Workshops and Seminars
Launch of Toolkit for Investigative Journalism
Transparency International Sri Lanka Investigative Journalism toolkit on March 20th at the auditorium of the Sri Lanka Press Institute. The toolkit comprises a resource book and a handbook, both are available in Sinhala and Tamil. The book provides journalists with hands-on tools for investigative stories as well as basics of ethical journalism. It also has some key resources such as the Code of Professional Practice of the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, and documents by the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka.
Link to PDF Investigative Journalism Agenda
Transparency International Sri Lanka
"Achieving Sustainable Peace"
On the invitation of the Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education and Research (WICPER), internationally renowned German scientist and philosopher Prof Dr Hans-Peter Durr visited Sri Lanka at the beginning of March 2012. Lectures held included “Achieving Sustainable Peace” (with Prof Arjuna Aluwihare), “Future Oriented Energy Policies” and “Building a Sustainable Future: Legal and Scientific Challenges” (with Judge C.G. Weeramantry).
Link to PDF Achieving Sustainable Peace
Conference: The Future of Social Research in Sri Lanka
Kandy. 29 Feb-1 March 2012
This 2 day conference (29 February – 1 March 2012) at Galbangalawela Conference Center, Kandy brought together academics from the ICES and from universities around the island to identify areas for joint research activities in the future. Topics discussed were reconciliation, culture and heritage as well as health. The keynote lecture was held by the internationally renowned Sri Lanka anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere (Professor Emeritus, Princeton).
CCP Annual Awards Ceremony
Friday, 02 December 2011
46 students received their diploma and certificates at the Annual Awards Ceremony held by Colombo College of Politics on 2nd December at the Royal College Skills Center. The course on "Governance, Democratisation and Public Policy" has been held since 2008. The Ceremony was preceeded by a lecture on the topic "Can Education be Free within a Market Economy" by Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasuiya, lecturer at the University of Jayawardenapura.
Link to PDF Invitation and Agenda
International Conference on Institutionalizing Regional Approaches to Migration Management in South Asia
Friday, 25 November 2011
South Asia is a region with high outflow of migrants. While contributing significantly to the national economies through their remittances, migrant workers are often vulnerable to abuse. To streamline protection processes and enhance safe migration, several regional consultative processes have been put in place in recent years. The conference provided a forum to discuss the role of existing regional consultative forums in managing migration in South Asia. It also helped define the role of the South Asia Migration Commission in harnessing the gains of migration in the region. Opened by Hon. Dilan Perera, Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, the conference drew together high-ranking members from academia and the public sector from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
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Link to PDF invitation and programme
Link to PDF Concept Note
Policy Dialogue: Resettling the Displaced – Strategies for Sustainable Resettlement
Thursday, 24 November 2011
On 24 November 2011, a policy dialogue on Resettlement was conducted by FES and University of Colombo at the Renuka Hotel in Colombo. Minister for Resettlement, Mr P.M.U.D. Basnayake, presented the governments’ achievements and plans to conclude the resettlement of war-displaced people. Deputy Director General/ Planning of the Urban Development Authority, Ms Indu Weerasoriya, addressed the audience as well. Further, results of an empirical study that SPARC had conducted in Moratuwa, Galle and Batticaloa were presented, examining resettlement experiences by three groups: Those displaced by the Tsunami (Galle), those displaced by urban development (Moratuwa) and those displaced by the conflict (Batticaloa).
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Link to PDF invitation and programme
CTTU 37th Annual Convention
Friday, 4 November 2011
On 4th November 2011, the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) held their 37th Annual Convention in Jaffna. The Resident Representative of FES, was invited as Chief Guest; the Secretary to the Provincial Ministry of Education and the Provincial Director Education also attended this important meeting, the first after 10 years. CTTU has more than 22,000 members and is present in all Sri Lankan provinces, with the exception of the Southern Province. At the Convention, a new Secretary General and 16 other members of the Mother Body were elected by more than 1,500 delegates.
FES Workshops on Project Cycle Management (LFA) & Event Management
Friday, 30 September – Sunday, 02 October 2011 and Friday, 18 November - Sunday , 20 November 2011
Two workshops on project management for FES partners were held in Kandy on 30th September - 2nd October – 2011 and 18th - 20th November 2011 respectively. Participants included Lanka Youth Organizational Network -LYON, Women for Peace and Good Governance - WPGG, Power Foundation - PF, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute - SLFI, Social, Economic & Environmental Development Organization - SEEDO, Rural Development Foundation – RDF. Workshop topics included planning tools & techniques, effective project proposals, event management, SWOT analysis, mind maps, and various other methodologies.
FES Asia Regional Planning Conference
Sunday, 23 January 2011 – Friday, 28 January 2011
From 23-28 January 2011, the annual regional planning conference of FES was held in Colombo.
Representatives of FES offices of 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region as well as from the Head Quarters in Berlin attended the meeting. Topics of the discussion included the rapidly changing political and economic context in the region, issues of social security and gender equality.
