2010
• Felicitation ceremony for the women MPs of the 7th Parliament
June 2010
WMC felicitated the 13 female Members of Parliament elected to the 7th Parliament of Sri Lanka from the 2010 Parliamentary Election. Minister of Child Development & Women's Affairs Tissa Karaliyadde was Chief Guest at the event. Those felicitated included Sumedha Jayasena, Nirupama Rajapakse, Sudarshani Fernandopulle, Rosy Senanayake, Malani Fonseka, Kamala Ranatunga, Thalatha Atukorale, Sriyani Wijewickrama, Chandrani Bandara, Anoma Gamage and Upeksha Swarnamali. Minister Atukorale in his speech appealed to the women MPs to work towards increasing female representation in future Parliaments.
• Workshop on Advocacy Strategies
June 2010
A two-day workshop on Advocacy Strategies was held on the 9th and 10th of June 2010 in Colombo for women who are expecting to contest the local government elections. It was part of a series of workshops, the aim of which is to increase women's political representation by 20% at the local government level. 30 participants from women's groups from Badulla, Monaragala, Kurunegala, Trincomalee and Galle took part in the workshop.
• Media Campaign for increasing women's
participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election
February - April 2010
WMC organized an extensive media campaign in order to raise awareness about the limited representation of women in the Sri Lankan political arena and to increase women's participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election. Newspaper advertisements were published in leading Sinhala, Tamil and English language newspapers highlighting the fact that although 52% of the country's population consists of women, only 6.6% were granted nomination at the previous Parliamentary election.
WMC also took a novel step during this media campaign by launching a movie theater advertisement campaign in which the aforementioned facts were reiterated through slide shows that were displayed before each show at 25 movie theaters from around the country. The campaign was carried out during the last month leading up to the election.
The week before the election, WMC spearheaded yet another media campaign in which advertisements entitled "Give Your Preferential Vote to a Woman Candidate" were published in leading Sinhala, Tamil and English language newspapers. The advertisements also listed the women candidates from the three leading political parties (UPFA, UNP, DNA) and their respective candidate numbers.
• Nominations and Votes for Women
In Sri Lanka women constitute less than 6% of Parliament, 5% of Provincial Councils and 2% in Local Councils. These statistics are the lowest in South Asia and Sri Lanka is the only country in the region without a quota for women in Local Councils. One of the main reasons for such low representation has been the reluctance of political parties to give sufficient nominations to women candidates.
The next Local Council elections are due soon and WMC with a partnership of organizations in collaboration with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment is now hoping to work to increase nominations for women at these elections. The aim is to increase nominations for women to at least 20% in 50 party lists in local government electorates in 5 selected districts.
The partner organizations are The Women and Media Collective, The International Center for Ethnic Studies, the Women’s Resource Center (Kurunegala), The Women’ Development Center (Badulla), The Sarvodaya Women’s Movement, The Uva Wellassa Farmer Women’s Organization (Moneragala) and Viluthu.
The project will be conducted in the following districts. Colombo, Badulla, Moneragala, Kurunegala, Galle and Trincomalee.
• Media Briefing on Increasing Women's Participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election
February 2010
A media briefing was held on the 17th of February 2010 where all party representatives addressed the media on issues related to women's representation at elections and in particular about increasing the number of women nominations for the upcoming parliamentary election. Some of the speakers at the event included Western Provincial Council MPs Ashoka Lankathilake and Rosy Senanayake and Central Provincial Council MP Shanthini Kongahage.
2009
• Strengthening Governance and Increasing Women's Representation in Local Government (Kurunegala, Monaragala, Badulla)
January - June 2009
WMC launched this project in 2007 and it was continued in the following years with the same objectives of increasing women's knowledge of local government, building their capacity to contest local government elections, helping them enable good governance, etc. The observation teams continued the monitoring of selected Local Councils in Kurunegala, Monaragala and Badulla.
The completed activities for the period included the following. The observation teams continued the monitoring of selected Local Councils despite resistance by some of them to allow monitoring during periods of dysfunction. Certain practices by the Councils that inconvenienced the general public were observed by the teams. They also inquired after the development projects by the Local Councils and their deficiencies. The allocation of Council budgets and shortcomings thereof were also brought under scrutiny.
