Shramik Vikas Kendra - Flood Relief Grant

November 1, 2009: ACTION BY UNANIMOUS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TRUSTEES IN LIEU OF MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES OF CRY, CHILD RIGHTS AND YOU AMERICA INC (FORMERLY CRY, CHILD RELIEF AND YOU AMERICA INC)The undersigned, being all the Trustees of CRY, Child Rights and You America Inc., a Delaware non stock corporation (hereinafter the Corporation) acting pursuant to the authority of section 141(f) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware and Section 7 of Article III of the By Laws of the Corporation, hereby consent to the adoption of the following specified resolutions and approve and adopt such resolutions with the same force and effect as if such resolutions had been approved and adopted at a duly constituted meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Corporation:RESOLVED that a one time grant of USD 8,682 (USD Eight thousand six hundred and eighty two only), as per details below, be approved towards flood relief efforts to Shramika Vikas Kendram (ongoing project supported by CRY America) in Andhra Pradesh, in November 2009.                                                                                                  1.        Food packets & transportation: $14312.        School books & stationery: $64883.        Meetings with communities & government officials towards developing longer term disaster rehabilitation plans: $763  TOTAL FLOOD RELIEF ONE TIME GRANT TO SVK IN NOVEMBER 2009 = USD 8,682  In witness whereof, the undersigned, being all of the Trustees of the Corporation, have hereunto set their hands as of the 1 day of November, 2009.Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy  Ila Hukku Apoorv Agarwal Yogita Verma Saighal Shefali Sunderlal           October 2009 Executive Summary:Note to the CRY America Board for Approval of a One Time Disaster Relief Grant to an Ongoing CRY America supported Project.  Name of the Organization:  Shramika Vikas Kendram (SVK) Title of Project:  Emergency Flood Relief Program (October 7, 2009) Location:  Veepanagandla and Kollapur Mandals, Mahabubnagar District, Andhra Pradesh.  Project Holder and Organization Background: The Project Holder, Mr. Y. Laxman Rao hails from Kollapur mandal in Mahabubnagar district. Mr. Rao has worked with the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiah Foundation (MV Foundation) where he worked on the issue of child labor and gained experience of working with the Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) and Self Help Groups (SHG’s). He, along with some of his friends, formed Shramik Vikas Kendram (SVK) in 1992 to undertake development work in Mahabubnagar district. MV Foundation awarded him a fellowship in 1994 to work for tackling the root causes of child labor. The organization was further supported by the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Program of UNDP to carry out women development activities at Peddakothapalli Mandal. CRY first supported SVK in 1997. The support was directed towards eradicating child labor and enhancing livelihood options for the families in Peddakothapalli mandal and Kollapur mandal.  SVK also made use of the support received from the DRDA [District Rural Development Agency] and NCLP [National Child Labour Program] in its effort to eliminate child labor in the operational area. Agriculture is the primary means of livelihood in the operational area. Agricultural laborers constitute 27% of the total population, cultivators constitute 17%, and other occupational groups 13%. Most of the people in this area migrate to the city of Hyderabad and other states in search of employment.   The project area comprises of 174 villages under 87 Gram Panchayats in Peddakothapalli, Veepangandla, Panagal, Kodair and Kollapur Mandals of Mahabubnagar District in Andhra Pradesh. These villages are situated within a distance of 20 Kilometres from their respective Mandal Headquarters and 100 Kilometres from the District Headquarters. The project area falls under Kollapur and Nagarkurnool Parliamentary Constituencies.  The Project covers 78 villages directly and 87 villages indirectly, which totals 165 villages. Flood situation in the 2 reference Mandals of Mahbubnagar district:Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh is one of the worst affected districts in the recent flash floods.  This is in fact the worst-ever in the history of the Krishna River.  Floods have also affected Kurnool district and it is also affecting Krishna and Guntur districts. As the inflow into Sreeshylam reservoir was about 23,00,000 cusecs and outflow was only half of that, it affected both – people living at the side of the backwaters and people living along the river bed and surroundings.  In one day, there was 260 millimeters of rain in the area, to which the rain water from the neighboring state also entered the Sreeshylam reservoir. Of the 5 Mandals where SVK is working, the following 2 Mandals are the worst affected by the floods.  The situation in Veepanagandla is worst.  One can imagine the extent of damage from the fact that about 75 kilometers stretch from Jatprole village in Veepanagandla to Pebbair Mandal on National Highway 7 (Pebbair is about 50 kilometers from Kurnool town) is fully flooded. Many families have been displaced and many villages are marooned under water.  Though there are some relief camps being conducted by the government, the quality of relief measures is inadequate and insufficient.         Epidemics have started breaking out and many people are without food and water.  For the past 4 days they are wearing the same clothes drenched in flood water and dried.  Small children are suffering without milk.  The cost of food items have sky-rocketed, with a kilogram of rice now costing $2 (which would otherwise cost less than 25 cents).  