📈 Parliamentary Roundtable Advances Talks on Financing Sri Lanka's Care Economy

• Key Challenge & Economic Impact: Unpaid care responsibilities exclude nearly 75% of working-age women from Sri Lanka's labor force. According to the ILO, every $ 1 invested in the local care sector generates a return of US$ 7.76, making care economy investment a key economic growth driver. • High-Level Initiative: The Women's Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) convened Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, and Minister Saroja Paulraj to embed gender-responsive budgeting into national fiscal allocations. • Strategic Focus Areas: • Direct investment in care infrastructure, early childhood development, eldercare, and social protection mechanisms. • Legislative reforms for workplace protections and fair work standards. • Integration of the care economy into national economic policy and accounting framework. • Civil Society & Policy Recommendations: Fund regular time-use surveys to quantify unpaid care, institutionalize funding for assistive devices, launch pilot after-school programs for low-income schools, and scale up nationwide eldercare center pilots.