Sri Lanka

In 2025, UN Women’s interventions in Sri Lanka delivered measurable progress in advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment through integrated programming that combined women’s economic empowerment with social norms change across four districts. Women entrepreneurs and their families participated in initiatives designed to strengthen agency, foster supportive household dynamics, and shift community perceptions. Ninety-six per cent of surveyed women entrepreneurs (PWD: n=19) reported that male household members now recognize the importance of women’s empowerment for community development, directly contributing to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality and SDG 8 on decent work. This demonstrated how behaviour change interventions, targeting 919 individuals (481 women and 438 men) can generate lasting improvements in attitudes and practices that benefit women, families, and communities.
The programmes delivered clear economic gains, with 77% of women entrepreneurs reporting increased income after whole?of?business training. These outcomes were strengthened by improved household dynamics: 96% observed positive behavioural changes among male relatives, 80% reported greater support for women’s enterprises, and 53% noted more shared domestic responsibilities. Many participants highlighted increased involvement of women in household decision-making, underscoring the broader social impact of the programme. Together, these results demonstrate progress toward SDG 5, particularly Target 5.1 on ending discrimination and Target 5.4 on valuing unpaid care and domestic work, while also advancing SDG 8 by strengthening entrepreneurship and promoting inclusive growth.
These results were made possible through UN Women’s partnership with FISD, which implemented holistic, context?specific approaches. Support combined targeted training for women entrepreneurs with family?focused initiatives, including Happy Family Camps, fatherhood programmes, and male peer groups. Initial reluctance among men shifted to sustained engagement, as participatory and culturally grounded methods effectively addressed scepticism and fostered lasting change. As one participant reflected, “The Fatherhood Programme truly opened my eyes to the importance of gender equality and the crucial role men have within the family. It inspired me to be more present, supportive, and actively involved in my children’s lives and our home.”
Building on these outcomes and lessons from implementation, UN Women and partners will scale interventions across additional districts to ensure women’s entrepreneurship drives both economic gains and more equitable communities.

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.

Through UN Women's work in Sri Lanka in 2022 - in partnership with the Government of Japan, Sri Lanka's state infrastructure has been significantly and unprecedentedly strengthened to recognize, adopt, and implement the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. This is in line with the UN Security Council's Resolution 1325 , UN Women's own strategic note, and SDGs 5 and 16.
Firstly, this has been achieved through the handover of Sri Lanka's first draft National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS to the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment (MWCASE). This was developed in close consultation with government, civil society, commmunities, and development partners across the country and similarly validated, providing a comprehensive framework to implement the WPS agenda in Sri Lanka. This is currently under review by the Treasury prior to presentation for Cabinet adoption.
The handover of this draft to the Government and the progress made since then is significant in light of the political crisis and turnover which marked Sri Lanka's governance systems in 2022, along with the political focus on addressing the economic crisis. UN Women was able to capitalize on a political moment where the government is open to reform - particularly in relation to gender equality, to advance the NAP which addresses issues which had seen little progress (e.g., support to women ex-combatants, trans persons, regulation of microcredit facilities, etc). UN Women's advocacy with development partners and civil society have led to keen interest in leveraging this framework to streamline and mobilize resource distribution and stronger coordination around WPS.
Secondly, this has been supplemented by the capacitation of Government officials across 3 Ministries on implementing the WPS agenda through the provision of technical knowledge as well as the strengthening of coordination through digital infrastructure [a digital reporting and coordination platform], dialogue and joint work planning between local government officials and local civil society and community-based organizations, and coordination-building initiatives between all (D-P) in the country which had never been done before. This has already led to a formalised network of D-Ps, and a draft proposal by D-Ps for further capacitation on gender responsive planning. UN Women will continue to explore this work, to strengthen coordination and support to field officers in implementing the WPS agenda.