Geographical Route Map of Ithikkara Riverhelpfoundation.in/documents/bulletin_2.pdfof land, water and living resources that provides sustainable delivery of ecosystem services in an

HELP Foundation Quarterly Journal September 2014 Vol: V Issue: 2 Page No:

ISSN 2347 - 7628

HELP Foundation’s River Watch Program

Coordinated through Paravur Lake & Ithikkara River

Protection Council

Geographical Route Map of Ithikkara River

INDIA

Panchayat Segments

1. Anchal and Ittiva (1km)

2. Edamulackal and Ittiva (5km)

3. Edamulackal and Chadayamangalam (5km)

4. Elamadu and Chadayamangalam (4km)

5. Chadayamangalam/Velinalloor(4km)

6. Chadayamangalam/Velinalloor &

Pallickal (1km)

7. Velinalloor and Pallickal (7km)

8. Velinalloor and Kalluvathukkal (2km)

9. Pooyappally and Kalluvathukkal (4km)

10.Adichanalloor and Kalluvathukkal (1km)

11.Adichanalloor and Chathannoor (8km)

Total of 42 km

Catchment Area:

Originates from the low hills of Karakunnu (250 above msl) adjacent to

Madathara in the foothill region of the Western

Ghats and flows through Yeroor Reserved Forest

area

Western Ghats Western Ghats– Sub Clusters

HELP Foundation Quarterly Journal September 2014 Vol: V Issue: 2 Page No: 2

Contents

ISSN 2347 - 7628 Sept 2014 Vol:V Issue: 2

Editorial Board

Prof. Peter Pradeep

Jesmis J Kavunthanam

Anna Mathews

Sanoj Herbert

Suneesh Kumar S

Prof. Stanislaus Noronha

Giles Fernandez

Managing Editors

Jesmis J. Kavunthanam

Anna Mathews

Layout and Design


Photo Journalist

Mahesh S. Ambelil

Publisher


Managing Director,

HELP Foundation

Comments and suggestions for future columns

are welcome and should be addressed to:

The Chief Editor,

HELP Foundation,

Mayyanad P.O.

Kollam-691303

Tel. +91-474-255-6414

Call Center : +91-9656-33-4444

[email protected]

www.helpfoundatin.in

MISSION GREEN

HELP Foundations River Watch Program

Energy Conservation Seminar

Mapping of the River Bank of Ithikkara River

PROJECT REACH

Start of Child Rights Survey

MISSION HEALTH

Project DAYA– Dialysis Assistance Programme- Seminar

SOCIAL INTERVENTION

Social Accounting and Audit on HELP Foundation social

performance

Report of Internship

DHWANI– FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

An unsustainable course

NATURE PHOTO DIVISION– WILD LIFE

Nature Photo Feature

Activity Report Mission Green

HELP Foundations River Watch Program

HELP Foundations

River Watch project

envisages stringing

together a coalition of

Community Groups,

Government Institu-

tions, Local Administra-

tion and College Eco

Clubs along the entire

stretch of Ithikkara

River toward HELP

Foundations long term

goal of Developing an

Ecosystem approach for

integrated management

of land, water and living

resources that provides

sustainable delivery of

ecosystem services in an

equitable way in and

around Ithikkara River

(Kerala, India) leading to

Ecosystem Based

Management (EBM).

This is to be accom-

plished through Paravur

Lake and Ithikkara

River Protection

Council an independent

registered body with

adequate representation

of the local community,

Local Self Government

institutions and next

generation citizens. Smt

Sugathakumari Teacher,

poet and activist, who

has been at the forefront

of environmental

movement in Kerala


River watch teams meeting with Kalluvathukkal Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Pooyappally Grama Panchayat


Social Intervention Mission Green

HELP Foundations River Watch Program Contd.

volunteered to be the

chief advisor of the

program “HELP

Foundation River Watch”

and WWF is been

supporting us in this

endeavor. HELP

Foundation released the

geographical route map of

the Ithikkara River from

Sea through Paravur Lake

showing the Panchayats

and the length of the river

through each of the local

bodies. This has been

made available primarily

through Paravur Lake and

Ithikkara River Protection

Council.

As part of the project we

have travelled to all

Panchayat through which

the river flows and met

with the Panchayat

officials and they have

moved towards creation

of a Committee

comprising Elected

Officials, Schools

authorities and Parent

Teachers Association

Officials and BMC

representatives. All

Panchayats have been

handed over with

materials and maps with

respect to the river and

work guidelines they

ought to accomplish

through the River Watch

program.

River watch teams meeting with Anchal Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Idamulakkal Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Ilamadu Grama Panchayat


Activity Report Mission Green

HELP Foundations River Watch Program Contd.

River watch teams meeting with Chadayamangalam Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Mayyanad Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Pallickal Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with velinallor Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Adichanalloor Grama Panchayat

River watch teams meeting with Ittiva Grama Panchayat


Vote of Thanks being delivered by Shri Rajeev of Mayyanad Panchayat

Social Intervention Mission Green

Energy Conservation Seminar

As part of our visit to 12 local bodies through

which the river flows we have listed out 14

issues which need to be addressed on a war

footing to salvage this river. They are as below.

