Welcometoofficialnewsletterof HELPODecembervolume2011.

HELPOisorganizationthat establishedon1992andsinceonthat implementingmanyeffective programs.

HELP-O ECO VOICE DECEMBER EDITION

FirstofallHELPOwouldliketowishyouallhaveaHappy NewYear.Withinthismonthisthelastmonthof2011and HELPO also could finish many works during month. During month we finished many ecofriendly programs in manydistrictsofthecountry.

INSIDE STORIES
GampolaHospitalBiogasProgram

HELPOimplementedverysuccessprogramwithGampola Urban Council. We implemented two biogas units at MarketandHospital.Bothprogramsareveryimportantand we could decrease waste in considerable amount. On the other hand implementing biogas unit at Evergreen Tea Factory completed and organization could conduct awareness program about maintain and management of biogasunit.Theprogramwasmucheffectforthembecause needagoodandclearideaandknowledgeaboutmaintain biogas.

EvergreenTeaFactoryBiogas Program

AwarenessprogramforNurses aboutBiogas

YouthServicesCouncilBiogas Program

Western Province Waste Management Authority is one of main partners of our eco conservation programs. HELPO conducted awareness program for the Nurses of Western Province. The topic about effective and benefits of the biogas we believe this is very good opportunity to spread themessageaboutbiogas.EveninJanuarywehaveplanned experience exchange program with eastern province and southern province. One team will visit to study about biogasanditsmechanism.

GampolaMarketwastereduction program

ExchangevisitEastern&Southern

GreenHomeland&Transportation ofKorea

EcoFriendlyeffortofTotagamuwa community

47Settlementinfrastructure developprogram

Also you can read international experience. Under this we discuss about the Green Homeland and Transportation of Korea.Iamsureyouhavemanymorethingstolearnfrom it. Strengthen women is one of major part of our program and during the month we passed many important milestonesoneistreeplantingprograminHikkaduwaarea. Grassrootlevelcommunity organizedthis activity.Onthe other hand we could offer infrastructure facility with donorsforthe47Settlement.Thatwillbeoneofgreatand tremendousresultwecouldeverreach.
Advisor Mr.ChathuraWelivitiyaChairman

ParittaCeremonyofCooperative MinistrywithwomenCoop

Photographsby

NasimF.Nilaufer SampathAthukorala DulminiWickramasinge Ayomatennakoon

MilestonesofCommunity Development

Editors DarshanaMaduranga DulminiWickramasinghe RandikaJayathilaka NadeekaAmarasinghe

Standingonourownstrength

Designby NasimF.Nilaufer

Gampola Hospital Biogas Program

The organization has implemented the biogas program with financial support of GampolaUrbanCouncilrecentlythroughMinistryofLocalGovernment.Thelocation isGampolaHospitalwheremanypeoplecometogetmedicaltreatmentandGampola is one of tourist hot spot. During the past time this area badly affected by the waste problem. Hospital and Urban Council had to go court get solution to their waste problem. HELPO implemented biogas unit at slaughterhouse Gampola and UC been realized this is one of sustainable solution for the waste problem. Then they allocated thefundstocarryoutbiogasunit.

Now we could finish construction of biogas unit in Gampola Hospital. Now hospital has proper place to feed the waste. Even they could get solution for their energy problem.HELPOconductedawarenessprogramsforthemaboutEffectiveandbenefits ofthebiogasandMaintainmanagementofbiogasunitsarethemaintwotopicsofthe program.Weconductedtheprogramstoreachbelowmentiongoals 6. IncreasetheknowledgeaboutClimatechange, GlobalWarming. 7. Introduce new alternative solution to Energy, wasteproblems. 8. EncouragethepeopletousetheBiogas. 9. Aware them about maintain and management ofbiogas. 10. AwareaboutNonOrganicwastemanagement 1. Successfully implement biogas unit inside of theHospital. 2. Encouragethepeopletouseorganicfertilizer. 3. Decreasetheirregularwastedumping. 4. Increase the knowledge about the benefits of thebiogas 5. Proper waste management inside of the Hospital.

Evergreen Tea Factory Biogas Program

After construction the biogas unit at HELPO implemented awareness program for the management of Evergreen Tea Factory. The topic of the program is Maintain & Management of Biogas unit. The program starts with introducing themainpartsofthebiogas unitanditsimportance.Inthissecession we aware the participants why every part need and how each part will use to biogasgenerationprocess.Nextthemeis howtofeedthebiogas.Howtofeedthe biogas unit? What is the proper way for it? What is the proper ratio for mix water? Important of the water mixing andwhataretheitemsthatcandumpto biogas unit and what are the items they cantfeedtobiogasunit.

