Strengthening the Roles of Women Leaders in Promoting Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka

The Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) Strengthening the Roles of Women Leaders in Promoting Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka initiative was implemented by Search for Common Ground, Grameen Foundation, and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) from 2020-2023.

The WAGE program's Sri Lanka initiative strengthened the capacity of local women political, civil society, and economic leaders to advance women’s peace and security (WPS), women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and gender-based violence (GBV) awareness and prevention in their own communities. This was done through the establishment of collective action clubs, training sessions in business skills, financial literacy, leadership and political participation, and small grants for collective actions.

The initiative worked with local women leaders to address some of the multifaceted challenges women in their community face through the formation of women’s collective action associations known as Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL) clubs; training sessions on topics such as gender sensitivity, inclusion, business skills, and financial literacy; and linkages to women-friendly financial products. It also organized workshops on WEE to enhance understanding of how unequal household workloads, traditional gender norms, and GBV all affect women’s capacity to engage in income-generating activities. By supporting women entrepreneurs and women in political and civil society organizations to build technical skills and form relationships, the WAGE Sri Lanka initiative sought to create a cohort of women leaders able to address the unique challenges faced by Sri Lankan women.

The program's central goals were:

• Strengthen the capacity of women leaders to collaborate across divides to advance the WPS agenda and address challenges specific to women’s conflict-related and post-conflict needs, including GBV and WEE, at the local and national levels of governance.
• Support women leaders and CSOs in implementing pilot initiatives to execute priority components of the Collaborative Action Plans on WPS and WEE, through technical and financial assistance.