Women In Need (WIN) is a Non Governmental Organisation in Sri Lanka that provides a multitude of services to victims of domestic violence, child abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls. Since its inception in 1987, WIN has come a long way, with a gradual but steady increase in services and an expansion into strategically identified target locations to be able to better serve the women and children of Sri Lanka, ensure their safety, and contribute to the creation of a violence free society that values and respects the rights of women and children.
Over the past 31 years, WIN’s mandate has broadened. Having started off providing basic intervention services, psychological and legal counselling, and legal representation – which still make-up its core services – today WIN operates emergency shelter facilities for victims, crisis centres and help desks for intervention and first point of contact, a 24 hour caller hotline, and a range of other victim-focussed services.
In 2010 WIN added to these services a Domestic Violence Support Group programme to help victims deal with the trauma of their experiences, and that incorporates livelihood programmes to teach employable skills, increase self-esteem, job readiness and self-reliance, which are vital post-care services for victim survivors.
WIN operate from offices in Colombo with an additional 9 Regional Crisis Centres nationwide, 7 Counselling Desks – within police station in key cities, 8 Care Centres – within select hospitals island wide, and 2 Resource Centres – livelihood programmes in Colombo and Matara. These Resource Centres provide a number of services to inform the community and increase their awareness on the rights of women.
Recently violence against women has taken a new dimension with the emergence of harassment and acts of abuse perpetrated via social media. WIN has received a considerable number of complaints related to cyber abuse and have provided the victims with legal and counselling services. Currently, WIN is in the process of formulating new guidelines and cyber laws in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Police and other key organisations to help deal with this problem.
WIN also works to raise public awareness on violence against women, targeting the general public at every level and key stakeholders including healthcare workers, law enforcement agents such as police officer’s, and members of the judiciary such as judges.
WIN engages policy makers and key stakeholders at different levels of the discourse by sharing and disseminating groundbreaking research findings; and where such evidence-based advocacy has secured and reinforced WIN’s role as a forerunner in Sri Lanka’s struggle to end violence against women and children.