Background
The roots of Sri Lanka’s long-standing conflict can be traced back to 1948 when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gained its independence from the United Kingdom following a long history of colonial rule. Because the Sinhalese, the majority ethnic group, inherited most of the political power, the minority Tamils began to feel that their language, culture, identity and rights were being threatened. When the Sinhalese-led government changed the official language in Sri Lanka from English to Sinhalese in the 1970s, Tamil discontent grew even further. Tensions between the government and Tamil separatists exploded into a full scale war in 1983.
Although a cease-fire negotiated in 2002 was technically in effect until January 2008, large-scale violence between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the main separatist rebel group, resumed in 2006. Both sides are increasingly committing human rights violations and the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sri Lanka is increasing at an exponential rate as the government continues to wrest territory away from the LTTE.
Although Sri Lanka elected the first female Prime Minister in the world in 1960, women’s current political representation is a mere 4% at the national level and 2% at the local level. However, women’s continual grassroots reconciliation work has made remarkable strides towards establishing peace at the community level and will be imperative to ensuring that future negotiations result in a peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict. It is therefore crucial to build the capacity of Sri Lankan women to actively participate in political decision-making processes and conflict transformation efforts in their country.
WCI’s Programs
Training of Trainers: WCI has implemented a Training of Trainers (ToT) program in a five-part series that covers topics such as advocacy, coalition building, campaigning, media skills, and conflict resolution. Each of the 25 participants, one from each of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts, commits to training an additional 25 women in her community on the subjects covered in these workshops.
Talk Show Series: WCI and Young Asia Television produced television and radio talk show series that featured women leaders and addressed such issues as women’s political participation, conflict resolution, racism and women’s role in the family. To prepare them for their television appearances, the featured women attended two trainings that strengthened their communication and media skills. The talk shows began broadcast in September 2008 in each of Sri Lanka’s main languages-English, Sinhala, and Tamil.
Campaign for IDPs: In collaboration with WCI, the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) facilitated three trips for women activists to internally displaced person (IDP) camps in eastern Sri Lanka. During the trips, participants interviewed women IDPs about their experiences and documented their findings. Participants then created awareness-raising materials about the IDP situation and disseminated them throughout the country.
International Women’s Day: On March 8, 2008 over 500 women participated in an International Women’s Day celebration in Jaffna, one of the most conflict-affected cities in Sri Lanka. The celebration included speeches and skits that aimed to raise awareness about human rights violations, the conflict’s effects on women and the importance of women’s political participation.
Empowering Entrepreneurs Across the Country: WCI and the Business for Peace Alliance (BPA), a local country-wide business network that promotes best practices among its members and sustainable peace-building, collaborated on an event titled to give women entrepreneurs from the North and East, who are often isolated from the rest of the country, the opportunity to travel to Galle in the south of the island and participate in a trade fair with women entrepreneurs from the Southern region. During the fair, the women entrepreneurs attended a workshop where they shared best practices and networked with each other, creating linkages between women across regional and communal divides.
HIV/AIDS Awareness: WCI worked with Soba Kantha, a community based organization (CBO), to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the South of the country where the disease is rapidly spreading. Activities included informational workshops, “mobilizations” (to encourage workshop participants to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in their own communities), school debates and essay competitions.
Women’s Support Centers: WCI supported two women’s centers in Ampara, a city in the highly conflicted-affected East, that are designed to be safe and accessible spaces for women from all ethnic groups in the community. These women are often relegated to stay at home with their families, thereby isolating themfrom each other and the community at large. The centers offer psychosocial services, various trainings, pre-school and a forum for women to network with one another. WCI sponsored six trainings at the centers on such topics as conflict resolution, civic activism and Muslim personal law
WCI’s Impact
| Participants Trained | Topics Covered |
|---|---|
| 75 women, many of whom were from marginalized rural and indigenous communities | Attended a training about the challenges that rural and indigenous women face, with a special focus on human rights. They then developed policy recommendations to address those challenges. |
| 25 current and aspiring women leaders from throughout the country, including the highly conflict-affected regions | Participated in a series of five training-of-trainers workshops, which covered such topics as: advocacy, running for office, conflict resolution and proposal writing. Each participant has committed to training 25 women in their communities on the subjects covered in these workshops. |
| Produced 31 Television and radio talk shows Facilitated two media trainings. |
Each talk show featured 3-4 prominent women leaders and discussions on such topics as women’s political participation, conflict resolution, racism and women’s role in the family. |
| 50 women IDPs and community leaders 6,000 news bulletins |
Participated in four trips to IDP camps where they interviewed women IDPs about their experiences. They then produced and distributed news bulletins about their findings in order to raise awareness about the IDP situation throughout the country |
| 25 women entrepreneurs from throughout the country | Shared best practices and networked |
| Over 500 women from Jaffna, a city in the highly conflict-affected North. | Gained awareness about human rights violations in their region and the effect of the conflict on women |
| 900 women and youth in the South | Participated in trainings, mobilizations, debates and school competitions to improve their understanding of HIV/AIDS and reduce the stigma associated with the disease. |
| 54 women in Ampara, a city in the highly conflict-affected East | Participated in activities and/or trainings covering topics such as; gender and conflict resolution, Muslim personal law; leadership and civic activism and peace- building. |
