Welcome to Part 2 of our August 2025 Inspirational Interview with Alia Whitney-Johnson, Founder and CEO of Emerge Lanka in Sri Lanka.
Alia Whitney-Johnson is a social entrepreneur with 20 years of experience working with children who’ve survived trauma, abuse, and exploitation. She founded Emerge Global and Emerge Lanka Foundation to support teen survivors of sexual abuse in healing, becoming self-sufficient, and leading change. Alia has worked across Asia, Latin America, and the US, centring deep listening, youth leadership, and systemic transformation. She holds degrees from MIT and Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
In this part of her interview, Alia shares her advice for social entrepreneurs looking to emulate Emerge Sri Lanka and talks about her organisation’s plans for the future.
Part 2 of Alia’s interview was published 3 August, 2025.
All photos are courtesy of Emerge Lanka.
6. What advice would you give to budding social entrepreneurs in other countries who are keen to set up organisations that take a similar approach to Emerge in helping VAW survivors in their part of the world?
Start with love, not certainty. The best solutions emerge in partnership with those closest to the problem—survivors, youth, frontline workers. Build with, not for. Listen more than you speak. Healing doesn’t follow a linear path, and neither does leadership so give yourself permission to iterate, unlearn, and begin again. Trust is your most powerful currency; it’s built through consistency, humility, and showing up, even when you don’t have the answers. Create space for joy, for grief, for play. Rest. And remember: movements are sustained not just by strategy, but by shared meals, deep witness, and fierce love.
Let your work be shaped by those it’s meant to serve and, when it’s time, let go with grace. The bloom after you may be the most beautiful part of your legacy.
7. One of the keys to eradicating VAW is to get men and boys on board efforts to do so. What do you think are the most effective ways of galvanising men and boys in conservative countries and cultures such as Sri Lanka to help to end VAW?
If we want to change harmful norms, we need to create spaces where men and boys can explore power, relationships, and vulnerability without fear or shame. How can we reimagine masculinity in ways that make space for tenderness, accountability, and healing? How do we support boys in feeling their emotions before they’re taught to suppress or externalise them in ways that can cause harm?
At Emerge, we’ve seen how powerful it can be when men are invited into this work. When they witness the strength and wisdom of survivors, many begin to question old beliefs and embrace new possibilities. Coaches, faith leaders, and teachers play a vital role in modelling this shift.
But perhaps most importantly, we must frame this as shared liberation. Ending violence against women is not just a “women’s issue”—it’s a collective call to build safer, more loving communities for all of us, including boys and men.
8. Tell us about Emerge’s plans for the future. What campaigns, programmes, or projects do you have coming up in the next 5 years?
We’re currently in a strategic planning process with our team, partners, board, and alumni. One hope I personally hold is that we can lift up survivor insights to help shape a more trauma-sensitive, child-friendly justice system in Sri Lanka. Right now, when a child comes forward the court system takes years to move through and is deeply traumatising. I would love to see a system that clears the backlog of child abuse cases that Sri Lanka faces and centres healing to enable more children to come forward. Alongside that vision, we’re committed to deepening and iterating upon our existing services—in shelters, as youth transition into the community, and through our long-term network. By connecting direct care with systemic change, we hope to create a future where more young people across Sri Lanka can heal, lead, and thrive.
9. How can The Pixel Project’s supporters engage with and support the efforts of Emerge to stop VAW?
We’d love to welcome The Pixel Project’s supporters into the Emerge community. You can follow our work on Instagram and Facebook, explore our story at www.emergelanka.org, and sign up for our newsletter to stay connected.
Most urgently, we need partners to stand with us by investing in our work. Like many organisations in the field, we’ve faced significant funding cuts this year while more survivors than ever are coming forward. A one-time or recurring gift helps us continue delivering trauma-sensitive care, supporting reintegration, and driving policy reform in Sri Lanka. Your support doesn’t just fund programmes—it tells survivors they are seen, believed, and not alone.
10. In your considered opinion, how can we end VAW for good?
Ending violence against women requires a systemic, sustained, and collective effort. No single organisation, law, or campaign can dismantle the co
mplex web of patriarchy, stigma, poverty, and impunity that enables violence to persist. We must address root causes and transform the systems that survivors interact with—justice, education, media, community. This means centring survivor voices in reform, equipping frontline workers with trauma-informed tools, challenging h
armful norms, and creating conditions where people are safe, seen, and supported.
It also means resourcing the work of healing—not just punishment. True change happens in circles, not silos. We need coalitions across sectors, countries, and communities grounded in love, listening, and accountability. Ending VAW isn’t just about stopping harm; it’s about building a world where everyone can thrive without fear.