A three day residential workshop was held for 30 youth community facilitators and human rights defenders in the Malaiyaha community representing 10 estates in the Sabaragamuwa Province. The workshop focused on improving the capacity, skills and leadership of youth facilitators to foster conducive relations between the facilitators and government officers. The facilitators and human rights defenders will be access points when faced with issues related to obtaining government services.
A leadership training programme was conducted by resource people at the workshop along with human rights, legal and policy framework, physical security of the Malaiyaha community and inclusive service delivery.
The participants were aware of the problems faced by the Malaiyaha community in getting government services but they were unable to properly analyse the problems, the legal framework for the related problems or the importance of inclusive service delivery.
At the leadership training, the participants were divided into groups to map the problems faced by the Malaiyaha community in accessing government services based on what they learned in the workshop and to choose one problem and think about how to solving it and what the legal framework was related to the problem.
The positive results of the post evaluation showed that the participants have acquired significant knowledge and skills that they could apply to actual situations.