VSS Telangana Ethics protocol supplementary information
This document provides supplementary details concerning dried fish value chain scoping research to be conducted in Telangana, India.
Partners
Village Service Society (VSS), Telangana
Village Service Society (VSS) is a registered Non Governmental organization working with the fisherfolk in rural India for the last 18 years. VSS was registered in the year 1995 by the committed rural development professionals and professional social workers. VSS had worked with the agencies like United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the formation and strengthening process of the 500 women Self Help Groups (SHGs), their village and mandal level federations in the most backward area of Mahabubnagar District, Telangana State. VSS also facilitated the formation process of Fishermen cooperative Societies (FCSs), Farmers Clubs and also several watershed committees in the district. VSS could able to cover more than 200 villages of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana State for the last 24 years. VSS has been working with various Government departments like Fisheries department, Agriculture department, NABARD and Research Institutions and the NGOs like WASSAN,CWS, etc in working with the communities.
VSS has been primarily working on the inland fisheries sector and associated with about 5000 fisher folk in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana State, India. The organization is keen to work with the fishing communities to enhance their livelihoods by improving the productivity of the water bodies and also taking control over the markets. The organization developed a concept on "Community managed Inland tank based fisheries in Telangana" and closely working with the fisheries department, Government of Telangana, India and several other agencies in developing the fisherfolk.
Mr. Ramachandrudu Barigela, President of Village Service Society (VSS), will be the lead coordinator in India for the Telangana team. He has twenty-six years of experience in fisheries research, community-based natural resource management, community mobilization. His expertise includes design, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of various projects related to Inland fisheries, tank management, watershed development, land rights of dalit, and many others. He has facilitated the formation process of 350 fishers cooperatives in Telangana. He is also a practitioner and master trainer on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods and tools.
Planned research activities
Scoping study
The scoping study will be our initial work to capture a comprehensive profile and status of dried fish in Telangana. In Telangana, the focus of the scoping study will be on inland dry fish sector. The scoping study will focus on several key areas that are closely linked to dried fish. The idea is to develop a comprehensive understanding about dried fish in Telangana by scoping into the social, cultural, economic/market, technological, political and biophysical aspects of dried fish and understand how each of these aspects works and how do these aspects interact with each other. The scoping study will identify different segment of dried fish value chain (fisheries, dried fish processing, dried fish, wholesaling and dried fish retailing) and explore the governance of such value chain segments. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to collect data. Semi-structured individual and group interviews with the approved DFM interview guides will be used to conduct the study.
Range of Scoping
The scoping study will be conducted in the Telangana State of India and will be limited to the inland fisheries.
Team
The Telangana research team consists of Village Service Society’s (VSS) researchers and retired government officials of the Fisheries Department.
Potential Risks
The research may include some participants mainly in the form of socially disadvantaged groups based on caste or other minority groups. However, all participants will be able to freely consent to participate in the research because there are no known social barriers in the research context that may restrict these participants from taking individual decisions on whether to partake in activities such as this research.
There are no known risks associated with the participation of people in this study. To minimize any unknown risks, the research team will ensure free and informed consent with clear communication with the participants and emphasize openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness, and responsiveness. We will communicate to the participants that we will ensure the responses are documented in a confidential and private manner so as not to reveal their identity throughout all stages of the research. As outlined elsewhere in our ethics application, we will ensure this by strictly following confidentiality and anonymity rules throughout the research process including data collection, analysis and dissemination. For example, any reporting on activities that may likely result in the participants being vulnerable (e.g., illegal activities, child labour practices, or the use in fish processing of pesticides, etc.) will either not be done or will only be done after ensuring high levels of anonymity and confidentiality. Participants will also be reminded of their right to refuse to answer any questions or end the conversation at any time if they feel uncomfortable with the research process.
