Sunday Sep 28, 2025
Sunday Sep 28, 2025
Tuesday, 16 September 2025 05:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Text and pix by P.D. De Silva
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| Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Rathnayake addressing the female councillors in the Matale district |
‘Janani’, the initiative conducted across 15 districts in 2023 and 2024 (prior to the local authorities poll) by the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) to enhance the digital literacy of female councillors of local authorities and help them stay safe online was well accepted and a tremendous success.
With a large number of first-time female councillors having been elected to local authorities at the last local authorities poll, CaFFE has heeded the many requests received and with the generous financial support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Sri Lanka will conduct the program in the 10 districts which were left out in the first phase.
Accordingly, female councillors elected to local authorities in the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Matale, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, and Polonnaruwa, are set to benefit from ‘Janani’ and it is hoped that the program would be extended to the first-time councillors elected to the local councils in the districts covered in phase one if possible.
The first program in phase II was held in the Matale district on 12 September with the participation of over 40 of 69 female councillors elected to the 13 local authorities in the district.
Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Rathnayake, Assistant Commissioner Elections Matale Asiri Eranga Pushpakumara, Office of the Local Government Assistant Commissioner Matale Investigation Officer Anuradhi, and Institute of Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Executive Director Manjula Gajanayake were the resource persons while CaFFE Executive Director Manas Makeem and CaFFE Director Administration Surangi Ariyawansa addressed the participants.
The training will span over three separate days and cover digital literacy and online security, effective engagement with media and strategies for building and promoting social media platforms. The training will culminate by giving the participants an opportunity to face the media.
The local government sector plays a vital role in advancing women’s political participation and has been guaranteed of a 25% quota and currently there are 1973 elected women councillors nationwide.
The participants and resource persons at the launch of the ‘Janani’ program
A section of the women councillors
