Happiness. Community. Fulfillment.
These are some of the values that Yamuna Tillakaratne, Sivajini Yogarajah and Jeyanthren Dushyanthini – three entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka – see as the foundation of peace.
The three women participated in Pathways to Peace, a UN Women project funded by the Government of Japan that supported women-led businesses in areas badly hurt by the country’s 1983-2009 armed conflict, and strengthened women’s participation in building and maintaining peace. During the one-year project that ended in March 2025, UN Women and Chrysalis, a local civil society organization, gave training in entrepreneurial and social dialogue skills to over 460 women in the districts of Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Mannar and Mullaitivu.
Tillakaratne, a 43-year-old tailor in Anuradhapura, had few resources and was raising three children alone after separating from her husband.
“I didn’t think I had the strength to do anything,” she recalls.
She opened her business with a single loaned sewing machine. Today, she runs her own brand, has a loyal clientele, and dreams of scaling up operations.
“Community often expects women to stay within certain roles,” she says. “But I asked myself, why can’t we do it all?”
Tillakaratne says the training sessions encouraged new ways of thinking about gender roles, leadership and community dialogue.
“When men saw what we were doing, they understood that stepping forward doesn’t mean stepping out of line. We have much to achieve in life and within our community,” she says.
Over 90 kilometers up north, in Madhu, a small town in Mannar, Yogarajah, a 29-year-old who lives with her parents, is building a sustainable business from the lush flora and fauna of her remote village.
Through YouTube videos and trial and error, Yogarajah learned how to dry and preserve the plants to make organic food powders and pastes. Her family helps with harvesting, and she packs the products herself.
In the UN Women training, Yogarajah learned how to market her products island-wide through social media, manage logistics and branding, and sustain and grow the business.
Yogarajah says that her community has “a conservative mindset” about women taking the lead, but adds: “Respect comes when you offer solutions.”
The training on conflict resolution and gender norms helped her build confidence and initiate difficult conversations, particularly around care work and shared responsibility in the household and community. She was being recognized and taken seriously.
“It changed how people saw me, and how I saw myself, and I was allowed to grow,” she says.
Further north, in Mallavi, a town in Mullaitivu, Dushyanthini, 41, started her tailoring business in 2009, just after the war ended. Her husband had died during the war and she found herself caring for her brother who was paralyzed and her father who was ailing.
Dushyanthini gradually saved up to purchase three sewing machines.
“Before attending this training, we worked whenever we wanted. Now, we plan and strategize,’ she says.
Having seen the impact of war first-hand, Dushyanthini believes that communities must collaborate. The training programme helped her build networks with women from different backgrounds, and over time, she taught sewing to others in nearby villages.
Hung on the walls of her home are accolades she received at the recent Women’s Day programmes at Jaffna University, honoring her commitment to helping other women in her community.
“Women need to learn self-employment,” Dushyanthini says. “After the war, we depended on others. Now we can stand on our own.”
Her business, Aadhavan Tailoring, has earned a reputation for quality and reliability. Dushyanthini dreams of opening a ready-made clothing showroom and expanding internationally, despite her small team of trainees and limited equipment.
‘We still have a long way to go, but we’ve already come far,” she says.
“That’s what peace looks like — support, understanding and working together.”
This story was written by Sakina Aliakbar, a UN Women consultant writer. Originally published by UN Women’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific.