International Conference on Institutionalizing Regional Approaches to Migration Management in South Asia
19th November 2010
The IPS in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES) organized an International Conference on “Institutionalizing Regional Approaches to Migration Management in South Asia” on 19th November 2010 at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo. Richard Danziger, Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Country Office in Sri Lanka was the Chief Guest. Joachim Schluetter, Resident Representative, FES made the welcome address while Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, IPS made an introduction to the Conference. The Guest of Honour, Farooq Sobhan and the Chief Guest later addressed the audience. The speakers in the Conference were Farooq Sobhan (President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute), Kristina Mejo (Regional Programme Manager, IOM), and Ellene Sana (Executive Director, Centre for Migrant Advocacy & Chair of Executive Committee, Migrant Forum in Asia).
Given the importance of migration to the countries of South Asia, there is a need for effective migration management to leverage the benefits of migration as well as to minimize its negative effects for its stakeholders, including the migrants themselves, host societies, and sending countries. In this regard, the South Asia Migration Commission (SAMC) was established in November 2009 to examine various aspects of migration. This Conference was organized to discuss the objectives, progress and obstacles faced so far in implementing the SAMC since its inception, and also to discuss areas which need improvement in ensuring its success. In discussing the way forward, experiences were drawn from a broader global perspective, with a focus on their relevance and feasibility in the SAARC region to make migrant management in South Asia effective.
International Conference: Policy Priorities for Foreign Aid Reforms in South Asia
Thursday, 29 July 2010 – Friday, 30 July 2010
The IPS organized a conference, in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES), on "Policy Priorities for Foreign Aid Reform in South Asia" during 29th-30th July 2010 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo.
The IPS was honoured to have Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Deputy Minister of Finance, attend the conference as the Chief Guest. Former Secretary General of SAARC, Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo, participated as the Guest of Honour. The event commenced with a welcome speech delivered by Dr. Dushni Weerakoon, Deputy Director, IPS, which was followed by an address by Dr. Amunugama and Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo before the commencement of the technical sessions.
Aid has long become an increasingly prominent feature of development financing within South Asia. The conference was designed to provide a critical analysis of the effectiveness of foreign aid in the South Asian region, creating awareness as to where such funding is working and where it is not.
As part of the conference, resource people from the eight SAARC countries in the South Asian region presented papers on aid effectiveness in their respective countries. The participating countries were: Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Further to this, there were contributions from key resource persons in government, academia and representatives from major donors operating within the region. The conference was attended by policy makers, academics, donors, civil society and members of the diplomatic community, all of whom had the opportunity to both contribute to and develop their own thinking on the issues at hand.
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Campaign for a Living Wage for the Textile, Garment and Leather Industry in Sri Lanka
June 2010 – September 2011
The International Textile Garments and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) envisages on a campaign to guarantee a living wage in the South and East Asian region for the workers it represents. The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) supports its endeavours in Sri Lanka to develop a better, more deeply informed and proactive trade union leadership in the textile, garment and leather sector to critically engage with brands and manufacturers to determine wage increases.
Two national workshops were conducted in June 2010 and September 2011, by the ITGLWF and its affiliates in association with the FES. These events engaged the need for a living wage in the sectors in issue among national and shop floor level trade union activists. Awareness was also raised among trade union activists on technical issues dealing with living wage, how it is calculated, its applicability in reality, etc. At the workshop, it was highlighted that freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are essential for an atmosphere that is conducive to achieve a living wage.
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Exhibition "For Freedom and Social Justice – The history of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): Its parallels and trails in Sri Lanka"
2009 - 2010 (Colombo, Kandy, Matara, Batticaloa, Jaffna)
The inaugural exhibition "For Freedom and Social Justice – The history of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): Its parallels and trails in Sri Lanka" was held at the National Art Gallery in Colombo on the 25th of August 2009 with the special participation of the acting Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sri Lanka Dr. Stefan Weckbach and the Head of the Academy of Social Democracy of the FES in Germany Dr. Christian Krell. The exhibition then moved to Kandy, Matara, Batticaloa and Jaffna.
The exhibition shows that in Germany, the path to a democratic society has not been straightforward, but long and fraught with difficulties. A path, which, though sometimes accompanied by violent controversies, failures and setbacks, ultimately led to success: a society in which the core social democratic values of freedom, social justice and solidarity have been acknowledged.
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Information in Sinhala
Information in Tamil
Information in English
South Asia Migration Policy Dialogue
November 2009
This South Asia regional conference was organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). It sought to Institutionalise regional approaches to migration management in South Asia due the growing economic significance generated by remittances to the local economies. The Conference discussed extensively the emerging developments of the South Asia Migration Commission (SAMC) and issues of migration in South Asia that ought to be addressed by the commission.
Specific issues engaged in the conference related to the structure of SAMC, the nature of work that should be adopted, the level at which it should operate, its limitation and advantages in order to make SAMC more relevant and effective. Based on the deliberations of the conference a report was prepared, to be submitted to the SAMC in order to assist the Commission’s action plan and identify areas SAMC should focus upon in its future work.