EMACE
Sri Lanka
Welcome to EMACE
Over the past 30 years we have worked with our partners to make Sri Lanka better.
We are now creating greater impact by supporting vulnerable communities through social enterprise, conflict resolution, disability rights and social justice to empower our communities to ensure no one is left behind.
Vision
Creating a healthy, vibrant, progressive responsible participatory community sector which contributes to social cohesion, equality and justice.
Mission
To protect the basic human rights of the most vulnerable people - women, children and the displaced and to support the attainment of adequate means of income generation, health care, education, security and environmental sustainability, while actively influencing government and industry towards greener policies and practices.
Meet our team
The EMACE team
Our team with our German partners
We are experienced project management specialists, field surveyors, Biologists, lawyers, advocates, former CEA directors, financial managers, environmental protectors and committed humans involved in making our country a better place through informed and data-backed action.
The Board of Directors
Prof. MD Abayaratna - PhD , Mr. Sivalingan Thawarasa (Director of Projects), Ms. Swarna Ekanayake (Director of Planning) - MSc, BSc, Ms. Vinoka Jayasundera (Executive Director) - MBA, BA, Ms. EM Ranmanika (Chairperson) - BSc.
News and upcoming events
World Mangroves Day 2023
Connecting partners, creating impact.
We at EMACE celebrated the World Mangroves Day with a training and facilitation as well a program with 200 Presidential Environmental Pioneers.
Maldivian Partner Visit 2023
Connecting partners, creating impact.
We were very excited to host our Maldivian counterparts and do a tour of our Mangroves and social enterprises.
World Wetlands Day 2023
Impact through Action
We are excited to be working extensively on our wetlands progams with programming for children and youth.
Government and State support 2022
Better collaborations for greater impact
EMACE Sri Lanka is pleased to have discussed and presented our work for collaboration with Hon. Ruwan Wijewardene, who is the Presidential Advisor on Climate Change to H.E The President of Sri Lanka.
Bees for regeneration 2022
Regenerative landscape restoration
Bees are the main ingredient for sustainable agriculture. We are helping our pollinators while helping communities make a livelihood.
EMACE field team in Action 2022
Mangroves and communities
We are working on an exciting project linking policy, communities and conservation.
Happy New Year 2022!
We at team EMACE wish all our supporters, a wonderful year in 2022! We are excited to carry out more initiatives that support our communities and our environment.
World Wetland Day 2021
Saving out wetlands for the future
Partnering with local authorities and communities for tangible action.
Solarising Communities 2020
Enabling vulnerable communities with income
Solar cookers are a great way of saving money, minimising women's inhalation of toxic firewood (women are still the primary cooks, especially in rural Sri Lanka). Our initiative with SF Foundation in the United Kingdom is leading to over 2000 solar cookers being distributed as subsidised costs for vulnerable communities to cook with, create large scale cooked goods for sale and drying.
Protecting our lake - one trilingual board at a time 2020
Communicating effectively
We at EMACE are proud to be supporting the conservation of the Bolgoda Lake in collaboration with the Central Environmental Authority and the Ministry of Environment to construct over 30 trilingual (Sinhala, Tamil and English) displays around the Bolgoda Lake which depict the Bolgoda Lake Environmentally Protected Zone and the legal consequences of harming the environment.
Endorsement by the President of Sri Lanka 2019
EMACE was commended by the HE the President of Sri Lanka Maithreepala Sirisena, while being issued with a statement of our work especially with our partners upon the completion of the RPTM Conference 2019 in November 2019.
We are ending this year on an incredible high and we hope to continue our good work in 2020 and onwards!
Newspaper feature 2019
We have been featured in the newspaper!
Our conference was featured in the newspaper and other media.
Rehabilitation and Protection of Tropical Mangrove Ecosystems 2019
A conference for the future
EMACE is organizing and hosting an international conference in Sri Lanka with international expertise and local stalwarts to create a knowledge exchange and best practices adoption to contribute to policy changes in Sri Lanka in line with the National Policies and the Sustainable Development Goals.
International Conference on Mangroves 2019
Bringing in experts and best practices to Sri Lanka
EMACE is organizing and hosting an international conference in Sri Lanka with international expertise and local stalwarts to create a knowledge exchange and best practices adoption to contribute to policy changes in Sri Lanka in line with the National Policies and the Sustainable Development Goals.
EMACE Photography Competition 2019
Open for All!
EMACE has organized an islandwide Photography Competition which is open to all nature lovers on the Beauty of Bolgoda Lake. With exciting prizes including cash and plaques and certificates, the competition will support the most discerning nature photographers in the country.
Ministry of Education and EMACE Zonal Art Competition 2019
Inspiring the next generation of environmentalists!
EMACE in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka is organizing the Zonal Art Competition 2019 on the theme of the "Beauty of Bolgoda Lake" to inspire young artists from the zonal schools to gain prizes for their creative artwork of the Bolgoda Lake and its beautiful ecosystem.
World Wetland Day 2018: Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future
Securing our wetlands for a better future
We celebrated the World Wetland Day 2018 with the presence of the President of Sri Lanka H.E Maithreepala Sirisena, the Central Environmental Authority and stakeholders from private, public and civil sectors. At this National Wetland Day celebration, Bolgoda Lake and Mangroves were well highlighted. Our Art and poetry competitions held to mark this day were also successful with student displaying remarkable creativity
Community gardens 2017
Back to a growth economy
Our community gardens are thriving especially during the drought because of the commitment of our community members.
Sustainable livelihood based community development through environmental conservation 2017
Working with partners for stronger impact
Lakes Conference 2016
Connecting partners, creating impact.
The Lakes network ensures cross-border collaboration for our common sustainable goals.
