Sri Lanka Project (GROW II) Advisory Committee
October 17, 2006: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Conference Room, Learning Center
Members Present: Sharee Clough, Phyllis Cunningham (Chair), Sabiha Daudi, Kay Forest,
Jaya Gajanayake, Laurel Jeris, Maimouna Konate, Lina Ong, Rick Orem, Deb Pierce, Catherine
Raymond, Meena Razvi, Gene Roth, Itxaso Tellado, and Rey Ty
 Laurel moved for the approval of the last meeting’s minutes and the committee approved the
minutes.
 Four students attending the meeting as new members - Rey Ty, Sharee Clough, Itxaso
Tellado and Maimouna Konate – were introduced.
1. Progress Report: Jaya
 On the current macro-political situation in Sri Lanka. Despite most recent armed
hostilities between government troops and LTTE rebels, negotiations for peace continue.
The government and the opposition have agreed on a bi-partisan resolution to the conflict.
This is a historic outcome that has been highly welcomed by majority of the Sri Lankans.
 Even though the State Department funding ended, Core Advisory Group in Sri Lanka had
decided to continue the meetings, on a once in two month’s basis. Until now the project has
paid their traveling expenses.
SLIDA has made arrangements for the certificate award ceremony of the Diploma on Good
Governance and Local Leadership Program to be held in mid December. This time there
will not be a NIU representative, as has happened earlier. SLIDA has decided to continue the
program in the future, as a fee-levying program.
Thanks to a donation from Phyllis, Sarvodaya Women’s Movement now has a website.
Arrangements have been made for the website to go alive soon.
Donations from Meena and Laurel ($500 each) have supported the work carried out by
MWRAF in its new Model Village in the East.
Donations made by Kay ($500) and another donation by a friend of Kay’s has been invested
in infrastructure improvements of the Literacy Center at Pompekele Model Village. Jaya will
further explore the exact nature and will report on this.
Jaya, with the assistance of other members at ITO, is working on a 300-page manual by
incorporating all the handouts of the one-year diploma program. This will be useful not only
for SLIDA to continue the Diploma program but also to the Open University in its
arrangements to implement it as a certificate course through its district centers using the
distance mode.
Kay is currently working on the summative evaluation of the GROW II project to be
submitted to the State Department in mid December.
Nalika has been working on updating GROW II website.
2. Reviewing the Roles and Responsibilities of the Advisory Committee:
Jaya indicated that some members feel the need to revisit and refine the roles and
responsibilities of the Advisory Committee that were agreed upon by the committee some years
back. This is specifically important, as we have entered a new phase. Jaya presented a draft on
the role and responsibilities to initiate the discussion.
Sabiha reiterated that CAG should not feel that we have abandoned them. Catherine
emphasized that we must not give up but must keep CAG alive and continue giving our support.
Kay indicated that while we continue to give our moral support to CAG, we also should look at
how we could support the initiatives on the ground in other ways. Supporting income generation
for the disenfranchised women/communities, a priority area of Jezima, is a much-needed
preference.
Deb indicated that she was instrumental in advocating for the continuation of the Sri Lanka
Advisory Committee in spite of funding outcome, considering the project’s impact on the
international education at NIU. She further emphasized that the shared spirit of the advisory
committee has provided good guidance and mentoring to students through their wide array of
expertise.
After deliberation, members voted in favor to adopt the spirit of the Roles and Responsibilities
document.
Phyllis requested to send the revisions in terms of substance and style (e.g. merging #2 and 4 as
suggested) to Jaya so that she can clean up the document and present a revised list to the body
for approval.
3. Reflections on GROW Seminar in Sri Lanka held on June 6, 2006
 Kay mentioned that she was besieged by the spirit of the seminar. As she reflects on the
post-Beijing Conference dialogue, the seminar was a tremendous advocacy effort to
strengthen the struggle for women’s political rights. Kay added that on the whole she was
overwhelmed about her entire trip to Sri Lanka.
