05 April 2025

Ensuring Continuity of Lifesaving Immunization in Sri Lanka

In the face of economic hardship, Sri Lanka's public healthcare system faced the unprecedented challenge of ensuring that vaccines reach every child, mother, and vulnerable individual across the country. The economic crisis of 2022 placed the smooth continuity of the National Immunization Program - a cornerstone o...
18 March 2025

Stitching hope

As a little girl, Chathuri would press her face against the glass panes of clothing store windows, mesmerized by the colorful, intricate embroidery of the dresses on display. She imagined what it would be like to wear them; something created with love and care. But for most of her childhood, surviving each day was...
24 January 2025

Building Strong Foundations -

Preschool teacher Chandralatha (63) stands as a beacon of hope and perseverance in the rural village of Katugahagalge, Monaragala, in Sri Lanka’s Uva Province. She endeavours to transform the Pipena Kekulu Preschool from a makeshift setup into a permanent, well-equipped learning centre for kids aged 3-5 in the vil...
28 November 2024

Nufajil returns to school as his family fulfils their aspirations

Nufajil (12) is happy to be going back to his school in Veloor – a rural village North of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. His education was disrupted for nearly a year due to the financial difficulties and emotional trauma the family faced. But today, thanks to the tailored Mental Health and Psychosoc...
27 November 2024

Towards strengthening nutrition-sensitive social protection in Sri Lanka

Since early 2022, Sri Lanka faced the profound repercussions of the most severe economic crisis since independence in 1948. In a context of soaring inflation, heightened income insecurity and acute scarcity of essential products such as food, fuel, fertilizers and medicines, more and more families were unable to m...
19 November 2024

Bodh Maathura

Bodh Maathura 24, is a young economic research and development professional from Sri Lanka, specializing in industrialization, inequality, youth, and sustainable development. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Asia Youth Alliance, leading policy advocacy initiatives to elevate the voices of...
13 November 2024

Sri Lanka’s Children Unite in Art to Celebrate 35 Years of the Child Rights Convention

About 100 children from across Sri Lanka, each with a unique story, have come together to create a groundbreaking art exhibit that celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Child Rights Convention. This vibrant, one-of-a-kind showcase, co-created by children from diverse ethnic backgrounds, ages, and abilities, highl...
28 October 2024

Social protection

Social protection assumes a pivotal role within the current socio-economic landscape of Sri Lanka, which continues to experience the tremors of an unprecedented economic crisis, widely regarded as the most severe in the nation's history. In an environment marked by an only slowly recovering economy and widespread ...
25 October 2024

An empirical investigation of UNICEF’s nutrition-sensitive short-term cash transfer programme

In the recent economic crisis, UNICEF implemented nutrition-sensitive short-term cash transfers in districts with high burdens of child undernutrition. This study aims to understand the barriers to  using these cash transfers and other household resources that improve maternal and child diets and to explore ways t...
15 October 2024

Supporting vulnerable families to make the right choices on the nutrition and well-being

In the face of the consequences of Sri Lanka's economic upheaval, Ms Inoka Shyamalee (27) has emerged as a pillar of strength for families struggling to manage their meagre incomes and provide for their children. Working amongst the communities in the Sabaragamuwa Province as a supervisor for UNICEF’s Cash Plus Pr...
15 October 2024

Remedial classes help primary graders in Sri Lanka catch up after multiple school closures.

Nepul (10) and his grade-5 friends from Christ Church School in Hanguranketha, in Sri Lanka’s Central Province, stay after school for extra lessons in mathematics and their native language, Sinhala. With action rhymes and writing activities, the specially curated remedial learning class is designed to help them ov...
18 September 2024

FORMATIVE RESEARCH AND SOCIAL & BEHAVIOR CHANGE STRATEGY ON HANDWASHING

A number of infectious diseases can be spread  from one person to another by contaminated hands. Hand washing with soap is one of the most effective barriers to the spread of diseases. The importance of hand washing to interrupt the cycle of disease transmission was intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, as an impo...