Organization background
Children International (CI) has been working in various districts of West Bengal, India, since 1981. CI programs reached out to several tens of thousands of underprivileged children with the goal of enabling them to become "healthy, educated and self-reliant" adults. They have a local agency "Sahay", and also work with UNICEF as well as several NGO's and governmental agencies in India.

Project background
The low lying Sunderbans Delta region of West Bengal is particularly susceptible to cyclone damage. Cyclone Aila which struck India and Bangladesh on May 25, 2009, caused widespread destruction and displaced 2.3 million people (175,000 families lost their home, and another 270,000 homes sustained significant damage). Following such natural disasters, CI-Sahay try to provide support to local families through housing-reconstruction and related infrastucture projects.

Project description
The project proposal is to provide a housing reconstruction program to 153 families in the affected area. The houses are made of brick, so they can withstand the force of similar storms. The houses have two multi-purpose rooms and a verandah in front are and area of 320 sqft (with communal toilets). Estimated time to build is 8 months (with the beneficiaries supplying part of the unskilled labor for the construction of the houses). GKF will pick up the cost of 10 houses in this project.

Close window