The Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities (FSLGA) is making impressive headway in supporting women and building their capacity as leaders and decision-makers at the local level.

Budget to protect gender society

The project, implemented by FSLGA and funded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' (FCM) Global Affairs Canada project Partnership for Municipal Innovation – Women in Local Leadership, facilitated a training programme on: Gender-based budgeting for Local Authorities for officers attached to the local councils in Matale district, Central Province. The training was conducted by the Investigation Officer attached to the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner's Office, who had previously been trained as part of the Training of Trainers methodology being used accross the project.

The Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner’s office are responsible for conducting training through their investigation officers who, in turn, are responsible for monitoring the performances of the councils. Together with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) they have been informing the Local Government Office Board about setting up a budget that protects gender society under a ground breaking project.

Partnerships 

Hemanthi Goonasekera, FSLGA Chief Executive Officer said: "We are very proud of the partnerships we have forged, both with Central Government and our donors, to support women in Sri Lanka to participate in local government leadership. We look forward to discussing the work we have done at the forthcoming regional Commonwealth Women in Local Government meeting."