WTWLanka

Paboda Maldamandeniya is a community-development professional with over five years of experience creating learning spaces that inspire curiosity and change across Sri Lanka. As Project Coordinator at WTW Lanka, a grassroots nonprofit that transforms learning into opportunity by combining education, digital skills, and creativity, she channels her passion for empowering women, youth, and persons with disabilities. Paboda has led initiatives that turn classrooms and communities into hubs of discovery, including AI-for-Educators workshops, youth leadership summits, mental health and resilience sessions, and programs that open doors for women to build skills, confidence, and leadership. At the heart of everything WTW Lanka does is a commitment to turning classrooms and communities into hubs of discovery, particularly for women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

With our $500 Giving Joy microgrant, WTW Lanka expanded its flagship Career Talk: English for Employment program — a five-month virtual initiative designed to equip young women with the practical English skills needed to access meaningful employment. The program covers CV writing, interview preparation, workplace communication, and professional etiquette, giving participants not just knowledge but the confidence to use it.

WTW Lanka delivered a comprehensive professional communication and career readiness curriculum designed to close the gap between academic learning and real workplace requirements. The program moved participants through a carefully structured journey. Beginning with a formal orientation and placement testing to assess proficiency and match participants to the right level of training, the curriculum; then moved through applied business grammar, covering verb tenses in the context of describing professional history and work sequences; before diving into digital professional branding, where participants drafted professional biographies and submitted audio recordings to practice presenting themselves confidently.

The program also introduced participants to the Interview Formula, professional CV construction, and real-world interview simulations. Soft skills sessions on time management addressed workplace productivity and organizational efficiency, and the program concluded with advanced training in future tenses for career planning and a high-impact public speaking and presentation module.

The Results

WTW Lanka supported 25 highly engaged female participants — students and early-career professionals committed to building their employability and leadership potential. While the original target was 50 participants, recruitment was affected by intensive academic examination schedules in the region. Rather than compromise quality, WTW Lanka made the deliberate decision to focus resources on a smaller, deeply engaged cohort, preserving the program's high-impact nature.

The results speak for themselves. Participants who began the program hesitant and uncertain are now capable of presenting their professional backgrounds fluently and navigating complex interview scenarios with confidence. Internally, the program has also strengthened WTW Lanka's own systems — refining how the team manages training cycles, reviews student assignments, and delivers structured virtual programming.

The Impact

The ripple effects of this program extend well beyond the 25 women in the cohort. Each participant carries her new skills back into her community — sharing knowledge with peers, family members, and neighbors, and serving as a role model for other young women who have never imagined themselves in a professional role. Recorded sessions are available on WTW Lanka's learning platform and YouTube, extending access to learners far beyond the original cohort.

At the community level, the program is directly contributing to the economic empowerment of women in Sri Lanka — making them more competitive in a global job market and more confident as leaders in their own right.

Looking Ahead

WTW Lanka's final program phase includes a deep-dive email writing workshop, a comprehensive final assessment, and the issuance of official certificates recognizing each participant's dedication and growth. The organization is also refining its outreach strategy — investing in earlier, data-driven social media campaigns to attract a higher volume of the right participants in future cycles, with a particular focus on professional women and students.