Tuticorin, 30th January 2019: In Keela Vaipar, a village in Tuticorin District, Tamil Nadu, ten newly constructed houses were handed over to persons with disability. This is part of the Tamil Nadu Flood Rehabilitation Program implemented by Centre for Community Services (CCS) and ActionAid India, with the support of Cipla Foundation, which already has supported 45 houses for families affected by the Tamil Nadu flood of December 2015.

The Tamil Nadu Flood Rehabilitation Program is supported by Cipla Foundation, CSR arm of Cipla, a leading global pharmaceutical company, dedicated to high-quality, branded and generic medicines. Social responsibility has been at the core of Cipla, since its inception. The Foundation takes this vision forward through initiatives in Health, Education, Skilling and Disaster Response.

Mr. A N Ramesh, Distribution Head, Cipla Limited; Mr. Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, ActionAid India; Ms. Esther Mariaselvam, Regional Manager of ActionAid India; and Ms. Juliet Theresita, Director, CCS were present at the event.

In the month of November 2015, floods in Tamil Nadu devastated the lives of families. As per reports, over 500 people lost their lives and over 30 lakh families suffered total or partial damage to their homes. ActionAid plunged into action soon after the disaster. Ms. Esther Mariaselvam, Regional Manager of Tamil Nadu Region, ActionAid India claimed that till date, they were able to reach over 20,000 people with emergency support and through recovery work. ActionAid is overwhelmed by the support received from Cipla Foundation to help the most vulnerable people overcome the impact of the flood and to rebuild their lives. The meaningful support received from Cipla Foundation and its employees helped ActionAid reach out to women with disability and children with disability in Chennai, Tuticorin, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur and Cuddalore Districts.

Mr. Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, ActionAid India said that partnership with Cipla Foundation has completed two years of giving support to the marginalised communities in Tamil Nadu. In addition to Tamil Nadu, Cipla Foundation has also reached out to other disaster-affected communities in various parts of India. Cipla Foundation’s support has proved critical for the affected and most-excluded families that ActionAid reached out to during floods across various states. Of particular significance is the support they together were able to extend to women living with disability and their families. 145 women living with disability have received diverse assistive devices giving further strength to their different abilities. Likewise, 40 of them received shelter support and 62 have received support for small-scale ventures in quilt making and jute production. Additionally, support from Cipla Foundation was crucial for ActionAid to build and strengthen the organisation of women living with disabilities – Society For Rights of All Women with Disability (SFRAWD). The shelters would shield people from disasters like floods and storms which are prevalent in coastal areas. Accessibility of these houses to the persons living with disability, as well as provision of water and sanitation through the shelter would provide women with dignity and protection.

Ms. Rumana Hamied, CEO, Cipla Foundation shared that Cipla teams came together from across India to raise funds for the Tamil Nadu flood response efforts in the year 2016 and it is heartening to see the support coming a full circle after three years of rigorous efforts and coordination. The homes would give a new lease of life to communities, especially to women and children with disabilities as they bear the maximum burden in any disaster. Cipla Foundation is committed to empowering the unreached and taking Cipla’s socially conscious legacy forward.

About ActionAid Association

ActionAid India is part of a global federation and a full affiliate of ActionAid International that has presence in over forty countries of Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific with its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since 1972, the poor and the excluded have been at the centre of our discourse and actions in India. In 2006, we registered as an Indian organization called ActionAid Association India. In partnership with over 300 grassroots organizations and networks, ActionAid India reaches out to over 6 million people from marginalized and socially excluded communities belonging to 25 states and 1 Union Territory of the country. Over the past four decades, we have extensively worked with Dalits, Tribals, DNTs, Muslims, the urban deprived community, people living with HIV/AIDS, small-scale farmers, fisher communities, people affected by disasters, and persons with disability, with a focus on the most marginalized and dispossessed amongst them, including women and children. Follow ActionAid on Facebook and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/ActionAidIndia/; https://twitter.com/ActionAidIndia. For more information, log onto www.actionaidindia.org

About Cipla Foundation

Cipla Foundation envisions and executes Cipla’s corporate social responsibility commitments to take the organization’s socially focused business legacy forward. Registered in 2011, the Foundation partners with organizations on the ground to build access and affordability for services in four key areas of Healthcare, Skilling, Education and Disaster Response. The Foundation’s flagship initiative, the Cipla Palliative Care & Training Centre in Pune, India, takes Cipla’s 20 year commitment in palliation ahead. With vulnerable communities as its focus, the Foundation aims to advance the company’s credo of Caring For Life.

Follow Cipla Foundation on twitter and Facebook:@CiplaFoundation. For more information read: http://ezine.ciplafoundation.org/

About CCS

Center for Community Services (CCS) was established as a non-profit organization on the 2nd of February 2000. CCS engages with fishing and salt-pan workers and other forms of unorganized workers of Tuticorin district in order to enable them to realize their socio, economic, education, environment and cultural rights. Thousands of years the tribal fishing community having living and mending sea and coast. These fishing community does not only use the sea and the coast as the livelihood issue but also consider it as an living culture so the Managing Trustee having understanding and born in this community was inspired to work for the development of this fishing community and salt workers who live and depend on salt the 1st scientific chemical which is produced from sea water and the other unorganized working class who contribute their valuable hard work and sweat to the society are living behind. Therefore, CCS works for the life and livelihood empowerment of these sectors of unorganized workers amongst the marginalized with emphasis on women and children. So basically CCS is initiated to protect the rights of these women and children of these vulnerable sector.

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