Palmera Projects
Rice Mill Livelihood Project
Amount to be raised: $17,000
Project commencement: May 2011
Partner organisations: Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR )Ceylon
Background
Upon completion of the civil war in Sri Lanka, several regions that had extensive damage and large portion of residents displaced were being reestablished. The Parapankandal East and West Grama Sevaka divisions of Manthai West District in Mannar was one such region. Post civil war, this region had significant numbers of displaced residents return to their original area of inhabitance. Due to significant infrastructure destruction in this area, returning residents have little livelihood opportunities.
This project aims to address the following needs:
Access to Local Milling Facilities - The Parapankandal East and West Grama Sevaka divisions of Manthai West District do have large areas of arable lands which can be used to cultivate paddy – a main input in the generation of rice. Due to the destruction of infrastructure in the area, rice milling facilities are limited in this area. As such, the people in these areas are required to travel extensively to get their paddy milled. As a result, the residents of this area, incur higher fees due to the travel and grinding costs that they pay.
Job opportunities for the Local community - With the destruction of infrastructure, and long term displacement, limited job opportunities exist for these communities at this time.
Business Skills for Local Residents - Without a functional economy, residents in these areas have had limited exposure to business experiences and associated organisations (government, financial, business). Without this exposure, the local community have limited to no applicable business skills that can be used to further develop the community.
Project Description
The project is the establishment of a rice mill in the Manthai West region of Mannar, which consists of the construction of the facility and purchase of husk removing and polishing equipment. The project will be directed towards specifically selected beneficiaries, primarily women in the community, who will be provided with a combination of a grant and loan to establish, train and begin operation of the rice mill.
The aim of the project is to provide a sustainable livelihood to the beneficiaries and to establish them in a profit-making enterprise. In addition, this project aims to provide opportunities for residents to understand business practices and procedures, and build relationships with local governmental, financial and business organisations which they can partner and work with to further develop the community in the future.
The Rice Mill seeks to replicate a successful project already implemented by OfERR in Trincomalee which involved the establishment of a rice mill and provision of training to beneficiaries in the community to operate the equipment.
Palmera seeks to use this project as a platform to begin its social business partnerships in Sri Lanka. The provision of a grant/loan combination is to encourage the beneficiaries to maintain the project and to view it as their own business. The mix and specifications of the percentage attributed to the grant vs loan is to be assessed against relative benchmarks from the outputs generated in the mill. A portion of the loan provided to the beneficiaries will be repaid once sufficient revenue is generated to enable the community to accommodate loan repayments for the attributable portion that is identified as being returned. The repaid loan will be held on trust by OfERR, for Palmera, and will be used to fund future projects.
The current scope of work for this project is the building of a Rice Mill, comprising of machinery capable of paddy husk removal, and rice polishing. In addition, facilities to store paddy for use during low season months will be built. The following section details the methodology and steps that were completed as part of building the Rice Mill facilities in Trincomalee facilitated by OfERR. The Manthai West Rice Mill project will aim to emulate this methodology as part of its project.
The following photos show a successfully completed Rice Mill built of OfERR that will be emulated in the Manthai West Region of Mannar:
Description of Partner
The Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR) was founded in 1984 with the main objective of assisting and rendering relief to Tamil refugees from Ceylon who had taken refugee in India. OfERR is a non-profit making, non-political, service oriented organization. The Committee of Management of the OfERR consists of Indian and Ceylonese professionals, educationists and social workers.
OfERR Ceylon presently has the Presidential Task Force clearance, and works extensively in war-affected regions of North-East Sri Lanka, primarily in providing:
- Water and sanitation
- Co-ordination and advocacy for better projection
- Getting legal documents for IDPs.
Palmera Projects has been working with OfERR from 2010. See for more information on this partner.