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USAID/OTI Sri Lanka Field Report
March 2005
Program Description
USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) program in Sri Lanka assists in generating greater support for a negotiated peace settlement to end the long-standing conflict. To accomplish this aim, USAID/OTI's two objectives are: to increase collaboration and participation among diverse groups to set and/or address priorities; and to increase awareness and/or understanding of key transition issues.
Based on these objectives, USAID/OTI provides grants that: support positive interaction among diverse groups of people; promote participatory decision-making at a community level; improve livelihoods; and facilitate the flow of accurate information from multiple viewpoints.
Working with local NGOs, informal community groups, media entities, and local government officials, USAID/OTI identifies and supports critical initiatives that move the country along the continuum from war to peace. Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) implements the $14.8 million small grants program and manages USAID/OTI offices in Colombo, Trincomalee, and Ampara. A new office in the southern coastal district of Matara will open in May.
Since the program began two years ago in March 2003, USAID/OTI has cleared 366 small grants worth approximately $9.5 million.
Country Situation
Tsunami Scare After Indonesian Earthquake – A powerful 8.7 earthquake struck Indonesia just before midnight on Monday, March 28, setting off warnings and panic throughout an already stricken region. In Sri Lanka, authorities initiated evacuation procedures along the coast. Warnings were broadcast on radio and TV, and temples held meetings advising residents of their options and where to go for help. The President broadcast a message urging people on the coast in northern and eastern Sri Lanka to move 2 km inland and those residents of southern Sri Lanka to move 1 km inland. At least five people are reported to have died - three from heart attacks, and two from a motorcycle collision during the rush for higher ground. While this particular earthquake did not result in a tsunami in Sri Lanka, ongoing discussions between the Government and donors regarding early warning systems took on added urgency.
Post-Tsunami Tensions Increase –
Confusion and general dissatisfaction with the government's controversial coastal buffer zone continued. However, the President pointed to the panic following the March 28 tsunami false alarm as justification for the decision to prohibit development within 100 meters of the shore in the South and 200 meters in the North and East. Furthermore, lack of consultation with affected populations is causing increasing frustration across the island. In the multi-ethnic Eastern Province town of Trincomalee, where USAID has an office, angry Tamils displaced by the tsunami protested the resettlement of Sinhalese families with reported support from a JVP politician. Following a tense day during which stones were thrown, one vehicle and one boat were burned and one man was reportedly stabbed, a court ruling forced the dismantling of the shelters and the situation returned to normal, though new security checkpoints and highly visible deployment of police and security forces remained for at least one week.
Peace Negotiations on Hold, Ceasefire Remains Vulnerable – Intra-Tamil rivalry and revenge continued to destabilize the Batticaloa District and adjacent areas throughout the month, threatening the ceasefire agreement established between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in early 2002. Between March 5 and March 8 alone, a total of 13 persons in Batticaloa were shot dead. The profiles of these and other victims in the region is consistent: members of the LTTE's military or political wings, supporters of the Karuna breakaway faction, pro-government Tamil paramilitary group members or government security force informants. Security forces find it difficult to blame one particular group for the recent spate of killings and grenade attacks in the region, as it is difficult to investigate in areas under LTTE control. The presence of other armed groups creates an environment of suspicion and uncertainty, fueled by rumor. In the North, civilians in Jaffna protested the death of a Tamil schoolgirl who was hit by a Sri Lanka Army vehicle. The government, meanwhile, wrote a letter of complaint to the Norwegians, as facilitators of the peace process, challenging the LTTE's construction of an air strip near its northern jungle stronghold of Kilinochchi, as well as the reported acquisition of a light aircraft.
Search for a Joint Mechanism for Tsunami Recovery Continues – Divisions within both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as well as continued friction between the parties, have complicated not only the post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation process but also efforts to resume negotiations for a political settlement to Sri Lanka's longstanding conflict. Three months after the tsunami, the GoSL and the LTTE have not yet agreed upon a joint mechanism to administer distribution of resources and decisions taken in the tsunami relief and recovery process. Such a mechanism is considered a prerequisite to resumption of peace talks, which stalled in April 2003. The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the junior partner in the ruling coalition government, has said that Tamil Tiger rebels should not be given a legal role in distributing tsunami aid in ethnic Tamil-majority regions because it would give the guerrilla group international recognition. The JVP has threatened to leave the government if peace talks recognize the Tamil Tigers' demand for an interim self-governing authority in the North and East.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
Activities funded by $2.5 million that USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance gave to OTI to help with tsunami relief are ongoing in the coastal areas of the country. The majority of the new grants awarded in March were community impact activities such as replacing boats/nets for fishing societies in Ampara. OTI also awarded the last of the tsunami cleanup grants including initiatives to clean up and repair schools damaged as a result of being used as IDP camps, and a grant designed to relieve some of the stress of IDP camp life in Ampara.
Other grants targeted the need for more consultation with the affected populations in the recovery process and the information gap between government, recovery service providers and affected communities. OTI is also funding a grant that will provide equipment and training to two mobile teams of radio journalists. These journalists will travel throughout the Eastern and Southern provinces, broadcasting information of interest to tsunami affected populations for up to one hour daily on state radio. Broadcasts will start the week of April 18 and continue for two months. This 10-week initiative will increase journalists' skills, as well as establish relationships with the state broadcasting network's regional and community radio stations in several of OTI's strategic locations, laying the groundwork for future peace building broadcast initiatives.
