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We have found consciousness-raising to be an effective way to bridge the gap between laws and policies on the one hand and social reality on the other. In its current report, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called upon the Sri Lankan government to take active steps to combat gender-based-violence.  
 

Gender-based-violence has continued despite far reaching efforts to eliminate it. Discrimination still exists within the family, the community and the workplace. This is perpetuated by the survival of gender stereotypes, “traditional” cultural and religious practices and beliefs that are detrimental to women.

Like in many other countries today, Sri Lankan women are exposed to marginalization - women such as migrant workers, Free Trade Zone factory workers, sex workers, trafficking are the potential victims of sexual violence and discrimination. Even the subtlest forms need attention to create a society where women and men are equal.

Gender Sensitisation of as many people as possible is a highly effective method of paving the way, making it possible to create a healthy democracy, where everyone enjoys human rights and social justice.
   
 
     
Gender Sensitisation programme with Police Officers
 
The Projects Handled So Far
• BUILDING GENDER CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH A PEDAGOGIC PROCESS TO SELECTED GROUPS
   was a project undertaken by WERC and funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to begin to    create gender sensitivity among society. The project began in November 2005 and will run until end of September 2006.

   Although it was far from easy to approach the respective organisations and individuals to encourage them to participate    in these workshops, those who did were very appreciative and the general consensus was that the Program should be an    ongoing process.

   What was very encouraging was the honest response to the workshop contents. For example, a Resource Person    conducting the workshop asked an all-male group to raise their hand if they had never beaten their wives.

   Not a single hand went up !

      This illustrates vividly the further and continued need for Gender Sensitisation programmes.
      So far, target groups for sensitisation have included:
  • NGO personnel, especially grass-root-level organisations    (Sinhala/Tamil)
  • Teachers (Sinhala/Tamil) Trincomalee
  • Lawyers
  • Police Officers
  • Senior School Prefects
  • School Students
  • Law Faculty/Arts Faculty Students
      
  Gender Sensitisation programme with School Boys
 
• PEACE EDUCATION PROJECT:
   A multifaceted approach towards the resolution of conflict-ridden concepts and constructions, which impede on overall    and permanent peace.

   When monitoring the media output relating to conflict, WERC realised that the major drawback to grappling with the ethnic    disharmony lies within the distorted interpretations of history, lack of awareness of the origin of the conflict and mostly    confusion with regards to the concepts relating to the antagonism. For the purpose of clarification, WERC has published a    small series of booklets.
 
Recognition of multiculturalism, Minority Rights and a deep respect for all identities is essential in a pluralist society like that of Sri Lanka if we are to progress towards Democracy and good governance and the Rule of Law. It is clear if one were to determine the causes for the disruption of the peace process that the main cause was the fact that it lacked a wide base of informational discussions. With regard to issues of power sharing and constitutional reform there is a great deal of debate and indecision. However, it is vital to determine the causes for the post-independent upheavals. There are issues such as who are the’ real’ or ’original’ Sri Lankans, who first set foot in this country, whose religion and language should be given pride of place and what for?
Peace Booklets
Issues such as multiculturalism, human rights, secularism, concepts of equality and dignity have been relegated to the background.
Before constitutional reform and political arrangements are brought about the ground has to be prepared by consciousness-raising of the general-public of Sri Lanka, politically and socially.

The following monographs were collected:
     (1) Federalism : by Professor Kumar David

   (2) Sri Lankan Society : by Professor Laksiri Fernando

   (3) Secularism : by Anton Fernando

   (4) The futility of War : by Jehan Perera

   (5) Gender Representation in the Peace Process :                                   -by Dilrukshi Fonseka
Peace Booklets
The booklets are distributed, free of charge among all sectors of society, especially senior students of various schools. It is a peace tool, spreading the message to all Sri Lankans.
   
• SKILLS TRAINING IN JAFFNA – WIDOWS OF WAR & CONFLICT

   This project was established in. It was originally aimed at the widows of war and conflict. These women, after almost two    decades of living with the conflict, had already found jobs, mainly in rolling tobacco into cigarettes. They did not want to    train, as they were comfortable with what they knew.

