Emerge Lanka is excited to share our advocacy programmes and plans. Emerge Lanka Foundation has designed a model, which creates more sustainable channels of capacity building and reintegration of children exiting institutional care in Sri Lanka. The Emerge Lanka Foundation has a very strong relationship with the Department of Probation and Child Care, and we were excited when Emerge received the request to head this advocacy programme.
The building of a community that will contribute towards the growth of its socio-economic foundation is the hope of every nation. The strength and sustainability of this foundation depends largely on the skills capacity and capability of its population. A large percentage of this capacity is drawn from the youth of the nation.
Successful Life-Skills Training, Empowerment and Knowledge Creation (SLEK), is an interactive and curriculum-based model that has been designed to prepare youth exiting institutional care to have the confidence, knowledge and mindset to engage in upskilling themselves to contribute positively to the socio-economic growth of the nation. The model is designed to enable youth of Sri Lanka to learn and cultivate their skills rather than be counted amongst the mounting number of unskilled labour due to lack of opportunity and or access to avenue to upskill themselves. Emerge Lanka Foundation based the design of the SLEK model on the critical sustainable development goal identified by the Department of Probation and Child Care in their 2019 Annual Report (Source: English Report.pdf (probation.gov.lk) page 43 – 49).
The Department of Probation and Child Care aims to achieve the following by 2030: “(4.7) By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of a peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (Source: English Report.pdf (probation.gov.lk) page 43 – 49).
The SLEK model dissects this goal into focused segments to ensure that the components are equally developed to create a strong foundation. The model enables the youth to exit institutional care with the social skills, the emotional capacity and mindset to engage in further learning and upskilling, allows young adults leaving institutional care to be linked with vocational training institutions.
The model also has an immersive and tightly integrated methodology to roll out the training and development of the officers that is required to reach the 2030 goal that has been identified. The Emerge Lanka Foundation, recognises the requirement of knowledge sharing across all personnel to ensure that this goal is achieved and sustained. It is with this in mind that the SLEK Model also encompasses a training and development plan for all personnel connected with child care in the relevant department(s).
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