Vakkom and Beyond
Category:Updates
S.Venuji, President, Vakkom Grama Panchayat and Roy Palmer with letter authorizing project
Following the approval of the Vakkom Project ‘Empowerment of unemployed local women of Vakkom Panchayath, Kerala State, India through aquaculture intervention’ and with support of Rabo Share4More Foundation; our Kerala partners, Organic Life; the President, S.Venuji, Vakkom Gramapanchayat; the State Government of Kerala through the Hon Minister for Fisheries and Traditional Industries, Smt. J. Mercykutty Amma and, above all, the people of Vakkom Gramapanchayat.
It is important to say that this would not have happened without the introductions and massive efforts by Dr. Dinesh Kaippilly and the time and promotional skills of Dr. Janine Pierce, who also got some members of her family engaged to assist.
Project Background
Vakkom is a small coastal village located at Thiruvananthapuram District, the capital of Kerala. Three sides of the village are surrounded by the backwaters of Anchuthengu which is connected to Arabian Sea through the estuary. The lake is being inundated daily by tidal waters and gets a high rate of water exchange from the sea. The village has a great tradition of Art and culture. Vakkom has a population of around 17640 people among which 7996 are males and 9644 females with an effective literacy rate of 95% for males and 83% for females. The population density in the village is 3150 per sq.km.