In this time also we aware them about the biogas unit feeding process. Aware themtofeedthebiogasunitwithwater.

Finallyweawarethemaboutmeasureof biogasthroughmanometerandthrough thesulfurmeter.Evencouldawareabout howtomanagethepressureofthedome andmanytechnicalthings.Thatisreally essential to them to carry a sustainable andproperwastemanagementprogram.

Western Province Nurses awareness program

Western Province Waste Management Authority is one of leading government institution that implements many eco friendly programs. They have organized the awareness program for the nurses of thewesternprovince.Allhospitalsofthe province represented this program. HELPO got an opportunity to aware

Nursesaboutbiogasanditsbenefits.This programhasbeencreatedforincreasethe knowledge about climate change. The value and benefits of the biogas is the topic of the program. In beginning we discussed about how waste becomes a huge problem to the hospital and how thataffectinbadway.

Thenwegotthesolutionsforthatmassiveproblemthroughthem.Thenweawarethem about biogas and how biogas can help them to solve their waste problem. We could aware nurses biogas can use as energy or cooking, even they can use this as organic fertilizer.Anotherthemeaboutbiogasgenerationpossibilitiesofvariousrowmaterials withthatthemewediscussedaboutthebiogasunitsthatHELPOimplemented.

This is one of turning point of their life because they didnt know about many things aboutthebiogasanditsbenefits.HELPOgotmanyrequeststocarryoutbiogasunits indomesticlevel.Theparticipantscouldgetopportunitytoclarifytheirproblemsand they spoke about many things about biogas. The organization believes this is much opportunity to spread the message about biogas. We would like to give our sincere gratitudefortheofficersofWesternProvinceWasteManagementAuthority.

Youth Services Council Biogas Program

Youth Services Council in Colombo and provides many servicesforyouthandtheseplacesishighlypopulatedeven they have very limited space. Youth services council had a massiveproblemthatiswasteproblem.Wastemanagement authorityinvolvedthisproblemwithHELPO.

Withinthismonthwecouldfinishtheallconstructionofthe biogasunitwithcontributionofYouthservicescouncil.Nowyouthservicescouncilhas aproperplacetofeedtheirwasteandcangetenergyfromtheirownwaste.Alsothisis willbeoneofgreatsolutionfortheirwaste.Capacityofthebiogasunitis22m3thatcan feed500kgorganicwastewithwater.

Gampola Market Waste reduction program

December month is more important for our Biogasprogrambecauseweimplementedtwo programs in Gampola. The second place is GampolaMarketthatyoumayfindlargescale waste. TheUChasmuchbiogasexperience in their city so authority has been decided to applythesamesolutiontothisplacetoo.SoHELPOconstructedabiogasunitforthe Marketandprovidesbiogastooneshopofthemarket.ThatshopusedLPgasfortheir cookingpurposebutnowtheyusebiogasfortheircookingpurpose.Theprogramwill bemonitoringbytheGampolaUCtheygetthekeyinvolvementofthis.Atthemoment HELPOconstructedthreebiogasunitsintheirareaandablereduce1000kgperday. Totalmethaneburningamountis16.5m3daily.

During the month time UC can decrease 30,000 kg organic waste and through three biogasunitscanburn495m3methanemonthly.NowGampolaUCconvertedtheirwaste managementprogramstonewdestinationandrealizedhowmucheffectthisbiogasto decreasethewasteproblemoftheircity.Thiswillbeaverygoodmodelcitytostudy becauseallfundsallocatedGampolaUCthroughMinistryofLocalGovernment.

Exchange visit Eastern and Southern

TrincomaleeisoneoftouristhotspotofeasternpartofSriLankaandinthiscityyoumayfindoneofmajor natural harbor. This most of wild areas are highly damaged by the waste within city level. HELPO and UnitedNationEnvironmentProgramareimplementingecofriendlyprogram.Underthisprogramexpect toconstructbiogasunitsandtreeplantingprogramsincludingawarenessprograms.

In Monthof January one team will visit with consist officers of Local Authorities, Community, NGO; PrivateSectorbeparticipatedtotheexperienceexchangeprogram.TheideaisstudyhowGallecitycould findthesolutiontowasteproblemandstudyabouttheBiogasprograminGallecity.Duringthisfieldvisit theyexpecttovisitBiogasunitsandtheRecyclingprogramsoftheMunicipalCouncil. HELPO organized full exchange program for the visitors who comes from Trincomalee. The team can studyabouttheinstitutionalbiogasunits,domesticbiogasunits,communitybiogasunits.Eventheywill getopportunitytostudyhowthosebiogasunitsfunctionsanditsmechanism.Theorganizationexpectsto change the views and attitudes of the participants about biogas and waste management. Even This program will affect to carry out very success program in Trincomalee. HELPO organized this program with collaboration with the Galle Municipal Council and end of the day have organized the discussion about they learnt and their ideas to improve the process. The welcome ceremony will be held on Galle MunicipalCouncilwithchairofHon.GalleMayor. AsthesecondstepoftheprogramoneteamexpecttovisitTrincomalee.Thegoaloftheprogramisshare the experience and studies the process of Trincomalee. On the other hand through second visit we can make more strength the process of Trincomalee. This is City to City Experience Exchange program with multibenefitsforthebothparties.

