The Chairman of Caritas India, Bishop Lumen Monteiro visited the diocese of Vijaypuram, Idukki, and Verapoly from the 19^th to 22^nd November. As part of the visit, he inaugurated the Rehabilitation phase of Caritas India supported programmes and also met with the Bishops, diocesan directors of social works and several flood-affected families as an expression of solidarity with the flood-affected victims. He assured the Church’s continued support and accompaniment to all the flood-affected Dioceses and people of Kerala.

Caritas India led the protection sector assessment which was part of the larger Post Disaster Detailed Needs Assessment conducted by the Kerala IAG/Sphere India. Simultaneously, KSSF also took the initiative to facilitate a damage assessment at the DSSS level, the data of which was consolidated at the state level by KSSF with the support of Caritas India. The results of both assessments pointed out to the prioritization of needs in the sectors of Shelter, Livelihood, WaSH, Psychosocial care and Protection.

After a series of consultation meetings at both the head office-level and the state-level, Caritas India decided to prioritise its recovery and rehabilitation interventions in the sectors of Shelter, Livelihood and Wash. These interventions will be implemented over a period of 8 months, starting in November. The recovery and rehabilitation will focus on improving the living conditions of the flood-affected families through adequate shelter repair support, improving access to safe drinking water and hygiene facilities and restoration of /restarting livelihoods through conditional cash transfers and other alternative support.

Support was also extended from Caritas Internationalis with the deputation of Technical Advisors from the Shelter and Wash Technical Working Groups. The two advisors visited the flood affected areas of Idukki, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Allappuzha, and Thrishur to study and assess the situation and accordingly design strategies and approaches for intervention. Following this, a writeshop was conducted with the DSSS directors and Project Co-ordinators to develop the recovery project proposals of all 32 members of KSSF.

Caritas India will be supporting 17,859 families in the areas of Wash, Shelter and Livelihood in the recovery phase across 12 districts with the help of 31 partners.

In WaSH, the interventions will be concerned with toilet construction, chlorination and disinfecting water sources, installation of water filters etc, shelter will be concerned with conditional cash support for shelter repair and livelihood will focus on seed support, goatry, piggery, poultry, vegetable gardens, petty shops, plantations, sewing machine support for quick income generation. 2625 families will be supported in the Wash recovery interventions, 856 families will be supported in the shelter interventions and 14,378 families will be supported in the livelihood interventions.

Caritas India will reach the poorest of the poor, who are unable to recover from the shocks of the devastating floods on their own and therefore need external assistance. To ensure the highest level of transparency and accountability, the recovery and rehabilitation programme prioritises community-led recovery and has designed the recovery phase programmes in such a way that it allows maximum participation of the community in all its stages.