 Laurel indicated that it was a well-attended seminar with nearly 170 participants engaged in a
5-hour deliberation process. And a good proportion of attendees were men. She reiterated
that the seminar was a tremendous support for women to continue the advocacy efforts
related to running for public office, electoral reforms and dealing with election violence.
 Deb pointed out that she was struck by the audacity of the women’s representatives as they
shared their activism. Her attendance in the seminar was a remarkable experience and she
was overwhelmed by how the speakers openly discussed the barriers they have faced in
contesting for political office, including ostracism and character assassination. Singing the
American national anthem was a humanizing experience.
 Jaya mentioned that it was the end-of-project seminar, had an exceptional attendance way
over the expected level. The seminar agenda developed by CAG was a unique and inspiring
one in every way.
4. Reporting from AHE Student Retreat facilitated by Meena
Meena reported that Gene, Laurel, Jaya, Maimouna and Sharee as well as a few other students
joined the RTD. The suggestions emerged from the discussion included contacting American
companies working in Sri Lanka and for that matter in India and Pakistan, especially the ones
working in the areas where project activities are/will be carried out, to support the project. Also
exploring mini-grants to help the students who want to get the project experience was also an
important suggestion. There is an e-mail list of the students who were present and this will be
used in the future for ending the project related communications.
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5. NAAEE Conference Presentation on GROW II: Sabiha
Sabiha indicated that the paper presented at the recent NAAEE conference held in Minnesota on
the GROW Project experience vis-a-vi grassroots women’s empowerment with specific
emphasis on the environmental discourse, was a great opportunity. The discussion not only
added an international flavor to the conference but also helped to illuminate the broader vision of
the environmental education, especially when environment education is considered as an
educational process for “tree huggers”. Sabiha indicated that this session led by Jaya and her
was well received.
6. Discussion on enhancing opportunities for student involvement.
Study Abroad: Gene mentioned that even though the Study Abroad option in Sri Lanka is not a
feasible idea at present, it should be explored in the future. Laurel emphasized that we must not
lose sight and must have a long-term view of a Study Abroad program in Sri Lanka, possibly in
April 2008 when CENWOR (a GROW Project partner) organizes its regional conference. It was
agreed to explore the possibility of linking the Study Abroad trip with India. Deb said it is not
too early now to do a proposal for Study Abroad in 2008. Rick emphasized the need to explore
deeply into the matter, possibly having a student group working on this matter. Meena was
requested to organize a student support group that will elicit student input to promote a Study
Abroad trip to Sri Lanka in April 2008 (perhaps with a link to India). Meena agreed to host a
funding dinner/meeting. Sahiha and Jaya agreed to support.
7. Laurel’s forthcoming Sabbatical in Sri Lanka:
In responding to a question, Laurel mentioned that she will be in Sri Lanka from February/March
2007 for 8 to 9 weeks, conducting research on case studies up close and personal. She is hoping,
if the opportunity permits, to support a more concrete, practical, grassroots-level workshop, such
as for media people, that will add to the high-level ceremonial advocacy work that the project
has already carried out in Sri Lanka. Phyllis noted that Laurel’s stay in Sri Lanka is a good time
to have other events such as meeting over airways, piggy-back meetings with major events etc.
etc. that would further strengthen project related work.
8. Discussion on Fundraising Ideas:
Phyllis indicated the importance to tap the students in our search for funding. She suggested
challenging the adult education student body to come up with creative ways and concrete ideas
on fund raising. Meena mentioned that she intends to contact TNCs such as Caterpillar,
CocaCola in northern Illinois to explore the possibilities of securing small funds to continue the
project work in Sri Lanka. Meena will also distribute a fund-raising sign-up sheet in Jorge’s
class as a follow-up to Jaya’s presentation on the GROW project to that class last week. Sabiha
suggested that next AC meeting should be devoted exclusively for brainstorming about funding.
9. Next Meeting Date
The next meeting will be held on November 6, 2006, Monday at 1:30 PM, Learning Center (J
Room.) The agenda items that were not able to cover during this meeting will be included in the
agenda for this meeting.
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