Change Makers assembly in Nuwara Eliya

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The Change Makers Assembly of the We Can End All Violence Against Women (WECAN) facilitated by Oxfam GB will be held at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course from October 28 to 30. The event will be inaugurated today.

Around 400 Change Makers will take part in this assembly which enable them to exchange their knowledge and experiences in order to gain better understanding on the issue. NGOs, private sector institutions and individuals, State officials and many others will also take part in this event. There are about 104 member organisations in the alliance.

WECAN was launched in Sri Lanka in 2004 and it is established in other countries including all South Asian countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

In Sri Lanka there are about 35,000 change makers from various fields. They are acting within their limits to eradicate violence against women in Sri Lanka. This programme has already covered 18 districts.

The main objective of this programme is making a shift in people’s attitudes regarding violence against women.

It also tries to make attitude changes within individuals in order to eradicate violence against women. The whole society is targeted by programme. It is expected to change Sri Lankan women’s status for the better.

According to the Tahmina Rahman, Gender Coordinator, Oxfam, at the moment Sri Lankan women are in process of americanising and losing their family bandages and cultural links which protects them against violence.

She said that although it is men who create violence against women they cannot be blamed because men are only a creation of the whole system. Therefore the most important thing is raising awareness in society. Women should have freedom to go out and do a job, she added.