stream of thinking, supporting the partners in their capacity, linking them with the TNCT, supporting SF with required documentation & organizing / coordinating the visits of SF, conforming potential partners and consolidating the reports of TN partners. The role of the Convenor and the Core Team Members have been visible and in a congenial way towards achieving the program objectives of Siemenpuu. However, it is felt collectively during the discussion with the partners of TN Program that the planning has to be more interactive and systematic involving all the stakeholders in the future. The next phase is an opportunity to demonstrate a better interactive planning process for TN Program. On the whole, TNCT plays a coordinating role and being liaison between SF-Finland and TN Program. However, there is a need to make the role and responsibilities of TNCT clearer. A special attention has to be provided in specifying the role of identifying potential partners or monitoring role of TNCT as it is bit tricky and dynamic. However, it could be made in such a way that the monitoring or internal evaluations are done periodically and on need basis with or without external consultants. But there has to be well articulated purpose and ToR to the exercise of monitoring or internal evaluations which could be a “regular occurrence”. TNCT should play an objective mediatory role in this process. The external evaluation is something which occurs during the end of a program period of 3 years or 5 years where a team of members and external consultants are brought in and TNCT plays a facilitating role. Conscious efforts have to be taken to ensure there is gender balance in the membership of TNCT and in the leadership of TN Program partners. There has also been commitment to some kind of rotation inside the Core Team and its Convener and to possible expansion of the Core Team. The Core Team has not in practice had so much work than originally planned in assessing and processing beforehand diverse applications from Tamil Nadu. This is due to that the amount of support has not increased in any significant way from the start of the program. So, the support has 82 | 101

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covered mostly projects and organisations that were already supported during the start of the cooperation program instead of allowing space for new projects or approaches in a significant way. TNCT could thus focus the work further on activating the community-level governance practices as the essential commitment within the program. The Core Team members have collectively wide and multi-dimensional experience on the community-level governance practices. This diversity of experiences should be utilised in relation to how the funds are shared, in program and project planning and implementation etc. And it would be crucial that the TNCT as a channel for empowering the community-level self-governance can start to utilise better also other community life's own experiences of its processes in guiding the program. All Core Team members should consider, assess and give their views on that how do they see the way how the funds are or should be applied and shared and how the program administration works also in respect to the following questions: - How are the aspects of the community-level governance/decision-making present and empowered within the TNCT program governance? - How could different communities, partners and decentralised community processes participate/contribute to plan, guide and decide the distribution/allocation and use of program's resources in future? - How far has the current overall distribution of Siemenpuu funds by TNCT been adequate to enable communities to decide over their sustainable use of environment through community-level problem solving? - How can the experience which exists in the Core Team on different areas of Tamil Nadu and on their different types of communities be utilised in planning, selecting and managing the work and projects to be supported? For realising the important role of the communities' self-reliant decisions in the program, there might be needed in TNCT more decentralised responsibilities and more participatory planning regarding the various dimensions of the community life and its processes and how can these be better supported by that how the funds are shared. The TNCT members feel that the functioning of the Core Team has become excessively convener centric over time. The responsibilities of TNCT have not been adequately shared among the members. All the reports of TNCT were not jointly studied in the core team meetings and rectified. The TOR was not referred time to time in the core team meetings.

5.3. TNCT Partners’ Level:
Recommendations to the partners at the individual NGOs or Networks level are already reflected in Chapter-4 in details. The details provide the relevance, effectiveness and impact generated by the TN Program partners have been significant and been in line with the overall program objectives of Siemenpuu. On the other hand, there is tendency among the partners to be more project-oriented than process oriented especially the individual NGO partners. This may suggest that in the cooperation in the future there could be given more importance to equal partnership with and between the networks. Their learning and cooperation has been sufficient enough to make themselves relevant - however the learning and sharing has largely been limited within the project areas and the State Tamil Nadu. The project and process management of the partners has been both informal and formal ways, but it would be necessary to make more systematic management of planning, implementation and monitoring. 83 | 101

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Appraisal of the co-operation between Siemenpuu Foundation and Tamil Nadu India Programme

Terms of Reference (TOR)
December 2008 1. Objective and purpose of the appraisal
The primary intention of this self-appraisal is to shed light on the impacts of Siemenpuu Tamil Nadu cooperation programme. The appraisal will also seek to underline lessons learnt and good practice from the specific projects and the general cooperation programme. The aim of the self-appraisal is to help the partners involved to further develop their work and cooperation both in strategic issues as well as developing the administrative framework of the cooperation. One of the operational objectives of Siemenpuu is to be innovative in the evolution of democratic solutions that define new ways of mutual learning, understanding of development and formulating ways of engagement that are meaningful not only to Siemenpuu and her partners but to the wider global society. This appraisal mission is one such attempt where we endeavour to combine an evaluation perspective to a participatory appraisal process that reviews the different levels of engagement (Siemenpuu to partners, partner to partners, partners to local communities etc). It is hoped that this process will enrich our understanding of the north-south civil society cooperation and open up new ways of assessing the impacts of development. The self-appraisal will specifically; Appraise the relevance, effectiveness and impacts of the specific projects and the Tamil Nadu cooperation programme; Appraise the management processes of the co-operation programme and the partners both in Finland and India Appraise how the cooperation programme has managed to progress towards achieving the set goals of the cooperation partners and their planning of development processes. It is anticipated that the findings of the appraisal will contribute to the strategic development activities and processes within the Tamil Nadu partners, the Tamil Nadu Cooperation programme, Siemenpuu Foundation and others outside of this cooperation.

