By Jaya Arunachalam
Relief services in the history of Working Women’s Forum (India) is not new as Working Women’s Forum (India) itself was initiated in the year 1978 as an aftermath of severe flood in Chennai. Reaching the needy/affected people is something that WWF is committed particularly when the poor and downtrodden face with sudden calamities like floods, fire, tsunami, etc.
During recent flood too, WWF’s years of experience made its volunteers to act swiftly to reach out to its women members amidst the fully submerged areas both in Chennai city and Kanchipuram town and showed its solidarity as ever. This also facilitated WWF to assess the damages/losses and to know their needs/requirements. WWF’s relief work is not a piecemeal approach but it’s a long term participatory approach made by careful field surveys to reach out to the real needy members.
The volunteers provided the victims/members emotional/psychological support to restore their lives/occupations and other requirements through development strategies. In addition, WWF/ICNW provided relief materials such as clothes, cooking utensils, other vessels and provisional items besides to support them through ICNW loans to revive their occupations.
Further, WWF/ICNW in Kanchipuram addressed the grievances of the affected members by bringing it to the attention of the concerned district authorities to enable them to get facilitation for larger assistance such as compensation for construction of damaged houses, for lost valuables such as cows, goats, poultries, weaving equipments, etc. Similarly in Chennai WWF/ICNW has addressed to the Municipal Authorities to take up immediate action for the damaged roads.
WWF/ICNW has provided relief materials to over 300 families in 30 areas in Kanchipuram. Similarly in Chennai over 1000 families in 59 areas were facilitated by WWF/ICNW.
