This project will help 32 Sri Lankan foster parents and adolescents orphaned by the civil war and the 2004 tsunami gain financial self-sufficiency by starting a new, or expanding an existing, small business.
Since 2004, CERI foster care program has placed 180 orphans, ages 6-16, with loving families in Batticaloa (Eastern Province war-affected town) and Weligama (Southern Province's tsunami-afflicted coastal town). CERI caseworkers provide orphans with academic support, medical aid, and loss/trauma counseling, and train foster parents and teenage orphans in financial management. Yet, many foster families struggle to make both ends meet and still depend on the financial support provided.
This project will provide start-up capital to indigent residents in Weligama and Batticaloa so they can launch a business, earn additional income, and ultimately achieve financial self-sufficiency.
The project will improve the well-being of communities shattered by the 26-year civil war (ended in 2009) and the devastating 2004 tsunami. It will empower budding entrepreneurs, create new jobs, and thus help revive the local economy.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