Green homeland and transportation of Korea

Republic of Korea is following amazing process and HELPO would like to share what we learned throughthem.TheKoreangovernmenthascreatedaninstitutionalframeworkforagreatleapforward towardagreeneconomicpower.In2009,Koreaenactedaframeworkactonlowcarbongreengrowth. The first law of its kind in the world, and released a National strategy for green. Today we discuss abouttheGreenHomelandandTransportationofKorea. ZeroEnergyHouse Koreaplanstorequirebuildingstobezeroinenergyconsumptionby2025.In2011,Koreaisworkingto create a Green Home Park Complex where residents can actually live a low carbon life, which will offeramodelforgreencitiesacrossthenation. KTXhighSpeedRailNetwork KoreahasdrawnupaplantocompleteaKTXhighspeedRailNetworkwhichwillconnectallmajor citiesacrossthenationwithinoneandahalfhoursby2020.Theexpectedoutcomeis7.74milliontonsof Co2reductionand6.9trillionwoninvarioussocialbenefits. CheonggyecheonStreamRestorationProject TheCheonggyecheonStreamRestorationProjectisprobablyKoreasfirsteverseriousgreengrowth initiativebythenMayorofSeoulCity,LeeMyungbak.Chenoggyecheonwascreekflowingthrough downtownSeoulunititwasconvertedandelevatedexpresswaybuildoverit. Afterscrappingtheelevatedhighwayandrestoringthestream,anewecologicalheaveninthecentreof Seoulwasborn.Itisalandmarkofgreengrowthwhereavarietyofanimalsandplantsnowthrive.This projectrestorednotonlythestreamitselfbutalsothehistory,cultureandnaturalenvironmentofSeoul. FourMajorRiversRestorationProject The four major rivers restoration project, undertaken from 2009 to 2012, seeks to minimize water related damage caused by climate change and to secure reliable supplies of water resources by increasingthoseresourcesbymorethan1.3billiontons.ThisprojecthasbeenhighlypraisedbyUNEP asaneffectivewayofadaptingtoclimatechange.Itisquicklybecomingabenchmarkforenvironment friendlygreenbusinessthedevelopingcountries.ItisKoreasmosticonicGreenNewDealProject.

Eco Frie effo of Thot endly ort tagamuw HOLDE w wa womens C Co-Op

Environ nmentisthe emostimp portantthin ngofthew world.Withoutenviron nmentwe cant live we absorb many things from the Environm m s e ment. The p people wh lived in last ho n decades did enviro onment pol llution in s smallscale. It could be a one of the reason that n many co ountries ha to face m ad many natur disasters. Even we had to fac huge natural ral e ce disasterin2004and dlostmany yhuman.

Totagam muwa HOL LDE women Coop l ns located nea to the co ar oastal belt of Hikkadu uwa. Many p people died because of the Ts d sunami Dis saster and many pe d eople lost their livelihoo od.Inthisy yearmemb bersofthe WomensC Cooporga anizedspecialprogram mfor th Ann 07 niversary of Tsunami They org o i. ganized tre planting program in coastal belt ee g becausemanypeop plecouldsa avetheirlif febytrees.Somember rsdecidedt toplanttre eesin coastalb beltontheo otherhandthatincrea asethegree eneryofcoa astalbeltof fthearea.

Thisgre eatoccasion nwason26thDecemb ber2011.Allbranchm membersbr roughtatre eeto plant be eside the sea beach o Thotagam of muwa area specially by comme a emorating their neighbo & relati ors ives who lost on tha huge di at isaster. It w a grea example for was at e everyon ne&thisgreatworkap ppreciated byallpeop ple.Allthe emembers arenowtr rying to prote the plan which h ect nts have plante by them & it will m ed make them idea to lov & m ve protectt thenaturei inlargesca ales.

47 Settlements infrastructure facility developments

A number of improvements implemented in the 47 settlement communitys living condition throughaprojecttodevelop infrastructurefacility& housing for city ofthe village.Thevillagedrainagesystems&theimprovementofroadconditionisthemain thingswhichhaveselectedtodevelopundertheprogram.Thisidentifiedthroughthe programweconducted.ThisprogramfundedbyGamanaFoundation&thetechnical assistanceoftheHELPOthisallconstructionscarried&thecommunityhasprovided non skill labours also. Grass root level community got the leadership for the developmentworks.

