Study / Research

• Gender Audit of CEDAW Provisions
  
  This is a review of policies and programmes that are in place to implement CEDAW provisions pertaining to laws, health, education and employment using the indicators developed in an earlier programme by CENWOR.
  
  Keywords: CEDAW: gender audit


• Gender, Status and Empowerment: A Study of Women Factory Workers in Sri Lanka
  
  This study is of women factory workers in three Export Processing Zones - Katunayake, Biyagama and Koggala and in three Industrial Estates Sitawaka, Kandy (Pallakele) Industrial park and Wathupitiwala. Information is being gathered through 2400 interviews in the six locations, 20 key stakeholder and six focus group discussions.
  
  This study is a collaborative undertaking funded by the Centre for Social Research at Edith Cowan University. The project commenced in May 2008 and is scheduled to be completed in June 2010.
  
  Keywords: Factory workers; female workers; free trade zone; industrial estates; gender empowerment; social empowerment


• A Study on Domestic Violence in Different Socio Economic Groups in Selected Areas of Sri Lanka
  
  The focus of the study is on the prevalence of domestic violence among non poor families and the locations in the districts of Colombo, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Vavuniya, Ampara and Batticaloa. The methodology for data collection include household based interviews, case studies, focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
  
  Keywords: domestic violence; Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Vavuniya, Ampara and Batticaloa; non poor families


• School Participation in Selected Conflict affected and Other Districts in Sri Lanka
  
  The study assesses the extent of access to schooling and the quality of schooling in eight districts: Colombo (a developed district), Matara (tsunami affected), Moneragala (economically and educationally disadvantaged), Nuwara Eliya (plantations), Batticaloa and Ampara (conflict and tsunami affected) and Jaffna and Vavuniya (conflict affected). A sample of ten schools was selected in each district, representing the urban and rural environment, and the four types of schools–IAB, IC, 2 and 3.
  
  The study is sponsored by Save the Children, Sri Lanka.
  
  Keywords: school participation; conflict affected areas; tsunami affected areas; Matara; Moneragala ; Nuwara Eliya (plantations); Batticaloa; Ampara; Jaffna; Vavuniya


• Empowering Women through Microfinance: as Entrepreneurs or as Conduits of Credit?
  
  The study seeks to ascertain whether micro enterprise loans taken by women are used to own and run their own businesses or businesses owned and run by male members of their family and to examine the extent to which women are able to exercise control over the profits of such enterprises as well as the determinants of such control and empowerment. The study is located in the Kurunegala district.
  
  The study is sponsored by NORAD.
  
  Keywords: micro finance; women entrepreneurs; women’s empowerment; enterprise management;

• Training of Pre School Teachers to Teach English with a Focus on Gender: Phase II
  
  Evaluation of the pre school teacher training action programme carried out under the first phase of this project and the development and publication of pre school gender modules.
  
  Keywords: evaluation; English language training; pre school teachers


• The End of Project Review of “Centre for Hope and Healing in Batticaloa”
  
  A review of the project “Centre for Hope and Healing in Batticaloa”, which was implemented by the YWCA of Sri Lanka.
  
  Keywords: evaluation; YWCA; Batticaloa

Study / Research

• Women's Access to Gender Sensitive Healthcare


• Property Rights and Domestic Violence


• Gender Equity and Empowerment of Women In Sri Lanka – MDG


• Gender Equality in Health Sector in Sri Lanka
  
  This study examines the working conditions of the various cadres of non medical health workers in the public and private sectors, analyses the effects of government policies in the health sector, especially in relation to privatisation of the health services and migration of health workers, and assess the role of trade unions in exerting pressure on the government on these issues. A desk study of policies and the role of the government in the health sector, interviews with senior health officials of the Ministry of Health and of various categories of health workers in Colombo and Kurunegala, and focus group discussions with representatives of key trade unions of nurses and para-medical workers provided insights into the constraints faced by these workers. The study was intended to assist in identifying strategies, particularly for trade unions, to promote better working conditions in the non medical services.
  
