Livelihoods
Raking rice fields at a Trócaire livelihood project in the Philippines
Trócaire devotes a large part of its work towards helping poor households all over the developing world to meet their essential needs, including food, shelter, health care, education, basic income and participation in community life.
Trócaire helps people gain access to secure and reliable means of meeting those daily needs through agriculture programmes, including crop diversification and improved agricultural techniques, food storage, securing access to land and working with people to teach them skills they can use to make money.
This high level of investment in the provision of basic needs and services is complemented by a strong emphasis on support for communities on their right to access resources such as land, shelter and water, and their right to a means of income, a fair wage and good working conditions. This rights approach is in turn linked to Trocaire’s advocacy work on trade and labour issues at international level.
More than 800 million people in the world are malnourished, surviving without enough to eat each day. Many of these people, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, live in rural areas with poor transport systems and no agricultural technology. They rely on very small plots of land, and in some places they are denied the right to use this land to farm for their own families.
Many people are living on the edge, and natural disasters like droughts, floods and earthquakes tip them over so that they have absolutely nothing to fall back on. Conflict, economic crisis and the disaster that is the HIV/AIDS pandemic make this vulnerability even worse.
Because of this level of vulnerability, disaster risk management has become an increasingly important aspect of Trocaire’s work on livelihoods. Rather than waiting for the next man-made or natural disaster to happen, lessons can be learned from past emergencies and plans put in place to reduce risks for vulnerable people to ensure that when these disasters do occur that the impact on poor communities is contained to the greatest degree possible.
Disaster risk management is not just a part of Trócaire’s emergency response, but is rapidly becoming an integral part of the organisation’s work on livelihoods too.
Climate Change and Family Farming in Brazil
Below you can watch a video based on a seminar entitled "Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Family Farming" that took place in the Northeastern Brazilian State of Paraíba in May, 2007.
The objective of the seminar was to promote a process of sharing information and experiences on climate change, its impact on family farming and environmental services provided by small farmers, to stimulate proactive initiatives to strengthen family farming in Northeastern Brazil.
Livelihoods: Related Items
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G8 fail to lead on response to climate change
10 July 2008
At their meeting in Japan which finished on Wednesday July 9, the G8 countries failed to show leadership in the international response to climate change.
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Ethiopia on the brink
12 June 2008
Millions of people, including children, babies and the elderly, are facing a looming food crisis in the coming months in Ethiopia.
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Food aid commitments welcome, but longer-term solutions must be found
09 June 2008
Immediate aid for those worst affected by the Global Food Crisis is a short-term fix, but not a cure for what is a long term problem.
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The Global food crisis : oppportunities & threats
25 April 2008
Reflections on the global food crisis from Sorcha Fennell, Trocaire’s Livelihoods and Environment Programme Leader.
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World Food Day
16 October 2007
Last week marked World Food Day. As millions worldwide go hungry, we look at Trócaire’s approach to hunger.
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World Water Day
21 March 2007
To mark World Water day we look at the success of some Trócaire funded irrigation projects in Honduras.
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Tailoring for a family's needs in Sierra Leone
27 October 2006
Trócaire's Aonghus O'Keeffe met with Ellinah Fornah who learned her tailoring skills on a Trócaire funded course.
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Spinach a matter of taste in the Andes
06 October 2006
Orla Fagan reports from the Andean highlands in Bolivia and talks to Felicia Canaviri Mamani, one of the beneficiaries of a greenhouse from Trócaire.
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Malnutrition common in the Andes
06 October 2006
Orla Fagan reports from Villa Arbolitos in the Bolivian Andes where malnutrition is common and Trócaire partner CIPE are working to improve livelihoods.
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Organic farming offers new lease on life
26 September 2006
Orla Fagan meets Dominga Romero, a Peasant farmer in Peru to hear how farmers are learning new organic farming techniques to improve productivity.
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Livelihoods in Malawi
16 September 2006
In this series we look at the issues and people behind Trócaire's livelihood and food security work in Malawi, the 12th poorest country in the world.
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Trócaire Project to appear on Sport Relief
07 July 2006
A Trócaire project in Guatemala funded by Comic Relief is to be featured on BBC1 Sport Relief, airing on Monday July 10. The show focuses on Grupo Ceiba.