Beyond Childhood International focuses on economic empowerment for vulnerable communities, particularly vulnerable girl and boy children aged above 16, women aged 30–50 who are unemployed due to various reasons such as family commitment, lack of knowledge of technology, market and network opportunities etc in order to contribute in breaking the cycle of poverty.
BCI offer comprehensive training programs including vocational training, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship support. Their approach aims to foster self-reliance and agency, empowering individuals to secure employment or start their businesses. Economic empowerment strengthens families, communities, and economies by relieving poverty and creating a ripple effect of positive change. They provide training, network building, vocational training referrals, entrepreneur pathways, and financial literacy to empower individuals to build fulfilling futures.
Beyond Childhood International has been partnered with Empire of the Sun https://empirethesun.com.au since October 2023. BCI has done collaborative work with Empire of the Sun on to reach out to engage women in sending products to Australian markets, building their entrepreneurial skills by providing machines and helping to link with national level industries for the product selling. Beyond Childhood International work with community building, training through local grassroots women and local organizations lead by them. We are working on Health by providing natural medicinal alternatives (chemical-free products) for a holistic approach, creating a Sustainable model with health practices to foster well-being and Empowerment, Education, and Economic Development.
Encourage women participation digital entrepreneurship is one of a project that will work with BCI in the first two years. South Asian families, migrate to Australia for better job opportunities and work prospectus. However, some men women may not find a suitable job opportunity in Australia due to various reasons such as lack of support to take care of children, difficulty to meet Australian job market, social and cultural factors from the origin and host countries, culture may have impacted to enter to work force etc. Under this project South Asian men and women will be trained on entrepreneur skills and support them to implement various business ideas with their origin countries by helping them to create an income path, having a recognition in origin countries and opening other income avenues at the host and origin countries.
Beyond Childhood women empowerment work has been done in local level through Rural Women Network since 2004 and then 2018 it was formularized through Towards Responsive (Communities). In 2023, such work was elaborated to international focus by establishing Beyond Childhood International. Beyond Childhood International partnered with Empire of the Sun in 2003 to provide sustainable solution to poverty reduction and to contribute in strengthen sustainable economic development in Sri Lanka.
Gayathri Nawaratne who provided leadership to Rural Networks and Toward Responsive (Communities) speaks her story .
Gayathri Nawarathna lawyer, passionate social worker provided leadership to provide the foundation of Beyond Childhood International economic empowerment section. She joined Towards Responsive local organization in 2017 as a volunteer. With the Support of the Women International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) small grant scheme she established a society “Galauda Gammana Society”, in Hanguranketha, NuwaraEiya to address the economic needs of vulnerable women. She identified and empowered grassroots women in Nuwara Eliya District for economic empowerment and climate resilience. Gayathri coordinated with government stakeholders with the support of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya empowering women in turmeric cultivation. This initiative not only provided the women with a sustainable economic opportunity but also led to the recognition of the village as a national turmeric cultivation area.
Having this success story, Gayathri expanded her efforts to Kurunegala, Kandy, and Kebathigollewa, empowering women including senior citizens to enhance skills and knowledge on entrepreneurship by a self-applied funding through Crysalis. After this initiative Gayathri established SHELANKA, a platform for selling products made by these grassroots women, including traditional spices and grains. Gayathri who is the first leader created by the Beyond Childhood International will provide leadership to vulnerable youth, women and community in contributing in economic empowerment.