2. Scope of the appraisal
In the appraisal and evaluation process, the scope of the exercise will be guided by the Tamil Nadu Cooperation Programme goals as expressed in the official documentation and contract which are; • To develop a mutual partnership that allows for autonomous but complementary work that creates and reinforces synergies between the three Siemenpuu programmes under the India Cooperation Programme in order for them to fulfill and achieve their set objectives. The objective of this being to contribute towards correcting the Northern global structures which endanger the sustainable life of rural, urban and forest communities in India. The work in the North will be through the Siemenpuu India group working with Indian partners and will take the form of dialogues, publications all contributing to a learning process linked to sustainable local community self-rule as defined by those living within sustainable communities. • To evolve a mutual equality of the cooperation partners where partners have an enabling 84 | 101

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environment that allows them to participate in planning, shaping, negotiating, evaluating and further redefining the programme. This should also be reflected at the grass roots level by the mutual sharing of the themes, content, goals and criteria of development or environmental protection. It also stresses on the need for reporting implementation to be relevant and in context to the life on location. • The work of TNCT to help in solving, clarifying and correcting the adverse impacts of global structures on village life reality. It is also designed to inform and improve the understanding about the Northern unsustainable global impacts on communities in the South and the required changes that would enable the communities decide about the sustainable use of their local environment. • TNCT has a Finnish partner group and contact person within Siemenpuu's India group which aids in the communication, documentation, inter & intra cultural local and global dialogue, learning and exchange. The cooperation will be for the benefit of the wider cooperation with Southern partners as well as Northern civil society actors. • Experiential learning exchange where Siemenpuu will interact with the partners in person in India, Finland or WSF to review the needs and issues of the cooperation. To achieve the above Siemenpuu Foundation entered into an agreement with TNEC for the Coordination and Capacity Building Programme in Tamil Nadu and the administration of funds for joint programme monitoring and information activities for the overall Siemenpuu Foundation India Cooperation Programme. The appraisal will seek to therefore review projects funded by Siemenpuu Foundation in Tamil Nadu. The main focus will be on projects and processes that have been put in place since the official start of the Tamil Nadu cooperation programme within Siemenpuu Foundation. Projects funded before the cooperation programme began are also subject to the self-appraisal especially to highlight the impact of the different approaches to development support in Tamil Nadu by Siemenpuu. The duration of the appraisal will not go beyond 6 months. The self-appraisal will focus on (but may not be limited to) exploring the following issues:

Relevance, effectiveness and impacts of the supported projects and cooperation programme
What are the impacts (positive and negative) of Siemenpuu supported work in Tamil Nadu? How has the Siemenpuu support affected the local power structure between the different NGOs, networks, policy makers and project partners? • What is the difference between the projects supported by Siemenpuu before the cooperation programme was established and those that have been supported after the cooperation programme was put in place? Are there any fundamental differences? • What is the relevance of the work undertaken by the different partners within the different themes of water, agriculture and policy locally, regionally and internationally?
• •

Projects and process management of the supported projects and cooperation programme
How has the work of the evolved over time with regard to: (g) Tamil Nadu Core Team (h) The networks (i) Siemenpuu office in Helsinki (j) Individual project partners

Learning and developing new ways of cooperation
a) b)

Has this been a learning process? Has the learning been shared within the wider circles? How has the programme or projects contributed towards mutual learning at the different 85 | 101

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c)

levels (Civil society, community, NGO and others). How has the partnership or projects in the partnership contributed to our understanding of the question of development between the North and South?

3. Methodology
The appraisal will be done by a team selected by the Siemenpuu Foundation and Tamil Nadu Core Team. The team uses different methods to capture information. This might include desktop research, field visits, interviews, questionnaires, and workshops. Data collected from the field will be documented using different methods which the team finds most suitable. The process will start with the compiling of the team and the selection of the team leader (see 3.1.1). With inputs from the Team Members the Team leader will develop the detailed Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP), containing detailed work plan of the mission, desk top and field work for developing the report, holding a workshop and compiling the final report. The AIP will form the basis of the appraisal and will include the timetable of the persons involved, the planned activities and timeframes.

3.1 Team Members
The appraisal team will comprise of a team leader/lead author (TLLA), co-authors and team members. The roles and responsibilities of the whole appraisal team is spelt out in the annexure to the ToR.

3.1.1 Team Leader
The team leader/lead author (TLLA) will be recruited from India on a competitive basis. The TLLA will be independent of the TN programme and the Siemenpuu supported India programme. The TLLA will develop the comprehensive Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP) with inputs from the team members. The AIP will be designed to use the most efficient process taking into consideration the budgetary limitations. The team leader might seek for clarification on issues that might arise as the mission evolves (Refer 3.3.1).

Recruiting of the Team Leader
The team leader will be recruited from India. He should be independent of the TNCT and the India cooperation programme. In addition, the qualifications, experience and expertise of the appraisal team shall cover the following aspects: 1. awareness of the history behind the India-Finnish civil society co-operation and the current situation of the Siemenpuu- TN programme partners; 2. sufficient knowledge of the relevant organisations and the institutional context in India and Finland; 3. ability to interact with all types of key actors, including senior level civil society activists and politicians; 4. understanding of the cultural and inter-cultural factors and differences affecting the cooperation; 5. development co-operation project management and evaluation; 6. Fluency in spoken and written English. The Team Leader will be recruited on a competitive basis. The shortlisted candidate will be invited to prepare a framework Appraisal Implementation Plan. If the framework AIP meets the basic requirements and offers the most convincing picture towards executing the work, the candidate will be selected and engaged for the mission.

Short listing
Potential candidates will send their CV to [email protected] after which the detailed TOR will be sent to the selected candidate requesting them to prepare a brief framework AIP as detailed in 86 | 101

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the TOR. The AIP will be evaluated by members of TNCT and India Group (TOR Group). The preferred candidate will be awarded the team leader role and a contract drawn between them and CEDA Trust.

3.1.2 Team Members
The TNCT and the India Group will propose members to the appraisal team. TNCT will nominate two representatives and will be responsible of inviting two additional members from SADED (1) and NAA (1). Siemenpuu India Group will provide 4 members (Finland) one of them being a co-author. The selected team members are as follows: Mira Käkönen (co-author), Kai Vaara (team member), Ossi Kakko (team member), Pauliina Tuominen (team member).