   However, they had many daughters who wanted to learn new skills and have more opportunities. This group of women    has received training in accounts, co operative skills and spoken English along with tailoring training.

   WERC provided the women with sewing machines, materials, workspace and teachers. They are now getting ready to    start up their own tailoring business together.		  
• SKILLS TRAINING AT BATTICALOA FOR MARGINALIZED WOMEN IN FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS

  WERC undertook this project for the poor widows affected by the war in the Eastern Province. These women are the main   poverty risk group, suffering from low educational attainment levels, high unemployment, no steady income, lower life   expectations, and unequal access to service and opportunities owing to everyday discrimination from the majority   population. We developed a year-long learning program to explore factors that can help these women to share lessons   across and to provide a platform for developing and learning from each others successes. Online dialogues, video shows   and discussions played a vital role in this programme.
 
This programme was funded by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. It was initiated by WERC with the main objective of making the women economically self-sufficient. There were 24 Women actively participating in this programme which spanned over a period from January 2004 to September 2004.

This project had two phases.

The first phase consisted of training after carefully determining their needs within a dialogic process. The training had the following components in view of the fact that as victims of war they needed to be uplifted psychologically and otherwise. Personality Development, Confidence Building, Inspiration and Motivation to start life, a new Programme in Gender Sensitisation.
 
Skills Training
 
People who had expertise in these areas were invited to conduct discussions in a dialogic process by explaining the women’s rights. A series of gender sensitisation programmes were held in which the women actively participated. Followed by this, television programmes and various socio economic issues where a Coordinator made interventions in carrying discussions further.

The second phase of the training was on specific skills for economic self sufficiency where they could use the skills gained towards improving the economic status by going into remunerative enterprises. The women were given the choice to select the areas in which they wanted expertise. They chose sewing and restaurant keeping. Subsequently regular classes were held for them for the development of these skills. This training was followed by a few discussions on the principles of cooperative management
The fundamental objective of the project and the main components were interrelated and included intensive capacity building of females who will multiply their skills and knowledge amongst grass-roots groups, support of local income generation and employment related activities, converting support from the program's development fund into several local revolving funds of the participants, learning and advocacy for policy and public attitude change.
 
• A STICKER CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
 
On the 8th of March 2006 WERC staff celebrated the women’s day with great satisfaction. Ms. Anja, our German volunteer planned for a Sticker Campaign Against Sexual Harassment in Public Transport. Ms. Malathy and Mr. Anjelo gave her thorough support to go ahead with her endeavour.
 
The 8th of March 2006 dawned with all staff members of WERC ready with the stickers to go put them up in the buses. WERC had decided to work with the Sri Lankan Police, who were actually planning of a sticker campaign themselves against sexual harassment for which WERC was funding. Thus, the WERC staff met-up with the Police officers at the Pettah Police Station, where they had organised a formal launching for their stickers, which concentrated on violence against women. After the formal ceremony WERC staff members were accompanied by five Women Police Officers to go to the Pettah bus stand and paste stickers in the buses. Nearly 900 stickers had been pasted on that day

Later the same project was funded by CIDA, and now a new set of stickers are being printed along with a poster indicating the desirable and undesirable behaviour in public transport. The previous set of stickers is being distributed through various organisations to all parts of the island.
 
Sexual Harrasment Sticker Campaign
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Workshops
 
• WOMEN’S STUDIES COURSE ( SINHALA & TAMIL )
 
 
The aim of the project course is to rediscover the hidden women and their experiences from the fields of history in all disciplines and to bring them together towards an understanding of the historical, social, political and economic oppressions and exploitation of women. Women's Studies also aims to enable an awareness and consciousness not only of patriarchy but also of class, caste and ethnicity. It also helps to identify, reclaim and celebrate the contributions and expressions of women in all disciplines. There is at present a pathetic absence of reasonably good literature on gender related subjects in the national languages (Sinhala and Tamil).

