Digital Safeguarding Centre

26/09/2026

24/09/2026

It was a pleasure to engage with a group of O/L students in a session on “Managing Screen Time During the Final 60 Days”, organised by the Heart to Lead team.

With the O/L examination just two months away, the message was simple: protect your attention, protect your sleep, and make your time count.

We also explored what happens in our brains when we constantly switch attention, how reward patterns influence our digital habits, why sleep matters for learning and memory, and most importantly, how students can use technology intentionally rather than allowing it to control their time.

Thank you to the Heart to Lead team for creating this opportunity to connect with and support young learners. 🌱📚

10/07/2026

I found a scenic background behind me to deliver my online Training of Trainers staff at Hirdaramani, to support counsellors in the delivery of online safety awareness sessions for its staff. 🌿

It was a privilege to spend time with a group of counsellors who genuinely care about the wellbeing of the young women they work with every day.

We covered a lot of ground in our session — online relationships and the warning signs of manipulation, what happens when intimate images are shared without consent, privacy settings, digital footprints, workplace-specific risks including shared housing and supervisor boundaries, and how to spot scams targeting workers.

What struck me most was how quickly the group connected the content to real situations they had already seen among the workers they support. These aren't abstract risks — they are happening in our communities right now.
A few things I was reminded of today:
▪ Online safety is not just a digital issue. It is a gender issue, a workplace issue, and a human rights issue.
▪ When we train the trainers, the impact multiplies far beyond the room.
▪ Factory workers — especially young women — deserve the same quality of safety information as anyone else.
Grateful to Hidramani for making this space and to everyone who showed up with such openness and energy. 💙
If your organisation works with factory workers or vulnerable young women and would like to bring online safety awareness sessions to your team, feel free to reach out.

03/07/2026

Last week, I had the opportunity to deliver a session on Digital Well-being for Young People at Wariyapola Technical College.

The programme was organized by the Lanka Youth Organizations Network and facilitated by myself Mr. Jagath Liyana Arachchi (AAL), and Mr. shan Vijayatunga, Media Consultant at Sri Lanka CERT.

During the session, we explored the risks and vulnerabilities young people face in the digital environment. We also discussed practical strategies for managing screen time, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and making the most of quality time spent online.

It was an engaging and productive programme, with meaningful discussions on promoting safer and healthier digital habits among young people.

05/06/2026

IEEE Educational Week වැඩසටහන යටතේ මරදාන Trace City හි පාසල් සිසුන් පිරිසක් සමඟ පසුගිය දිනක මාරගගත ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව සැසියක් පැවැත්වීමට අවස්ථාව ලැබුණා. 💻🔒

මෙහිදී මම අද දවසේ නව යොවුන් වියේ දරුවන් මුහුණ දෙන ඩිජිටල් අවදානම්, සයිබර් හිංසන (cyberbullying) , ලිංගික සුරාකෑම, තොරතුරු අවභාවිතය, ව්‍යාජ තොරතුරු, සයිබර් ස්කෑම්ස් වගේ තත්වයන් ගැන කතා කළා.

විශේෂයෙන්ම Facebook, Instagram, TikTok වගේ සමාජ මාධ්‍යවල පුද්ගලික තොරතුරු බෙදාගැනීමෙන් ඇතිවිය හැකි ගැටලු ගැන අපි අවධානය යොමු කළා. මෙහිදී මම දැක්ක සැළකිය යුතු තත්වය තමයි 9,10,11 වසරවල් නියෝජනය කරමින් සහභාගී වූ සිසුන් හැමෝටම සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ගිණුම් තිබුණ එක. ඒ අතරින් බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ගිණුම් තුනකටත් වඩා භාවිතා කරන බවත්, ඒවා බොහොමයක් public ගිණුම් ලෙස තබාගෙන security settings අඩු වශයෙන් භාවිතා කරපු බව.

අන්තර්ජාලය භාවිතා කරනකොට අපි එහි search කරන, upload සහ share කරන සෑම තොරතුරක්ම අපේ Digital Footprint එකේ කොටසක් වෙනවා. ඒ නිසා අන්තර්ජාලය ආරක්ෂිතව, වගකීමෙන් සහ බුද්ධිමත්ව භාවිතා කරන ආකාරය ගැන සිසුන් සහ පොදු මහජනතාව දැනුවත් කිරීම ඉතා වැදගත්

මෙම අවස්ථාව ලබාදුන් IEEE Young Professionals Sri Lanka කණ්ඩායමට ස්තුතිය.

