Saroja Sivachandran, Founder & Executive Director

Saroja Sivachandran is a Sri Lankan women’s rights advocate. She founded the Centre for Women and Development (CWD) in Jaffna in 1988 and is its Executive Director.

Education

She holds a BA (Geography Special) and an MA (Management) from the University of Peradeniya.

Founding CWD

Saroja founded CWD in 1988, when no other organisation in Jaffna was committed to addressing women’s issues. Under her leadership CWD has worked with women-headed households and war widows, provided free legal aid to women affected by domestic violence, documented violence against women and data on war widows, and run awareness programmes on CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Domestic Violence Act. CWD continued this work in Jaffna throughout the war. Read more about CWD.

The 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women

In 1995, during the war, Saroja and two CWD members were displaced from Jaffna. They travelled by boat to Colombo and joined the Sri Lankan delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, organised by the Women’s Media Institute.

National and international roles

Member of the National Committee on Women, Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment.
Core group member of the Council of NGOs, Jaffna.
Governing Council member of the National Peace Council.
Council member of the University of Jaffna.
Former advisory committee member, Ministry of Human Rights.
Elected a Bureau member of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) from Sri Lanka in October 2017 (read the announcement).

She has taken part in the Geneva Human Rights Council conference and in a conference organised by Minority Rights Group. In March 2017 she spoke at a side event held during the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva. In October 2025 she signed the open statement from women peacebuilders to the UN Security Council marking 25 years of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

In the media

Her comments on the situation of war widows and women-headed households in the North have been quoted by international media, including IRIN (2011), Inter Press Service (2013) and The New Humanitarian (2015).

Writing

Saroja has written on women’s rights, peace and children’s rights. Her publications include a book on women’s rights, published by CWD for International Women’s Day in 2013, and a handbook on children’s rights (சிறுவர் உரிமைகள்), launched on International Children’s Day 2012. Her articles in Tamil on this site include பெண்கள் உரிமைக்குத் தேவை அமைதி. In 2025 UNFPA Sri Lanka published her article “The Way Forward: Reflections on the Beijing World Conference on Women”.

Timeline

1988Founded the Centre for Women and Development in Jaffna.
1995Attended the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
2012Handbook on children’s rights launched on International Children’s Day.
2013Book on women’s rights published by CWD for International Women’s Day.
March 2017Spoke at a side event during the UN Human Rights Council session, Geneva.
October 2017Elected to the Bureau of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR).
2021Inaugurated CWD’s three-month certificate course on Children’s Rights and Child Protection System.
October 2025Signed the women peacebuilders’ open statement to the UN Security Council on 25 years of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Personal life

Saroja Sivachandran is married to R. Sivachandran, a retired academic from the University of Jaffna.