Some of the activities conducted by the teams included holding various medical clinics as well as setting up maternity clinics, developing facilities of schools, issuing national identity cards for senior citizens of the districts, discussing the allocation of 'Gama Naguma' funds for the development of the selected councils, etc.
The monitoring process will be continued for the next six months of the year as well.
• Consultative Forum on Increasing Women's Political Participation at the local level in Sri Lanka
July 2009
A meeting was held in Jaffna with the objective of increasing women's political participation in local level decision-making bodies. It was organized by Vilithu and Women's Development Centre, Jaffna in collaboration with Women and Media Collective and sponsored by the UNDP. 50 women participated in this event including women activists contesting in the Jaffna Municipal Council election.
Some of the areas discussed at this meeting were, challenges to women's political representation, experience of contesting for local government, governance, democracy and women's political representation, women's initiatives such as monitoring local government bodies, using the media to promote women's political participation, etc. Relevant recommendations were compiled by the participants.
The meeting concluded with a press conference during which the participants presented their recommendations to the media.
• Celebrating Women in Politics
June 2009
WMC organized a felicitation and meeting with women who have been elected to office following Provincial Council elections held in 2008/2009. It was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) on the 3rd of June 2009. Eleven women elected to the Provincial Councils of Western, Central, North Western, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and North Central provinces participated in this event. Click here to see photos.
• Report on Women's Representation in Local Government
WMC published a report on strengthening governance and increasing women's representation in Local Government in Badulla. Click here to read it.
2008
• FLICT Partner Day
October and November 2008
WMC was represented at the FLICT Partner Days held in Beruwala in October and in Kandy in November. Participants shared their experiences with other partner organizations and also formulated a future action plan.
• Caroline Anthony Pillai celebrates 100th birthday
8th October
WMC and the Social Scientists' Association have published an article in honour of Caroline Anthony Pillai who celebrated her 100th birthday on the 8th of October. She was a founding member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) as well as an active participant of the Ceylonese nationalist movement of the 1930's.
The article is available in Sinhala, Tamil and English
• Strengthening Governance and Increasing Women's Representation in Local Government (Kurunegala, Monaragala, Badulla)
September - August 2008
This period saw the summarized final reports of the project from each district being presented to the Provincial Commissioner and other officials. The reports consisted of the findings of the year long observations of selected Local Councils from Kurunegala, Monaragala and Badulla.
In November 2008 the observers devised a District based action plan for women representatives for the 2010 Provincial Council elections.
May - August 2008
WMC launched this project in 2007 and it was continued in 2008 with the same objectives of increasing women's knowledge of local government, building their capacity to contest local government elections, helping them enable good governance, etc. The observation teams continued the monitoring of selected Local Councils in Kurunegala, Monaragala and Badulla. In total 14 Local Councils were observed in 3 districts by 25 women observers.
The completed activities for the period were the following.
1) Monitoring (Observing)
Observations of local government processes through attending meetings continued on a monthly basis in all 14 local councils. Monthly experience sharing meetings were also held in each district to provide an opportunity for the participating women to share their experiences with each other. Representatives of local councils collaborated with observers in solving contemporary issues in each district. The observers were also able to influence the local authorities to look in to various Public issues that needed to be addressed.
2) Advocacy and Awareness Raising at District Level
The main objective of these programs were to raise awareness among community based organizations, activists of women's organizations and members of Local Councils by analyzing the information gathered during observation of local government sessions. The activities were as follows.
- Meeting held in Kurunegala on 15th May.
- Training on Gender Budgeting – Badulla held on 24th May
- Training on Gender Budgeting – Monaragala held on 25thMay
- Work plan meeting held in Colombo on 23rd June
Some of the significant changes achieved through these workshops were the construction of a good foundation with political parties regarding an increase in women’s representation in local government authorities prior to the upcoming elections, recommendation by the local government authorities to include women nominees for committees in local governments, creating awareness about gender budgeting among relevant officers who are responsible in drafting budgets in local councils, etc.
3) Field Visits and Knowledge Sharing
As with the previous year, getting to know the communities and their issues through field visits enabled better understanding of how to address the issues at the grass root levels. The field visits were a source of sharing experiences amongst the districts and have enhanced WMC's networking capacity and experience in the field.