In short most of it points to the river bank being

not protected or lack of demarcation. Most of

the Panchayats have thrown up their hands as

the elected representatives only care for votes

and they are not for enforcement of the laws

and in most cases are aiding such illegal

activities. After several discussions with Kollam

Revenue Authorities and the Survey Head of the

District a file was opened for creation of a team

to resurvey the river or rather identify the

revenue markings so that steps can be taken to

evict encroachments and thus start the long

process of protecting the river. Based on the

above HELP Foundation also took up the matter

with the concerned IAS Officer Incharge of Survey.

1. Drinking Water

2. Encroachments

3. Biodiversity Loss

4. River Bank Demarcation

5. Check Dam

6. River Bank Construction

7. Health of River Upstream

8. Health of River Downstream

9. Loss of Paddy Fields along the river banks

10. Sand Mining

11. River Changed Coarse

12. Non Perennial

13. Destructive Fishing

14. Rivulets are left unprotected

HELP Foundation hosted an

Energy Conservation Seminar and

Free CFL Distribution jointly with

WWF-India. The program was

hosted with support of Mayyanad

Gramapanchayat, Energy Man-

agement Centre & KSEB. Five Se-

lected BPL families from every ward

of Mayyanad Panchayat partici-

pated in the session. In essence

all 23 wards of Mayyanad Panchayat

were represented in the seminar.

Mayyanad Panchayat Vice President

Shri Lesslie George inaugurated the

seminar. Shri Subhash Babu of the

Energy Management Centre con-

ducted the session. CFL Distribution

to replace incandescent bulbs was

inaugurated by Shri Renjan Mathew,

State Director - WWF, Kerala.

Mapping of the River Bank of Ithikkara River (File opened at Kollam Collectorate)


Foundation worked

with various institutions and the Juvenile Justice

Chairman, Kollam to come up with a Survey form

comprising 50 questions so as to find out the issues

children of Mayyanad Panchayat are facing. This

survey was kick started with involvement of An-

ganwadi Workers and the Government employees

in all wards of the Panchayat. In the second phase

Activity Report Project Reach

Start of Child Rights Survey

As part of HELP

Foundations efforts

to make Mayyanad

Panchayat the first

child friendly Pancha-

yat in Kerala, we have

been working to-

gether with Social

Justice Department,

Child Welfare Com-

mittee-Kollam, Juve-

nile Justice Chairman,

Kollam and May-

yanad Panchayat So-

cial Welfare Standing

Committee.

Under directions

from Child Protec-

tion Officer of the

district, HELP

SAN INDIA (Social Audit Network, India), which

is affiliated to the Social Audit Network, UK has

voluntarily come forward to assess the social value

generated by HELP Foundation through a process

of accounting and auditing on its social, environ-

mental & economic performance impact.

The 1st stage of the process got completed on Sep-

tember 2014 with a workshop on redefining the

VMVOA (Vision, Mission, Values, Objectives &

Activities) and a mapping exercise of the key

stakeholders.

The entire process of accounting and audit is ex-

pected to be completed by December 2014 and

the report to be published by January 2015 as

confirmed by the SAN India representative.

Social Accounting and Audit on HELP Foundation’s social performance

it’s being carried out in all schools of Mayyanad

Panchayat. The leadership provided by Shri Abeen

of SJD and Smt Shiela Kumari in the effort has

been exemplary. The survey has now reached the

60 % mark and activities are going on in full steam

to complete the activities by October end.

Head Master of Mayyanad Higher Secondary School handing over the survey report to

Mayyanad Panchayat President


Environment Newspaper Clippings

Supporting Dialysis patients has been some-thing which has been very emotionally draining due to their short lifespan. Added to that now there is a spate of applicatants walking into our office requesting help and we are unable to raise funds to cater to the long list of patient queue in spite of our strict scrutiny. We have now started to reach out to individual sponsors who can choose a patient from our list and possibly start to support part of the finances needed for the pa-tients to continue on with their lives. To date we have supported 750 Dialysis procedures entirely free of cost. These beneficiaries have been identi-fied through proper background cheks and fur-ther vetted through the PanchayatiRaj Offices. Those of who you see this or know of somebody who wants to lend a helping hand please get in touch with HELP Foundation at 9656334444 or via email: [email protected]

Press Meet announcing the launch of HELP Foundation River Watch

Recognize and support us when ever you see DAYA Boxes

Dialysis


One of the most significant and exciting compo-

nents of social work education is the field place-

ment. Hamilton and Else (1983) define it as, “a

consciously planned set of experiences occurring

in a practice setting designed to move students

from their initial level of understanding, skills and

attitudes to levels associated with autonomous

social work practice.” The field work practicum is

the central mechanism for transmitting theoreti-

cal knowledge into the practical level of work and

plays a crucial role in providing the students with

an opportunity to explore, learn and develop pro-

fessional skills required for working with people,

the essence of the social work profession.