  The study was commissioned by Public Services International (PSI), South Asia.


• Assessment of Tsunami Impact


• Study to Assess the Impact of the Tsunami on Water Supply and Sanitation and Implications for the Quality of Lives of Women


• Vulnerability Assessment within Trade Unions


• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Gender in Sri Lanka


• A Gender Analysis of Tsunami Impact Relief, Recovery & Reconstruction in Some Districts in Sri Lanka
  
  The report aims to highlight specific issues of concern to women who were affected in six of the districts by the Tsunami. The study addresses in particular household transformation through loss of lives and displacement, shelter and relocation, livelihood loss, land and house ownership and occupation issues and delivery of basis services. Issues of personal security and violence are also discussed. It analyses policy reforms and intervention of the state in 2005, including major legal reforms introduced directly in response to the tsunami, and indirectly relevant to the women affected by the Tsunami and faced with the problem of domestic violence.
  
  The study was undertaken with support from UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office.


• Study of Tsunami Affected Villages in Galle and Colombo
  
  The study sought to explore howfamilies and vulnerable groups have been affected by the Tsunami and to identify policiesand action programmes that could facilitate recovery. It explored prevailing conditions in a random sample of 150 household in Galle and Colombo district.s The study was funded by UNESCAP.


• International and National Legislation Relating to Trafficking


• Gender Scan of Education Programmes of Plan Sri Lanka


• Gender Dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals-Policy Perspectives
  
  The specific purpose of this study was to collect and analyse baseline data as inputs into the task of formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes geared to achieving the MDGs.. It sought to identify the policy issues that have surfaced from the study and to suggest appropriate responses in developing strategies to achieve the goals, mainstream gender in national policies and programmes and gender as a cross cutting issue, to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through all the goals with special reference to Goal 3. The proposed policies have drawn on the provisions of CEDAW and the proposals developed in the context of the areas of critical concern in the Beijing Platform of Action. The issues that these policies address have emerged from the gender dimensions of the development context in Sri Lanka such as slow economic growth, poverty and inequitable distribution of the benefits of development and consequent limited assets and gender inequalities in the labour market, positive social indicators that reflect also women’s gains in education and health, juxtaposed with lacunae in a strategy to empower women, relatively poor infrastructure and the social exclusion of poor women, pervasive evidence of gender based violence, conflict between universal human rights and gendered social norms, and the situation of women in conflict and tsunami affected areas in the country.


• Gender Roles and Support Network for Spouses of Migrant Workers


• Study on Employment Policies and Recruitment Plans in the Public Sector in Sri Lanka -2007


• Demand Side of Trafficking: Commercial Sex, Organised Begging, Domestic Labour and the Fireworks Industry
  
  The study was carried out to assess the critical factors that create a demand for them and the fate of victims at the destinations. The study methodology included a literature survey, a national consultation with key organisations and individuals to discuss the key dimensions of the demand side of trafficking, which were followed by field surveys and focus group discussions at various levels. Individual interviews with key informants supplemented the surveys. The case study method was also used.
  
  The study was undertaken for ILO/IPEC as part of the Regional Study on the Demand Side of Trafficking in Asia TICSA Phase 11- Bangladesh, Indonesia Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.


• Study on Women's Access to Land Rights with the Impact of the Tsunami


• Empowering Women-Participation in Decision Making


• Rural Women in Sri Lanka’s Post-Conflict Economy
  
  A study undertaken to review and analyse, using a gender approach, the challenges to rural lielihood in a society subjected to conflict and where productive assets had been destroyed. It sought to analyse the various efforts of development agencies, both national and international to address gender differentiated needs of local communities trying to rebuild their lives. The study was undertaken in the Northern and Eastern provinces and certain ares of the North Central and Uva Provinces that border the North and East after a ceasefire agreement was signed in 2004. The project was supported by FAO.


