Enabling them to dream
Youth who have benefitted from ILEAD training programmes shared their experiences at ‘Heroes of Today’
Lakshayini Srinageswaran from Trincomalee now busily immersed in a beautician diploma course in Colombo, started off with an ILEAD beautician’s course and on the job training at a beauty parlour in Trincomalee. After gaining experience, she went on to open her own beauty parlour close to her home in Trincomalee two years ago.
Thanks to the ILEAD programme, she was able to support her family. “Even during the pandemic, I was able to use the money I made at my beauty parlour to help support my family and others. I am also able to help other students to learn by providing them with on-thejob training at my beauty parlour,” Lakshmi says with pride.
With a vision to change the world through education, Aide et Action, an international NGO that has roots globally including in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe began working in Sri Lanka in 2006. Through its Initiative for Livelihood Education and Development (ILEAD) programme, the organisation focuses on education and skills development needs of those impacted by the civil war, and others from underprivileged and marginalised communities.
The aim is to promote market-oriented employability and entrepreneurship training. In Sri Lanka, the ILEAD programme has worked with more than 10,000 youth like Lakshmi, who upon completion of the programme, have acquired gainful employment or have become entrepreneurs.
‘Heroes of Today’ an event organised by Aide et Action Sri Lanka in collaboration with Esme Trust at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on May 24, saw alumni of the ILEAD programme sharing their experiences and its impact on their lives.
Chathura Devinda from Hikkaduwa followed the graphic design course in 2016 and despite having to leave his job at a local digital sticker printing service following the Easter bombings and the COVID-19 pandemic, was able to start his own digital sticker printing business with a loan from a friend. During the lockdown, he helped other students of ILEAD over Zoom. “I was very happy to be able to teach and share what I had learned with others.”
Kasun Madhushanka from Balangoda who also followed the graphic design course says that encouragement from his instructors, motivated him. Gaining employment as a tattoo artist, four years ago he started his own business as a photographer. “I want to expand and I was able to go this far because of what I was able to learn through the ILEAD programme,” he says.
“In Sri Lanka we are present in some of the most excluded and vulnerable areas of the country,” said Ravi Pratap Singh, International Programmes Director. At present, the organization’s ILEAD vocational training and skills development centres have been established in Mullaitivu, Ratnapura, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Panadura and Hikkaduwa. They also have early child care and education promotion centres in Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and Matara.
Among the special guests at the event were the Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Eric Lavertu, International Director General, Aide et Action International CharlesEmmanuel Ballanger, Charge de Mission Cooperation and Education, Embassy of France to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Thomas Bellil, Governor of Rotary International - Sri Lanka and the Maldives District 3220, Aruni Malalasekera, Principal of Technical College Trincomalee, Dr. B.M.C.N. Balasooriya, member of the International Board of Aide et Action, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, member of the International Board of Aide et Action and former chairperson of the National Child Protection Authority of Sri Lanka Anoma Dissanayake.
Addressing the alumni Charles Emmanuel said, “Now you are actors of change ……...you are showing that it is possible to believe in your dreams.”
For more information on
Aide et Action and the ILEAD programme, see: aide-et-action.org/our
regions/sri-lanka/