Modules will include a selection from:
  1. Social Construction of Gender Ideologies
  2. Women and Ideology
  3. Women and Development
  4. Violence Against Women
  5. Strategies for Change
  6. Politics and Gender
  7. Women and Labour
  8. Women and Law
  9. UN Instruments and International Standards>
  10.  Feminist Research Methodology
DURATION
The course runs for four months. Classes take place every Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and every Sunday from 9.30 a.m. – 4.30.p.m.

ASSESSMENT
Students are required to complete assignments and a research paper at the end of the course. Students can identify the research topic and choose their own supervisor for their area of discipline. At the end of the four months, students must also produce an extended essay on a theme of their choice. This must be submitted at the end of the fourth month, as a research paper.

Certificates will be awarded to students who have put in at least 80% attendance at course work and have reached the required grade on the research paper.

For further information, please contact the Senior Project Coordinator

The participants are strictly University Graduates / NGO personnel with at least 3 years experience. We provide facilities for the students to access our library to do their reference. arrangements will be made with the library staff to work in addition to keep the library opened during the weekends so that the students could use the library to enhance their knowledge.

It is hoped that the basic course will lead to reproduction of knowledge in the local languages in the form of articles to the media. There is at present a pathetic absence of reasonably good literature on gender related subjects in the national languages. We also envisage that NGO personnel and others will disseminate this information at their work places and society at large.
 
• PEACE EDUCATION WORKSHOPS
 

This was a series of two-day workshops organised by WERC and funded by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Six workshops were arranged during a short period of three months (March 2006 - June 2006), and the contents covered some of the most controversial topics related to peace negotiations in Sri Lanka:
  • Sri Lanka's Ethnic Relations
  • Futility of War
  • Federal Option
  • A Secular Constitution
The workshop was advertised on paper and the floor was open for everyone to apply and participate, however due to the popular request students were registered on a first come first served basis as the number of workshops were going to be limited. Workshops were conducted in both Tamil and Sinhala Medium, three in each medium.

It was encouraging to find a good mix of both gender and ethnicities. They had come from nearly all parts of Sri Lanka – Putalam, Kandy, Mannar, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Matara, Galle, and Colombo Central and Suburbs. And the participants were from varied backgrounds.

The response from the participants was positive, and we were encouraged to find more funds to conduct more such workshops. The participants requested the officer in-charge to arrange such workshops in the peripheries as well.

Consequently, our attempts to find more funds have been made fruitful, and Cordaid a Netherlands based INGO will be funding this project. We call upon for interested persons to apply via email.
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Tsunami Relief
 
 
The day after Christmas 2004, the coastal areas of Sri Lanka were struck by Tsunami waves bringing death and destruction to many a Sri Lankan.

On 30th December, only four days after the Tsunami waves hit the shores of the South Asian region, WERC traveled to Batticaloa with relief supplies in the form of food, Toiletries, Sanitary Towels and clothes to the Women victims who were the beneficiaries of WERC’s Skills Training Project.
 
• TSUNAMI RELIEF WORK DONE BY WERC
 
WERC traveled to Trincomalee with clothes, Sanitary items, Food and Toys. They met with Dharmani and the team from Centre for Performing Arts, Trincomalee and visited an affected orphanage and a fishing village in Vellur.

WERC wrote proposals for a programme of healing through art project at refugee camps in an attempt to provide psychosocial support through drawing, painting, singing and acting. For this WERC traveled down south and did a survey in the refugee camps in Hanbantota and Ampara.

One reads in the newspaper about abuse and violence against young girls and women in the camps, which occur very often, due to the vulnerability of those victims. WERC also planned projects for the women of this category and wanted to provide them with Skills training and counseling. For this WERC Staff went to various Workshops on counseling methods and tried to gain knowledge and make new contacts.
 
 
Tsunami Relief
 
• OTHER TSUNAMI RELIEF ACTIVITIES WERC WAS INVOLVED IN
 
 
Donation of Clothes
Friends of WERC from the United Arab Emirates sent 25 boxes of clothes for Tsunami survivors. WERC staff members distributed these garments in Tricomalee, Moratuwa, Panadura, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu, Kilinochi while working together with various partner organizations such as Lions Club of Colombo and Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). Under those items distributed were 660 children clothes, 790 Gents Trousers, 1040 items of ladies clothing and 1260 Gents Shirts.