• Situation Analysis of Women Water Professionals in Sri Lanka
  
  The study was conducted in three public sector institutions, two in the private sector, three local NGOs, and a community based organization. The staffing patterns of two international NGOs were also looked at. The major focus of this study was on the public sector agencies because of their crucial importance to the water sector. It was found that women’s involvement in water related/water active organizations as professionals, advisors, activists is very low and minimal. The culture of the water sector was overtly masculine and water was still regarded as a technical subject despite its socio cultural significance and women’s close involvement as users and managers of community projects. There was a preference for men especially for site work, due to their physical strength, higher cost of employing women due to compliance with labour laws, and perceptions of the inability of women to serve in remote areas under difficult conditions. Politicization created bottlenecks to upward mobility of women (and men) gave rise to organizational conflicts. Despite the crucial importance of water to women in fulfilling their domestic and economic roles and their own personal needs, women do not have a commensurate presence at the policy and decision making levels in the water bureaucracy, at field level, and as users.


• Study/Survey on Harmful Traditional and Cultural Practices in South Asia
  
  A research paper on forms of harmful traditional practices and cultural gender based violence against women in the South Asian and South Pacific sub-regions. It provides analytical arguments with empirical, anecdotal and documented evidence/illustrations of the nature and consequence of the incidences.
  
  A harmful practice was evaluated with reference to the existing international standards on human rights, (e.g. CEDAW, CRC) and key policy documents (Beijing Platform for Action; and Cairo International Conference document on Population and Development). Traditional/Cultural practices were defined in terms of customs and practices promoting violence against women that evolve over time. The study, recognizing that culture, customs and traditions are not static includes harmful practices that are not necessarily ancient, but imposed from time to time to uphold male privileges or to impose sanctions on women and girls in the community. The study therefore, is not limited to the well reported harmful practices such as dietary restrictions for the female child at the on-set of menarche or virginity tests.
  
  CENWOR undertook a study for UNESCAP to map the existing harmful traditional and cultural practices that are prevalent and have a negative impact on women in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. The study was completed in March 2008. It was prepared by Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka with contributions by Professor Swarna Jayaweera, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (Bangladesh and Nepal) and Malsiri Dias, Board Member, CENWOR


• Public Access to Information Venues and ICT -Sri Lanka: A 24 Country Study
  
  CENWOR participated in a 24 country study initiated by the Centre for Information Studies, University of Washington, USA in August 2007. The study focused on the use of information and communication in public access information venues with a specific focus on public libraries. The study sought to understand how the information needs of underserved communities are met by these public access to information and communication venues and the role of ICT in facilitating the use of information.
  
  The venues selected for the study were public libraries, Nena Sala Centres, Vidhartha Resource Centres, EasySeva and Internet Cafes. The surveys were conducted in all the provinces except the Northern Province.


• KAP Survey on Trafficking


• Vulnerability Assessment within Trade Unions in Sri Lanka
  
  The study on migrant workers’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and trade union responses was carried out as a part of a regional project titled “Innovative Partnerships to Reduce Migrant Workers’ Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in South Asia”. The main objective was to “provide guidelines for workers’ organisations to design and strengthen local responses to HIV/AIDS in both formal and informal sectors”. Most of the migrants belong to the sexually active age group and the majority is women. Rampant poverty, low educational levels and drastic power imbalances between the sexes make women highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection. Unstable life styles, constant mobility and lack of awareness place all migrants in danger of infection. It is therefore important and timely to intervene and develop innovative methods to reach this vulnerable group.
  
  Trade unions, in principle are expected to work for the well being of all the workers, but they have not been active among workers in the informal sector. The informal sector has been growing rapidly and 91% of South Asia’s workforce is engaged in contract labour in informal settings. Reaching this group is important and the trade unions, with their long experience in organising workers, are considered an ideal vehicle to reach them.
  
  The project was initiated by South Asian Research and Development Initiative - SARDI and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).


