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USAID/OTI Sri Lanka Field Report
August 2005
Program Description
USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) program in Sri Lanka aims to generate greater support for a negotiated peace settlement to end the island nation's longstanding internal conflict by:
- Mobilizing and linking peace constituencies through support for inclusive, collaborative decision-making and resource allocation at the local level.
- Creating awareness and increasing understanding on key transition issues, and changing attitudes sustaining the conflict through information dissemination, advocacy, dialogue and debate.
- Capitalizing on key windows of opportunity to mitigate conflict in targeted communities and generating momentum for resumption of peace negotiations, on hold since April 2003.
Working with local nongovernmental organizations, informal community groups, media entities, and local government officials, OTI attempts to identify and support critical initiatives that move the country along the continuum from war to peace. Development Alternatives Inc. implements the $39 million small-grants program and manages OTI offices in Colombo, Trincomalee, Ampara and Matara.
Since the program began in March 2003, OTI has cleared 442 small grants worth approximately $12.48 million.
Country Situation
Assassination increases tensions – The assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar magnified existing concerns about the efficacy of the 2002 cease-fire memorandum of understanding between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Kadiragamar, the most prominent Tamil in the Sri Lankan government, was shot to death the night of Aug. 12 in the back yard of his Colombo residence by a sniper firing from the upstairs window of an adjacent house. News reports on the police investigation have implicated the LTTE, although the Tamil separatist group has publicly denied responsibility. Kadiragamar was instrumental during the late 1990s in swinging international opinion away from the Tamil separatists, successfully persuading many governments to brand them as terrorists. Following the assassination, President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency, under which government security forces have widespread search and detention powers.
Sporadic violence continues to plague the Eastern Province. Grenade explosions and gunfire exchanges are the most common occurrences. The attacks are usually between government security forces and the LTTE, or the LTTE and its breakaway Karuna faction. Civilians are not usually targeted, but sometimes get caught in the crossfire. These incidents are occurring in the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, mainly in the coastal areas. Government deployment of larger numbers of troops, increases in the number of checkpoints, and more identity checks and house-to-house searches have increased tension in these areas.
Presidential elections called – The Supreme Court ended months of public speculation over the likely date of the next presidential election, ruling that a strict interpretation of the constitution calls for a vote by late November. The possibility remains that the current president, whose second six-year term is about to expire, could call for parliamentary elections to occur on or about the same day. The two candidates running for president are the current prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakse of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP). Posters and rallies have signaled the start of campaigning.
Government and LTTE agree to meet – The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have agreed to meet to discuss implementation of the cease-fire memorandum of understanding signed in February 2002. They have not been able to agree on a site for the talks, however. This would be the first formal negotiations on peace between the two sides since talks broke off in April 2003.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
The Office of Transition Initiatives cleared nine new grants, for an estimated total value of $276,003, during August. The Ampara office cleared three grants, the Matara office two, the Trincomalee office one, and the Colombo office three.
Among the newly awarded grants was one to the Inter-Religious Peace Foundation, a Colombo-based nongovernmental organization, that brought together Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Hindu religious leaders from the conflict-prone Eastern Province districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee for a two-day workshop on using religion as a tool for peace rather than conflict. Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer, a conflict-mitigation expert from American University in Washington, D.C., facilitated the event. He encouraged clergy to form bonds with those of other faiths in an effort to see how, together, they could lessen the effects of violence and the manipulation of religion in their communities.
OTI supported the first-ever Sri Lanka Youth Parliament. The Aug. 24-28 event, held in the capital of Colombo, brought together more than 220 young people, ages 16 to 25, representing all districts, ethnicities and religions. Participants were selected on the basis of their experience as youth activists, their interest in social justice, and the credibility of the community action plans submitted by them through their applications. The aim of the Youth Parliament was to bring together the next generation of young community leaders to network, develop policy, acquire new skills, and return to their communities prepared to implement plans for social change. The Youth Parliament's agenda was based on the themes that young people around Sri Lanka have articulated as key issues affecting their communities. The hope is that the Youth Parliament will give birth to an action-based, island-wide network of young people committed to public service through an inclusive, participatory process.
