We Effect started fighting poverty in Sri Lanka in 1978 by using the cooperative development model. We Effect is a global development organization, founded in 1958 by the Swedish cooperative movement to fight poverty. 70 Swedish cooperative and/or customer-owned companies and organizations are members of We Effect. We Effect Sri Lanka country program has been supporting the strengthening of Civil
Society Organizations for the development of socio-economic conditions among working communities through cooperative approaches. We Effect, primarily collaborates with member-based organizations consisting of women and men who live in poverty and together fight for their rights and adequate living conditions. This means that our development activities are developed in dialogue with our partner organizations, with strong local ownership, characterized by accountability, transparency, non-discrimination, and meaningful participation. We Effect operates in over 20 countries in Asia, Latin America, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, and Europe regions. We Effect (Former Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC)) started its intervention with cooperative development in Sri Lanka in 1970's. Being a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), We Effect channeled its funding through the ICA and National Cooperative Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) to develop cooperators with education training, campaigning policies, and on women empowerment in 1978. Since then, We Effect expanded the cooperative development works to districts and cooperatives where the members are poor and affected by ethnic conflicts. These programmes were contributed to poverty reduction through increased community leadership, reduction of women-based violence, and increased children's education of participating communities. The current program of We Effect runs from 2018 – 2022 with the objective of “Organized women and men in rural communities have improved income and living conditions by 2022” in 10 districts with 15 Partner Organizations in the country; Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Jaffna, Matara, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Nuwara Eliya, Rathnapura & Trincomalee. We Effect works in the thematic fields of sustainable rural development and adequate housing with a strong focus on women’s rights. Align with the global and regional strategies that We Effect Sri Lanka, will operate within the field of sustainable rural development. In this period with the economic effects of the Corona crisis, will have concentrated and focused effort on the Right to Food and Increased Resilience, sustainable livelihoods for their members and communities. This will be done with a strong focus on advancing gender equality, climate justice, and tackling corruption.