• Study on Text Books from a Gender Perspective


• Gender and Pre-School Education: Changing Perceptions
  
  The main objective of this exploratory study was to examine the socialisation process and gender differences in content and methodology in a sample of pre schools while the specific objectives were to investigate the extent of gender equality, gender identity and the nature of gender role perception and gender stereotyping in the interactions, activities and attitudes of children in selected pre schools, to obtain insights into the extent of gender differences as reflected in the behaviour of a sample of children of 4 + to 5 + years of age, to examine the perceptions of preschool teachers regarding gender equality/differences, and to suggest content and methodology that can be used in pre schools to facilitate the promotion of the concept of gender equality and sharing as equal partners in life situations. Thirty pre-schools in the Western Province were selected for the study.


• Study of Domestic Violence in Non Poor Communities in Selected Areas of Sri Lanka
  
  A study undertaken to explore the nature and incidence of domestic violence in non poor households in selected areas of Sri Lanka, to understand prevailing attitudes towards domestic violence amongst these communities, to examine the causes and consequences of domestic violence in these communities, identify the coping mechanisms amongst victims, map existing services and support networks available to victims of domestic violence and to identify gaps. The focus of the study is on the prevalence of domestic violence among non poor families and the locations selected were in the districts of Colombo, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Vavuniya, Ampara and Batticaloa. The methodology for data collection included household based interviews, case studies, focus group discussions and key informant interviews.


• School Participation in Conflict Affected Areas
  
  The study assesses the extent of access to schooling and the quality of schooling in different locations in Sri Lanka in eight districts: Colombo (a developed district), Matara (tsunami affected), Moneragala (economically and educationally disadvantaged), Nuwara Eliya (plantations), Batticaloa and Ampara (conflict and tsunami affected) and Jaffna and Vavuniya (conflict affected). A sample of ten schools was selected in each district, representing the urban and rural environment, and the four types of schools–IAB, IC, 2 and 3.
  
  Eleven research instruments were designed by the senior researchers to interview Principals, teachers, Grade 9 students, education officials and other local officials and to conduct Focus Group Discussions with Grade 5 students, parents and community representatives. They were finalised in consultation with the six district research coordinators and the 16 field researchers who were also briefed regarding the approach and methodology to be used. The study is sponsored by Save the Children, Sri Lanka.


• Study on Integrity in Recruitment for Foreign Employment in Sri Lanka
  
  The study assessed the corruption risks to migrant workers due to the lack of integrity and corruption in the recruitment of workers for overseas employment. It was designed to focus on the extent and type of fraudulent practices in the recruitment process for migration that disables them to function free from exploitation by recruiters as well as by employers. Based on an assessment of secondary sources of information and a survey, the study assessed the existing framework that guides recruitment for foreign employment, identified the forms of fraud, corruption and other malpractices in the process of recruitment for foreign employment, ascertained their magnitude and analysed the key problems in the whole process of recruitment for overseas employment.
  
  The study was carried out between November 2008 and May 2009 and updated in October 2009 after the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Act No. 21 of 1985 was amended. It was undertaken on behalf of Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL).


• Survey on Women's Self-Reliance in Conflict Affected Areas

• CEDAW Implementation and Monitoring in Sri Lanka


• Integrating Gender in Development - Support for UNDP Sri Lanka Country Office


• Facilitating the Elimination of Gender based Violence and the Promotion of National Harmony and Social Harmony in Sri Lanka using Information Technology
  
  The project aimed at using information and communication technology to create awareness on all aspects of gender based violence. The immediate objectives were to create appropriate content in the following areas: women’s rights, prevention of violence against women, national harmony and peace and disseminate such content through island- wide Internet based networks and in programmes conducted or supported by CENWOR.
  
