Symposia & Conferences
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10211
Browse
5 results
Search Results
Item A Study of Social and Health Conditions related to Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka(5th National Conference on Applied Social Statistics (NRCASS) - 2019, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Panampitiya, W. M. G. N.In every human society, the household is one of the most significant social institution. Female-Headed Households (FHHs) is a new structural form of household and this new structural form of household has become a significant phenomenon in both global and national level. Although FHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited researches had been conducted regarding social and health conditions related to FHHs in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this study was to identify the background and issues related to social and health conditions, root causes, and interrelationships among those issues of FHHs in rural areas. The empirical research was conducted in five Grama Niladari Divisions of Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division which conveyed a marked increase of FHHs in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from hundred FHHs through purposive sampling method. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as primary data collection techniques. The study revealed that the inadequate education and vocational qualifications, low level of tendency to enter to formal employment sector, unsustainability of livelihood activities, low conditions of houses and related facilities, some legal issues related to residence, inadequate social supportive mechanisms in the community, lack of leadership and empowerment were prominent among social conditions and related issues. Unavailability of toilet facilities (19%), unavailability of drinking water in the own household (45%), prevalence of long-term affected health issue (49%) were the key issues of health and sanitary facilities related to FHHs in the sample. Based on these findings it has provided suggestions to improve social well-being and to improve health sanitary and infrastructure facilities, to reduce prevalence of non-communicable and communicable diseases as well as health risk and to improve quality of life and mental well-being among FHHs.Item A Study of Issues related to Empowerment of Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka(International Conference on Applied Social Statistics (ICASS) - 2019, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.Women empowerment enables women to identify their latent potentials and skills in decision making, active participation and implementation of policies and programmes. According to that, main feature of empowerment process is having power to control materials, wealth, intellectual initiatives and ideologies and this process has related to welfare, uplifement, community participation and poverty alleviation (Batiwala, 1995). Female-Headed Households (FHHs) is a new structural form of household and this type of households have become significant phenomenon in the last half of 20th and 21st century (Baros, Fox & Mendonca, 1994). “Female Headed Households are households where either no adult males are present, owing to divorce, separation, migration, non-marriage or widowhood, or where men, although present, do not contribute to the household income, because of illness or disability, old age, alcoholism or similar incapacity” (ABC of women workers’ rights and gender equality, 2007:81). Recently, it can be identified a marked increase of Female-Headed Households (FHHs) in Sri Lanka. According to the most recent Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016, out of 5.4 million households in Sri Lanka, 1.4 million households or 25.8 percent of the households were female headed (Household Income and Expenditure Survey Final Report, 2016). Although FHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited researches have been conducted regarding women empowerment related to FHHs in Sri Lanka. As a result, there are some knowledge gaps in policymaking and development discourse regarding FHHs.Item Non-Governmental Organizations in the Process of Empowerment of Livelihood Activities in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka(4th National Research Conference on Applied Social Statistics, Social Statistics Students’ Association, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.Livelihood activities of individuals directly affect to the level of income and economic stability of a household. Therefore, it is significant to have supportive mechanisms in the community to empower the capacities and abilities of people in particularly in rural areas. Non – Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is one of significant alternative body in the modern scenario of development path. One of significant working area of NGOs is to empower livelihood of households. Accordingly, main intentions of this study were to identify the programmes of NGOs in the process of livelihood empowerment and to analyze the effects of programmes which have been implemented by NGOs for the uplifting sustainability of standards of living of the people. The empirical study was conducted in two Grama Niladari Divisions of Nawagaththegama Divisional Secretariat Division in Sri Lanka. This study has based on survey method and functional method. Data were collected from 50 households based on purposive sampling method. Questionnaires was used as primary data collection technique. Both open ended and closed ended questions were included in the questionnaire. Programmes related to paddy and crop cultivations, animal husbandry, employment, management of household expenditure and savings and also community effects of them were analyzed critically through this study. NGO programmes in the studied rural area to enhance the capacity and skills related to income generating opportunities had positively influenced to uplift economic stability of their household. Based on the findings, it has suggested that programmes related to empower human potentials and skills to sustain livelihood of people are significant to introduce rather than focusing social welfare and effective integrated approach between state and NGO sector is important in order to absorb full potentials of community members into development discourse. Finally, this study signifies the importance of introducing integrated intervention between government and NGOs with an approach to participatory development which offers concrete answers to the challenges related to livelihood of peopleItem Empowering Sri Lankan Female Workers at Foreign Countries(4th International Conference on Social Sciences 2018, Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Dr.Jayawardane, T.V.P.The focus of this paper is to view and examine the various challenges encountered by the Sri Lankan female workers who work in the Foreign Countries as domestic-aid and to explore how these female workers contribute to the development of Sri Lanka. The paper will examine the various violations of International Law with regards to these female workers and ways to avoid such violations by empowering them. Sri Lankan females choose to work as unskilled laborers and seek job opportunities in Foreign Countries, especially in the Middle Eastern countries for the past three decades. There is a progressive increase in the number of female workers who leave Sri Lanka annually and they contribute to bringing in the highest amount of foreign currency to the country’s economy. The career journey of these female workers is full of obstacles, challenges and difficulties. Since most of females leave their families behind, they risk possible harms to their children left back, family disruptions, deprivation of education for these children and risk of child labor or abuse from current guardians of them. The female worker will also face lack of social and occupational security, lack of recognition, wage discrimination and most importantly difficulties in access to justice. Thus, this can be seen as significant violation of their human rights. The literature affirms that there were many cases where Sri Lankan female workers had to face refusal of payments, violation of their employment contract, physical and mental assault, sexual assaults, and sometimes even death. Sri Lanka is a member of various international treaties and therefore must find means to protect the civil and economic rights of these female workers. The paper recommends that Sri Lanka ought to imply strong policies, international agreements and national laws in order to safeguard the human rights of these female workers. The existing national laws are insufficient since the human rights of these females are violated frequently. The International laws will provide and protect the female workers and the children left behind, but the existing Sri Lankan system fails to achieve this. This paper recommends domestic laws, policies, and, practices which can be implemented to offer solutions to address the key concernsItem Digital Divide: Inequality Access of Sri Lankan Society to Digital Media(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wimalasir, B.H.D.The ‘Digital Divide’ exists between all countries according to Pippa Noris and Manual Castells. The Digital Divide creates a gap among peoples. The present world has become a global village. Therefore, developing countries tend to face many problems linked to digital media. In this study, my purpose is to identify the issues that arise due to the divide in social empowerment. Development can be defined as physical development and spiritual development. Not all countries in the world have reached their development goals. Developing countries have to compete with developed countries in their efforts to reach the global village. The digital divide is one of the main problems they face in this effort. By 2015, of the world’s 7.2 billion people, only 3.366 billion people are connected through the internet, according to internet world statistics. The overall computer literacy in Sri Lanka stood at 25.1% in 2014, and has shown an increase of 5% points from 2009 to 2014 according to the Department of Census and Statistics. It is not a sufficient value to reach the standard of the global village. The focus of the study are the factors that contribute to the digital divide that exists in Sri Lanka and the challenges of reaching the standards of the global village. My hypothesis is that while the digital divide empowers people, and that its lack in developing countries contributes to a disempowerment of its people. Therefore, The Digital Divide should be overcome in societies by removing limitations to access the digital media in developing countries. The main method of data collection in this survey is questionnaires; data was obtained from university students. My main conclusion in this study is that developing countries face many issues related to the digital divide in digital media, such as the lack of material access, the lack of skill access, the lack of usage access, and the lack of mental access. The inequality in digital media affects to the disempowerment of people in developing countries.