At the beginning of 2005 we put aside 10% of our budget to support people impacted by the tsunami and decided to find projects on the ground that were supporting people in rebuilding their lives.

We chose two projects WOMANKIND and The Annai Theresa Welfare Trust. Our partnership with WOMANKIND Worldwide supported Irula tribal women living in coastal Tamil Nadu who were first hit by the tsunami, then by significant flooding following heavy monsoon rains in October/November 2005.

We continued this support in 2006 and have now committed to a further three years of funding, hoping to build on the progress WOMANKIND and the Irula Tribal Women's Welfare Society, (ITWWS), has made in empowering Irula communities who are traditionally among the poorest groups in the country.

As they emphasise: These efforts have ensured that women who have benefited from the programme thus far can share their learning and experiences with other tribal women affected by the tsunami and work together to restore their livelihoods, continue to make their voices heard and fight for their basic rights.

WOMANKIND has been working in South India for over 10 years. Their key focus has been on supporting 10 partner organisations in Tamil Nadu State to promote women's human and civil rights. They also provide practical advice and resources concerning health, education and vocational skills training for the most marginalised women.

ITWWS is one of those 10 partner organisations. Based in Chengalpet, it works for the empowerment of Irula communities in North East Tamil Nadu through the use of their traditional skills. Historically, the Irulas are among the poorest Adivasi (tribal) groups in the country, living in the scrub hills which fringes the coastline.

While significant national and international financial support has been directed at rebuilding men's livelihoods after the Tsumani of 2005, little attention has been given to the needs and concerns of women from the dalit (the lowest social class in the traditional Hindu caste system) and tribal communities.  They too made their living from the sea and have suffered severe losses. Their hardships are compounded by their low caste and social status.

In 2006 we helped WOMANKIND support over 430 families. It has helped set up a brick production unit providing income and bricks needed to rebuild homes after the tsunami. It's also supported the running of leadership training workshops, livelihood support and arranging self-help group exchange visits so that the women who have benefited from the programme so far can share their learning with others.

In 2007 our funding expanded on the success of 2006. More specifically, the activities last year included:

• Baseline data has been collected in 50 villages, reaching 3,500 people, in order to bring some clarity to the project going forward.
• It has highlighted the importance of producing materials to help advocate and lobby the government for economics, health, education and civil rights improvements for the Irulian community. The women involved in the collection of the data will also be able to transfer their new skills into other areas of work and participate more actively in village level politics.
• By the end of 2007, 12 new Self-Help Groups (SHGs) will be formed.
• 60 women will receive training in leadership skills and a further 60 women on savings and credit. This will further capacitate the women to share these skills with other women and cascade their training.
• Irulas have an incredible knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants and herbs and 750 women will gain benefits from strengthening the herbal production units and as well as the brick production unit begun in 2006.
• The meeting hall will be renovated and made accessible for the Irula community as a whole. Weather conditions make it essential that there is a building in which to meet and make this project possible, so our funding will also pay for the vital improvements needed to make it a safe and comfortable space for just that.
• Good practice principles will be made available to share with other indigenous women's groups to help promote women's equality.

Helen's Trip, April 2007

Last year innocent drinks started the innocent foundation scholarship. It gives the opportunity for a member of the company to go and work with one of our partner projects for two weeks. Helen was chosen to help the ITWWS with their marketing and set up a website.

She sent us diary entries for our innocent drinks blog so you can read all about them here.

This is just one extract from her time there:

'ITWWS is the Irula Tribal Women's Welfare Society, and is one of the NGOs that the innocent foundation supports through WOMANKIND Worldwide in the UK. ITWWS work with tribal women in the Tamilnadu region of India. The Irulas are a semi-nomadic tribe and until about 50 years ago they got all their food and medicines from the forest. However, a number of wildlife and forestry protection laws have been passed in recent years, which has forced the tribes out of their natural habitat. This means that many of them have lost their homes and their livelihoods, and as a result they have to move around for work and for food, with many of them suffering from extreme poverty.

ITWWS is working with Irula women to give them an income by teaching them to use their traditional skills. For instance, because the Irulas have traditionally lived of the land, they have a huge knowledge of plants and herbs which are known to have medicinal properties. ITWWS has set up a number of nurseries on the campus where hundreds of different plants and herbs are grown. These are then picked, dried, ground and packaged, and sold as herbal medicines to generate income for the Irula women.

As well as learning all about ITWWS, I'm also here to share some of innocent's experiences with ITWWS in terms of business knowledge, as they are hoping to be able to sell their herbal medicines under the Irula brand throughout India and possibly internationally at some point in the future.

I'm staying on the ITWWS campus and it's absolutely beautiful. It's in a forest area, 10km from the nearest town, so pretty remote. It's on 10 acres and contains the plant nurseries, herbal production unit, a handicrafts centre, and arts library. It's dry season at the moment so it's scorching - somewhere around 35-40 degrees.

The team that I'm working with are some of the loveliest people I've ever met. They've made me feel really welcome and I'm feeling quite sad that I've only got 5 days left with them.'

Vishma's story, age 28:

Vishma is a mother of three, who lives with her husband. Prior to the Tsunami she lived in a coastal village called Muttukadu in the district of Tamil Nadu. When her home was destroyed she was forced to build a make-shift shelter for her family. As is common in India, the local fishermen discriminated against the Irula people - forbidding her to use water from their area.

The ITWWS staff identified Irula people in the area and provided relief services to them, including food, temporary shelter (coconut thatches), dresses and provisions. ITWWS bought land, reconstructed houses and on January 2006 Vishma and her family moved to the new village Nemmeli. Now there are 36 families in Nemmeli, all from different places and they have renamed their village "Kanniamma Nagar".

To promote livelihood development within the community, ITWWS started three self help groups in the village - Mariamma, Kanniamma and Vembu Women's SHG. As a member of the Kanniamma self help group, Vishma took a loan of 3000 Rupees (approximately £35) from the SHG revolving fund and started a tea stall. She also helps her husband sell prawn and worms for prawn feeding, which he fishes from the backwaters.

With her own house, a new livelihood and her children enrolled to school the family's social and economic status has improved. Although there is still work to be done to create an enabling environment for Irula women within the fishing community, thanks to ITWWS Vishma has improved status in the community and feels confident about her life."

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