02/10/2025

ලෝක ළමා දිනය නිමිත්තෙන් අන්තර්ජාලය සහ ළමා මනස පිළිබඳව කළ සාකච්චාව. මෙහිදී විවිධ වයස් මට්ටම්වල දරුවන් අන්තර්ජාල භාවිතය සිදු කළ යුතු ආකාරය සහ දෙමවුපියන්ගේ කාර්යභාරය ගැන දීර්ඝ වශයෙන් සාකච්චා කරනු ලැබුවා.

සුබ ලෝක ළමා දිනයක් වේවා! "ආදරයෙන් සුරකින්න - අපට ලොව දිනන්නට" සෑම දරුවෙකුටම ආරක්ෂිත, සවන් දෙන සහ බලගන්වන අනාගතයක් ගො...

03/08/2025

Grateful to have participated in the International Child Protection Conference organized by the Centre for Gender Studies University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka UNICEF Sri Lanka and the National Child Protection Authority

Greatful to witness the final panel discussion on “Ending Violence Against Children – Sri Lanka’s Pledges to Action.” The conversation highlighted the urgent need for a comprehensive approach to child protection highlighting the Bogota Pledges, recognizing the impacts of intergenerational trauma, and tackling the normalization of violence in our society.

Key messages included the need to expand the 2016 circular on corporal punishment to all educational institutions, strengthen multi-stakeholder mechanisms, and invest in legal reform, policy frameworks, and sustained teacher training to build a truly non-violent environment.

04/07/2025

💻 අද දින අප සංවිධානය විසින් පොල්ගහවෙල ශ්‍රී බර්නාඩ් ආදර්ශ විද්‍යාලයේ සිසුන් සඳහා ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව වැඩමුළුවක් පැවැත්වීමු.

🧠 බොහෝ දරුවන් තිර කාලය (screen time) පාලනය කිරීමට අසාර්ථක උත්සාහයක් දරන අතර ඊට අදාළ උපදේශනය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය බව මෙන්ම සුරක්‍ෂිත අන්තර්ජාල භාවිතයේ වැදගත්කම තේරුම් ගැන්වීම පමා නොකර සිදුකළ යුතුයි

❤️ උපදේශන ගුරු මිය ගණනේගොඩ මහත්මියට සහ වයස 11-14 සහ 15-18 අතර දරුවන්ට සුදුසු පුහුණු අන්තර්ගතයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සඳහා ගුරු භවතුන් හා සම්බන්ධ කිරීම සහ අරමුදල් සැපයීම වෙනුවෙන් ChildFund Sri Lanka වෙත විශේෂ ස්තුතිය.

💻 Today we spoke with the students of Sri Bernadeth College, Polgahawela about how to keep themselves safe online.

🧠What stood out? Many children are struggling with screen time, and unconsented image sharing is becoming a silent crisis.

📱 Children need more support to manage screen time and understand the implications of unsafe use of the internet.

🔗It’s clear we’re not just facing a tech challenge—we’re facing a rising public health issue in our digital spaces.

❤️ Thanks to the counseling teacher Ms Gananegoda and the Department of Probation and Child Care Services. Many thanks to ChildFund Sri Lanka for connecting teachers and funding to produce age appropriate content for children between 11-14 and 15-18

02/06/2025

Last month, Our founder, Shiromi Wathsala Samarakoon had the opportunity to facilitate a session for women politicians on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence . Many of the participants had recently contested in LGA elections; others continue to serve their communities with courage and resilience. But all shared disturbing experiences of online abuse—ranging from image-based abuse, , , unwanted calls to many other violence including AI-generated .

What’s even more concerning is that the perpetrators are often political opponents, party insiders, or even close associates. Their goal is to discredit, intimidate, confuse families and ultimately drive women out of public life.

But these women are not backing down.

We didn't just discuss the threats—we explored real solutions. From protecting personal accounts to building digital resilience, this session was a call to action: political spaces must also be safe digital spaces.

A heartfelt thank to Sri Lanka for spearheading this initiative and to Nirosh Ananda Kumudu Perera Anojitha Sivaskaran Ramona Stephen for their essential technical and coordination support.