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Shining Life Children's Trust (SLCT), also known as Dylana Jeevanthe Children's Trust is a UK registered charity "working to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and communities in Sri Lanka"[1]. It is UK registered charity number 1068123[2] and Sri Lanka registered charity number FL1 4011.
History
[edit]Shining Life was founded in February 1998 by Juliet Brown, after previous work in the Sri Lanka. The vision was to establish a charity that would be different from the large aid organisations, reaching the children, family and communties which would otherwise be unable to gain assistance.
The central vision of the charity is to work to ensure sustainability rather than dependency. The trust always works on a series of projects each of which runs in partnership with a local Sri Lankan organisation for a three-year period. The three year time period enables the trust to provide funding and professional input to help the local organisation and the community develop skils and carry on the project work with international support after three years. Crucial to each project is the involvement of community members from planning to evaluation.
As of 2009 Shining Life Children's Trust has worked with six different communities to facilitate a wide range of projects.
Organisation
[edit]The trust is headed by six trustees in the UK and employs a Field-Director in Sri Lanka to oversee projects on the ground.
Projects
[edit]The trust's first project was in Matale, central Sri Lanka, providing home-based child care and nursery education to the pre-school children of a scattered rural community. The partner NGO was Sithuwama.
The second project was based in Moratuwa, a coastal shantytown, working with teenage mothers to equip them wiht skills, education and support to build a brighter future.
The third project was again based in Moratuwa, improving child nutrition, living conditions and the earning potential of the community members.
Fourth was in Kalpitiya, in the north west of Sri Lanka, providing pre-school education and micro-credit to village communities.
After the 2004 Tsunami, the trust worked with a fishing community in Telwatta, which had been directly affected by the disaster. This project was concluded in 2008.