Ms. Thilini Fernando joined the ILO Country office for Sri Lanka and the Maldives as a Programme Assistant for its SDC funded project on “Improving the Governance of Labour Migration in Sri Lanka” in September 2014 a role she continued till end of September 2015. She currently is the Focal point for “Enhanced Recognition of Skills and Reduced Vulnerability of Sri Lankan construction workers” in selected GCC countries - UAE & Kuwait (Also known as Migration Skills Project) - IOM/ILO collaboration and a sub component of the “Strengthening Labour Migration Governance across Colombo Process Member states” project which is also funded by SDC.

She began her career at SHAKTI Women’s Aid, Scotland (An affiliated organization of Scottish Women’s Aid) an organization that supports Ethnic Minority & Migrant Women and Children who flee from domestic abuse. Thereafter she joined UNDP Sri Lanka as Documentation Assistant for Transition and Recovery Programme and UNV Sri Lanka as a Documentation Associate in setting up the National Volunteering Secretariat under the Ministry of Social Services in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Fernando graduated from the University of Colombo with a Masters in Development Studies and holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Science (Hons) from the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK.

Working languages: English, Sinhalese and Tamil