SoC from Sri Lanka: A livelihood that empowers and sets us free (REN)

Title: A livelihood that empowers and sets us free

Storyteller: Dhanushi Kumari Menike
Location: Weragala, Payagala
Project: Kalutara Group Enterprise - Rural Enterprise Network (REN)
Collected by: Kumarage Sugath Daminda – REN Enterprise Development officer
Collected on: 25th May 2007


I am Dhanushi Kumari Menike. I live at School Road, Weragala, Payagala. I have served as the Manager of the Regional Institute of Agro Products since 8th March 2006, It is a group enterprise networked with the Rural Enterprise Network (REN).

Before I joined this organisation, I worked for a NGO as a monitoring and evaluation officer. I received a substantial wage but had no freedom or leisure. My family life and children began to suffer as a result. Eventually the pressure of these problems was so great that I had to leave that organization.

Soon after, I heard about a group enterprise which was set up recently (September 2005) in my village by an organization called the National Pre-school Development Foundation- Lighthouse Christian Centre for Child Sponsorship and Community Development Programme (funded by Christian Children’s Fund of Canada). The enterprise was run by a 7 member executive committee (all from within the village) and had started with producing Kitul treacle and jaggery and were now about to start production of dehydrated vegetables. I was also told that they were looking for a manager for this enterprise and that the working hours would be flexible. At the beginning I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I could handle the responsibilities as manager of such an enterprise as I had no knowledge about running such as business or what vegetable dehydration involved. The REN officers made the group members aware of the potential for dehydrated vegetables in export markets, provided us with a dryer and trained us on the technical knowledge required to operate it as well as how to maintain quality. The enterprise was to purchase Jak and bread fruit, dehydrate these and then sell the products to REN who was willing to take on the responsibility of selling these in export markets. REN also gave us a training on bookkeeping, and how to manage the business. I gained a lot of knowledge from the training and felt more confident about taking on the job of manager of the group enterprise.


Although the salary I receive is less than what I had got at my previous workplace, now I I am less stressed out so I have greater peace of mind. Because of the flexibility of working hours I am able to attend to the needs of my husband and children as well as contribute to the family income. Now the group has a membership (shareholders) of about 60 and 14 members are employed by the organization to carry out production of dehydrated products. Since all 14 employees are also women the flexibility in working hours is something that we all value.

Before vegetable dehydration was introduced to our village jak fruit and bread fruit use to go to waste as these had no commercial value. The introduction of vegetable dehydration in the village turned things around completely. Now villagers have realized the value of these fruits and what use to go to waste is being converted into a source of income. We can get about Rs. 340-350 /kg of dehydrated jak of bread fruit. Thus this group enterprise has not only benefited a few group members, but the entire village. I feel that this is truly an achievement.

The team spirit within the group is something which could improve. Sometimes disagreements cause rifts between members. These disagreements sometimes get extended and can affect their relationship as neighbours. The sense of ownership for the enterprise too needs to be further strengthened. The other problem is that sometimes members work at night, either because they have to meet a deadline for an export order or because they prefer to work nights because they attend to the needs of their families during the day. However their families tend to object to this. We have tried to minimize working at night but I think it is essential that we build up a good family support system. It is only then that we will be able to continue this enterprise successfully.

There are also some other problems we need to resolve if this enterprise is to be successful. We require advisory services on how to rectify the defects that occur sometimes in the dehydrating machine. We also need advice on how to manage the enterprise better. A system to ensure an adequate raw material supply is also required. In the past, unnecessary expenditure was incurred by the organisation. We have now managed to reduce this to a great extent. There are also quality problems with regard to jaggery. Not too long a go a large batch of jaggery was returned due to poor quality and fugus growth. We have got advice from REN on how to avoid such problems in the future. However it is still necessary to make the raw material providers aware of the importance of providing the right quality of Kitul treacle if we are to maintain the quality of our jaggery.. During the seasons we average a production of about 1500kg of dehydrated Jak fruit and bread fruit a month. It would be good if the price for dehydrated Jak fruit could be further increased as this would give us an impetus to increase production.


Working for this organization has not only given us the flexibility required to balance our roles as housewife, mother and supplementary income earner but also provided the opportunity and freedom to take part in making decisions regarding how to improve the enterprise in the future. We have control over our future. This is something that we don’t have the opportunity to do if we work for a big private organization. We also have the opportunity to improve our skills and abilities to run an enterprise. The more successful we are the more profits we will have to distribute among ourselves. It is my intension to give my 100% to develop the organization and make it a success. I feel I owe this not only to myself and the members but the whole village.



Domain : Change in psycho-social wellbeing


Reasons for selecting this story:

- Highlights the value placed on flexibility to attend to family needs over economic gains
- Has made use of previously unutilized resources (Jak fruit and bread fruit) and given a monetary value to it
- Evidence of learning, commitment, dedication to improve as a person and further develop the organization
- Is open about the problems faced by the organization and what needs to be improved. Shows a clear grasp of the areas for improvement.

SoC from Sri Lanka: Traditional wisdom to the rescue - paddy rice

Title: Traditional wisdom to the rescue
Storyteller: S.B. Ranjith
Location: Manajjawa, Ambalanthota
Project: Improving Livelihoods & Market Access for Small Scale Tsunami Affected Paddy Farmers
Collected by: Varuna Rathnabarathie (project manager) & Hemantha
Abeywardana ( consultant)
Collected on: 25th May 2007


I am Ranjith. I took up paddy farming just like my forefathers before me. Our paddy lands have always had a high level of salinity due to the proximity to the sea and harvests have been low. The sea water that gushed with the Tsunami of 2004 got deposited in the paddy fields in this area and further aggravated this condition. Due to the high level of salinity in the field, paddy seedlings started dying. Little by little, with each season, the harvest reduced. After the third season it became almost impossible to plant paddy. The modern hybrid varieties of paddy which we were used to growing were unsuccessful in this high saline condition. We were on the verge of abandoning the only form of livelihood we knew.