In some villages, water has receded and the villages are covered with one to two feet of thick mud.  People have lost almost everything – houses, thatched huts, whatever belongings they had, live-stock, crops, etc.   Preliminary estimates by the government regarding the flood damage in the 4 Districts of the state is about Rs 12,500 crores.  The exact estimate per district-will be available in the next few days.  Situation in Veepanagandla Mandal:·          The newly constructed bridge between Bhattiprolu and Pebbair is fully submerged under water.·          16 villages are fully affected and one village is partially affected by the floods.·          The government has evacuated many families to safer places. However, many families are still stranded at different places and are awaiting evacuation.·          People are without food and water for the past 2 days.·          No power supply and no communication with the outside world. ·          It is difficult for anybody, including the government officials to reach the affected villages because of the floods. Kollapur:·          Somasila, Amaragiri, Manchalakatta, Chennampalli, Yerragattu Bollaram and Gundlapenta villages are under water. Malleswaram and Molachinthalapalli villages are partially affected.·          Backwaters have affected the Chenchu communities.·          No transport and communication between Kollapur and Veepanagandla and Wanaparthy.·          The government has evacuated most of the families from Somasila and Amaragiri.·          From the other affected villages, people have been moved to different places and many of their whereabouts are still unknown.·          At Amaragiri, only thatched huts are there and the village is fully under water.·          The extent of damage to houses will be known only after the water recedes.  Many houses have already collapsed and in the next one month many more will gradually collapse. Floods have affected villages in the other 3 Mandals with SVK interventions as well, however to a lesser extent than in the previous two. Proposal:In perspective of the vast extent of the damage, a request has come in from SVK for a relief intervention in the worst affected villages and mandals within the operational area of SVK. The highlights of the proposed flood relief program are given below: ·          One time distribution of food packets as immediate relief.  Many people are still waiting for the government supply of food packets and the government machinery is unable to effectively reach out to people.  This problem is also exacerbated because of lack of coordination between government departments.  Hence before it is too late, as many people are without food for 2 or more days, SVK has proposed to give one time food packets to the affected people. ·          One time distribution of minimum stationery items for school going children.  For this, all the school going children in 25 villages are taken into consideration.  Giving of 2 long note books, 2 short note books and a pen, pencil and eraser is considered to be useful for these children.·          Besides the above, SVK would actively advocate for the rehabilitation packages from the government for all the affected families. Community mobilization will be done to seek justifiable compensation for the families who have lost their dear ones, crops, live-stock, houses and materials.  This requires both advocating for the rehabilitation rights of the affected families and lobbying with the government for better rehabilitation packages as per the requirements of the affected communities.    The situation is currently at the rescue and relief level, and once this phase is over, the rehabilitation process would start where the efforts will be to create rehabilitation facilities for the affected families either at new places (temporarily) or to look at the possibility of sending them back to their villages.  This phase would also cover restoration of essential services for people especially food, water, sanitation, medicines, electricity, communication, etc.  SVK is already in touch with government officials and is discussing relief and rehabilitation of the families with them.  In this regard, Laxman Rao has already initiated discussions with the Revenue Divisional Officer and with the Officer on Special Duty.   Organizational review: The decision making and information sharing processes of SVK are in line with the principles of democracy and the Governing Body members are involved in taking major decisions. The community is involved in the planning process through regular community meetings. Organizational responsibilities are shared among the project staff and program responsibilities are shared between different groups in the community.   SWOT Analysis: The strength of the organization lies in its experienced and local staff and linkage with the local government and non-government organizations. Ability to form effective people’s structures at the grass root level enables the organization to move forward with its plans of mobilized community action for ensuring child rights. The program is strengthened by support groups at the village level and with cooperation from the Mandal level officials. Contacts with the local community, grassroots’ organizations as well as the local community and official circles provide an opportunity to strengthen regional alliance formation processes.  One Time Grant: Budget Summary: October to December 2009:          i.            Food packets & transportation: $1431       ii.            School books & stationery: $6488      iii.            Meetings with communities & government officials towards developing disaster rehabilitation plans: $763     iv.            Total Flood Relief One Time Grant: $8682 Recommendation:$8682 recommended to Shramika Vikas Kendram (ongoing project supported by CRY America) towards an additional one time Flood Relief Grant in November 2009.