The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) with the technical assistance of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Sri Lanka and the financial support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia (DFAT) launched the very first Handbook on Gender, Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Disasters in 2022. This handbook provides practical guidance to policymakers, DMC response staff and community groups to plan, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions for a gender equitable disaster response. It contributes to the implementation of the Policy Framework and National Plan of Action to Address Sexual and Gender based Violence in Sri Lanka, initiated by the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment.

Under the guidance of the Director General of the Disaster Management Centre, Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe and Mr. Kunle Adeniyi, Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the subnational level capacity building programmes were started during the last year, targeting the most vulnerable and disaster prone districts. Initially six districts namely Kalutara, Ratnapura, Galle, Kegalle, Badulla and Kandy were selected. The programmes were conducted at each district targeting three different target groups i.e. decision makers, disaster response staff and the community, who get involved in emergency situations and disasters. In this series of trainings, the Kandy district programme was held on February 2023, at hotel Oak Ray Regency in Kandy. Over forty participants representing the various sectors and categories participated at these sessions and they were very appreciative of the knowledge gained, which is useful in mainstreaming Sexual and Gender based Violence into the District and Divisional Disaster Management Plans as well as implementing the learning during disaster preparedness and response programmes.