3.1.3 Co-author
The co-authors will work closely with the TLLA assisting them with the development of the appraisal as well as writing the report. The TLLA will delegate roles and responsibilities to the team members which will be detailed in the AIP document.

3.2 The appraisal
The appraisal will review the different projects funded by Siemenpuu selected from the list appended (Anne 3). The project may fall into different categories depending on when they were funded by Siemenpuu and under which programme. These categories are just indicatory and there might be other ways of defining the differences. It is worth noting that some projects might also fit across more than one category. Category 1 Projects funded before the TN programme was initiated Category 2 Projects funded during the TN programme period On the award of the contract, the TLLA will lead in the development of a detailed Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP) with inputs from the members of the appraisal team. The AIP will set out a time table of activities and definite roles and responsibilities. It will also include timeframe for field exercises, methods of information gathering, and ascertain that key questions addressing the objective of the mission are integrated into the appraisal process. With inputs and in collaboration with the team, the team leader will finalise the AIP. On completion, the AIP will form the basis for the appraisal mission.

3.2.1 Developing the Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP)
The TLLA will be responsible for developing the AIP. The AIP will be designed to ensure that representative sample of all projects supported and reflected in the Tamil Nadu traditional view of Hills, Plains and Coastal areas. The process will also ensure that the different types of projects are included (water, training, organic agriculture, policy, advocacy etc). There will be a deliberate effort to cover projects that will enrich the process and provide insights to the various aspects and interrogate different development questions that have emerged, the different impacts, the relationship between partners and emerging challenges, the mixing of the project options will be done within the available resources. The idea is that the AIP will assist the appraisal team to capture all the impacts of the Siemenpuu TN programme in the best possible manner. The complexity of the team involved, the subject matter, the logistics linked to the geographic spread of the projects will require a variety of methods for communication, planning of the visits to the project sites, collection and analysis of information, desktop study and review of information, coordination of events, sharing of information, report writing and processing for example. The team 87 | 101

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leader working with the appraisal team will decide on the best and most efficient mode of executing the appraisal. These details will be outlined in the AIP. Under the guidance of the team leader, the framework AIP document will clearly demonstrate; • How the team plans to collect and analyse any documentation including: project documents, contracts, reports and newspaper articles other media material • material preparation for the mission (questionnaire etc) • The number of face-to face meetings with different members of the different NGOs supported by Siemenpuu in Tamil Nadu, • clear roles and responsibilities of the appraisal team members • the distribution of the different project site for visits to the appraisal members • the probable mix of projects to be visited and a brief justification for each • The schedule of the actual site/location visits in India, • other probable dialogue or interview sessions • Proposed telephone and/or e-mail interviews of Indian project partners or interviews with key informants (India and Finnish), and projects in Tamil Nadu. • Timeframe for the report; dissemination of draft report to partners for further commenting, proposed final report structure and deadline • detailed plans for the report dissemination and discussion workshop in India • definition of the different categories/classification of projects that will form part of the appraisal

3.3. The Report
The findings of the self-appraisal will be reported in English. The report may be translated into other languages as per the need of the partners. The draft report will be presented to all the partners for comments before being finally published for wider circulation. The report will be written in a generic form with case studies representing the spectrum of the funded projects and different points of views on the project activities, citations; photographs and supporting documentation where appropriate. The report should aim to act as a tool for information sharing with the wider society and not written specifically as a donor oriented report. 60-80 pages without annexes.

Roles and responsibilities of the appraisal team members Team Leader and lead Author (TLLA) • To organise, manage and coordinate the appraisal exercise • In collaboration with the TNCT and appraisal team to develop a detailed work plan (AIP) and schedule of the appraisal • Coordinate the field exercise and information collection and collation • Ascertain that the team works together to assist in compiling the information based on clear lines of communication • Delegate responsibilities to related to communication, data collection, documentation to the appraisal team whenever further information is needed (besides authorship) • Ensure efficient communication between all partners • Call and organise for the appraisal team meetings if needed • Edit the report for wider distribution and within a set time frame • Co-organise and facilitate the appraisal Workshop in Madurai
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• Responsible for the production of the report final report Team Member • The team member will take responsibility as delegated by the team leader and the appraisal team. These will be responsibilities emanating from detailed workplan. • The team member will be bound by the TOR and by those other detailed plans developed under the guidance of the same TOR and especially the AIP • Based on the agreed detailed work plan, the team member will support the team leader and the appraisal team towards the objectives defined by the TOR and AIP • Team member will collect, document, facilitate the transmission of all information that will make the exercise fruitful to the appraisal team and mission • They will also help in any other documentation and transcribing of field notes relevant to the mission Co-author • Work with team leader and assist team leader in all the work related to report writing and editing. • The co-author will assist the team leader achieve all the key functions as detailed in the TOR and AIP All members of the appraisal team will be required to support the mission achieve its stated objective.

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Annex 2: Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP) – Siemenpuu & TN India Program – December 2009

Appraisal of the co-operation between Siemenpuu Foundation and Tamil Nadu India Programme
Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP) 1.0. Overall Focus – Siemenpuu:
Three areas of program interventions of Siemenpuu program: - Advocacy & campaign: Dialogues on ecological democracy, for local, national, regional and global interactions to challenge and correct the adverse global structure which over-consume the earth - Sustainable agriculture (Livelihood – sustainable agriculture model creation): People’s local collective efforts to built self-reliant and sustainable community-level use and management of land, water and environment - Tribals (tribal rights): Protecting, learning, sharing such ways of understanding wild forests and environment with which people can live from the natural renewable of wilds Finnish government has already evaluated Siemenpuu and it was considered “external evaluation”. This self-appraisal is considered “self” because for Siemenpuu the total India program is part & parcel of Siemenpuu’s total program. Secondly, it is expected that the self-appraisal has to have impact focus with case studies & qualitative focus. It is also important to note that TNCT plays crucial role in facilitating the implementation of the TN Program, being a ‘dialogue group’ with the Siemenpuu, and providing consultation on identification & recommendation of partners. Siemenpuu takes seriously the recommendation of the TNCT. There is going to be a future role of “monitoring” for TNCT and it is likely to start from 2009.

