Pallama is a remote Divisional Secretariat Division in Puttalam District. This area is dry most of the year. People do agriculture work during the rainy season and rest of the year they are involved in labour work mainly to earn a living. Majority of women are housewives and they depend on their husband’s earnings. FRIENDS organization started a Gender Empowerment Project in this area for the most vulnerable women. Under this project women are motivated to start their own income generating activities in order for them to be economically active. The project facilitated them to identify feasible livelihoods, learn new technologies, initiate livelihoods with in-kind support as well as coordinate markets and service providers.

Teddy bear making is a livelihood activity initiated by FRIENDS organization. This group of 14 women got an opportunity to further improve their livelihood by learning handloom based soft toy making and investing on technical needs with the support of PALMERA organization. Under this support several skill development trainings were conducted to build women’s technical knowledge and creativity.