About

Introduction to Lamun.org of SERVE

SERVE is a Sri Lanka non-profit organization established in 1999 working with and for the rights of children and families. SERVE supports the development of analytical capacity of children, families and communities to assess the status of child rights. With the help of our partners, our social workers, coaches and field staff initiate and support the empowerment of children, women and help families to achieve their own socio-economic goals.

In a challenging socio-economic environment, SERVE is empowering children and families in Sri Lanka among all ethnic and religious communities both from Urban and Rural settings.

‘Lamun’ means Children in Sinhala Language, the mother tongue of the Sinhalese. Lamun includes both girls and boys. SERVE as a non profit organization has always taken their beneficiary children as partners and has sought and appreciated their active participation. This site was originally initiated in 2003 as a result of a group of children representing SERVE at a UNICEF Programme, who came forward to share knowledge on children and their rights. With time this site will be developed to cover a wide range of topics about children for the benefit of children, parents, care givers and community leaders.

This website is being revamped once again in 2021 with the main focus of education for children using this website. The first step is to educate girls using the Goal@Home Activity Book Developed by Women Win in partnership with Futuremakers by Standard Chartered Bank.

The Goal@Home Activity Book promotes girls and young women to stay active and keep learning about key Goal topics at home. Goal@Home Activity Book is divided into three sections Be Brave,   Be Active and Be Creative.

This online Activity Book will be a blessing to children in Sri Lanka as well as from other countries!

Please make use of this facility towards the betterment of children and please do promote this among other stake holders who can make use of these resources.

Sanjeeva de Mel
Executive Director SERVE
1^st October 2021

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Recollections of the origination of “Lamun” – A programme for Children by Children

It gives me pleasure to note that the LAMUN website is being resumed by SERVE with the objective of empowering children with a specific focus on the girl child. The LAMUN programme traces its origins back to 2003, when I together with two other children (then!) from Sri Lanka participated at the Children’s and Young People’s consultation on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in South Asia which was organized by UNICEF and held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The outcome of the programme was the development of a peer to peer train the trainer and awareness building programme with a focus on sexual exploitation and commercial sexual exploitation of children in Sri Lanka. The foundation of the programme was developed by the three participants at the consultation held in Kathmandu and focused on the areas of awareness building and mode of dissemination of information. This was then fine-tuned by representatives of the UNICEF office in Sri Lanka as well as representatives of SERVE which was the organization tasked with the responsibility of implementing the programme. The resource material for this awareness building programme was developed with the active participation of the first batch of peer-to-peer trainers who were tasked with carrying out the programme. The LAMUN website which showcased this material was also developed by a young resource person keeping in line with the objective of developing a programme by children for children.

The transformation of the LAMUN website to create awareness on child rights and child protection with a special focus on the girl child is a timely move given the rapid advancement and reach of technology. The importance of this initiative is more so given the popularity and impact of social media. Trust the newly developed LAMUN website will educate our children to enjoy their rights and to achieve their full potential.

Rusiru Abeyasinghe
1st October 2021