Emerge Reintegration Centre for Victims of Abuse

Objective of the Emerge Reintegration Centre for Victims of abuse is to provide grounds for victims of abuse who are compelled to leave the shelters at the age of 18 to learn life skills and to get employed upon leaving the reintegration centre.

The current process for girls who have been abused (sexually, physically or psychologically) is to remove them from their social environment and house them within ‘Shelters’ registered under the Probation Department– until legal proceedings are over or till they turn 18.

The living conditions within these shelters are far from ideal and the girls are not allowed outside under any circumstance. Cut off from the outside world with limited education, communication, information and social interaction the girls are often in a very vulnerable state when they leave the shelters.

Without external support, education, social skills and life skills their lives often degenerate rapidly.

Scope

Establishing a residential re-integration centre to provide girls with

• A safe and secure environment
• Therapy and counselling
• Training programmes for Life, Language, Vocational & Social Skills
• Child protection training
• Career guidance
• Reduce social stigma and help the girls regain their dignity

Funding

Approximately Rs. 10M towards

• Rental of suitable property
• Preparation of curriculum
• Setting up IT centre, Library & Recreational Area within premises
• Recruitment of operational staff
• Programme implementation

Through support from RT Austria and through local fundraisers CRT1 has secured a significant portion of the required funds to operate the centre for two years.

Current Status

Third batch of the participants completed their programme in mid January 2018 and all who wanted secured employment within diverse sectors. The forth batch is scheduled to commence in late February. Emerge centre runs four batches a year and has ambitious plans of opening multiple centres using the experience of operating this centre as the first of its kind in Sri Lanka

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