This is a one year rapid project undertook by PAFFREL with the support of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The project implements in14 local government areas of four tsunami affected districts of Matara, Hambantota, Ampara and Batticaloa. The focus of this project is to facilitate the tsunami affected people in the project area to find solution for their unsolved community problems and to address the problematic issues relate to Tsunami victims in the service providing local government authorities. This project has no. of activities covering a range of different aspects including youth exchange, gender equity, vigilance for human trafficking, community empowerment, women empowerment, and technical support for local authorities etc.

Below are the brief explanations of some of the activities of the project.

Facilitation for local authorities to uplift their service to tsunami victims

This is one of the main focuses of this project where we conduct various types of programmes for 14 selected local authorities. Participants include elected members of these local authorities, government officers of these local authorities, Grama Niladharies of the area and police officers. The programme has helped these authorities to identify their weaknesses and problems relate to the post-tsunami services they provided to the community. One of the main needs identify from the preliminary workshops were the lack of mid term plans of these authorities where are required even by the central government. Through this project PAFFREL started providing them the technical support to develop their mid term plans. This on going support will help these authorities to develop their mid term plans before the end of December 2008.

Mobile service centers

There are 12 one-day mobile service centers are planned to conduct under this project. The purpose of this programme is to provide rapid support for tsunami victims to obtain different government services including valuable documents they lost during tsunami. These include national identity cards, copies of birth certificates, copies of marriage certificates, copies of deeps, copies of death certificates, legal consultancies, bank services, professional consultancies and employment opportunities. By coordinating and facilitating these mobile service center s, PAFFREL brings different government and provide entities together, that includes registrar general of persons, Land registration Commission, district secretariat, etc. Four such mobile service centers have been held already in the project district and 8 more to be held by the end of December 2008.

Workshops for establishment of Citizens’ Committees

14 workshops were held for the purpose of establishing citizen committees in their localities. The objective of these citizen committees were to create a mechanism with cadres to facilitate the community in obtaining services of government, local government an non-government agencies and to assist government, local government and non-government agencies in providing services to communities.

Members of these citizen committees comprise with community leaders from Tsunami-affected communities, representatives of community-based organizations in Tsunami-affected communities and retired public officers in the respective areas.

These citizen committees will be functioning for the needs of their communities with regular previews of PAFFREL district coordinators.

Youth Exchange Programmes

There are four youth exchange programmes have planned in the project that brings together youth from four project districts, that includes Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils, Buddhist, Hindus, Islam and Christians. The youth exchange programme is a four day programme hold in a selected district with the participation of youth from the four project districts.

Two youth exchange programmes were held in the districts of Matara and Hambantota with an average participation of 40 youths from four different districts. It was an objective of this activity to bring together youth of different ethnicities, religions and environments to build up understanding also to inculcate ideals of respect for diversity, reconciliation and co-existence.

The youth exchange programme includes lectures, discussion, games as well as voluntary service activities (Shrama Dhana).

Participants for these exchange programmes were consisted from youth, active in youth organizations and other community-based organizations in Tsunami-affected communities with different ethnicities, religions and environments.

Another two such exchange programmes will be held in Ampara and Batticaloa before the end of year 2008.

Workshops on Human Rights

Fourteen workshops were held to create awareness in the regime of human rights with particular attention to Tsunami-affected. It was also the objective to create a cadre of human rights watchdogs and a cadre of intermediaries between the victims of violation of human rights and government/non-government mechanisms set up for promotion and protection of human rights.

All these workshops were held in tsunami affected divisions in Matara, Hambantota, Ampara and Batticaloa. A total of 401 participants took part of these workshops including 254 female.

Workshops on Peace-building, Reconciliation and Peaceful Co-existence

Nine such workshops were held to create a cadre of activists who will carry messages of peace-building, reconciliation and peaceful co-existence to their communities and promote these ideals and to create a cadre of activists who will assist the tsunami-affected to build up new networks in their new environments which have ethnic, religious and other diversities.

There were a total of 259 of them took part of these 9 workshops representing all the ethnic groups and religions. Another five workshops are planned to be completed before the end of December 2008.

Development of Women’s Committees

Fourteen such committees were developed during the reporting period with the participation of approximately 400 women. These committees were developed in Tsunami affected districts of Matara, Hambantota, Ampara and Batticaloa with the focus on selected local authority areas.

The objectives of this activity were included to sensitize on the unmet needs of the Tsunami-affected, to sensitize on negative social issues that have materialized as a result of the recovery process, to sensitize on the present status and expected role of women in the development process, and required action to ensure achievement of aspirations for change and to empower to work towards, mainstreaming women in all spheres of activity.

Women with leadership qualities selected from Tsunami affected communities with capacity to work towards ensuring achievement of status of women as equal partners in development were the participants of these workshops.

The fourteen women committees are no in action in their community and in overall 396 women are involved.

Workshops on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Other Abuses

A total of 18 such workshops were conducted including 4 district level workshops.

The divisional level programme were conducted with the focus on women audience hence majority of female took part for these workshops. The members of women committees developed by PAFFREL initiated to organize these programmes in their respective areas.

This activity had following objectives.