2.0.The self-appraisal will focus on (but may not be limited to) exploring the following issues: 2.1. Relevance, effectiveness & impacts of the supported projects and cooperation programme
• • •

• • • •

What are the impacts (positive and negative) of Siemenpuu supported work in Tamil Nadu? How has the Siemenpuu support affected the local power structure between the different NGOs, networks, policy makers and project partners? What is the difference between the projects supported by Siemenpuu before the cooperation programme was established and those that have been supported after the cooperation programme was put in place? Are there any fundamental differences? Identification of achieved progress indicators The extent and magnitude of the progress What is the relevance of the work undertaken by the different partners within the different themes of water, agriculture and policy locally, regionally and internationally? Tasks and focus for future phase/s

2.2. Projects and process management (Project Cycle Management-PCM & Strategic Management-SM) of the supported projects and cooperation programme
(k) How has the work of the evolved over time with (l) Tamil Nadu Core Team - (focus on SM) (m) The networks (PCM & SM) (n) Siemenpuu office in Helsinki (PCM & SM) (o) Individual project partners (PCM & SM)

regard to:

2.3. Learning and developing new ways of cooperation
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Has this been a learning process? Has the learning been shared within the wider circles? How has the programme or projects contributed towards mutual learning at the different levels (Civil society, community, NGO and others – between partners, between Siemenpuu & TN Program etc). f) How has the partnership or projects in the partnership contributed to our understanding of the question of development between the North and South (within South & North & between North & South)?
d) e)

2.0. Appraisal Team Members (ATM):
(i) Team Leader & Lead Author (TLLA): Chelladurai Solomon, (ii) Co-Author: Mira Käkönen, (iii) Team Member: Kai Vaara, (iv) Team Member: Ossi Kakko and (v) Team Member: Pauliina Tuominen. (vi & vii) TNCT nomination – Ms.Varthini, (viii) SADED (ix) NAA – Roy David Note: TNCT members volunteered to be part of the appraisal for reasons that the visits to the fields of partners will provide immense insights into the activities & process, which in turn will help in the future phase of TNCT’s role in the program. Secondly, Ms. Varthini, selected by TNCT will be part of the ATM. Her consultancy fee and travel will be met by TNCT. Besides, TNCT volunteered to meet the travel costs of 2 of its members from the TNCT budget and the other 2 from the evaluation budget.

21. Roles & Responsibilities – ATM:
• • TLLA takes the lead role of facilitating the appraisal in cooperation and active participation of the other team members. TLLA is responsible for the draft report and finalization of the same. The other team members will provide their observations, analysis program highlights from their visits and appraisal process which will be incorporated into the report. All the 4 members of TNCT have volunteered to be part of the whole appraisal process including field visits. Members from Siemenpuu, SADED and NAA will ensure their participation in the pre-field visits ‘partners meet’ and ‘debriefing’. Besides at least one member from these two organizations will participate all through the process of field visits. Siemenpuu, SADED and NAA will inform of the members, their participation in the specific events of the appraisal as soon as possible.

• •

2.2. Stakeholders:
The following are the stakeholders who will be involved in the appraisal exercise at different points of time and at different levels: (i) TNCT members, (ii) partners, networks & forums, (iii) representatives / members of Siemenpuu, (iv) CBOs, leaders & members – adivasi, marginalized communities, (iv) government officials / bureaucrats, (v) political representatives, leaders at the panchayat & state level, and (vi) media

3.0. Planning & Finalization of AIP: (Dec 2008)
i. ii. Draft AIP by the TLLA Meeting & finalization of TLLA with the TNCT members – 22nd Dec 2008 a. Identification of secondary data & materials b. Identification and finalization of the categories / sample number of partners to be visited for field tests & interactions c. Identification of “key informants” (political / mass leaders, bureaucrats, etc) d. Finalization of the roles & responsibilities of the ATM and key participants of the Appraisal (TNCT, partners & Siemenpuu) e. Finalization of the methodology (simple questionnaire for quantitative data, field / physical visits, interviews with the community, community focus group 91 | 101

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f.

discussions, meeting with key informants & case studies) Finalization of specific time-line for the Appraisal

4.0. Appraisal Implementation Stages: 4.1. Desk Study & Research (pre-field visits) – (Jan, 2009)
• • • Identification of relevant secondary data and materials available with the Siemenpuu, TNCT and partners in Tamilnadu Study of the secondary data by the ATM 2-day Interactive sessions between ATM, TNCT and Partners (Jan 2009) o Introduction to the major stakeholders o Opportunity for the wider sections of the partners for sharing; impacts & milestones of changes (positive & negative) o Process History; development collaboration with Siemenpuu (mapping) o Overall Strength, Weakness and Challenges of the TN Program

4.2. Sampling:
• All the 9 partners will be visited and interacted: o State level network – 3 – (2 days each) – 6 days o District level network – 2 (2 days each) – 4 days o Individual NGOs – 4 (1 day each) – 4 days o TNCT – TN Core Team – 1 day Within the state level network o Meeting & interacting with key members together as ‘focus group’ discussions o Meeting with ‘key informants’- political leaders, government bureaucrats & media o Assessing the magnitude of awareness spread, consciousness and policy influence Within the district level network o Meeting and interacting with the partners together o Visit to the fields of one or two partners of the network o Meeting with ‘key informants’ o Assessing the magnitude of awareness & attitude changes Individual NGOs o Visits to community & interactions o Focus group discussions Note: o The sampling includes the phased out groups + some networks who give continuity from the old phase o The phased out groups are open for future collaboration with Siemenpuu TN Program o Most of the phased out groups had one-time small support hence it is not necessary to invite more phased out groups.