B. Grant Activity Summary
| Civil Society Organization Support |
|
|
11 |
$ 348,014 |
| Civil-Military Relations |
|
|
1 |
$ 216,980 |
| Community Impact Activities |
4 |
$143,982 |
271 |
$8,601,695 |
| Conflict Management |
3 |
$102,080 |
58 |
$1,187,910 |
| Election Processes |
|
|
2 |
$ 10,845 |
| Ex-Combatant Reintegration |
|
|
1 |
$ 72,226 |
| Justice/Human Rights |
|
|
5 |
$ 145,875 |
| Media |
1 |
$2,171 |
53 |
$ 1,651,821 |
| Mine Action |
|
|
2 |
$ 2,198 |
| Transparency/Good Governance |
1 |
27,770 |
38 |
$ 247,052 |
| TOTAL |
9 |
$276,003 |
442 |
$12,484,617 |
C. Indicators of Success
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| Diverse community members meet to discuss and come to agreement on local development and tsunami-relief priorities in Matara District, Sri Lanka. |
Matara community comes together to address priorities –
The post-tsunami recovery process has often excluded "the voice of the people." However, more and more Sri Lankans actively express their wish to be more involved in the planning process, and call for better coordination between government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and local community representatives. In recognition of the need for strong community participation in the tsunami recovery effort, the Office of Transition Initiatives supported community-consultation workshops in the Matara District. The grantee ensured diversity on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age, profession and social groups. The enthusiasm and involvement of the participants was overwhelming. Among the most-repeated comments were the following: "Never before has anyone attempted to get the members of the community together and provide us a forum to express our views… This program has taught us tolerance - how to respect and listen to others… We see that our progress and development lies in our own hands." The final phase of the program involved a consolidation of the findings, which were published in a document distributed to citizens and local government authorities in the community. On the whole, the program proved successful by demonstrating how community consultation creates active, engaged, resourceful citizens and produces stronger public support for shared solutions.
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| Villagers dance in a procession to celebrate the opening of the "Peace Road." |
OTI supports opening of "Peace Road" – OTI/ Sri Lanka participated in a ceremonial procession in celebration of the official opening of the aptly named "Peace Road." The citizens of Mahagodayaya, in the eastern district of Monaragala, rely principally on agriculture for their income. Adjacent Tamil and Sinhala communities - despite their common lifestyle and interests and the fact that they share a common road - have avoided interaction for years. To forge a new spirit of cooperation and unity, OTI reactivated the village's multi-ethnic Village Development Committee, and, through a consultative process, developed a set of joint priorities focused on community-based infrastructure projects. Villagers and farmers from both groups identified the need for road improvements and a more reliable water supply. More than 100 volunteers from both communities offered their labor to rehabilitate the common road and conduct a joint survey of water resources in the area to ensure a better supply for all. The Village Development Committee underwent basic leadership training and visited both villages to cement newly developed relationships and deepen productive cooperation in the future. Working together to identify common needs and improve the lives of all residents has broken down barriers and has improved trust between both Tamil and Sinhala village leaders and their people.
D. Program Appraisal
August was a month for taking stock and making course adjustments, with program implementation staff from all four offices coming together for two days to discuss issues related to procurement and grants management. The imperative was clear for improved communication, greater sharing of risk and responsibility, and better creative collaboration between program-development and implementation teams - not only within offices, but between them as well. Equally evident were the significant challenges ahead, given higher levels of new funding for tsunami recovery activities, coupled with the continuing erosion of confidence between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. OTI/Sri Lanka's response must be to identify short-term, high-impact activities that can successfully link post-disaster rehabilitation with peace-building. In this regard, particularly with national elections on the horizon, it is fortuitous that OTI will have a more direct engagement with Sinhalese majority communities in the Southern Province though its newly opened Matara office.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
In September, OTI/Sri Lanka will:
- Evaluate randomly selected grant activities completed in the Trincomalee and Ampara office areas of coverage, and provide additional training for program staff there on monitoring and evaluation methods.
- Hold its third team-building session, a 2-1/2-day event aimed at building trust and fostering respect among the more than 70 members of OTI's multi-ethnic and regionally diverse staff.
- Launch a multi-media campaign through a national peace-building nongovernmental organization to focus attention on the need for non-violent elections, for strengthening of the cease-fire agreement, and for an operational joint mechanism for tsunami recovery.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Elizabeth Callender, Asia and Near East Program Manager, 202-712-1243, ecallender@usaid.gov
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