The Hindu Business Line : CIFT launches project for coastal women in Kochi

THE Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) is launching a research project, `Action research on community-based coastal zone management with specific involvement of women', at the Chellanam fishing village in Kochi.

The three-year project is being funded by the Department of Science and Technology, with an allocation of Rs 11.45 lakh.

Inaugurating the project, Mr Dominic Presentation, the State Minister for Fisheries, highlighted the availability of adequate resources in the coastal areas for fisheries development but pointed to the importance of infrastructural facilities such as drinking water, roads, transport facilities and electricity for improving the lifestyle of the coastal people.

For sustainable development to become a reality, he said that coastal zone management has to be incorporated into the development paradigm with the active involvement of women.

He called upon CIFT to take a lead in implementing such schemes.

CIFT has recognised that community-based management is the central element in any development effort of coastal regions. The important elements in community-based management are people with common interest, resources and a local system of management. This is a process in which people identify their needs, problems, goals and aspirations, and make decisions for their well-being.

Though the concept of community-based management is well known, its application has been rarely reported, a press release from CIFT has said.

There are problems which coastal communities have to confront at a more universal and more acute level: scarcity of drinking water and fuel, low productivity of the coastal land, marginalisation from traditional occupations, particularly, in the case of women, degradation of coastal environment, drudgery, malnutrition and socio-economic backwardness.

Though there have been a number of development programmes and schemes from Government , micro level efforts to develop a model for resolving these issues have been minimal, CIFT said.

The current project envisages an action-oriented research to address these issues by planning and implementing suitable interventions. And CIFT saw women as the primary stakeholders who can play a very important role in the development and implementation of the project as they have a stake in the coastal zone, traditionally carry out the management of the households and have great influence on the development of future generations.

Recognising that coastal zone management is a complex task requiring multi-disciplinary inputs, the CIFT study will focus on influencing the habits and attitudes of the community by disseminating information, building up awareness and evolving an environment where education and intervention can take place.

The study plans to intervene in specific spheres through the creation of responsible fishing methods by training in net fabrication of appropriate mesh size and shape as well as through educating children.

Simultaneously, the study also plans to generate a sustainable use of land-based resources by educating women and children, providing hygiene and sanitation and by creating participatory development of coastal zone management plan for the village.

Given that the conditions prevailing across the coastal regions are quite similar, the project once successfully implemented and tested, could be very well be replicated to other coastal locations as well.

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