Sri Lanka

Ninety-two percent (92%) of surveyed women entrepreneurs across 5 districts, reported achieving business continuity and improved incomes, following UN Women’s whole-of-business capacity development interventions. This model of capacity development covers the full range of business operations from product ideation to ensuring profitability. Although there was some variation across the 5 districts, on average, the combination of enhanced capacities of the trained women and in-kind assistance contributed to a 20% increase in their business turnover. This directly contributes to SDG Targets 5.5 and 8.3.
This was possible after 600 women micro-entrepreneurs, who were facing significant challenges due to the economic crisis, received 4 skills capacity-building trainings on product development; financial literacy and business management; marketing, including digital marketing; and business coaching. In effect, 99.2% of beneficiaries surveyed stated that the knowledge gained through the trainings was instrumental to the reported improvements in the performance and productivity of their business. After a competitive pitching process, 545 of these women were selected to receive in-kind support (equipment, materials and other inputs) with a total worth of approximately LKR 110 million or USD 374,000. This served as a further catalyst for enhanced business operations – including business growth and diversification – of these micro-enterprises.
In addition, the provision of relief packages containing essential food and household commodities to the women entrepreneurs enabled them to save money to invest towards their businesses (e.g. addressing repairs) and free up time and mental space, allowing them to focus on acquiring new skills in the trainings and expanding their livelihoods.
Furthermore, 99.5% respondents reported an increase in sense of confidence as a result of the acquisition of new skills and the access to new opportunities provided by the project. These heightened levels of confidence enhanced women’s participation in community activities and leadership roles related to conflict prevention and social cohesion. The trainings also served as a common space for women from diverse backgrounds, including different ethnicities, age groups, and abilities thereby promoting trust and cooperation among these groups. As a result, 82.8% respondents observed improved social cohesion in their communities following the project interventions.
To achieve this result, UN Women worked in close cooperation with the civil society organisation Chrysalis, which supported the delivery of the advanced skills development training and provision of in-kind assistance. UN Women also engaged with 5 district secretariats and 15 divisional secretariats to coordinate the implementation of these interventions

In 2023, Sri Lanka adopted its first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP WPS), which was developed by the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, with technical support from UN Women, in partnership with the Government of Japan. It directly contributes to the achievement of SDG Target 5.5 and UNSDCF Outcome 6 on Gender Equality.
Sri Lanka’s NAP WPS is unprecedented in three ways: 1) it is Sri Lanka’s first public-facing action plan that addresses issues of national security and dealing with the legacies of past conflict; 2) it is the first action plan seeking to localize the WPS agenda, offering a gender-responsive and whole-of-society approach to peace and security; and 3) it is the first national action plan to have been primarily developed from consultations at grassroot levels – particularly with women – and employing a fully intersectional approach. It was developed based on extensive consultations with women from all 25 districts, and with particular focus on engaging women with direct and varied experiences of the conflict. This included women heads of households including war widows and military widows, women with disabilities, female ex-combatants, women activists, elected and public officials, amongst others.
The NAP WPS is a culmination of 4 years of consultations, dialoguing, partnerships and advocacy supported by UN Women, despite facing volatile circumstances ranging from political turbulence, civil unrest, COVID-19, and recently an economic and humanitarian crisis. In collaboration with the Government, the office developed the methodological approach, convened consultations across the country, undertook national-level validations involving government, civil society, UN agencies, development partners, and coordinated with the G7 Member States – which first pledged its support to drafting a NAP WPS in 2018 through the G7 WPS Partnerships Initiative. The adoption of the NAP WPS can be partly attributed to the collaboration with these partners, which provided policy advocacy, technical or political support, within a landscape that was more receptive to undertaking reforms.
The intersectional approach to the development of the NAP WPS was recognised as a good practice to policy-making with women at the forefront by the Government in a regional WPS conference in August 2023. With women’s engagement in formal decision-making spaces being very limited, the NAP WPS provided women directly impacted by the conflict with the opportunity to influence national policies/programmes that would impact them. Thus, this approach aimed to dismantle the structural barriers excluding women from decision-making spaces.
In a country that is still grappling with a tenuous or ‘negative peace’ and the continuing legacies of conflict, the adoption of a NAP WPS and empowering women to take the lead in peacebuilding efforts and political transitions could prove to be the key to achieving a more sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.