“Our vision and country strategy for Sri Lanka”
Our unwavering vision for Sri Lanka is to continue to create positive change in the lives of children. Together with our global and local stakeholders we are committed through collaborative efforts to create an environment where children live healthy lives and achieve their full potential in education and future careers.
Our Programs
ChildFund implements programs on health, nutrition, early childhood care, education, youth empowerment, child protection, inclusion of children and youth with disabilities, and environment protection and disaster risk responsiveness to ensure that children grow in a healthy, protective and developmentally supportive environment to reach their full potential. Our work also contributes positively to the livelihoods of youth we work with.
Our Thematic Focus
Early childhood development, Nutrition, Health/Hygiene, and Sanitation
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Employment/Entrepreneurship and Civic engagement
Comprehensive school safety programmes, Eco-based DRR, Child-centred DRR, Emergency preparedness and response for children, communities and response actors
For more information on our disability inclusion work, watch
Child protection is at the heart of all what ChildFund does. Our programmes will work for children to benefit through legislative enactments and execution to end physical punishment and online abuse of children.
Core Programs
Eat, Play, Love - Early childhood development
The earliest years are the most critical in the positive growth and development of a child. Thus we promote programmes that focus on improved health, nutrition, early learning experiences and protection for infants and young children.
Focusing on this theme we work on supporting nutrition and care during the prenatal period and early years, providing opportunities to develop and learn through play and exploration for young children, helping children build stronger relations with informed caregivers through our Early Childhood Development Centres.
Access to resources - Water and sanitation
Water scarcity is a major issue in many parts of Batticaloa due to the lack of infrastructure which resulted due to the civil conflict in the North and East. We identified 30 schools that lacked water and sanitation facilities and required intervention.
The lack of safe sanitation facilities impacts the students negatively especially for female students as well as teachers. Most of the toilet facilities did not have doors or locks while others did not have the water connectivity.
Especially during COVID-19, lack of water and sanitation play a major risk for schools. Through public funding we hope to renovate and establish the facilities at these 30 schools and conduct awareness on proper use of sanitation facilities, COVID-19 safety awareness and the importance of access to clean water.
Building responsible citizens - Disaster response and environment protection
The programs are based on Eco Systems Based Disaster Risk Reduction (ECO DRR) projects where youth groups get together and develop plans for their villages. These plans are presented to Government authorities to be practically implemented while taking the ownership of these initiatives back to the communities.
We also focus on specific requirements aligning with the sustainability strategies of our corporate partners to tailor-make environmental projects linking the activities with schools and youth groups
Safe and Happy Childhood at School and Home
Child Protection and School Based Violence Prevention
Over the years, ChildFund Sri Lanka has supported child protection and advocacy related initiatives on a national level and continues to strengthen various governmental bodies as well as key decision makers for impactful policy changes and to take adequate measures making sure that children are living in a safe protective home, community and at a school environment.
At ChildFund, we focus our work on children’s right to protection throughout their lives, tailoring our efforts to the distinct needs of each age group. For infants and toddlers, the primary risk is violence in the home, School-age children often face violence in their schools and dropping out of schools, before they reach young adulthood, girls face different forms of abuse, pregnancies, child marriages, and boys are at increased risk for gangs, drug addition, violence, and suicides.
Our work contributes to creating safe and protective environment at school, strengthening mechanisms that support children’s well-being and protection in the community, and intervene on protection and psychosocial support for children who are often distressed in the aftermath of an emergency.