Project VAIHARAI
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts have endured multiple displacements over the course of Sri Lanka’s three-decade-long war. Although most have now resettled, with the remaining IDPs primarily residing with friends and family, the lasting impacts of war and prolonged displacement have resulted in various psychosocial issues. These issues continue to pose significant challenges, even for former IDPs, and are compounded by the inadequate psychosocial support available in the primary healthcare facilities in these districts. It is in this context that the CMRD has partnered with FAIRMED to take part in a psychosocial implementation project as part of their broader Vaiharai project that supports marginalized groups in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. This project, funded by the STJF, aims to explore the current psychosocial issues faced by displaced persons in these districts and identify gaps in the psychosocial support provided by existing primary healthcare facilities. The CMRD, as the research partner of the project, is responsible for an empirically backed health intervention. As is the norm in implementation research, our study involves several rounds of iterative problem identification, data gathering, analysis, and dissemination in order to address the research questions and, thereby, the psychosocial issues faced by IDPs in the most effective way possible. Moreover, the CMRD, as the research partner, will measure the implementation outcomes during different stages of the psychosocial intervention carried out by Fairmed, utilising research instruments such as key informant interviews (KIIs), surveys, and focus group discussions.
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