Our Bee Program
Communities and bees - a great win for all and biodiversity!
Our work
With rich history of 30 years of impact, with our resource persons and partners, we deliver diverse initiatives across Sri Lanka.
World Wetland Day Events
Saving out wetlands for the future
Partnering with local authorities and communities for tangible action.
Solar support for vulnerable communities
Solar for now and for the future
Our work revolves around creating access and promoting Solar cookers, Solar units, Solar maintenance and Solarization of existing electricity grid and firewood dependents.
Cottage businesses for women
Empowering women, empowering families
Skills building, capacity development and consultancy for start-up, small and medium entrepreneurial women who are taking charge of their financial futures.
Creating housing and socio-economic regeneration in the slums of Sri Lanka
Housing and sanitation are basic rights
Our work resulted in over people gaining sanitation and housing facilities in addition to a community centre. This project was carried out with the generous support of National Housing Development Authority and the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation.
Income generation assistance for vulnerable communities
Income generation for communities in conflict affected areas
With the generous support of AusAid, EMACE and the team dialogued, designed, implemented and supported 200 new economic initiatives in diverse sectors including apparel and farming.
Rebuilding affected schools in Northern Sri Lanka
Creating harmony and co-existence
Working towards better harmony and better education initiatives to rebuild our people.
Disability support and social justice
No one left behind
From awareness to livelihood generation activities, we provide persons with disabilities in Sri Lanka due to previous conflict, with the ability to start over and have a new life through access to employment, up-skilling and education.
Sustainable livelihood development and organic agri-business
Sustainable green jobs for a greener future
We provide consultations through experts and societies, training and skills building, technical knowledge exchange and capacity building.
Education, leadership and community development
Engaging youth leaders for better future leadership
Creating future leaders who work with Sustainable Development Goals through intensive training programmes for a better future.
Legal aid and advocacy
Empowering youth, women and communities legally
We ensure that communities who need access to legal information, legal aid and support are able to access it through us. Our advocacy work engages civil and community groups in gaining land rights, human rights, transparent legal processes and become empowered to take a stand especially through paralegal training.
Environmental conservation and protection with the Government of Germany.
Without our environment, we are nothing
Scientific greening of areas affected by unplanned development, reforestation, biodiversity conservation and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.
Human-elephant conflict
Protecting gentle giants while supporting communities
A tusker is killed every 15 minutes. Border village communities and farmers are the affected by this conflict too. We are working to provide awareness, livelihood generation activities and rally communities to protect our elephants to stop poaching and elephant deaths.
Creating a SME EMS management systems
SMEs in Sri Lanka need better environmental management
With the generous support of the European Commission, EMACE was able to create an EMS system that was both practical and technically-backed for the SME sector in Sri Lanka.
Volunteer and intern development programme
Volunteering for personal and organizational development
We engage and build up our volunteers' skills and capabilities in becoming the next generation of changemakers, be it through research, innovative solution creation and project implementation.
Volunteer and intern development programme
Volunteering for personal and organizational development
We engage and build up our volunteers' skills and capabilities in becoming the next generation of changemakers, be it through research, innovative solution creation and project implementation.
Connect with us
We are GDPR compliant and have a strict policy of not sharing your information with third parties.
Email: emacefoundation@gmail.com
Main office
1st Lane, Katubedda, Moratuwa
EMACE Foundation Sri Lanka
Volunteer with us
Join us and develop yourself as a change-maker!
EMACE's volunteer program is a way for people to invest their skills, minds, and hearts in support of EMACE’s mission. We operate a sustainable volunteer programme in which we recruit a small number of volunteers who have the skills to make a contribution to our work. We are committed to employing Sri Lankan staff and invest in up-skilling and training this staff, as well as developing our project areas. Accordingly, our skilled volunteers will ideally make a significant contribution to staff and project development.
Minimum requirements for a Volunteer Placement with us:
- 3-6 month time commitment.
- Proven experience of at least one year in one of our project areas, as follows:
- Community Development practice
- Youth Work practice
- Disability Development practice
- Environmental Conservation (experience with Mangroves preferred)
- Sustainable farming methods
- Human Elephant Conflict project experience
- Fundraising
We would also welcome volunteers with a working knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and their implementation across our project areas.
What we can offer a skilled volunteer:
- Accommodation
- Significant experience in our dynamic project work
- Ability to shape areas of work where experience is relevant
- Basic expenses
- Free time to enjoy the wonders of Sri Lanka
Message from one of our volunteers:
What our volunteers say about us
Dear Volunteers,
I am contacting you on behalf of EMACE Foundation. In the context of my volunteer work, here at EMACE, I have visited the Seevalipura (Wanathamulla) line housing (underpriviledged slum-type housing). EMACE Foundation carried out a development program about twenty years ago here. We gathered information about this program and looked at the old pictures. We decided to visit this shanty and see the impact of this program in the present time. In the resources tab you can find a short report that Bryan De Bel (also a Belgian volunteer) and I wrote. I think you will be pleasantly surprised about the sustainability of the project! The community leader even mentioned the need for expansion and renovation(for the drainage system), because of its success and the flourishing of the community.
Do not hesitate to contact me should you have further questions. I hope you will enjoy the report!
Kind regards,
Magali Tinck
Volunteer from BelgiumOur resources
Our publications, reports and extensive documentation
Data
Our work related documentation and data.
Documents
Our research documents and other publications.
Records
Our commitment to transparency and accountability.
We are audited by well-respected firms as partners of leading organisations.
EMACE Foundation of Sri Lanka© 2023
We are a non-governmental organisation active for the past 30 years incorporated under Act 28 of 1979 of the Government of Sri Lanka.