Several grants cleared during the month demonstrate how OTI is making the transition away from tsunami relief to a focus on issues and processes that are relevant both to the recovery process in affected regions and the peace process island-wide. For example, OTI subsidized 17 participants on a two-day training on federalism, conducted by two policy centers, and sent three of its own program staff as well. In addition, OTI is now in discussions with these organizations to translate simplified versions of the materials into the vernacular languages, as well as to train district-based personnel to conduct future trainings in the field. Ampara has resumed work in one of its pre-tsunami strategic locations, the multi-ethnic flashpoint community of Central Camp, where it is using in-kind resources to leverage collaboration and participation to set and address priorities.
An OTI-funded mobile theater project, showcasing the talents of a multi-ethnic youth drama troupe, began its journey across the island with opening performances in Colombo. The pioneer of street theater in Sri Lanka and one of the country's best-known teledrama actors are coordinating the project, which aims to use drama as a tool for interactive dialogue and problem solving at a community level. OTI's support for the initiative leverages funding from two other donors and will enable partners in the field to use the mobile theater as a platform for communication and advocacy on peace-related issues. OTI will be heavily involved in mobilizing communities for the mobile theater's initial stops in the districts of Anuradhapura and Trincomalee during April and May.
B. Grant Activity Summary – March 2003 through March 2005
| Civil Society Organization Support |
1 |
$ 11,925 |
8 |
$ 207,846 |
| Civil-Military Relations |
|
|
1 |
$ 209,369 |
| Community Impact Activities |
17 |
$612,796 |
233 |
$7,348,015 |
| Conflict Management |
1 |
$ 36,646 |
42 |
$ 557,831 |
| Election Processes |
|
|
2 |
$ 10,845 |
| Ex-Combatant Reintegration |
|
|
1 |
$ 72,226 |
| Justice/Human Rights |
|
|
3 |
$ 53,612 |
| Media |
2 |
$184,719 |
38 |
$ 830,468 |
| Mine Action |
|
|
2 |
$ 2,198 |
| Transparency/Good Governance |
|
|
36 |
$ 203,015 |
| TOTAL |
21 |
$846,086 |
366 |
$9,495,651 |
C. Indicators of Success
OTI Accelerates the Transitional Settlements in Hambantota – The Hambantota District, along the southern coast of Sri Lanka, was one of the regions worst hit by the tsunami with over 4,500 deaths as well as damage to public and private infrastructure and loss of livelihoods. The devastation also deepened existing social rifts and widened economic disparities in the region. When the tsunami struck, thousands of bodies and debris were swept into Hambantota's Karagan Lagoon. Military and volunteer groups carried out initial cleanup by removing bodies and clearing rubble, but the remaining debris formed a public health hazard. The lagoon had become a symbol of the tsunami's destruction, a painful reminder to the schoolchildren and IDPs in the nearby schools and camps.
Local government civil servants and elected officials identified the cleaning of this lagoon as an urgent priority and approached OTI for support. Since the issue was highly sensitive and of importance to all communities in the area, the strident political partisanship for which Hambantota District is famous was set aside in order to collaborate on addressing shared needs. Each organization involved identified a specific role in the initiative, from providing technical support or volunteer labor, to providing security for the site.
The rapid clean-up effort took less than a month, and as a result other organizations were able to erect transitional shelter settlements in the area surrounding the lagoon. In addition, the project strengthened relations between disparate groups, such as elected leaders, local government civil servants, non-governmental organizations and community members from a range of political parties. The Mayor of Hambantota praised USAID's support for the community as expressed through OTI's targeted cleanup response.
D. Program Appraisal
Despite changes in key personnel and office premises, complicated by the natural urge to focus on tsunami relief activities, USAID/OTI was able to begin a return to strategic locations near and away from the coast, and its core mandate of creating public support for a negotiated peace settlement. Although the $2.5 million allocated by the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) for immediate post-tsunami relief was committed by the end of February, some small-grant activities utilizing these funds continued through March and USAID/OTI used these activities to explore links between tsunami recovery and peace, particularly the shared lack of public consultation in both processes. Meetings between the OTI senior management team and other key USAID partners - the Academy for Educational Development, The Asia Foundation and Nathan Associates - established a foundation for continued dialogue to identify opportunities for greater collaboration and synergy.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
In April USAID/OTI Sri Lanka will:
- Continue to focus on opportunities to support initiatives linking the tsunami recovery and peace processes, as well as tsunami and conflict-affected communities.
- Decrease tension in tsunami-affected communities, and increase inter-regional solidarity, through daily radio broadcasts of reliable, balanced information on tsunami recovery, as well as via community forums that serve as mechanisms for two-way communication between affected populations, and the government and civil society authorities tasked with supporting them.
- Set up a new office in Matara, along the southern coast. Train new staff in Matara, as well as at offices in Ampara and Trincomalee, where new regional program managers and program development officers are in place or on their way.
- Pilot a program in the North-Central Province utilizing local groups to evaluate the impact of peace-related media activities in the region. Recent survey research indicates that this region has by far the highest percentage of citizens who are skeptical about the wisdom and efficacy of negotiating peace.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Rachel Wax, Asia and Near East Program Manager, 202-712-1243, rwax@usaid.gov
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