It was at this crucial juncture (2005 September) that two organizations, namely Practical Action and the National Federation for the Conservation of Traditional Seeds and Agricultural Resources (NFCTSAR) came forward to help us. This problem had been highlighted in the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) which was conducted in our village following the Tsunami. These organizations suggested that we grow 10 traditional rice varieties on a trial basis. They said according to indigenous knowledge there are certain traditional rice varieties suitable for growing in saline conditions and they had done some trials which proved this. NFCTSAR provided us the required seed paddy. They also trained us on appropriate cultivation methods. Sixteen farmers in this area (including myself) tried out these traditional varieties for 3 seasons. At first we were rather sceptical. However to our surprise and delight, seven of the varieties did in fact flourish in the saline conditions.


We used organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers for growing these traditional varieties, as recommended by the above organizations. During the same period, a modern hybrid paddy variety was cultivated in the paddy field adjoining mine. This paddy field was fertilized with costly chemical fertilizer. Pesticides had to be sprayed as well to safeguard the crop from pest attacks. Finally this was largely unsuccessful. I on the other hand used only organic fertilizer, the raw material for which could be easily sourced within the village with minimal cost. Pesticides were unnecessary since the indigenous seed paddy was capable of resisting pest attacks. I realized that If I grew these varieties commercially, the cost of production could be reduced significantly.


Our trials revealed another unexpected result. In the case of certain saline resistant traditional rice varieties such as “Rathdel”, “Dahanala”, “Madathawalu” and “Pachchaperumal” the yields were high. Earlier when we grew modern paddy varieties, we got only 15 to 20 bushels from an acre. Now with these traditional indigenous varieties of paddy, yields can be as high as of 60 to 70 bushels per acre.

The biggest problem we faced even prior to the tsunami was that prices for modern varieties was low and hence there was almost no profit for small scale farmers such as myself. We are told some consumers are willing to pay high prices for organically grown traditional rice varieties. Although we are able to sell whatever amount we produce, we are yet to properly link with established marketing channels. Thus we are still facing some problems in disposing the crop on time. What we need now is an efficient system to market our produce.

Because of the help we received from the above organizations we able to put our paddy land to productive use. If not for these organizations we would never have known or believed that there were traditional varieties suitable for cultivating in saline paddy lands. We were used to modern varieties and thought that these would bring forth a better yield. However after receiving training and observing the results I am now convinced that growing traditional rice varieties is a good option for saline affected paddy fields such as mine.


Domain : Attitudinal change

Reasons for selecting this story

ü There is evidence that the individual has realized and is convinced of the merits of cultivating traditional rice varieties especially in saline conditions
ü Shows keenness to continue growing traditional varieties
ü Is open about the problem of linking with markets thus providing useful feedback for improving our efforts
ü Without the intervention the paddy land mentioned in the testimonial would have be abandoned and unproductive.

How the Sri Lanka team is piloting MSC

Pilot Test of the MSC process in Sri Lanka

The team decided that it would be a good idea to pilot test the MSC process prior to full scale implementation as monitoring and evaluation tool for the ongoing Community Participatory Sustainable Development Project.


The pilot test ran for 2 weeks. ( 21st May to- 4th of June). June has been a very busy month for all due to several holidays falling in April and May. As such the team was not able to collect a large number of stories. Seven stories were collected in total.


The selection was scheduled the 12th to coincide with the monthly team meeting. This was to ensure everyone’s participation.


A presentation was made on MSC process and moving forward. (See full presentation for details). Issues were discussed (e.g. what should be the domains, doesn’t it take a long time to see a change, ) and clarifications were made. It was made clear that we should not wait for the big change but should capture the smaller changes that lead to the big change.


Overall feedback was provided on how to improve story collection.

e.g. To make sure details such as who the story tellers is, who collected the story, when the story was collected, how the beneficiary got involved with the project, most significant change and why the change was significant is clearly captured. Some of the stories seemed to get lost in the narration and it was difficult to understand what the significant change was and why. The need to include relevant background information especially since these stories will be read by many who may not know the background was also mentioned. At the next session field staff themselves will be asked to look at ways of improving their stories. Everyone agreed that video clips was a convenient way of capturing stories and an effective and powerful way of communicating the stories at selection group level as many found reading to be rather tedious and boring.

It was also communicated that feedback on individual stories will be shared shortly


Selection Process

Since there was only a small number of stories, the Team leader and PMs selected the stories together. The QA Manager was unable to attend due to a prior commitment but provided written feedback on the stories.

Domains were not pre-decided. It was left for the selector to decide on appropriate domains during the selection process.

During the discussion some of the domains suggested were:

Changes in…
Attitude/ mindset
Psycho social wellbeing
Use of technology
Gender equity/inclusion/empowerment
Access to new markets
Social empowerment
Environmentally friendly practices
Relationships between market actors
Business skill development

These will be further discussed and refined to suit the Community Participatory Sustainable Development Project

The stories were read individually and comments shared. Using a iterative discussion process two stories were selected. Reasons for selecting these have been provided in the section following the stories.