Strengthen Civil Society actors so that they can better influence the political decision making process.

Civil society is a cornerstone of democracy. It encompasses a broad range of actors: the media, trade unions, professional organizations, NGOs, local voluntary organizations etc. A strong civil society will enhance participation in political processes – especially the media has a crucial role to play in informing citizens and providing an enabling environment for policy dialogue and debate. Therefore, working with civil society is a key area for FES and much of our work is interspersed with civil society initiatives. Through our programmes, we aim to facilitate more intensive roles for young leaders and to build capacity among partner organizations. We also aim to improve awareness on basic concepts of democracy and good governance and to place suitable civil society actors in positions that would enable them to play important roles in political decision-making.

FES Sri Lanka supports the Colombo College of Politics in their courses on Governance, Democratization and Public Policy. The three month certificate course followed by a three month diploma course has been conducted successfully since 2008, with around 150 students having completed the course in 2011. The course aims to equip young political leaders with knowledge of democracy and political management as well as core values of human dignity, empathy, rule of law, responsibility and transparency.

FES also supports the Women for Peace and Good Governance Group in the Central Province. This group works with women and youth to develop their political interest and commitment. It motivates young women, who traditionally stay away from politics, to become active and run for elections. In 2011, in Kandy district alone, eleven women could be motivated to run for the local government election.

The media is key in any country as they provide information to the citizens based on which they will form their opinions and take decisions. In Sri Lanka, quality of investigative reporting is often poor, especially in the poorly resourced regions outside Colombo. Governance-related topics are often not adequately reported and discussed in the media. Therefore, FES supports Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) in their Investigative Journalism project to train young journalists in the Eastern Province. A Handbook has been produced that will be used in other South Asian countries as well.