EDITIONS: | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |   [ MANRECAP ] Bulletin No.17 April 2007 No. 17 Article #1: Reflection on the past activities and stepping into 2007/08 Fiscal Year   After successfully implementing activities for the past 3years, MANRECAP is entering its 4th and final year of its project activities. We have already started the count down. In 10 MANRECAP focal Villages, Community Managed Rehabilitation activity (plan and implementation of construction of small scale basic infrastructure through Community Contract) and socio-economic activities such as Women’s Saving Group activity and agricultural development have been deeply rooted among the communities. Even when the security situation in the Project areas were unstable and that forced us to stop the planned Rehabilitation of Pali Aru diversion weir, communities were able to develop and sustain these activities as they considered those activities to be their own and were aware of the benefits derived from them. The Project will continue and complete 18 Community Managed Rehabilitation works in this fiscal year and take necessary actions for communities to be able to operate and maintain those rehabilitated facilities with the support of the authorities concerned. We, together with communities, will also develop sustainable systems of socio-economic activities introduced by the Project before completion of the Project. The commitments of the focal village communities to fulfill their basic needs and to uplift their quality of life through socio-economic activities with strengthened CBOs/ Groups are strong and encouraging. In this respect we are with the communities and hope to complete the final year successfully.   Article #2: Training on Sari painting   Sari painting (painting on sari) is one of the promising cottage industries for women due to steady demand for that. Especially, they can expect high payment for the painting on special saris such as wedding saris. The Project, based on the request from the women in the focal villages, commenced the training program in 4 villages in Puthukkamam GN Division, namely Puthukkamam, Vaddupiththanmadhu, Theththavadi Maruthankulam and Samayapuram. The first one month of the training program was completed in March and now 20 women continuously participate in it. In addition, this is the first time for the Project to work with WRDS, Vaddupiththanmadhu, so that through this training program, capacity building of the WRDS to plan and implement needed socio-economic activities is being intended.     Article #3: Compost making at plant nursery farms in Manthai West AGA Division   The Project has introduced compost making at plant nursery farms in Sewa Village, Ganeshapuram and Seethuvinayagarkulam in Manthai West AGA Division in the light of maximum utilization of locally available resources such as cow dung, paddy husks and straws. Plant nursery farms at Sewa Village and Ganeshapuram have already produced compost and given opportunities to the farmers in both villages to learn how to make it. Some farmers have already applied the technique to their own home garden and in 6 weeks they can produce compost on their own. It will contribute to save money by not buying chemical fertilizer.       MANRECAP BULLETIN Editor and publisher: MANRECAP All correspondence should be addresses to: T. Saisho, MANRECAP / JICA, District Secretariat, Mannar, Sri Lanka Phone: 023 – 2250029, Fax: 023-2250067, Internet address: http://www.manrecap.com  Comments and Suggestions: info@manrecap.com  PREVIOUS MONTHLY BULLETINS | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |