CSR Lanka hosts ‘Strengthening Community Resilience Through Women-Led Networks’

Prof. Kamala Liyanage conducting the workshop

From left: Kshyahla Pinto-Jaywardena, Dr. Sulochana Segera, Wimarshana Ranasinghe and Rizvi Zaheed

CSR Lanka organised a workshop and panel discussion on ‘Strengthening Community Resilience Through Women-Led Networks’ recently at the Lighthouse Auditorium and Lawn. 

The workshop facilitator was Prof. Kamala Liyanage, who is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Peradeniya and an Independent Gender and Human Rights Consultant.

The panel discussion was conducted by an eminent panel comprising widely known professionals who are actively working towards peace and security for women in the country, namely Dr. Sulochana Segera - Founder/Chairperson of Women in Management in Sri Lanka and the Maldives and Canada; Kshyahla Pinto-Jaywardena - motivational speaker and peacebuilder with a passion for empowering and enhancing leadership capacities in women; and Wimarshana Ranasinghe - a peacebuilder, facilitator and certified trainer for Creators of Peace-Women Peace Circles. CSR Lanka Vice Chairman Rizvi Zaheed moderated the panel discussion.  

The objective of this workshop was to empower women and provide an understanding that women have great power and ability to keep society together and were change agents for peace and reconciliation. 

With this as a core objective, CSR Lanka organised the workshop to improve and strengthen women, to create positive change and provide a pathway to reintegration which would create a better environment for everyone in the country. 

At the workshop, attendees received the opportunity to get trained in women’s leadership for social cohesion, sexual and gender-based discrimination and harassment, appreciating the value and impact of women’s roles in peacebuilding and establishing security within the country, guaranteeing safety and security for women and girls, legal protection and national laws and mechanisms with international protection. 

At the end of the workshop, attendees volunteered to participate in a training program of counselling which will train them to become change agents in peace and security. The workshop conducted was one event out of other serious programs of ‘Women Peace and Security’, a project which is supported through the N-Peace Small Grant scheme. 

Commencing the workshop, Prof. Liyanage said that women around the world had been successful peacebuilders because women were agents of change and their participation would draw attention to critical economic, social, cultural and political issues that are often the root causes of violence.

Sustainable peace progress must address the imbalance of power which causes conflict. The equitable inclusion of men and women in decision-making concerning peacebuilding and establishing security is a must for sustainable peace. She also stated that despite many civil society organisations lobbying, advocating and raising awareness against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual harassment, action plans being created and international forums against GBV being organised, still few women played a role in decision-making in the peace processes. In 2018 women made up 3% of mediators, 3% of military peacekeepers, 4% of signatories and 13% of negotiators while in law-making, as of 2019 February, they formed 24% of national parliaments; produced 12 heads of state and formed only 20.7% of cabinet ministers. 

CSR Lanka, with a number of multi-stakeholder collaborations from the corporate sector and multilateral agencies, is committed to working towards CSR’s five pillars of youth and women empowerment, social entrepreneurship, education and skills development, disaster response and environment and water and sanitation. 

To that effect, the Board of Directors of CSR Sri Lanka signed a charter pledging to practise and spearhead their mission of providing strategic guidance and necessary resources to create long-term sustainable value for the CSR efforts of the corporate sector. 

The forum was well attended by employees from reputed organisations who are members of CSR Lanka, entrepreneurs and other members from various NGOs. At the end of the session, participants had the opportunity to share their thoughts and interact with speakers. CSR Lanka invites more women to participate in these workshops, which will be conducted around the country and encourage women in Sri Lanka to become change agents for peace and security. 

Any person who has passion and the interest to be a change agent for peace and is interested in volunteering for these workshops can join by contacting [email protected].