improving livelihoods and environmental infrastructure in tsunami affected areas in India

Three Indian partners - the Advisory Services in Environmental Management (GTZ ASEM), the Academy of Gandhian Studies (AGS) and the Society for Rural Development (SRD) - and two European partners - adelphi form Germany and CENTRIC Austria International (CAI) from Austria - had developed RELIVE (Upgrade Environmental Infrastructure by Restoring Livelihoods). RELIVE aims to renew lost or damaged assets for fishing and agriculture assets of tsunami-affected communities in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

At the same time, basic environmental infrastructure, such as water, sanitation and energy supply, was restored or upgraded by means of a fund system. It procured lost or damaged assets for the participating households through a fund, whereby the participants repaid their loans through labour instead of cash. The target groups were involved at each stage of the decision-making process and selecting technological options.

The project was financed by the European Commission under the EU-Asia PRO ECO IIB Post Tsunami Programme.