Stories
Submit your storyIf you’ve got a story that addresses a social issue in Sri Lanka – we want to hear from you! As a contributor for iVoice, you will inspire others in your community and bring awareness to issues relating to youth, women, the elderly, and the population at large. iVoice is always looking for new contributors to expand our community!
Opinion Editorial by Ms. Ritsu Nacken, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Sri Lanka, in commemoration of the International Day of Older Persons, 1 October 2017. -- Ageing is an issue close to my heart. I come from…
By Rajendra Sathyajith Wijesinghe Content would be lengthy. But I invite all of you to go through which I feel either neglected, unattended or remain unanswered in refer to the aged, where I tried to find answers through my father. Loneliness As to…
In August 2017, iVoice made a public call to youth around the island to submit their innovative ideas that address a social issue in their community. Over 100 innovative ideas were submitted that ranged from solid waste management to improving reproductive health education in schools, to awareness sessions on gender-based violence.…
We are happy to announce the 20 shortlisted best ideas of the iVoice innovative idea competition selected by the independent panel of judges. The 20 shortlisted competitors will participate in the final round of the competition on 20 and 21 September in Colombo. With the assistance of iVoice team, Sri…
Ministry of Women and Child Affairs is in the process of submitting a comprehensive National Action Plan for Women Headed Households to the Cabinet for approval, prior to the initial hearings of the 2018 Budget. In Sri Lanka, one in four households are headed by women, of which…
This is a touching story about a young man. Although it is a personal matter in one sense, it is about a problem common to certain communities of this country. Therefore, I hide the true identity of the protagonists of this story. Let’s call him Thilak. He was born…
He is Withanage Jayawardana Perera; we call him ‘Jaya’. I have travelled many times in the office vehicle driven by him. On one such tour, we visited Rambukkana to write a media report on a medical clinic that had been set up following the 2016 landslide. The clinic…
According to Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey – 2015, only 38.5 percent of Sri Lankan women over 20 years of age are in the labour force. One major reason for women to be out of labour force is the obligations towards children. Childcare is mainly mother's duty in Sri Lankan social…
That was a remote corner of Batticaloa district. Nobody scored 8As in O/Ls in that small village other than Sara. She became the talk of the town in that very night O/L results were released! She didn’t come from a well to do family, she was the eldest daughter…
The way the movies get their names is interesting. I wrote about Iraj Weerarathna’s Cleopatra You Tube movie arguing that it was promoting rape and violence against women. I wrote that the name Cleopatra given to the main character of the video had no connection to the 1st century…
Is Social media creating the illusion of activism? An interesting question asked by a participant @thariqfuad at the question and answer session held after the panel discussion in the official launch of iVoice.lk (Await for video of the event) In the following video, some…
Rohan is an A/L student from Sabaragamuwa. He has volunteered and been part of several youth groups and United Nations youth programmed. Rohan believes that comprehensive reproductive education is lacking in Sri Lanka. Here’s an interview at the UNFPA Sabaragamuwa Youth Policy Stakeholder Consultation. (This article was originally published in…
Sri Lanka: 1 in 4 people are youth. This means that there are 4.7 million young people between the ages of 15–29 years living in Sri Lanka. As agents of change, young girls and boys have…
Today the Daily Mirror reported that the national plan to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient by 2020 may not happen. Apparently, our cattle and buffalo population had decreased by 7.2% in 2013, and in 2014 that fell by a massive 21%. There’s more about it here in the Agriculture…
October 11 was the International Day of the Girl Child. This year’s theme was “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Data Movement” which means that what counts for girls is to be counted. United Nations General Assembly voted to pass the resolution 66/170 on December 19, 2011 adopting October 11, 2012…
“Thanks to free education and the vernacular education, we are doing well in education,” said Dr. Iresha M. Lakshman who authored Educating Sri Lankans for Development, a thematic report based on Census of Population and Housing 2012. She expressed these views participating in the Generation to Generation Dialogue organized by…
“As we get older, our rights do not change. As we get older, we are no less human and should not become invisible,” says Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Tutu, now 83, is concerned that national statistics and development policies often ignore the needs and conditions of older people.…
There is speculation that the government might soon charge a fee from private vehicles entering Colombo during peak hours. This is to encourage more people to use public transport. It is not clear if the fee will be enforced, but our public transport isn’t an attractive alternative for many reasons.…
She was a child And she was also a bride She was a child For a man to rape in bed She was a child And she was pregnant in her teens She was a child And she was a mother of one She was a child And four months…
In 2015, the UN is 70 and Sri Lanka’s membership is 60
With the mission of ‘delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled’, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works with the government as well as other organizations to bolster the youth population of the country, especially women. As Sri Lanka goes…
Pre-marital sex is considered taboo by a Sri Lankan society that is deeply entrenched in cultural norms and values. Let’s face it – the older generation (inclusive of our parents) considers sexual relations are only for married people and even if they did not, they would like to believe that…
The Enrique Iglesias concert ‘Sex and Love’, held in Colombo on 20 December 2015, has been in the news for days and remains a hot topic of conversation. Alas, for all the wrong reasons. The concert got off to a rocky start with many complaints about its…
Yalini Shanmuganathan (26) is a final year student in Department of Applied Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. She is reading for B.Sc in Food Science and Nutrition.