Jaffna
In the first week of January Committee members of the Sri Lanka Women NGO Forum (SLWNGO) led by Dr. Sepali Kottegoda and Ms. Sunila Abeysekara visited the Northern Province taking with them essential items in the form of footwear, clothes and under-wear for the survivors. WERC too, sent a generous contingent of footwear and clothes to these unfortunate people.

Ampara
Since this was the worst affected region in the country, two staff members from WERC visited the welfare centre in Ampara and conducted a “needs-survey” in order to initiate projects with affected women and children; the Project proposals have been sent to various funding organizations.
  
Tsunami Relief
South Coast (Matara/ Galle/ Hikkaduwa/ Unawatuna)
WERC, as a member of the CATAW, visited the Southern Province. They visited the Galle and Ambalangoda areas to inquire into how women’s and children’s safety, health and sexual rights were prioritized by state and non-state actors. They visited four welfare camps in Galle and one in Batapola. They also visited Karanpitiya Hospital and Balapitiya Hospital and also met with Officers in the Habaraduwa and Meetiyagoda Police Stations to follow-up claims of gender-based violence that had been lodged there. WERC staff members helped to rebuild a guesthouse on Unawatuna Beach. They also helped rebuilding a store in Galle town, near the bus stand and now a family can start generating their income.

A Sri-Lankan NGO, related to peace building, AHIMSA, initialized a project in a small village near Hikkaduwa, in which an abandoned, but almost destroyed house was supposed to be the new shelter for orphans in that region and shall later be some kind of Cultural Centre with library facilities and facilities to conduct cultural programmes. WERC staff members helped to clean the debris and to rebuild parts of the house, together with 30 other volunteers.

WERC Staff members cooked a meal for more than a hundred refugees who had found shelter in a temple near Kalutare, but who had no cooking facilities to make their own meals at that time.
 
• TSUNAMI RELIEF BATTICALOA - CHILDREN’s EDUCATION
 
 
WERC managed to initiate a fundraising for Tsunami victims. Local and overseas friends, family members and colleagues donated money setting in motion WERC’s rapid Tsunami rehabilitation.

Soon after the Tsunami catastrophe in December 2004, the Women’s Education and Research Centre (WERC) opened an Account for flood relief. There was an immediate response from Mona, a student from the USA and Karen Henschen, representing some donors in Germany.
These considerate donations had to be carefully spent, and WERC finally decided to invest this donation on the education of the children of a Tsunami affected village in the Eastern part of Sri Lanka. In cooperation with Renuka from CARE International, Batticaloa, 32 children whose families had lost everything in the catastrophe were identified.

In the morning, WERC staff members Zarah and Thiru had a meeting with the community workers of Seelamunai Mr. Jeyashankan, Mr. Gowreesan, Ms.Renuka and Mr. Suman to discuss the procedure of the afternoon programme. It was decided to meet again in the afternoon to attend a meeting with the families and to handover the relief identity cards in a ceremony and explain about the programme focusing on children’s education.
 
Tsunami Relief
Children's Education

WERC staff went to visit our Skills Training Centre, headed by Jejamany. Some women from the Restaurant Training group were also present and showed us the Centre. WERC staff had a long and lively discussion with them, crossing various issues concerning women in this area and the work of the Centre.

It was also confirmed that the chosen families for our Tsunami relief programme, will come to this Centre once a month to collect the relief money.

In the evening at 4.15 pm a meeting was held in Seelamunai where the families had one of their regular gatherings. These gatherings were mainly meant for children, an opportunity for them to play games. WERC staff got the chance to enjoy the sight of the children involved in their traditional games.

