Shared workspaces for women with childcare attached, in Colombo and the district towns

A first step

Walk round one district town and find a landlord with an empty upper floor, then ask 10 women who work from home or freelance whether they would pay for a desk each month if a supervised children's room were next door. Ask the landlord for a trial rate on the first month. The proof is 10 desk bookings and a space held for you.

Who pays first

A freelancer or remote worker with young children who cannot work at home, and pays for a desk because the children are cared for in the next room.

What leaves today

Graduates who could earn stay home for want of a place to work near their children; a shared space converts that trained time into income.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. OneThe Letter That Says Yes and Means No
  32% of adult women in work, against 70% of men

More from cluster 23

• 436Childcare co-operatives run by mothers for mothers, licensed and inspected, in every town
• 437After-school clubs at the schools, paid by the parents, run by teachers who want the income
• 438Women-only transport services for the night shifts and the early trains
• 439Home-based work platforms that pay properly: sewing, bookkeeping, transcription, design
• 441Women's craft co-operatives with a single brand and a single buyer abroad
• 442Breastfeeding rooms and creches sold to the factories as a service, since the law asks for them

All 15 ideas in this cluster