Country Context
Sri Lanka — an island nation in the Indian Ocean that is the diverse country home to many religions, ethnicities and languages — continues to rebuild after a series of emergencies, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated large swaths of the country in 2004 as well as over 30 years of armed conflict in the northern and eastern parts of the country, a conflict that ended in 2009. With recovery efforts well established throughout the country and the national development agenda in full motion, Sri Lanka continues to prioritize child protection through a plethora of initiatives, programs, and policies; despite that the “emergencies” have passed, the reporting of incidents of violence against children continues to increase as service providers continue to build upon their emergency experiences to strengthen the national child protection system. In this transitional context, the Sri Lanka Program Learning Group continues to make headway in putting child protection and family welfare front and center.
Program Learning Group Description
The Sri Lanka Program Learning Group (PLG) was formed in May 2009 in partnership with the Institute for Participatory Interaction in Development (IPID), the host organization that specializes in evaluating humanitarian and development efforts. The PLG is presided by a Steering Committee that includes such key governmental entities as the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs (and notably the Department ofProbation and Child Care Services), the National Child Protection Authority, and the Children’s Secretariat. The PLG includes strong representation from civil society and UN organizations and makes strong linkages with national universities, including the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Open University. The PLG’s three key thematic areas are research, capacity building, and knowledge-sharing in the field of child protection.
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