Thailand Burma Border Consortium

I S S U E 1 3 , F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1

Adjustments to the Food Basket in 2011

As we start the New Year, TBBC is again facing a dif-
ficult funding situation. Although most of our Donors
continue to strongly support the programme, they have
not been able to keep pace with rising prices and the
negative effect of falling exchange rates.

Over the past few years, TBBC has focussed its ef-
forts to limit the impacts of funding shortfalls by tar-
geting less essential items and out-of-camp support.
Regretfully, with those now down to a bare minimum,
we now have no choice but to focus adjustments on
core camp programmes - specifically food and shelter –
effective January.

Although the funding situation has made this a matter

of urgency, TBBC was already planning new approaches
to both our food and shelter programmes. A profes-
sional review of the food basket was conducted last
year to review its nutritional composition. The adjust-
ments being made will result in cost savings through
the reduction of certain staple food items (while also
reintroducing pulses), but overall they will provide a
more balanced source of nutrition.

In effect TBBC is moving from an emphasis on rice to a

more nutritionally balanced one and of course this will
be very difficult for the refugees to adjust to. A com-
prehensive information campaign, including nutrition
awareness, is being carried out to explain the revisions
taking place and to mitigate the negative impact.

To ensure that the nutritional needs of the most vul-

nerable refugees are met TBBC will continue to sup-
port supplementary feeding programs (SFP) imple- Food ration poster from one of the refugee camps
mented by health agencies, and nursery school lunch
programmes run by local partners. In March and April, we will conduct a comprehensive Food Security Assessment in all
camps to shed further light on existing household vulnerabilities and coping capacities. This will provide TBBC with baseline
information which will inform any further changes.

The funding situation has necessitated a 50% cut in the shelter programme but significant efficiencies are expected from a
new approach piloted in the Tak camps, where individual household shelter needs have been assessed and assistance given by
carpenters to improve construction standards, Available resources will focus on maintaining living conditions in existing shel-
ters, rather than the building of new houses – even at a time when substantial numbers of new arrivals are expected. Support
for community buildings will also be cut, although camp management structures such as warehouses will need to be main-
tained.

While continuing to provide a basic level of nutrition and shelter, TBBC is expanding livelihoods opportunities in the camps in
pursuit of durable refugee self-reliance. We believe these interventions will assist households more easily accept these sub-
stantial changes to basic relief support.

We welcome your inputs and support through this challenging process.

 Thailand Burma Border Consortium
Issue 13, February 2011

Capacity-Building Projects in Nupo and Umpiem Mai

During the past two years, TBBC has facilitated the work of an Australian Volunteers International (AVI) volunteer, Linda
Ulonska, to work with CBOs in Umpiem Mai and Nu Po, to support the development of two organisational capacity building
projects - the short-term goal being to strengthen CBO service provision in their communities, while the ultimate aim is to
strengthen overall management of the camps.

In Nu Po camp, the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO), the Karen Youth Organisation (KYO) and the Karen Student Net-
work Group (KSNG), explained that their greatest challenge was the loss of staff due to resettlement. As a result they
hoped to initiate a capacity building project to help them train up younger members of their CBOs in order for them to
take on greater responsibility. In response, Linda worked with the CBOs to help them establish a Community Capacity
Building Course (CCBC) – a full-time two year program focusing on community management, computer education and English
language skills. The course emphasises practical application of the skills learnt, and as such the participants spend two
weeks in a classroom style environment before practicing these skills for two weeks in the community. 15 members from
the CBOs began studying in July 2009, and as the course draws to a close, results show that more than half of the partici-
pants have already moved from being members of their organisations to taking on committee roles such as Vice Chairper-
son and Joint Secretary. Once completing CCBC, the participants will return to their CBOs for a minimum of a year in or-
der to share their skills, train other staff members, and strengthen the CBOs from the inside. In the future CCBC will
continue with a new course beginning in May 2011, in order to train more CBO members to take on community management
roles.

