School Books for Students

Education is a human right, a powerful driver of development, and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. It delivers large, consistent returns in terms of income, and is the most important factor to ensure equity and inclusion.

Globally, there is a 9% increase in hourly earnings for every extra year of schooling attained.

90 children get their school books every year

Yearly we provide each of our producer’s children with the books and resources they need for the school year. This doesn’t just provide financial assistance but it provides a positive reinforcement of the value of education.

Engish Language School

English is the language of business and higher education in Sri Lanka. Proficient spoken and written English serves as a crucial foundation for improved education, university admission and ultimately enhanced job prospects and higher income. While English is taught in all schools it is not taught well in the government schools and the children of our producers struggle to acquire the English skills they need.

20% of profits from our Paintee Peeps for English language classes

We have begun the process to start a Saturday English Language School with quality well educated teachers for our producer’s children. Teaching beginners English to children starting school at 7 years of age all the way through to senior high school students preparing for their O levels and university entrance exams.

We will be funding this exciting new venture with a new product, Paintee Peeps. Cute sensory play paint brush people.

Training & Growth

It takes time and practice to develop the skills our artisans have. We provide not only the initial training they need but encourage each of them to learn new skills, to work with each other to develop their skills and to take responsibility for the quality of all areas of work.

12 Women now in Middle Management

Our initial brush makers were a group of women living in a flood prone village sandwiched between a railway line and expressway on the outskirts of Colombo, they were in need of reliable work close to home and were eager to learn new skills. These women have now become the factory leaders, some in middle management others are trainers passing on their skills and knowledge to the next generation of women.

Creating Opportunities

Traditionally one of the main options for employment for women from rural Sri Lanka has been to travel abroad to provide domestic services. This inevitably involves leaving their own children in the care of relatives for stretches of up to two years at a time.

52 rural women employed

Our factory in rural Kurunegala established in 2019 and our new factory in Bemmulla provides an alternative option for local rural women. The opportunity to find stable employment close to home and their children is invaluable. It also enables the women greater oversight to spend their earnings prioritising food and their children’s education.

COVID Years

Not one woman was laid off or went without their wages over the lockdowns and years of COVID.

Zero jobs lost : zero wages reduced

Despite the shipping difficulties and slowing of the economy we kept all our producers fully employed. Their skill and dedication is what makes us different and we value their talents.

Staples Hampers

After decades of civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end in 2009 the country was beginning to find its feet, however after terrorist attacks in 2019 and the Covid pandemic in 2020/21 an unprecedented economic crisis hit the country, the result of skyrocketing national debt and plummeting tourism, this economic collapse culminated in an inflation rate of 69.8% in 2022. This dramatic rise in the cost of living was coupled with import restrictions causing severe shortages in fuel, medicines and staple food items.

200 workers receive Staples Hampers

In response to the hardship faced by the women, we provided a wage increase in 2022 and supplemented their income with staples hampers of dry food essentials including rice, oil and milk powder to help them ride through the worst of the crisis.

While the pressures of living have eased slightly, we still provide Staples Hampers twice yearly in March and then September.  Whatever challenges our brush makers may face in the future we will continue to respond quickly, to ensure they are financially and socially supported.

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