Through ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), we have supported the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) in Sri Lanka since 2013. Visaka Dharmadasa, Founder and Chair of AWAW, spoke to our IPF Program Director, France Bognon, about how flexible funding in their project yielded unexpected results.
The Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) issued a statement about the attacks in Sri Lanka.
On March 8, Visaka Dharmadasa, Founder and Chair of the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) was invited to speak at Buckingham Palace on the topic of WPS. Two weeks later, the International Center for Prevention and Prosecution Genocide (ICPPG) published an open letter attacking Ms. Dharmadasa. Read her response to the false allegations of ICPPG.
A well deserved global recognition of Visaka’s work, and of the work done by many women across the globe who strive to make a positive change, and are indeed “champions of peace”.
WASL partner Visaka Dharmadasa, founder of the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) was featured in an article reporting on Sri Lanka’s efforts to include more women in its military. ICAN, in partnership with the Permanent mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN and AWAW, hosted a panel on “Increasing Women in UN Peacekeeping” in October 2017, and Visaka played a key role in highlighting the need to hold a follow up seminar in Colombo discussing setting a quota of women in the Sri Lankan military and in peacekeeping missions.