Sri Lanka Project (GROW II) Advisory Committee
March 2, 2005 (Wednesday)
10:00 a.m. to Noon
Conference Room, Learning Center
Present: Phyllis Cunningham, Laurel Jeris, Jaya Gajanayake, Murali Krishnamoorthi, Jorge Jeria,
Rick Orem, Katherine Raymond, Kay Forest, Leena Ong, Meena Razvi, and Nalika Diyadawa.
Excused: Deb Pierce, Cindy Campbell
Minutes of the meeting held on January 26, 2005 was approved by Rick Orem and seconded by Murali
Krishnamoorthi.
Minutes of the Meeting:
 The conducted of the meeting strictly adhered to the agenda items and focused on four major
areas, such as , the matters pertaining to the Diploma course, Tsunami Disaster Fund, measures
to strengthen the NGO coalition and proposals for the third phase of GROW Project (GROW
III).
 The meeting started with Jaya explaining the reasons for delay in commencing the proposed
Diploma course in Sri Lanka. Murali inquired about the recruitment procedure and the duration
of the course.
Jaya read out the agenda sent from Sri Lanka detailing inauguration of the Diploma course and
elaborated the details leading to a national level seminar at the end of the program. Medium of
conduct, mode of conduct and the budget constraints of the Diploma course were discussed.
Contributions made by all committee members shed light on following areas.
 Course recourses to be used would be the same which was developed on campus during last
fall by the Sri Lankan participant after the extensive training provided by Jaya and Laurel.
 Handouts would be provided to all the participants and Jaya and Laurel would conduct three
additional workshops in this May.
 In spite of the language barriers the medium of conduct would be English and the
translations to be provided when and where necessary.
 Inability to secure funds for field visits was mentioned.
Philis Cunningham reiterated the importance of good curricular development and looking at
things in a bottom-up/ participatory method. Murali explained the current status of the GROW
website.
 Meena informed the status-quo of the Tsunami Disaster Fund and Jaya explained how the funds
have been distributed among the GROW partners in Sri Lanka. Discussion arrived at the
following conclusions.
 As the public would hesitate to donate to unknown organizations it was decided to route the
funds collected, only through CENWOR and add the CEWOR website details to GROW
website (Cunnigham & Kay)
 Get a need assessment of Tsunami relief efforts and the related costs of the specific
jobs/goods, from Sri Lanka (Cunningham & Kathrine).
 Measures to provide a feedback regarding the specifics of donations (Murali)

As a result, a sub committee to facilitate further fund raising for the cause was formed.
Members to the committee are Katherine Raymond, Kay Forest, Meena Razvi, and Nalika
Diyadawa.
 The proposed measures to strengthen the NGO coalition was circulated among the members by
Jaya and requested for valuable inputs of the Advisory Committee. After much discussion, Philis
Cunningham short listed following measures to be carried out in the near future.

Organize a three-day workshop for the Coalition leaders with the following themes
as the focus: ( recommended to include all 12 NGO’s and Jaya and Laurel to do this
in this May )
o Mainstreaming strategies for women’s empowerment into the work of
member NGOs
o How to integrate Tsunami long term rehabilitation work and trauma care
into GROW 2 activities

Organize a mentoring program – link two NGO’s to each of the four major partners

Build a bridge between CAG (Advisory Committee in Sri Lanka) and the NGO
Coalition: Identify ways of doing it.
 Finally, Jaya briefed the committee about the steps taken to develop a new proposal to spread the
wings of GROW II project in South Asian region. Murali explained that they have had
preliminary meetings and have short listed Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to be the beneficial
countries. Jaya requested details of some contact persons in Bangladesh, in order to study the
feasibility there as well.
 The next Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for April 6, 2004 at 10:00 am, Conference
Room, Learning Center.
 The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 Noon.
Note: Please be noted that in previous minutes it has been overlooked to minute the presence of Murali
Krishnamoorthi at the meeting held on January 26, 2005.