The trainee, who was then a fourth semester

MSW student at DePaul Institute of Science and

Technology in Angamaly, got an opportunity to

work in HELP Foundation as part of the final

one month internship, which had to be com-

pleted as part of the curriculum. The internship

period was from 1st August, 2014 to 29th Au-

gust, 2014. During the internship, the trainee had

enlightening interactive sessions with the chair-

man, various project heads and the expert per-

sonnel of the agency. The trainee attended a pre-

proposal workshop organized by the Centre for

Environment and Development in Thiruvanan-

thapuram, organized as part of the National En-

vironment Awareness Campaign 2014-15 with

the Theme: Combating Desertification, Land

Degradation and Drought, as a representative of

HELP Foundation. The trainee also assisted in

preparing two project proposals submitted by the

organization. One was based on the pre-proposal

workshop attended by the trainee and it was sub-

mitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forests

and Climate Change, Govt. of India. The project

focused on restoring the natural irrigation system

in Umayanalloor Ela, a paddy field and wetland in

Mayyanad, together with the Local Panchayat.

The second one was aimed at conserving the bio-

diversity of Paravur Lake which was being threat-

ened by destructive fishing practices. The trainee

was given an opportunity to visit the Mayyanad

Grama Panchayat office and to spend a day ob-

serving the activities of the Panchayat officials.

The day at the Panchayat office helped the trainee

to get more of an idea about the working of the

Panchayat, which is at the grass-root level of gov-

ernance. During the visit, the trainee interacted

with the Panchayat President, the ward members

and the other staff of the Panchayat. During the

internship, the trainee mainly worked under Pro-

ject DAYA or Dialysis At Your Alms and had

assisted in developing a fund-raising package for

the Project and also in organizing the accounts of

Project DAYA.

The internship at HELP Foundation had helped

the trainee to view social work profession in a

new light. The trainee realized that a social work

professional can do a lot to alter the existing cor-

rupted and contaminated system by using his/her

professional expertise and skills if he/she has the

passion and the will to do so. The zeal and the

fire in the personnel of the organization to do

their bit in changing the existing system had in-

deed been a huge motivation to the trainee. The

internship had helped the trainee to grow both in

professional knowledge and expertise which is

sure to be a huge asset in the road to becoming a

good social work professional.

Internship Report from an MSW student of DePaul Institute of

Science and Technology—Angamaly in HELP Foundation

Activity Report

REPORT OF INTERNSHIP


From The Editor’s Desk Dhwani

The precipitous decline in the population of wild ani-mals should serve as a clear warning to humanity that it is living beyond its means. The Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Zoological Society of London recently reported that the number of wild creatures on earth has plunged to half of what it was four decades ago; in the case of some classes of animals, the loss is staggeringly high. Turtle populations, for instance, are estimated to have declined by 80 per cent. It is the developing world that should be particularly concerned at the data on ani-mal populations: habitat degradation, pollution, and un-sustainable extraction of natural resources in the emerg-ing economies are robbing them of biodiversity that is essential for human well-being. Impacts of climate change pose a new threat to flora and fauna in these countries. Significantly, some of these nations are also the biodiversity hotspots that harbour an extraordinarily large number of species — new ones continue to be discovered every year even as old ones disappear. These trends show that vital needs such as fresh water, clean air and benign climate patterns are threatened, and there is a need for urgent action. Governments in the global north and south must com-mit themselves to the full implementation of treaties and conventions on protection of wild animals and habitats if the erosion is to be stemmed. They can achieve this partly by strengthening the Convention on Biological Diversity which has, under the Aichi targets, resolved to increase the protected areas of the world from 13 per cent to 17 per cent of land by 2020 and to prevent the further loss of known threatened species. At the same time, restraints would have to be placed on commercial extraction of marine resources such as fish, to give depleted stocks time to regenerate. It is evident that with every passing decade, the capacity to trawl the seas on an industrial scale and harvest a wide variety of species is outpacing the natural cycle for rebuilding their stocks. More sustainable methods to grow food on land and in captive areas have to replace the unbridled ex-ploitation of nature. There is hope that good conserva-tion strategies will stem or even reverse the 40 per cent declines witnessed in key wild animal populations. The challenge is very real for India as it struggles with habi-tat loss and rising demand for energy and natural re-sources. It must resist the temptation to open up its last remaining forests and wetlands to commercial exploita-tion and encroachment if it is to safeguard ecosystem services such as water and food. The emphasis should be on restoration of habitat and an end to pollution through strict enforcement of environmental and forest laws. Source: Hindu Editorial

An unsustainable course


Wild life Supplement Nature Photo Feature

HELP Foundation’s Wild Life Journal Photo Journalist:

Mahesh Ambelil


Nature Photo Feature Wild life Supplement


Wild life Supplement Nature Photo Feature


Human Empowerment & Livelihood Promotion Foundation

Mayyanad P.O.

Kollam -691303

Kerala

Phone: +91 474 255 6414

Call Center: +91 9656 33 4444

Email: [email protected]

http://www.helpfoundation.in

Quarterly Journal

ISSN 2347– 7628

September 2014

Vol: V Issue: 2

Documents

Geographical Route Map of Ithikkara Riverhelpfoundation.in/documents/bulletin_2.pdfof land, water and living resources that provides sustainable delivery of ecosystem services in an