In Umpiem Mai, Linda is working with KWO, KYO, KSNG, the Muslim Youth Association (MYA), Muslim Women’s Association
(MWA) and the Community Peace Team (CPT), to support the strengthening of the CBO Support Centre (CSC). CSC was set
up in response to a needs assessment conducted by TBBC, where the CBOs involved identified four key areas of support
needed: human resources, material resources, financial resources and internal/external relationships. The CSC aims to
address these needs by providing organisational capacity building training; communal access to resources such as com-
puters, meeting rooms, sports equipment, and other materials etc; and a place where CBOs can network together. In 2011,
trainings offered will include account-
ing, report writing, leadership, manage-
ment, problem solving, and fundraising
skills. All courses will run over a 6 week
period and participants will learn how to
be a trainer, before creating their own
training materials and giving this train-
ing back to their CBO with support from
a CSC staff person. CBOs will also have
access to computer training and English
language training throughout the year.
Since the beginning of Linda’s place-
ment, a total of 243 CBO staff and
members have directly accessed 12
trainings, with a further 172 people
accessing the roll out of trainings within
their CBOs.

Shortly Linda will be moving on from

TBBC, and both projects will be over-
seen by the TBBC Camp Management
Program Officer based in Umphang.

www.tbbc.org
 Thailand Burma Border Consortium Issue 13, February 2011

Income Generation Opportunities for People in Tham Hin and Mae Ra Ma Luang Camps
The Income Generation Programme aims to create economic
opportunities for people in camps to help them generate income
and strengthen self-employment opportunities in the camps.
This not only helps to improve their current financial circum-
stances, but also prepares people for their eventual reintegra-
tion into their homelands, or integration into 3rd countries for
those interested in resettlement. In the development of new
micro or small entrepreneurial activities, Capacity Building of
clients is the prime component and this is conducted through
entrepreneurship training, grants and continuous support for
their business management. Since the start of the project in
August 2010, 286 people (119 in Tham Hin and 167 in Mae Ra Ma
Luang) have received Entrepreneurship Development Training
followed by a grant of Baht 2,400 Baht to start or expand micro
or small businesses in the camps. More than 95% of clients have
already started small businesses and are generating additional
income for their supplementary needs. 67% of the total client
base are women, including new arrivals, and the programme has a
specific focus on other vulnerable groups such as persons with
disabilities.

The average daily turnover of these micro businesses ranges from 50 to 600 Baht, depending on the type of businesses and the demand
of products, and this means that these people do no longer have to go outside the camps to look for casual labour, and risk possible arrest
and deportation.

The IG Programme is now planning to organize a revolving loan scheme as a way of helping people address their financial needs at the com-
munity level. There are also plans to motivate and assist these people in business activities with the introduction of micro insurance
schemes which will be designed to address the particular local context. The savings and micro insurance program will help people to invest
in the long term in various entrepreneurial activities using their own resources. This will gradually reduce their dependence on outside
financial support for income generation and livelihood activities. All these activities emphasize a step by step approach to build up capaci-
ties of people to generate their own income and gradual self-reliance.

Population in camps along Resettlement Nine Thousand Nights: Refugees from Burma
the border (From TBBC Source IOM A People’s Scrapbook.
This unique publication, ‘authored’ by hundreds of people, collects
data base) As of December 31st
together a rich array of insights, memories and images to pro-
As of December 31, 2010: 2010:
vide a deeply human and intimate portrayal of the life and ex-
The total verified population 11,107 people from camps periences of refugees from Burma over a quarter of a century.
eligible to receive rations in border-wide left for reset- Many individual stories here may move, outrage, enlighten or
all camps in Thailand was tlement in 2010 to the fol- surprise the reader - collectively, the perspectives of so many
140,452 lowing countries: USA contributors come together to provide a rare ‘peoples’ glimpse
Site 1 : 14,313 (9,538); Australia (857); into an extraordinary place and a period of history that will one
Site 2 : 3,505 Finland (123); Canada (339); day pass and be gone.
book from TBBC website: www.tbbc.org
MLO : 14,988 Netherland (50); U.K (4);
MRML : 17,257 Norway (50); New Zealand
Mae La : 45,692 (5), Sweden (80), Denmark
Umpiem : 17,491 (8), Japan (27), Others (26).
Nupo : 15,473 Almost 65,000 people have
Don Yang : 4104 been resettled since 2006.
Tham Hin : 7559

www.tbbc.org