“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

Responsive Parenting

Early childhood development, Nutrition, Health/Hygiene, and Sanitation

Educated and Confident Children

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Youth Engagement

Employment/Entrepreneurship and Civic engagement

Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change

Comprehensive school safety programmes, Eco-based DRR, Child-centred DRR, Emergency preparedness and response for children, communities and response actors

Disability Inclusion

For more information on our disability inclusion work, watch

Child Protection

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

Healthy, secure future through Health and Nutrition

With COVID-19 affecting the entire country, Risk Communication was of utmost importance for public safety. ChildFund Sri Lanka partnered the Health Promotion Bureau to intervene and contribute on risk communication actions planned by the Ministry of Health by developing and disseminating public health messaging through identified communication channels.

We were also able to raise the understanding of the public on how they are protected by following recommended healthy behaviors, supporting the public become accustomed to normal day to day life in a safe manner – by increasing their knowledge, practice and behaviour contributing to the gradual and sustainable behavior change of the public.

We also stepped forward to help the communities we work with to survive during the pandemic by providing support/awareness to stop COVID-19 from infecting children and families, ensuring children receive necessary food, keeping children safe from violence physically and emotionally, and helping children continue learning during the period.

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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.

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Equal opportunities for all - Disability inclusion

Our ongoing Socio-economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Sri Lanka through Community Based Inclusive Development programs aims to reach nearly 50,000 persons with disabilities (PWDs).

In addition, the project will have direct benefits to the caregivers of PWDs as well. The objective of this project is to provide quality vocational training and life skills training, build strong and sustainable disabled persons organizations to deliver services and refer PwDs and caregivers to the service providers, including employers and private sector and finally to effectively advocate for rights of PwDs though extensive engagement with employers and private sector.

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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.

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Go beyond - Digital learning in the post Covid-19 context

Childfund is committed to support children’s education and we recognize digital learning schemes including blended and E learning will be the future of most of our programmes, thereby focused on disseminating knowledge and uplifting the education standards with the communities we work with.

This specific project will act as a steppingstone for our work to experiment and incorporate these modern modes of education with our development work. We see digital learning as a window of opportunity to create efficient and holistic programs for the future of our work in Sri Lanka

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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

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Empowered Communities - Youth and entrepreneurship

ChildFund youth development programs includes career guidance and counselling - to support the youth determine their career plans, working with youth to facilitate them to utilize citizenship knowledge and upgrade their skills individually, support them to take collective action, promote youth inclusive environments and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.

Youth who have selected self-employment as their career path will be directed to follow an entrepreneurship skill development programs. These youth entrepreneurs will receive career guidance to pursue self-employment opportunities focusing on emerging industry sectors as well as access to potential local and export markets.

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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.

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