The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka

16/10/2025

The importance of equipping our families, friends, neighbors, and other community members with basic psychosocial skills is lifesaving during emergencies as they often become the frontline responders before professional help arrives.

Underscoring this, The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Timor Leste, developed a short video course that offers practical psychosocial skills that everyone can use to stay resilient, communicate supportively, manage stress, and help others regain control in any emergency.

Follow the course from here 👉 https://www.psychosocialskills.org/
Learn more about these skills 👇

13/10/2025

Join our team as Finance Manager!

In this role, you will lead and oversee the financial operations of the Sri Lanka office under the guidance of the Director of Finance, Grants and Administration.

This role requires a strong grasp of internal controls, donor compliance, accounting systems, and team leadership. Interested candidates should submit the following via email to [email protected], indicating “Application – Finance Manager, Sri Lanka” in the subject line.

👉A cover letter (maximum 1–2 pages) explaining your suitability and interest in the position.
👉Updated CV (no more than 3–4 pages), including at least two referees.

‼️Applications must be received by 18 October 2025. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Learn more about the position or share this with someone who fits the role: https://asiafoundation.org/career/finance-manager-sri-lanka/

30/09/2025

Applications are now open for the 2026 Asia Foundation Development Fellows program, a yearlong leadership journey for emerging leaders across Asia committed to positive change.

This unique opportunity includes,
🎯Intensive training in Korea and the U.S.
🎯Executive coaching and mentoring
🎯A professional development award of $2,500

Apply by November 10, 2025, to join the 12th cohort of changemakers shaping Asia’s future.

Learn more and apply here: https://asiafoundation.org/programs/education-and-leadership/leadex/asia-foundation-development-fellows/

26/09/2025

Women and girls shoulder most unpaid care work in Sri Lanka. With support from Global Affairs Canada, our Addressing Unpaid Care Work in Sri Lanka Project works to recognize, respond to, redistribute, and reduce these responsibilities. We work with eight women’s organizations to establish and standardize model day care centers for children, elders, and persons with disabilities.

To support this work, a three-day workshop on “Establishing Model Care Centers: Operations and Management with a Focus on Women’s Rights” brought together partners from Jaffna, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Nuwara Eliya, Colombo, and Galle.

Over three days, our partners strengthened their conceptual understanding, explored care center models, and shared on-the-ground insights. Together, we are developing an operations manual to guide these community-based care centers that promote women’s rights and share care responsibilities. Scroll to learn more about our efforts.

Our partner Women's Organizations 👇

AKASA - Anuradhapura
Network For Advocating Requirements of Women, Batticaloa
Islamic Women's Association for Research and Empowerment - Batticaloa
NFWD - Nation Forum of Women with Disabilities - Colombo
Rural Women's Front - Galle
THOLAMAI.V (வல்லமை) - Jaffna
Eksath Lanka Welfare Foundation (ELWF) - Nuwara Eliya
Women Resource Center (WRC) - Kurunegala

22/09/2025

What makes it difficult for women to enter, thrive, and lead in the mediation space in Sri Lanka? Scroll through to find out!

Watch this documentary on Dharmini, who hurdled through these barriers and now serves as the chairperson of the Nallur Community Mediation Board in Jaffna - https://youtu.be/n9vBsM8i7Dw?si=y31OHuRUQPfuH1ai

01/09/2025

In Sri Lanka, unpaid care work, such as looking after children, elders, and persons with disabilities, as well as managing household work, is almost exclusively seen as women’s work. It remains unpaid, unrecognized, and undervalued in state policy and society at large.

In 2024, The Asia Foundation, with the support of Global Affairs Canada (High Commission of Canada to Sri Lanka and Maldives), began the “Addressing Unpaid Care Work in Sri Lanka” project. The four-year project is implemented in collaboration with Women and Media Collective (WMC) and aims to recognize, respond to, redistribute, and reduce unpaid care responsibilities, which are mostly shouldered by women and girls in Sri Lanka. The project draws on feminist principles and values of participation, inclusion, and empowerment in its implementation. It works with women’s organizations from across eight districts spanning Jaffna, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Nuwara Eliya, Colombo, Galle, and Hambantota.

Scroll to learn more about unpaid care work and how we are tackling this issue. In upcoming posts, we will take a closer look at community-based day care centers grounded in women’s rights.

29/08/2025

Join the webinar and learn how to use Political Economy Analysis to navigate real-world challenges.

🗓️September 10, 2025 | 12.30 PM
💻Virtual via Zoom

Register now!
http://bit.ly/3HTO2ad

When systems are in crisis, not everything worth keeping survives — and not everything that survives is worth keeping.

This September, join us as we explore how Political Economy Analysis, or PEA, can help navigate complex, real-world challenges.

Together we'll unpack why politically informed approaches matter now more than ever, and how PEA supports more effective, locally-led, and context-driven solutions.

📅 September 10, 2025 | 2.00 PM (GMT+7)
💻 Virtual via Zoom

This session also marks the launch of 'PEA in Practice: A Practical Guide to Political Economy Analysis', a new resource designed for policymakers, development practitioners, and researchers to apply PEA more effectively in their work.

🔗 Register here to join the conversation: https://asiafoundation.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_56yUV8T4Rm-U25H0CBiJ1g #/registration

26/08/2025

Join our team in The Maldives as a Program Officer!

In this role, you’ll play a key part in advancing the Strengthening Civil Society in the Maldives as Actors of Development and Governance project, supporting civil society organizations to create impact that lasts.

📌 Apply now or share this opportunity with someone who fits the role: https://lnkd.in/gKq-F286

20/08/2025

After the civil war in Sri Lanka, the government set up the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to resolve key issues faced by communities in the North and East. One of the most burning concerns raised with the LLRC was land and property ownership and possession in war-affected communities.

While community mediation boards already existed, they were not prepared to handle the complex land disputes that emerged in the aftermath of war. Watch the full video to see how the Mediation Boards Commission tackled this challenge through the evolution of land mediation boards.

This documentary explores the role and relevance of Special Land Mediation Boards in Sri Lanka, particularly in addressing complex land and property disputes...

18/08/2025

Our Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Unit piloted a Holistic Recovery Model for Mental Healthcare Services in Sri Lanka at the Kandy National Hospital. This project showed us how small, intentional changes can foster a more compassionate and holistic approach to mental health recovery. Swipe through these key learnings from our project, and see how together we can support holistic recovery in Sri Lanka.

Explore the full story in our publication, Reflections on Recovery - https://bit.ly/4mor7D1

05/08/2025

The Asia Foundation's APAC Cybersecurity Fund, supported by Google.org, is training 13,000 individuals in best practices to strengthen and resilience in Sri Lanka. As part of this initiative's continuous efforts to equip key stakeholders with essential cybersecurity knowledge, we are hosting a cybersecurity awareness session designed for CSOs and NGOs.

🗓️Date: Thursday, August 14, 2025
🕛Time: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
👩‍💻Mode: Online (through Zoom)
🗣️Language: Sinhala (dates for the English and Tamil sessions will be informed.)

Registration Links:
Register in Sinhala: https://forms.gle/MS3odP83wvFPL6sEA
Register in English: https://forms.gle/Pus6qSKpjZXm5zm99

⭕Registrations will close on August 11, 2025

A cyber-safe organization is the first step to a cyber-safe community. That's why your participation matters.