Batticaloa District:
In consultation with the Secretary of the Ministry of Child Development & Women’s Affairs (MCDWA) and Commissioner Department of Probation, NPSL plans to renovate a damaged building at Karaveddy Village in Manmunai West DS Division, and turn it into a Children's Centre.
At Karaveddy village 63% of the population are under 18 years of age. The major occupation of the 567 families in the village is fishing, cattle and paddy farming. Due to financial constraints most of the village men are moving to Batticaloa for manual work. It was noted during NonViolent PeaceForce Sri Lanka (NPSL)’s most recent visit to the village, that many men [52%] abandoned their families either to internally migrate or to re-marry. Many of Karaveddy's families are therefore single headed households.
The MCDWA has set up a “ Children’s Club” in the village but it's not functioning at the moment; it has no where to meet. According to the probation officer at the Manmunai West DS Division, the main reason for increased school drop outs is the prevalence of impoverished single mothers unable to pay for their children's education. The children are also reluctant to walk nearly 1.5 KM to school from their village. NPSL learned that around 100 children have been abandoned by parents in this village alone.
In the recent past there have been a few initiatives taken to address the issues faced by children & youth in Karaveddy Villege. Save the Children has offered Rs: 3000.00 as a one-off payment for 5 selected families in 2010. Terre Des Hommes [TDH] assisted in setting up a Village Rights Monitoring Committee; a concept promoted by the Ministry of Child Development & Women's Affairs. However again these committees seem no longer to be functioning, mainly due to lack of a suitable location to meet.
The only available meeting venue was owned by the Women Development Rural Society (WDRS), but the building was badly damaged during the war. Renovating it will certainly help village children and enable the promotion of their rights as they will be able, once again, to meet regularly, and organise a place for skills development. Some of the activities planned to be conducted at the centre are as follows:
- Vocational training class for youth
- Meeting place for Women Development Committee /Child Rights Monitoring Committees
- Meeting place any other level community programme
Government Cooperation
For its child protection programme, NPSL is cooperating closely with the MCDWA. With Deputy Minister M.L.A.M.Hizbullah a close working relationship was established during the worst of the conflict periods in the Eastern Province.
In December 2010 NPSL jointly helped facilitate a Youth Games Day with the local Government and the MCDWA in Batticaloa. It also enabled the strengthening of the relationship with national Government as well as local officials and village communities who participated in the games.
More active day to day work has been escorting and transporting National Child Protection Authority Staff in the Vavuniya and Mannar Districts where transport for local child protection officials is absent or where NCPA staff have sought accompaniment due to security concerns.
A strong working relationship has been established with the NCPA in the Vavuniya district and it is on that basis that NPSL has signed an Memorandum of Understanding with the MCDWA.
Children’s Centres
The MCDWA has identified clear needs in their 2011/12 Action Plan. It has identified a range of communities in the North Vavuniya, Mannar and Batticaloa Districts where child protection is more difficult to implement because of difficulties in accessing the community. It is recognised that child friendly space for all ages - up to 20 years or so - need to be created.
One strategy to meet this need is the provision of Youth/Children Centres. Many communities have nowhere for youth to gather or in which to engage in skills training. Once established, such venues could at the same time promote reconciliation between different youths of different background through the provision of joint activities.
NPSL’s own programme of child protection training, identifying those at risk and creating awareness over the appropriate strategies to secure children’s rights, would also benefit from having some dedicated centres in which to operate.
Such venues could simultaneously provide a small, secure local office from which the Grama Sevaka can operate. This would provide a level of local Government oversight, engage Government in ensuring the Children Centres’ sustainability and provide a meeting point between local Government and youth.
Sustainability
The Memorandum with MCDWAs proposes that these Children/Youth Centres would be located in communities where the need is clear but where a local village level community structure, Rural Development Society or Women’s Rural Development Societies already exists which would assume responsibility over initial planning, monitoring construction and final primary management of the Centre. This would ensure effective use by the community and be a longer term strategy for ensuring local income generation from the building’s use.
The buildings themselves should be multipurpose in construction which will increase the stakes the communities themselves would have in the maintenance of the buildings.
Resources
NPSL’s own mandate is clearly focused on providing protective space in areas of volatility and potential or actual violence. It usually does not engage in the funding or running of community centres or in construction work, and it does not have resources of its own for this purpose.
NPSL is therefore seeking funds to assist the Women's Rural Development Society to construct a child friendly community facility and some initial operational costs. We are appealing to local entrepreneurs and commercial enterprises in Sri Lanka as a source of engagement and cooperation.
NPSL is therefore seeking funds to assist the Women's Rural Development Society to construct a child friendly community facility and some initial operational costs. We are appealing to local entrepreneurs and commercial enterprises in Sri Lanka as a source of engagement and cooperation.
During the war, children and youths suffered multiple problems and risks. Their educational careers were massively impacted by the insecurities of open conflict, families were uprooted and displaced by natural as well as human disasters, and children were targeted for recruitment by militarised groups. It is in this context that NonViolent Peaceforce SL first engaged in child protection work.
Now the war has ended, the wounds it inflicted are still far from healed. Among the many issues are the reintegration of former child soldiers into their communities of origin or, where that is not possible, finding them a secure space to live as well as schooling or training. Domestic violence, tensions between youth from different ethnic or religious communities and lack of possibilities for vocational training are all issues faced in re-settled communities.
