Ms. Sophie Gordon, Second Secretary of the Australian High Commission, Sri Lanka, recently undertook a scoping and learning visit to Ampara and Batticaloa districts to visit UNOPS and Vriddhi partners working on women’s rights, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and peacebuilding. 

She held in-depth discussions with Social Welfare Organisation Ampara District - SWOAD, Women's Development Foundation, Affected Women's Forum, Ampara District NGO Consortium, Batticaloa District Aruvi Women's Network, Circle - Wing of Young Feminist Team, newARROW and their community representatives, with a focus on learning from their successes and challenges working on women’s rights, peacebuilding, and SGBV, to understand how the Australian High Commission, Sri Lanka, can better support empowering grassroots-level women. 

Sustaining support for survivors and promoting women’s social, political and economic empowerment through civil society women’s organisations is pivotal to advancing Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion.