Conclusion To change gender ideologies, both women and men have to participate as active partners. In Puttalam, women have managed to change their strategies and have moved the limits and understandings of what they can and cannot do as women. At the same time, young men have shown great ability as mediators, transmitting ideas between groups, and as innovators, but this role is not consciously acknowledged, either by the young men themselves or by the agencies or other groups. There is no reason why young men should not participate mutually with young women in changing understandings of gender. However, active participation assumes awareness and it may be that there needs to be more provision of appropriate education for men to help them understand the consequences of changes in gender ideology.
Young men have great potential for helping to develop lives and livelihoods after displacement.
Today the agencies working in Puttalam have very limited funding and, to a large extent, their external funders, decide the nature of the projects. There needs to be greater awareness among funders and agencies of the need to include both women and men in working with strategic gender interests and to regard men as gendered and active participants in gender relations. They need also to recognise that, although young men are highly visible and manage their lives quite well, they experience great frustration at being unable to provide properly for their families. This frustration needs to be acknowledged and addressed. Furthermore, agencies should, through careful intervention, build more actively on the potential of these young men to act effectively as mediators between the displaced and local populations as well as in gender negotiations.