4.2.1. Partners:
The following are the current partners of Siemenpuu and they will be taken into appraisal and sampling of the exercise. 1. PAD – Tuticorin – phased out project 2. ODAM – Virudhunagar dt – phased pout project 3. WASA (small project) – Sivagangai 4. PEAL – PEAL-JASuL (state level network – about 200 members – campaign activities) & PEAL-SAP (Madurai) 5. CEDA Trust-TNEC (state level network – about 600 members – campaign activities) Dindigul 6. REAL-LEISA (network – about 10 members) – Dindigul 92 | 101

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7. Y-NEEW (small project) – Dindigul 8. JEEVA JOTHI-LEISA (network – about 8 members) – Erode District 9. VRDP-TAFSC (Tribal network – about 25 members) – State level network – campaign activities

4.3. Documents Required:
India Program – overall – visit the website of Siemenpuu Program & project proposals & Reports, paper clippings of partners Publication & newsletters, etc TNCT will ensure the collection and dissemination to ATM

4.4. Field Visits:
• Visits to all partners – specific details are indicated in the ‘Table of Schedule’ o – 1st Round - 5 days (Jan 09) – Partners Meet and continued with field visits o – 2nd Round – 4 days (Feb 09) – Field visits o – 3rd Round – 4 days (March 09) – Field visits o – 4th Round – 5 days (April 09) – Field visits o – 5th Round – 1 day (May 09) - Debriefing

4.5. Reporting & Finalization:
• • • • 1st Draft – Circulation for feedback – 26th April Email dialogue – 26th to 3rd May Final Presentation to the TNCT & Partners – Debriefing - 1 day workshop (May 09) Finalization of the Report - 10th May

4.6. Time Line & Schedule:
Date
22 Dec 08 2-8 Jan 09

Actions / Events
Meeting with TNCT Secondary material

Purpose
Finalization of AIP Desk Study & Research

Stakeholders Methodology
TLLA & TNCT ATM, TNCT, Partners & Siemenpuu ATM, TNCT & Partners & Siemenpuu Partners, TNCT & ATM Discussions & Interactions Desk study

Place
Trichy Bangalore & respective place of ATM Respective place of ATM Madurai

No. of days
1 -

10-15 Jan

Desk Study Research

&

19-24 Jan

Meeting with Partners

Secondary data collection & research Appraisal introduction and setting the climate for the participation of the partners Visit to PAD, ODAM & PEAL-SAP Visit to Erode-

Desk study

5 days

-do-

1st Round – State level network 2nd Round – Meeting with

Partners, community, focus groups Partners, community,

2-5 Feb

-Intro -Milestones (mapping) -Major impact -SWOT analysis -Future Phase (ground discussions) -Interviews -Case studies -Focus group discussions -Interviews -Case studies

-do-

Madurai and neighboring districts Salem & neighboring

5 days

4 days

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TNCT 13 / 14 March Siemenpuu Partners Meet 3rd Round – District level network

23-26 March

2-6 April

4th Round – Individual NGOs Compilation of Reports

By 26th April

LEISA, TAFSC Provide wider program perspective Visit to WASA, JESuL, TNCT – Madurai & Sivagangai Visit to YNEEW, LEISA, TNEC Drafting one report

focus groups India program partners & Siemenpuu Partners, community, focus groups

-Focus group discussions -Interviews -Discussions

districts Delhi 2 days

-Interviews -Case studies -Focus group discussions

Madurai

4 days

Partners, community, focus groups ATM

Dissemination of draft report by email 4th May Debriefing – Meeting with TNCT & Partners Incorporation of feedbacks

10th May

To get feedback on the draft report Presentation of the Report & finalization Finalization of the Report

ATM, Partners, TNCT, Siemenpuu ATM, Partners, TNCT, Siemenpuu TLLA & ATM

-Interviews -Case studies -Focus group discussions -Highlights of observations, analysis -Compilation -Debates, compilation & incorporation of the feedback -Presentation -Panel discussions -Written report -Submitted through email

Dindigul

5 days

Bangalore

12 days

Bangalore & TN

Madurai

1 day

Bangalore

3 days

4.7. Budget Outline (Proposed):
• The total budget for the Appraisal is Rs. 876,000 (Euro 14,600) o TNCT contribution is Rs. 151,000 (Euro 2,516) o Contribution requested from Siemenpuu is Rs.725,000 (Euro 12,083) The details provided in the attached xl sheet is self-explanatory of the different aspects of the budget and how the budget is worked out. The consultancy fee is fixed at Rs.6000 per day after discussing with TNCT and the TLLP. Kindly note, the TLLA will contribute 43 compact days. It includes the travel time of the TLLA (whether it is overnight or extra days). There is no insurance or tax cover or per diem for the TLLA besides the daily fee of Rs.6000. The travel, boarding etc will be on actual expenses basis.