January - April 2008
WMC launched this project in 2007 and it was continued in 2008 with the same objectives of increasing women's knowledge of local government, building their capacity to contest local government elections, helping them enable good governance, etc. The observation teams continued the monitoring of selected Local Councils in Kurunegala, Monaragala and Badulla. In total 14 Local Councils were observed in 3 districts by 25 women observers.
The completed activities for the period were the following.
1) Monitoring (Observing)
The observation teams continued the monitoring process, the key objectives being identifying the key themes of the discussions, addressing of problems and related shortcomings. One of the key outcomes of this was the gathering and consolidating of information required for training on gender-sensitive budgeting for the Local Councils.
2) Advocacy and Awareness Raising at District Level
One-day workshops were held in some of the selected Local Councils with the objective of raising awareness among community based organizations. The workshops were as follows.
- Badulla Urban Council and Badulla Pradeshiya Sabha
- Bandarawela Urban Council and Bandarawela Pradeshiya
- Monaragala Pradeshiya Sabha - 27th April 2008
- Badalkumbura Pradeshiya Sabha - 20th February 2008
- Buttala Pradeshiya Sabha - 28th April 2008
Significant changes achieved through these well-attended workshops included the submitting of proposals of women and their requirements to local government bodies before the next budget, supporting women candidates regardless of their political affiliations, raising awareness among political party leaders, etc.
3) Field Visits and Knowledge Sharing
Getting to know the communities and their issues through field visits enabled better understanding of how to address the issues at the grass root levels. The field visits were a source of sharing experiences amongst the districts and have enhanced WMC's networking capacity and experience in the field.
2007
• Strengthening Governance and Increasing Women's Representation in Local Government (Kurunegala, Monaragala, Badulla)
September - December 2007
WMC launched this project with the objectives of increasing women's knowledge of local government, building their capacity to contest local government elections, helping them enable good governance, etc.
In total 14 Local Councils were observed in 3 districts by 25 women observers. Observation teams were selected from The Women's Resource Centre in Badulla, the Uva Wellasa Gami Kantha Organization in Monaragala and the Women's Resource Centre in Kurunegala. They attended the monthly meetings of selected Local Councils and prepared six month reports. The Local Councils observed in the three districts are as follows.
• Badulla District - Bandarawela, Hali Ela, Badulla and
• Monaragala District - Buttala, Monaragala,
• Kurunegala District - Ridigama, Ibbagamuwa, Wariapola
The completed activities for the period were the following.
1) Monitoring (Observing)
The observation teams attended monthly meetings of the selected Local Councils and observed local government processes. They shared their observations at monthly meetings held for the purpose. The main objectives in monitoring were identifying the key themes of the discussions, addressing of problems and related shortcomings.
2) Review and Planning Meetings
In February and August 2007, Consultations were held with the leaders of the community based organizations of the observation teams. Key observations made during the monitoring period including different strategies for monitoring were shared among the observers and a joint plan of work was drawn up for the coming months.
3) Consultations
WMC organized and co-coordinated a Consultation with the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms in June 2007 in order to discuss the interim report of the Select Committee, specifically gender concerns. MP Dinesh Gunewardene presented the Interim Report of the Select Committee of Parliament on Electoral Reforms and consulted with the 40 women representatives from women’s groups who were present.
4) Strategy Planning and Capacity Building Workshop
A workshop was held in October 2007 for all the participants from the three districts who are engaged in observing 14 local councils to identify overall strategies to improve women’s participation in local government within the existing local government framework. The objectives of the workshop were to consolidate the key information obtained through a year of monitoring activities and finalizing a strategic plan of action for the upcoming year. The keynote speech was made by the Secretary to Local Government Mr. D. P. Hettiarachchi on ‘Strategies to Overcome Challenges Faced at the Local Government Level’. The workshop was facilitated by the former secretary to the ministry Ms. Nandani Gunasekera. Minister Thalatha Athukorale shared her thoughts on ‘Women’s Participation in Politics in a Party-driven Political Environment’. Ms. Uhulangani Malagamuwa spoke to the women on how she overcame the challenges she faced at the local government level and facilitated a discussion on how to overcome challenges women face. Dr. Sepali Kottegoda facilitated a session on report writing. The women also staged a play that summarized their experiences of monitoring local councils.