A landmark achievement was realised for women local government politicians in Sri Lanka through the efforts of the national local government association.

In May 2022, the Women Councillors’ National Platform of Sri Lanka was launched by the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities (FSLGA) with the support of CLGF and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Sri Lanka is an island state, made up of 25 districts, within nine provinces – all with a rich, vibrant cultural and ethnic diversity, extending across the country. The launch event took the form of a one-day programme which allowed each of the 25 district women councillor networks – or caucuses as they are referred to locally - to come together to complete several important actions, with over one hundred people in attendance.

Strengthen initiatives

The programme was designed to include a selection of key activities to strengthen the initiatives of the women councillor networks, together with the timely launch of the Sri Lanka Women Councillors National Platform.

All the women councillors taking part made a pledge to recognise their duties and to come together to increase the participation of women in politics. This key point in the day’s programme was also strengthened by the signing of a charter by the participating women mayors and chairpersons to ensure a commitment to the progress of this important work and to cascading it down to the next generation of young leaders, candidates, and aspiring women politicians.

Localised visions

The 25 district councillor networks were then clustered into groups, representing each of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, to enable them to come together and share localised views and visions. As a symbolic action, a directive was given to nine provincial representatives, who were nominated under the National Platform, giving them the lead responsiblitiy in lobbying in their provinces for an increase in the number of women politicians, through advocacy to the province-based governors.

The aim of the directive is to help local councils lobby for, and ensure that a women’s committee is established. A women’s committee is critical to ensure that the unique issues relating to women and young girls are addressed in the local community. If there were more women councillors, these important issues would be more likely to be raised and addressed, and by women with first-hand experience. However, they are still not in place in all the 341 councils.

Developing a strategic plan

The programme concluded in a very practical way, with the women councillors developing their initial recommendations for a strategic work plan to commence the work of the Sri Lanka Women Councillors National Platform. These were structured around important themes of the localised needs for their respective provinces:

• lobbying and advocacy as a collective
• networking and
• empowering potential candidates.

Hemanthi Goonasekera, CEO of the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Govt. Authorities said: "We are very proud of the creation of this much-needed national platform. We hope that It will give women councillors in Sri Lanka a greater voice throughout the country; an opportunity to learn from each other; and, hopefully, the ability to inspire more women to engage with local government politics."