Equality-based Community Support and Training
By Anna Williams*

An Innovative Empowerment Program Provides Childcare and Links Women’s Handicrafts to Profitable Markets

ECSAT’s founder and director is Catherine Liyanage, a British expat with experience working for people with disabilities. She relocated to Sri Lanka 10 years ago and recently gave birth to an adorable son Sam, “half Sri Lankan, half British,” Cath proudly says. ECSAT’s mission is to provide holistic support services to vulnerable people and their families, enabling them to live their lives as fully as possible. Catherine began putting into motion her idea to create a program to support children with disabilities a few months before the Tsunami. However, when the Tsunami hit she felt that with so many vulnerable children, serving only the disabled would exclude many of those most in need. She began on her own, visiting people in temporary shelter communities amidst a barrage of relief supplies, pushy NGOs and people who had lost everything realizing what they could gain instantly from compassionate people with money. It was a challenging scenario, but armed with fluency in Sinhalese and the determination to meet peoples’ long-term needs, as they define them, she turned plans into action.

When the opportunity for long term funding became available, board members from a diverse variety of sectors came together and field staff were recruited. Originally the goal was to hire people with psychology degrees, yet it turned out that those with a natural inclination for positive human interaction showed more interest and communicated better with affected communities. The first step was to establish partnerships with community members. Staff visited temporary shelter settlements, spoke with community leaders and arranged meetings in which they explained why they were there. They made it clear from the outset that they weren’t providing money or goods, but could help children and parents in education, childcare, psychosocial support and income generation. The next step was for community members to determine how the services would be provided. Figuring this out was difficult at first. People did not readily understand what ECSAT staff could really do for them. However, when staff members became a regular community presence, their suggestions were soon responded to with fountains of ideas from community members. Now, this foundation for communication forms the crux of program design as staff modify, expand and pull out of programs according to input from community members.

Currently programs comprise of 2 target intervention groups, vulnerable children and parents. Children receive regular tutoring, homework help and day care. If needed, they also have the opportunity to form part of a small “child friendship group” led by a child development specialist. Parents have the opportunity to discuss concerns or anything on their minds for that matter with “parent support workers.”

Innovations
The most innovative aspect of the child support program is the placement of ECSAT staff in day care centers at the request of teachers. Many NGOs that have opened new day care centers in villages or shelter communities have fostered competition or taken too many students from already functioning centers, undermining the existing system. When ECSAT staff were doing their needs assessment and discussing ways they could help improve childcare, teachers said they were overburdened and needed help managing high enrollments and children with special needs. They have welcomed the staff support with open arms.

Another innovation is in the parent support program. Aside from providing psychosocial support to parents, women have the chance to be trained in handicrafts while their children attend day care. The trainings serve two unique purposes. One is to utilize the plethora of donated sewing machines, which currently are being used for everything but sewing, including as coffee tables. The second is to link women’s handicraft products to profitable markets. This crucial element many times is left out of handicraft or tailoring trainings, making them useless as income generating activities. Through a relationship Catherine established from her previous job, women will market their products at the high end store, Barefoot, in Colombo. Currently they are producing samples to show to buyers. The first thing women learn when they participate in the training is that creating finished products without profit does not bring adequate financial rewards for their time. Thus, they not only learn basic sewing skills, but business skills as well.

Looking Ahead
ECSAT has big plans for the future. They will integrate children with disabilities into their programs by setting up a preschool just for them. The preschool will not be a way to attract them away from schools they are already in. It will be to provide them the special attention they need while teachers are trained and schools’ capacities are built to serve them properly.

One big challenge will be to meet the growing demand for their services with limited staff and a stretched budget. ECSAT has received recognition from UNICEF, COOPI, UN-Habitat, Rainforest International and the Sri Lankan Red Cross as well as requests from communities that they do not have the capacity to meet at the moment. Community support, such as the kind ECSAT provides, should be fostered to grow among Tsunami affected communities. The benefits will not only show themselves through children and parents with increased coping abilities, but through communities realizing their capacities to meet the needs they identify.

* Anna Williams, Masters Student in International Affairs, New School University.

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