• •



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Appraisal Context, Process & Methodology 1. Context - Evaluations / Appraisal in SF:
Appraisal and evaluation processes are considered important by SF since they help them answer the questions of where they are and how they can improve on the strengths and weaknesses. Evaluation is also considered an essential element of the “project cycle management” of the SF and is a systematic assessment of the design, implementation, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of a project or a program at one point in time. Evaluation normally comes into consideration when the supported project is either relatively big, its theme or methodology is particularly interesting and relevant for the Foundation, or there is a longer-term co-operation with the implementing organisation. SF also believes that evaluations are carried out collectively. The purpose is to assess and improve both the quality of the evaluated co-operation and the internal working procedures of the Foundation and enhance mutual learning among the partners. Thus evaluations focus on the performance and working approaches of the supported organisations, the Foundation itself and the operational environment of their co-operation. One of the working principles of the Foundation is that the supported projects are planned, implemented and managed by the Southern partner organisations themselves. Therefore, evaluation aims at supporting the decision-making of the Southern partners by providing a systematic analysis, conclusions and, as relevant, recommendations concerning options to improve the supported activities. It is for the Southern partners to make decisions on how their work will possibly be adjusted on the basis of the findings of evaluation. On the other hand, evaluation contributes to decision-making of the Board of the SF on the continuation of the financial support to the partners. SF recently went through an evaluation commissioned by the MFA. This evaluation was conducted from May to September 2008. The MFA Evaluation Unit commissioned Impact Consulting Oy Ltd to evaluate the NGO Foundation modality, covering the activities, performance, and impacts of the three NGO Foundations (Abilis, KIOS & SF) from 1998 until the time the evaluation being conducted i.e. 2008. This assessment is the first major evaluation of this NGO funding modality. The MFA had also commissioned KPMG Finland Oy to undertake performance audits of these Foundations in 2004 and 2008. The evaluation exercise itself was intended to be a capacity-building exercise resulting in improved capacity of the Foundations, their partner organisations, and MFA, in terms of management and administration of such support, and in terms of increased application of cross-cutting themes (i.e., human rights, disabilities, and environment) and options for the future in Finnish development cooperation. In 2005, Siemenpuu supported SADED to undertake a detailed self-appraisal. The appraisal has been useful to both Siemenpuu and SADED and formed a basis for formulating the cooperation program between SF and SADED. Besides, in 2008, the MFA for Finland Siemenpuu’s main funder commissioned two different reviews on projects that Siemenpuu has supported within the last couple of years. The findings and conclusions from this report are still being finalised. Thus the appraisal of TN Program is perceived within the overall context and program of SF. The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Appraisal or Self Appraisal of TNP has been developed by the SF’s India Group which is an extension of SF Board in Finland. The implementation of the ToR is based on a joint approval by Tamil Nadu Core Team (TNCT) and the SF Board.

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2. TN Program Appraisal & Process:
As the final ToR (Please refer Annex 1), the primary intention of this self-appraisal is to shed light on the impacts of Siemenpuu-TNP cooperation. The appraisal will also seek to underline lessons learnt and good practice from the specific projects and the general cooperation program. The aim of the selfappraisal is to help the partners involved to further develop their work and cooperation both in strategic issues as well as developing the administrative framework of the cooperation. One of the operational objectives of SF was to be innovative in the evolution of democratic solutions that define new ways of mutual learning, understanding of development and formulating ways of engagement that are meaningful not only to SF and her partners but to the wider global society. This appraisal mission is one such attempt to combine an evaluation perspective to a participatory appraisal process that reviews the different levels of engagement (Siemenpuu to partners, partner to partners, partners to local communities etc). It is hoped that this process will enrich our understanding of the north-south civil society cooperation and open up new ways of assessing the impacts of development. The self-appraisal will specifically; Appraise the relevance, effectiveness and impacts of the specific projects and the Tamil Nadu cooperation program; Appraise the management processes of the co-operation program and the partners both in Finland and India Appraise how the cooperation program has managed to progress towards achieving the set goals of the cooperation partners and their planning of development processes. In line with the above, the self-appraisal will focus on exploring the following issues: a) Relevance, effectiveness & impacts of the supported projects and cooperation program • What are the impacts (positive and negative) of Siemenpuu supported work in Tamil Nadu? • How has the Siemenpuu support affected the local power structure between the different NGOs, networks, policy makers and project partners? • What is the difference between the projects supported by Siemenpuu before the cooperation program was established and those that have been supported after the cooperation program was put in place? Are there any fundamental differences? • Identification of achieved progress indicators • The extent and magnitude of the progress • What is the relevance of the work undertaken by the different partners within the different themes of water, agriculture and policy locally, regionally and internationally? • Tasks and focus for future phase/s b) Projects and process management (Project Cycle Management-PCM & Strategic Management-SM) of the supported projects and cooperation program (p) How has the work of the evolved over time with regard to: (q) Tamil Nadu Core Team - (focus on SM) (r) The networks (PCM & SM) (s) Siemenpuu office in Helsinki (PCM & SM) (t) Individual project partners (PCM & SM) c) Learning and developing new ways of cooperation g) Has this been a learning process? Has the learning been shared within the wider circles? h) How has the program or projects contributed towards mutual learning at the different levels (Civil society, community, NGO and others – between partners, between Siemenpuu 96 | 101

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i)

& TN Program etc). How has the partnership or projects in the partnership contributed to our understanding of the question of development between the North and South (within South & North & between North & South)?

It is anticipated that the findings of the appraisal will contribute to the strategic development activities and processes within the Tamil Nadu partners, the Tamil Nadu Cooperation program, Siemenpuu Foundation and others outside of this cooperation.

2.1. Appraisal Team Members (ATM):
It was proposed and finalized to have the following combination, number and leader of the Appraisal Team: (i) Team Leader & Lead Author (TLLA): Mr. Chelladurai Solomon, (ii) Co-Author: Ms. Mira Käkönen (replaced by Mr. Olli-Pekka Haavisto), (iii) Team Member: Mr. Kai Vaara, (iv) Team Member: Mr. Ossi Kakko and (v) Team Member: Ms. Pauliina Tuominen. (vi & vii) TNCT nomination – Mr. L Antonysamy, (viii) representative from SADED and (ix) NAA – Roy David. Other TNCT members volunteered to be part of the appraisal for reasons that the visits to the fields of partners will provide immense insights into the activities & process, which in turn will help in the future phase of TNCT’s role in the program.

