Name of organization:
Sri Lanka Unites
Description of organization:
Sri Lanka Unites (SLU) is a youth movement for hope and reconciliation that was established in 2007. The organization motivates young leaders in schools across the country to understand the need for reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka. SLU also empowers them to undertake and give leadership to inter-community reconciliation initiatives in their local areas. The organization currently works in 300 schools across all 25 districts in Sri Lanka.
Context:
Nine years after the civil war in Sri Lanka ended, there continues to be a deep division along ethnic and religious lines. Mistrust is fueled in the youth population by the older generation, who lived through the conflict. Recent violent incidents have also occurred between Buddhists and Muslims, demonstrating that the country is still in a state of fragile peace.
Proposed project and expected results:
Sri Lanka Unites proposes to address these issues through implementing the project “Strategic Peace Education for Youth”. A curriculum and teaching manual will be developed by peacebuilding experts, with translations in both Sinhala and Tamil. Youth from all provinces in Sri Lanka will be taken through a training-of-trainers course, with the aim of being able to teach the peacebuilding curriculum through Sri Lanka Unites clubs in their communities. The curriculum will be launched at write-shops, which will be attended by young people from all over the country.
By the end of the project, Sri Lanka Unites expects to:
- Produce a peacebuilding curriculum designed by experts, along with teaching manual.
- Equip 45 young people to be trainers, with the expectation that they are able to train other youth in their communities.
- Launch the curriculum at a national write-shop, with 125 young people in attendance.
- Implement a Sri Lanka Unites Education Department, which will be the focal point in disseminating the peacebuilding curriculum across 200 schools in 2019.
Project coordinator: Neluni Tillekeratne
Contact information: admin@srilankaunites.org
Website: www.srilankaunites.org