Abstract

The primary research question of this study considers that community training programs aim to improve psycho-social status and asks what is the impact of these programs on the lives of women participants in a tsunami devastated community? The research is based on interviews, focus groups and interactions with participants of training programs and key informants related to the community. Furthermore, the study incorporates the author’s observations and personal reflections made while living and in Thalpitiya village in Kalutara district of Sri Lanka. The three training programs examined are: 1) Health and Social Issues Training for Women, 2) First Aid Training for Youth and 3) Waste Management Training. The study is focused specifically on women.

Conclusions from this study show that training programs have a positive impact on the lives of the women in several ways. The findings of this study show that the training helped women to gain knowledge and have a positive psycho-social influence with the opportunity to attend trainings and come together as a community during the trainings and afterwards on their own (as trainings sometimes burgeoned new friendships). Furthermore, the conclusion acknowledges that training may not be the most important way to use resources, yet it cites how an increased variety, length of time and frequency of training programs offered in the district and around the country could help women to build meaningful relationships and have positive impact on their psycho-social status.

This study has practical applicability in that it offers proof that training programs are useful to women’s lives and can be used in support of expanding training programs in the District of Kalutara, in the country of Sri Lanka and even on a global scale.

Disciplines

Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Politics and Social Change

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