ONE-OFF GRANTS - SRI LANKA

NAME: DISHANI JAYAWEERA AND JAYANTA SENEVIRATHNE
PROJECT: CENTRE FOR PEACEBUILDING AND RECONCILIATION (CPRB)
LOCATION: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA

On an island ravaged by civil war and the tsunami, Dishani and Jayantha lead a range of projects that find common ground between young Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalise.

Latest Update
August 17th saw the launch of CPBR’s new programme, the Young Visionaries. With conflict increasingly embedded in Sri Lankan society, and a determination on the part of the Sri Lanka government to defeat the LTTE by force, CPBR aims to create a new generation of active advocates for peace. 30 young people will be chosen, 10 Muslims, 10 Sinhala Buddhists and 10 Tamils, to learn and work together over the next two years, receiving coaching from CPBR while developing their own projects. Dishani and Jayantha visited the UK in 2008 to provide training as part of Peace Direct’s Truce 20/20 project and to meet with Sri Lanka diaspora. This has led to the creation of the Young Visionaries Abroad Facebook page, so that Sri Lanka diaspora members can be part of this project.

How it started
The ‘Centre for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation’ was founded in 2003 by Dishani Jayaweera (formerly a lawyer) and Jayantha Seneviratne (university teacher.) CPBR combines a very strategic approach and non-partisan approach to peacebuilding with intense personal commitment from Jayantha and Dishani. Peace Direct funded the Friends in Need project from the proceeds of a concert in 2005. In 2007 we raised funds for commemoration of Black July, 25 years ago, when 1,000 Tamils were massacred. Unfortunately the political situation did not allow this to take place in safety, and funds were transferred to the launch of the Young Visionaries project.

Key Achievements

• Friends in Need - a community based development project in four villages affected by the tsunami, which brings people from different communities together in income generating projects. The village level committees are now negotiating directly with government and international NGOs.
• Promoting Social Responsibility of Religious Communities - at the request of Buddhist clergy CPBR organised Tamil language and ICT training for 150 monks and lay people. 15 monks were able to communicate in Tamil at the end. This project will now be funded by the prestigious US Institute of Peace.
• Promoting Social Responsibility of University Community – organised a major cultural festival involving a number of universities and youth groups on the 5th anniversary of the ceasefire. Students faced down considerable pressures in order to take part. Tamils and Sinhalas worked closely together, and the event was also notable for the high level of involvement of female Muslim students as organisers.

What's next

• Recruitment of the Young Visionaries
• The next phase of work with religious communities will involve training for Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu clergy in Sri Lanka on religious peacemaking, socially engaged religion, conflict transformation, and project design and implementation. The aim is to have as many regional level peace building activities, designed by religious clergy and led by religious clergy creating a positive momentum towards demand for peace at grassroots level.

Total funding to date: £9,122 provided by the Network for Social Change and the proceeds of a concert organised by Equal Music.

Funding urgently needed:
£20,000 over two years for the Young Visionaries project.