2.2. Roles & Responsibilities – ATM:
• • TLLA takes the lead role of facilitating the appraisal in cooperation and active participation of the other team members. TLLA is responsible for the draft report and finalization of the same. The other team members will provide their observations, analysis program highlights from their visits and appraisal process which will be incorporated into the report. Members from Siemenpuu, SADED and NAA will ensure their participation in the field visits, ‘partners meet’ and ‘debriefing’. Besides at least one member from these two organizations will participate all through the process of field visits.



However, due to certain constrains few of the appraisal team members could not participate as the appraisal unfolded and the following Table-1 is illustrative of the same. It is important to record that the Appraisal Team Leader has been present throughout the whole process and in all the events related to the appraisal. Similarly, Mr. Antonysamy from TNCT has been active throughout the process and in all the events. Ms. Pauliina and Mr. Roy were the other members who participated in most of the events of the appraisal. Ms. Mira Käkonen, the Co-Author was not able to participate in the appraisal. And hence she was replaced by Mr. Olli-Pekka who joined in the second round. The representation from SADED was only in the 1st round of the process.

Table-1 Appraisal Process & ATM Participation S.No.
1.

Appraisal Events

Dates

Team Members
TNCT Members& Appraisal Team Leader: Mr.Tony, Mr.David, Mr.Martin & Mr.Rajan and Mr.Chelladurai Solomon

Preparation of Appraisal 22 Dec 2008 Implementation Plan (RIP)

2.

Meeting – SF Partners in 19 & 20 Jan ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Kai Vaara, TN 2009 Mr. Ossi Kakko, Ms.Pauliina, Ms.Sudha – SADED, Mr.Roy & Mr.Nanda – NAA and TNCT 97 | 101

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members: Mr.Tony, Mr.Y.David, Mr.Martin & Mr.Rajan. 3. Field visits – 1st Round: 21-23 ODAM, PAD, PEAL-SAP 2009 and YNEEW Jan ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Kai Vaara, Mr.Ossi Kakko, Ms.Pauliina, Ms.Sudha – SADED, Mr.Roy & Mr.Nanda – NAA and TNCT members: Mr.Tony & Mr.Rajan ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Kai Vaara, Mr.Ossi Kakko, Ms.Pauliina, Mr.Nanda – NAA and TNCT members: Mr.Tony ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Nanda - NAA Mr.Roy &

4.

Field visits – 1st Round 24 Jan 2009 continued: YNEEW

5.

5.

Meeting SF Board 13 Mar 2009 Members (Ms.Anu & Mr. Olli-Pekka Haavisto) – New Delhi Meetings & Field visits – 23 Mar 2009 2nd Round: Meetings & Field visits 2nd 24 Mar 2009 Round contd…..

ATM: Mr.Solomon, Ms.Pauliina and TNCT members: Mr.Tony ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Olli-Pekka, Ms.Paulina, Mr.Roy – NAA and TNCT Members: Mr.Tony & Mr.Martin

6.

7.

Meetings & Field visits 2nd 24-26 Round contd….. 2009

Mar ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Olli-Pekka, Ms.Pauliina, Mr.Roy – NAA and TNCT Members: Mr.Tony ATM: Mr.Chelladurai. Core Team Members: Mr.Tony, Mr.David, Mr.Martin and Mr.Rajan TN Program Partners

8.

De-briefing – Draft Report

4 May 2009

2.3. Stakeholders:
The following were the stakeholders who were expected to be involved in the appraisal exercise at different points of time and at different levels: (i) TNCT members, (ii) partners, networks & forums, (iii) representatives / members of Siemenpuu, (iv) CBOs, activists, leaders & members – adivasi, marginalized communities, (iv) government officials / bureaucrats, (v) political representatives, leaders at the panchayat & state level, and (vi) media

2.4. Sampling and Supportive Evidence:
As per the Appraisal Implementation Plan (AIP) derived from the first meeting held between the Appraisal Team Leader and TNCT, the following sampling and appraisal procedures were planned in order to generate supportive evidence to the appraisal findings. Please refer Annex-2 for more details. • Phased out groups or networks which could give continuity from the old phase. Since most of the phased out groups reported to have had one-time small support it was felt not necessary to invite / interact with more number of phased out groups but restricted to 3 groups spending one day with each group. However, due to financial constraints it was further reduced to 2 groups (ODAM and PAD) for sampling. • Secondly, it was decided to visit all the 9 partners, who were in partnership with SF as of Dec 98 | 101

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2008 with extensive time schedule as recorded below: o 3 State level network – (2 days each) – 6 days o 2 District level network –(2 days each) – 4 days o Individual NGOs – 2 (1 day each) – 2 days o TNCT – TN Core Team – 1 day But again due to financial constraints the number of days being spent with the networks reduced; one day each for state level network (TAFSC, TNEC, JASuL) and half a day each for district level network (LEISA-Dindigul & LEISA-Erode). Thirdly, within the state and district level networks it was planned to meet & interact with key members as ‘focus group’ discussions and meet with ‘key informants’- political leaders, government bureaucrats & media. However, the appraisal had lesser opportunity to meet and interact with the latter one i.e. meeting with the ‘key informants’ of political leaders & government bureaucrats. Fourthly, at the individual NGOs level it was planned to have visits to community & interact with ‘focus groups’. Lastly, the appraisal was to focus on qualitative supportive evidence to the findings through case studies, documents and photographs.



• •

2.6. Appraisal Events – Schedule & Methodology:
The Table-2 captures the process & procedures of the appraisal by highlighting the events, dates, participants and the methodology used. It is self-explanatory of the dominant methodology used which has been participatory; focus group discussions, rapid appraisal, group discussions, physical verification of changes in the field and beneficiaries. Table-2

Schedule & Methodology of Appraisal Events
S.No. 1.

Appraisal Events & Purpose
Preparation of Appraisal Implementation Plan (RIP) Workshops with SF Partners in TN Field visits – 1st Round: ODAM – Visit to ODAM office in Tiruchuly, Bio-diesel Model Plant & Organic farms in Katamanaku, cultivation of jatropha plants. Field visits – 1st Round: PAD – Visit to PAD Office in Vembar, Thangammalpuram village and Rochmanagar coastal village.

