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Winding down in Aceh
12 May 2009
After four years of working in post-tsunami Aceh, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has closed the Banda Aceh office and has completed all skills training program activities.
Having a laugh: Women collecting manure to make organic fertiliser
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Since 2005, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA Aceh has trained hundreds of women and men in a range of vocational skills and small business management skills, as well as providing start-up capital and grants to small business collectives. The Aceh program included the construction of an environmental resource centre, homes, community centres, community toilet blocks, salt farms and a vocational training centre.
Through 2009 and beyond, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA will continue to work with the Trade Union Care Centre to develop the capacity and skills of activists and officials in the growing Acehnese union movement. Much remains to be done, with partnerships continuing with our sister organisation from the Finnish union movement (SASK) and the German FES. The Global Union Federations UNI (Union Network International) and BWI (Building and Wood Workers' International) are also involved.
To date, the union development program has seen hundreds of Acehnese workers developing an understanding of trade unionism. APHEDA has been successful in training a core group of union activists in organising and facilitation skills, and has assisted with the emergence of new democratic trade unions such as SPKA - the health workers' union of Aceh.
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA would like to acknowledge the support provided by those who donated to the tsunami appeal, those who continued to regularly donate to the program, and donor organisations including the British Trade Union Congress, Volkshilfe Austria, Neighbour in Need, Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, Progetto Sviluppo, NSW Nurses' Association and AusAID. We would particularly like to thank all the staff who worked on the Aceh program for their commitment and hard work.
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