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Listening to the children (WSSD
2002 and Rio+20 2012) |
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Since today’s children will be
the guardians of the planet in
future, their views and the
voices will crucially be
important. Therefore the GMSL
obtained the views of children
for the future of the world
during the preparation of the
reports for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD
2002) and the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20 2012). An
essay writing program was held
for the children themselves
designated the best ideas for
the environment and some of
those were presented to the
forum in Brazil. |
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Wannialaththo, the leader of the
indigenous community (vedda)
presents a memento of
appreciation to a child |
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Mr. Lionel Tillekaratne
presenting a memento to a child
who contributed her time and
effort to make world a better
place |
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Sustainable Agricultural
trainings |
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The engagement of children is
essential in GMSL’s natural
agriculture programs, which have
been hailed by the Ministry of
Agriculture as among the best in
the country. This is being
carried out as an education
component where children are
taught in their school
environments how to engage in
agriculture and are active
participants in GMSL’s rural,
provincial and national
agricultural exhibitions,
occasionally directly taking
part as honoured guests. Since
2005, the agricultural program
of the movement has trained over
2,000 children from 22 districts
in sustainable, climate smart
agricultural techniques. |
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Nimal Kumaratunga, head of the
GMSL agricultural program
teaches the children the basics
of natural agriculture |
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“Children listening to one of
the farmers explain how a
certain product was made” |
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War affected children |
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The three-decade long conflict
in Sri Lanka had a significant
impact on children. Some lost
their both parents and became
orphaned, dropped out of
schools, many with emotionally
fractured minds, and thousands
of children were recruited as
child soldiers. When the war
ended, there was an immediate
requirement for relief for the
internally displaced Tamil
families who were sheltered in
refugee camps, and the major
agony was from the children. The
GMSL provided essential
materials to 2,000 children, 99
pregnant women, 286 babies and
600 women. These social services
took place during the period
from 2009 to 2012. |
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We
did our best to turn children in
this situation ... |
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Into children in this situation |
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Children in climate crisis |
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The children and women,
together, suffer the most from
climate extremes such as floods,
droughts, etc. The GMSL
considers them the most
important areas of engagement.
Children were recognized as one
of the most vulnerable sections
of the society during calamities
and therefore, the GMSL
implemented child protection,
evacuation and sustenance in the
climate smart disaster
preparedness plans and flood
evacuation strategies in 7
coastal districts of the
country. For instance, life
jackets were provided for the
children and their use was made
mandatory. Also, 950 flood
affected children were provided
with school kits. |
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The GMSL’s educational programs
comprehensively cover climate
changes and their impacts on the
society. During the two years of
2011 and 2012, the GMSL
conducted educational programs
for over 2,000 students in the
North Central and Central
Provinces. The GMSL has
supported Leadership Skills
development programs for 20
children’s societies and
psycho-social interventions
targeting 460 children in the
Rathnapura district through one
of its member organisations. |
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Lecture on the science of
climate change – Painter
Memorial School, Nuwara-Eliya
2012 |
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Students trying to solve a
puzzle in our climate magazine –
Gamini National School,
Nuwara-Eliya 2012 |
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Environmental Trainings |
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Training and empowerment of
children to be environmental
ambassadors was a key action of
the GMSL since 1998. It
established 500 strong “Green
Brigade” made up of older school
children and young adults. They
were active in all districts of
the country and worked as
environment watchdogs, governing
themselves and reporting on
issues and campaigning at the
local level for environment
justice. Since 1998, the GMSL
has trained over 10,000 children
and an equal number of young
adults who have then gone on to
become environmentally conscious
citizens. |
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A
fire-fighting units were
established in areas where
pyromaniacs were active. They
volunteered to watch over their
environment in after-school
hours |
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Creating a nurturing environment
by nurturing nature. We
empowered school children to
form their own environment
clubs. |
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Wellbeing of children |
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War and natural disasters have
left many children in the
country either permanently or
temporarily maimed – both
physically and mentally.
Disabilities and stress are such
two factors affecting children
most. Well-being of the children
is one of the areas attended by
the GMSL and it has implemented
programs to address such issues
in refugee camps, destroyed
villages, halfway houses for
women prisoners.
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From 2005 to 2010 the GMSL has
engaged in over 200 such
programs, each running for about
2 years. The GMSL worked in
collaboration with social
workers in Ratmalana area of the
Colombo district to develop a
community-based rehabilitation (CBR)
model. The model focused on
empowering children with
disabilities and their families
through working in four sectors:
health, education, livelihoods
and social life. |
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Children supported by the
program |
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Reducing the stress of mothers
who are prisoners at the “Meth
Sevana” halfway house in
Colombo, Sri Lanka through a
gardening program |
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The GMSL took action for the
relief of children after the
Asian tsunami of 2004, which
devastated coastal areas and
displaced many. At Kalametiya, a
small fishing village, which was
completely destroyed by the
tsunami, the GMSL rebuilt the
village with the support of the
children of the village of
Waterville in Maine, USA. Under
this project they named “Sahana”
or relief. On completion, the
present President of Sri Lanka
(then Prime Minister) hailed it
as the best post-tsunami
intervention in the entire
country. |
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Comfort packs were distributed
among the children |
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Houses rebuilt at Kalametiya |
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Childhood education |
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The GMSL has focused on early
childhood and primary school
education, which is relatively
neglected in the country. Its
early childhood educational
programs’ aim is to ensure our
child assets have access to the
best opportunities to become
gainful and contributory future
citizens of the country.
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The GMSL has implemented strong
school-based awareness creation
programs in livelihoods and the
environment and its attention is
focused on providing the
marginalized children with
educational opportunities for
education that they would
otherwise have not had access
to. The GMSL’s programs since
1998, targeted children from
pre-schools to Grade 5 and in
all communities of the country. |
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Grade 5 children sitting for the
scholarship exa were provided
with free support in the
aftermath of the tsunami
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Tutorial class for English
Language students in
Battakonawila watte |
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Promoting multicultural society |
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Sri Lanka has multiple
traditions and multiple cultures
and is used to coexist for a
long time, until the recent war.
The deep collective feel for its
intermeshed cultures can be used
to create a similar intermesh
amongst the people and the GMSL
has recognized that children can
play a crucial role in such
efforts. |
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Various tools have been used to
accomplish this task such as the
3-day drama camp organized for
children in Lunugamwehera in
2013 with the expert
contribution from a Norwegian
drama group. |
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Karnatic dances were performed
at one of our recent social
engagements with communities in
Tirukkovil area |
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Training young children on
traditional Kandyan dance forms |
