Using their skills to make a difference
Women reaching out: L-R: Tracy Holsinger, Ashanthi de Alwis, Gill Caldicott, Sarah Soysa and Mahishaa Balraj. Pic by Athula Devapriya
Although International Women’s Day is universally celebrated on March 8, the British Council together with several like-minded individuals and trailblazing organisations are hoping to make it a year-long celebration of women and their advancement. The initiative comes after the success of the WOW Festival organised by the British Council, together with the London Southbank Centre that was held in December last year, “We wanted to make sure there was a longer life for the event,” explains Gill Caldicott, Country Director, British Council in Sri Lanka.
Their commitment found them calling for proposals for the Voices & Choices Grant Scheme from the participants at the WOW Festival which included speakers, stall owners, artists and audience members and eight project proposals were chosen for implementation throughout the year (from 2018-19), each based on an idea aimed at empowering Sri Lankan women and girls.
Seated at the British Council last Tuesday were four of the eight representatives of the projects that range from using leadership training, public speaking, music, theatre, puppetry to knowledge-sharing workshops that will travel across the island to schools, state universities and communities.
“We are such a disparate group of women,” observes Tracy Holsinger, the Artistic Director of Mind Adventures Theatre Company who will be using a forum theatre performance and moderated sessions to look into online bullying and sexual exploitation of teenage girls in relationships. Their project’s tagline is made up of two important words- “consent” and “complicity”.
This particular forum will cater to the O/L-A/L age group- which will have a more relevant connection with the subject matter. The 15 minute presentation will be based on a real life story followed by a moderated discussion and questionnaires based on sexual health and safety.
Like Tracy, Ashanthi de Alwis is also using art forms to communicate and connect with a wider audience.
Ashantih’s focus will be on suicide prevention, a hot topic at the WOW Festival as well. Ashanthi will be tapping into her artistry to create a song and music video to raise awareness about the level of female suicides in Sri Lanka and address its root causes.
Hashtag Generation has cemented its name as a platform run by young people committed to using online and offline tools to facilitate a meaningful dialogue on youth engagement and gender equality in Sri Lanka.
Mahishaa Balraj, Co-Founder of Hashtag Generation said, “We don’t get many volunteers from state universities,” adding that the large gendered void is one Hashtag Generation hopes to fill in the coming year. As always their work will create a dialogue about gender equality and health and use the existing university societies and groups to reach out to the young women across topics such as public speaking, communication skills and consent. “We are trying to break the ice,” she explains, using technology to connect with the youth.
Since 2011, Sarah Soysa, a feminist activist has worked with young people on reproductive health and rights through Youth Advocacy Network Sri Lanka. A youth led network dedicated to improving access to sexual and reproductive health and rights especially among young people and women in the North and the plantation sector, this time around the organization aims to develop tools to provide life skills and knowledge on sexual health for young girls with hearing disabilities in the Ratmalana School for the Deaf. “We are aiming to develop a safe space for their needs,” Sarah explains. Presently, they are working on an accessible glossary/terminology relating to sexual abuse. “We are also training the teachers.” They hope to adapt the already existing material to suit their needs.
Over the course of the year, all eight of the projects plan to expand and hopefully develop into a greater scheme such as the WOW Festival. For Gill Caldicott and the British Council- “It’s not just doing a project, it’s about creating awareness.”