Building Peace and Governance through Participation of Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka
This project seeks is to empower women with and without disabilities to participate effectively in shaping Sri Lankas reconciliation process.The project seeks to understand theproblems that women with disabilities face and to increase the participation of women, generally, in post-war development and national reconciliation. The focus of the interventions will be in the districts of Kilinochchi and Kandy. The ICES is partnering Handicap International and Womens Development Centre in the implementation of this project.
The project seeks to achieve the following objectives:
(1)Women with and without disabilities in KilinochchiandKandy haveenhanced leadership skills to participate in reconciliation processes within their communities
(2)Womenwithandwithout disabilities participatein Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs),local mainstreamwomens organizations, development organizations and religious groups, contributing to reconciliation, social inclusion, and the realization ofrights
(3) Gaps andopportunitiesinthe Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report (LLRC), National ActionPlanon Disability (NAPD) and the Sri Lankan Womens Charter are addressedat nationaland local levels through gender-sensitive evidence based advocacy.
The project will entail a training of 20 women with and without disabilities in Kandy and Kilinochchi,on Disability Rights, Gender and Reconciliation. The trained women will mobilize themselves as ‘Equality Trainers’ and engage in lobbying and advocacy in their respective communities on gender and disability inclusive reconciliation and development efforts. Through the training process the project will develop an ‘Equality Trainers’manual comprising of three modules on Disability Rights Protection, Gender and Reconciliation.
The project willalso conduct 60 in-depth interviews – 30 in Kilinochchi and 30 in Kandy – to assess the barriers experienced by women with disabilities in engaging with mainstream women’s groups, community based organizations and in reconciliation processes. The learning from the assessment will be formulated into policy recommendations to include disability and gender perspectives into government, non-government and donor efforts on reconciliation.
The duration of the project is from 1st November 2015 to 31st October 2017