  The long term objective of the project was to use information technology to facilitate a creation of a wider community that can live together in violence free environment. The project developed content through a consultative process with stakeholders that included grass roots women’s organisations, community based organisations, law enforcements agencies such as the police, government agencies, the media, educators. The material was disseminated through women’s organisations and public access information venues such as the government sponsored Nena Sala, Vidartha Resource Centres, and public libraries.

• Mapping the Establishment of Women's Centres in Tsunami-Affected Districts


• Promoting Entrepreneurship of Tsunami Affected Women Trained in Vocational Skills by CENWOR


• Community Development -Introducing IT (Pitiyagama)


• Capacity Building and Advocacy for Women's Participation in Grassroots Democracy in Sri Lanka


• Sarvodaya Virtual Village


• Gender Training Module


• Gender Consultancy for American Red Cross
  
  At the request of American Red Cross requested CENWOR conducted gender awareness training programmes for the head office staff and its branches. The project duration was November 2007 to April 2008.
  
  The project identified the following needs of American Red Cross
  
  1. A thorough gender analysis to identify particular gender needs in each project in all the tsunami-affected communities in Sri Lanka and Maldives.
  
  2. Training of staff on gender issues, in order to raise awareness of the issues facing women and men, and to identify strategies to achieve gender equity.
  
  3. Training a group of gender resource persons with in the SLRCS and projects to understand the gender issues in American Red Cross sector areas and support the projects to address those issues.


• Livelihoods for Tsunami Affected Women
  
  The Canadian International Development Agency provided financial assistance for this project which sought to provide skills to women who had been affected by the 2004 Tsunami to engage in self employment activities. The project was conducted in collaboration with YES Foundation of Tissamaharama. Eighty five women were selected to be trained in computer hardware, sewing, masonry, house wiring, bakery and fruit processing.
  
  On completion of the programmes a trade exhibition was held as a marketing strategy. The majority of women are reported to be engaged in income generating activities.


• Engendering Teacher Education Phase I


• Engendering Teacher Education Phase II


• Engendering Teacher Education Phase III


• Training of Pre School Teachers to Teach English with a focus on Gender Phase I
  
  The objective of this action programme was to enhance the English language competencies and counselling skills of a group of pre school instructors. It also aimed to create a set of resources for teachers who will be trained to use them in teaching; to teach instructors how children learn a language which is not the mother tongue; teach them how to introduce a new language; to make teachers familiar with the language structure, to make them aware of the use of resources in teaching, and to prepare teaching material/ manuals. Fifty pre school teachers from rural areas in the Galle District were selected from those registered at the Divisional Secretariat Division. The programme duration was 12 months. This was funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.


• Gender Mainstreaming - UNDP
  
  CENWOR was contracted by UNDP to implement its Gender Mainstreaming project aimed at enhancing the capacity of UNDP country office staff, the project staff of its directly executed projects and the government officers responsible for its nationally executed projects to incorporate gender issues into their programmes and projects. Under this project a needs assessment was carried out, which was followed by workshops for the three categories of officers. The terms of reference included the development of a manual/tool kit and gender mainstreaming tools and strategies. Indicators were developed for sector specific projects. Good practices were identified and collated. A video documentary of the importance of gender mainstreaming was also produced. A dissemination strategy was prepared for UNDP.

• Workshop on the Impact of the Tsunami on Local Communities and Vulnerable Groups

• Multi Stakeholder Audit – 2006

• Empowerment of Students through School Social Work


• Post Tsunami: Gender Initiatives for Sri Lanka
  
  CENWOR coordinated a project funded by MATCH International, Canada to provide support for the development of livelihoods of women affected by the Tsunami. The project partners were Women in Need, Rural Women Network Organisation, Women’s Development Foundation and Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum. The project areas were Ambalangoda, Ampara, and Matara.
  
  The role of CENWOR was to ensure that project activities proceeded as envisaged and to keep MATCH International informed of the progress of the individual projects that were undertaken by these organisations; transferring funds from MATCH International to the project partners and monitoring expenditure.

• Gender Consultancy