National Council for Child & Youth Welfare of Sri Lanka (NCCYW/SL) was established in 1954 and incorporated as a Government Approved Charitable Organisation in the year 1960. The National Council has eight (8) Child Development Centres (CDC), located in 4 Provinces: Western, North Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Province. All of our SURASA Child Development Centre’s provide shelter, care, education and training for over 350 Children & Youth deprived of the very basic amenities in life. They are mostly admitted to our Child Development Centres (CDC) by the Probation & Child Care Dept. and the Dept. of Social Services of Sri Lanka. These Children are unfortunately desperately poor, malnourished, destitute, abandoned and some are mentally impaired? Our SURASA Child Development Centre’s are managed by a Team of experienced and dedicated staff under guidance of the NCCYW Central Board of Management & Trustees.
Such dedicated care and holistic specialized training need substantial funding? The Government provides an annual grant to meet a very small part of the expenses, while the Central Board of Management & Trustees organizers fundraising events, donations and contributions from socially responsible companies & affluent individuals to find the necessary funds to upkeep our NCCYW SURASA Homes and its resident Children.
Hence, given the above history of our NCCYW/SL and with the prevailing current Covid-19 pandemic, it has been a daunting task to upkeep these Children, as funding from our socially responsible companies and individuals has dwindled due to the prevailing economic conditions and add to this difficult situation in the country, the Health Authorities have enforced certain Health restrictions & protocols that have now curtail our acceptance of Danaya-alms giving’s at our SURASA Homes. Therefore, while our Funding has reduced by 50%, the alms-giving component has also dropped by 50% which further erodes our existences? We also anticipate further delays by the allocated grants from the Government due to prevailing economic hardships which will further hamper our Child Development Centres, which will lead to eventual closing down some of our Homes in time to come, if the Country cannot solve its Corona-Virus problem by mid-2021?
Therefore, given the above tragic circumstances, we are compelled to cut down on our basic expenditure, which includes Provisions, Maintenance and Educational activities such as tuition for the Children. Further, instead of giving them 4 curries we have now reduced to 2 curries with only one serving per child, while all maintenance & development work expenditure has come to a standstill. We are also managing with the very minimum staff requirement to further assist our Financial Position, while our Fixed Deposits at Banks which brought us Monthly Interest of 14% have now been reduced to 6–7% (50% reduction) which further erodes our Income? Therefore, we have been hit by a Tsunami from all sides and time will tell us if we could continue our Homes at this rate or not, which will have a drastic impact on the Social Services of our island nation!
We hope that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel in 2021.