Construction of drainage completed during the last month & community of the 47 settlementarrangesasmallcelebrationforit.Mr.MethsiriDeSilvaHon.MayorofGalle invited for the occasion & it was held with participation of all stakeholders in their village. Hon. Mayor explained important of improve the infrastructure facility development to meet with community needs to reach the process of development in largescale.Furthermoreheinvitedtocommunitytoorganizeacleanupcampaignalso forotherneeds&promisetoofferfacilityfromthemunicipalcouncilintheirneeds.

This is the great achievement of 47 settlement as community was identified needs & they fulfill it by forwarding their message through their HOLDE Womens Coop to differentstakeholders.Thisisagoodexampleforallothersettlementsalsointhecase ofgettinghelpfortheircommonneedsastheirvillagegatheringmadepathtoraisethe commonvoicetomakeitsuccess.

TheYear2011manyofourpeoplesmovementbranchesstartedtheirworkwith their members, with the great expectation to expand & give assistance for their members more & more. All of the members of the branches came with

savingsonthatdaytostarttheirbranchworkfortheNewYear.

Paritta Ceremony at Ministry of Co-Operative

Ministry of fisheries cultural affairs food supply & distribution trade & CoOperative developmenthasorganizedaspecialparittachanting&fooddevotingprogramintheir officepremises.Mr.D.TRohanaPriyaupulMinisterofculturalinsouthernregion&his department officers participated for the occasion on that day. This is Buddhist ceremonythatconductsbytheBuddhist.

Our Housing & Livelihood Development womens Cooperative society (HOLDE womens Coop) got a special invitation to take part for this program & Community leaders from all of our HOLDE womens Coop has participated with their small groupsmembersonthatday.ThesecretaryofMinisteroffisheriesculturalaffairsfood supply&distributiontrade&CoOperativedevelopmentaswellasthedirectorboard memberofHELPOMr.AsokaSiriwardanaalsoparticipatedtotheceremony.

Milestones of Community Development Process

Within this year we could start many programs and those are milestones and turning point of community development process. Through those programs we could learn manythings.Thisisaboutreviewwhatwehavedone.

Communitymarketingprogram HELP-O has developed the Peoples movement with community of the urban & rural areas of Southern part of the Country to give them financial & other help especially marginalize poor community. Now many of the members have taken the financial help & have develop their business, but sometimes they are suffering with marketing problems for the products. After recognized & analyze the situation HELP-O started consumer marketing program to exchange the goods among our community with the idea of to give them a value & market for it.

CommunityPlatformtoMunicipalCandidates Community of our Womens Coop arranges a special open stageonlast4thofOctobertoallcandidatesofGallemunicipal council to express their ideas & their desires in front of the people. Especially they explain about their view of new city development plans by minimizing the unjust for the people especially street vendors in the pavements. This is very good exampletoshowthenegotiatingwithlocalauthoritieswithour grass root level community. All candidates came to express theirviews.

Standing on our own strength

K.D Niluka Yamuna Malani is a mother of three children & she tries to learn the life through sewing thegarmentsasselfemployment.Sheisamemberof Thotagamuwa Womens Coop and she is the leader oftheEkamuthuSmallGroup.

Reporter:

Whatyouthinkaboutthissystem?

Niluka: Actually Im so much happy to engage withthisprocessespeciallyaswomenImgettingmanybenefitsfromthisall.Nowall ofuslivelikeownfamily.Ineveryweeklymeetingwetalkaboutourfinancial&non financialneeds&wecanhelpeachotheroftheirneeds.Eventhisisagoodplatformto discussmanythingsthebestthingiswecantakedecisions.

Reporter: What kind of support you & your members already received from this network?

Niluka: Already our members got much financial & non financial help from our HLDPC womens CoOp especially for their livelihood programs. As I also a self employer I got Rs.25, 000.00 in first time for to expand my business. That is the foundation stone of my small business and I could able to carry my business in a profitablewaynow.AfterrepayingthatloanamountIgotRs.35,000.00also.

Reporter:Whatkindofmessagefinallyyouliketogiveothers?

Niluka: In this way I could win my family economy as well as could help my small group&othermembersofourWomensCoOp.FinallysheexpressherideathatShe love&protectthisPeoplesnetworkforeverasitgavehelpforsomeofthevillages& for herself also to meet the basic needs of their lives. Now our living condition been increasedandtheylivehappilywiththeirfamilymembers.