Dates
22 Dec 2009 19 & 20 Jan 2009 21st Jan 2009

Participants
TNCT Members & Appraisal Team Leader: SF Partners, ATM and TNCT members. ATM, TNCT members, ODAM director & staff members. Target community members of ODAM

Methodology / Tool
PP presentation (PPP), discussion and interaction PPP, group work / discussions / presentations, mapping and panel. Oral presentation by staff & discussion, visit to bio-diesel plant in operation, organic farms & jatropha plantation & interactions

2.

3.

4.

22nd Jan 2009

ATM, TNCT members, PAD director & staff members. Target community members of PAD, panchayat members and media person.

Oral & PPP by staff and discussion / interactions with them. Visit to coastal villages, interacting with focus groups, physically witnessing fish auctions by credit groups and Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PPA). Key Informant Meeting with local print media person and

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5.

Field visits – 1st Round: PEAL-SAP – visit to the new farm in Ramand dt, visit to Keelaramanathi village and model organic agriculture fields in Kavadipatti & Goripallam villages Field visits – 1st Round continued: YNEW – visit to YNEW office in Dindigul, and Valaikkaipatti & Kallupatti villages

23rd Jan 2009

ATM, TNCT members, PEAL-SAP director & staff members. Target community members of PEAL-SAP.

Focus group discussions with beneficiaries of diary, para-veterinary doctors. Meeting & focus group discussion with organic farmers, visit to organic farms of the villagers. Visit to the new farm of PEAL and meeting with the staff.

6.

24 Jan 2009

ATM, TNCT members, YNEW director and staff members. Target community members.

7.

8.

Meeting SF Board Members (Ms.Anu & Mr.Olli-Pekka) – New Delhi Meetings & Field visits – 2nd Round: Network TAFSC – Meeting in Sathyamangalam and visit to Osapalayam & Attanai villages. Meetings & Field visits 2nd Round contd….. LEISA-Dindigul and Erode. Visit to Vangananuthi villages and to organic farms and plantations.

13 Mar 2009

ATM: Mr.Solomon, Mr.Roy & Mr.Nanda - NAA ATM and TNCT members. TAFSC Convenor, Core team and network members. Grassroots adivasis communities ATM & TNCT Members. Convenor and network members of LEISADindigul & LEISAErode networks. Grassroots farmers & communities of LEISA-Dindigul. ATM & TNCT Members. Convenor, network members and core team of TNEC (TN & Pondicherry) ATM and TNCT Members. JASuL convenor, staff members and network members. ATM, TNCT Members and SF Partners.

Focus group discussions with women herbal collectors, collection of case studies, visit to villages & herbal collections & processing and PPA. Discussions / interactions with the staff. Sharing and interactions.

23 Mar 2009

9.

24 Mar 2009

10.

Meetings & Field visits 2nd Round contd….. TNEC exhibition and network partners meet in Dindigul Meetings & Field visits 2nd Round contd….. JASuL – visit to JASuL Office in Madurai De-briefing Report – Draft

25 Mar 2009

11.

26 Mar 2009

PPP of overall work, case study presentations, and focus group discussions with network members. Visit to tribal villages & focus group discussion with target communities. PPP, case studies, focus group discussions with converted organic farmers and physical presentation of organic mixtures. Visited organic farms and held focus group with communities and farmers, and PRA. Witnessed organic seed collections & preservation. PPP, case studies, exhibition of document evidence, focus group discussions with lawyers forum, scientists, district level bodies and NGO members. PPP, case studies and focus discussions with district network partners and farmers. Interaction with the staff of JASuL.

12.

4 May 2009

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2.7. Complementarities among ATM:
While the appraisal team leader taking a role in ensuring that the process and every event of the appraisal fulfilled desired scrutiny, check & affirmation, generation of data / information in line with the ToR the other members were complementing each other in the facilitation or appraising. Methodologically it was also ensured that at the end of each day or field visit, the observations and analysis of the ATM were shared among the appraisal team members and arrived at commonly agreed conclusions and recommendations. In almost all the events the ATM also ensured space for them to share their views, observations and findings with each of the partner at the end of the visit. Thus the partners were already informed of the tentative findings and got their immediate feedback to the same.

3. Limitations:
As indicated earlier in this Chapter, the time allotted for field visits to networks or partners has been limited due to budget constraints. This curtailed the process within each of the partner, whether it was the focus group discussion or physical verification of impact or interaction with staff. The limited time provided for each partner also prevented the process from engaging key informants or collection of change / impact stories in details from the beneficiary farmers or communities. The ATM had to be mindful that engaging the communities and to facilitate the people articulating their stories would involve spending more time with them. The visit of the appraisal team leader to Delhi was originally thought out to be an opportunity to meet with the representatives of other Indian program partners of SF such as SADED and NAA. But the change of plan in the ‘Delhi Meet’ did not provide the appraisal to have interactions with the other India program partners of SF. Nevertheless, the change of plan provided opportunity to meet with the Board members of SF; chairperson, Ms. Anu Lounela and member, Mr. Olli-Pekka Haavisto (replacement for Ms. Mira Käkönen, the Co-author). The inconsistency of the ATM in the participation / facilitation of the appraisal process have been another limitation. The participation of Mr. Kai Vaara and Mr. Ossi Kakko was limited to the first round and Mr. Olli-Pekka Haavisto who replaced Ms. Mira Käkönen (Co-author) joined only the second round of the appraisal process. The participation of TNCT members also became optional again due to budget constraints. While acknowledging the contributions of the ATM members at different times of their participation, ultimately only the appraisal team leader (Mr.Chelladurai Solomon), TNCT Convenor (Mr. Antonysamy), Ms. Pauliina Tuominen and to great extent Mr. Roy David had their physical and active role throughout.

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