Mr. Gowreesan gave an introduction to the WERC staff about how they had formed a group in each village with children to retain the traditional games & drama forms of Batticaloa. He then went on to say that by forming groups of children they have passed certain forgotten traditional forms to the future generation and have stimulated the leadership qualities in these children by entrusting them the duty of training these forms to the other new comers. He was also proud to say that this system was started in 1993 when the present group leaders, who are studying in their advanced level classes, were mere children. He felt even more proud when he said that when the people of the entire village had dispersed after the Tsunami, this group of children and their parents had actually stayed together and joined in the rehabilitation activities.

An identity card for each family receiving the support was issued with the name of the mother, the names of the children in each family and also a serial number. With this card the families go once a month to the WERC Skill Trainings Centre in Bailey Street, Batticaloa to collect the relief money. The cards and the first share of money were handed over in a small ceremony to the mothers.

Towards the end of the day, the children presented a part of their ‘kootthu’ (a traditional drama accompanied by dancing and singing). With this performance the day’s activities came to a close. The mothers came to thank the organizers and the WERC staff individually before leaving.

It is sad to notice that we were not able to cover all children in that area with the funds we had received. There are still 23 children who would be happy to get the same Education Support Programme.
 
• TSUNAMI CHILDREN’s EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAMME JAFFNA
 
 
There are presently three Tsunami Children’s Education programmes going-on in the Eastern Province and Northern Province. There were four of them going-on until April 2006, when one of the Eastern Province support programmes came to a close. This was the Seelamunai programme, which started in May 2005 with 32 children being supported for their education. Individual donors through WERC funded this programme. There is another programme going-on in the Eastern Province, which is funded by two individual donors and will be coming to an end by October 2006. One of the two support programmes going-on in the Northern Province is being funded by De Zairre Foundation and the other by Soroptomist Club. Care International in Batticaloa is helping WERC in implementing the programme in the Eastern Province and the Church in Kudathanai, Point Pedro is working with us in the Northern Province.

The Soroptomist Club programme is a five-month programme while the other is a two-year programme. The Soroptomist Club funded Tsunami programme began in April 2006, and will go on until August 2006. When staff members from WERC went for the inauguration of this programme they got the chance to meet those benefiting from the previous programme, which began in October 2005. It was encouraging to see how the money was being made use of. With the unsettled situation in the North at present, the parents are not able to go to work regularly, and thus the education of the children is often put in question during family discussions, but with this small support that is being provided, the parents feel that they can afford to let their children continue with their education. Economical situation plays a major role in providing education for children especially girls, and now with the crisis situation people have to make choices, we felt that the support provided by De Zairre was putting the children in an advantageous position.

Most of the children were using the money for school stationeries, some had also used for school trips to historical cites. One girl said that she was first not allowed by her mother to finish her Ordinary Level exams due to the economical situation, but now she has been allowed to complete it. A boy said that he had passed the Grade 5 Scholarship with high marks, and had wanted to go to a good school in the Jaffna town, but his parents were not too sure if they could afford to pay his Boarding Fees which came to Rs.1500 per month, even though the other expenses were taken care of by the Church. Now that he was receiving this support his parents had approved to his studying in town, as the support programme is covering at least part of the boarding fee.

For the Soroptomist Club programme 12 girls and 08 boys affected by the war were selected. Of the children chosen 11 children were fatherless, 03 were motherless, 05 were far below the poverty line and 01 was a child of a disabled father. All the children were from families that did not have a regular income; some were from refugee camps (war refugee’s camps). Among those who were fatherless one girl from Grade 11 had got married a few days before we went to hand-over the first installment for this five-months programme. We were informed about this only when we arrived at the meeting place, and the Reverend of the Kudathanai church said that he had chosen a girl coming from a family in which there were five children of whom three were disabled. He said that the family was struggling to bear the expenses, and we could support the education of this girl, so we selected this girl in place of the girl who had got married.
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  Women's Education and Research Centre, No.58, Dharmarama Road, Colombo-06, Sri Lanka.
  Tel : +94(0)112590985 / +94(0)112595296 ,    Fax : +94(0)112596313 ,    E-mail : womedre@sltnet.lk
  WERC is an independent, non-governmental, feminist organization registered with the Department of Social Service.
 
 
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