Minutes of the Core Advisory Group (CAG)
held on October 23, 2006 at 11.00 a.m. at SLIDA
Present
:
Excused
:
Mrs. Jezima Ismail
Mrs. Lilangi Wanasundera
Mrs. Indrani Iriyagolla
Mrs. Ranjini Manuelpillai
Mr. T.M. K.B. Tennekoon
Mrs. Amara Peeris
Mrs. Seela Ebert
Prof. Swarna Jayaweera
Prof. Uma Cumaraswamy – Out of the Country
The meeting was chaired by Mrs. Jezima Ismail. The minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 th
May, 2006, were confirmed.
1. The members agreed to continue the CAG meetings in spite of the inability to pay the transport
allowance, until funds are received. A decision was taken to meet at least once in two months. Mr.
Tennekoon, Director, SLIDA, kindly consented to hold the meetings at SLIDA.
2. A lengthy discussion took place on the focus of the GROW III Project. Members felt that it is
important to include grassroots level in the good governance program. In this way, the programme
could enhance formation of people’s movements through citizenship activities. The people at the
lowest (grassroots) should be encouraged to take an active part in the citizenship activities that
could lead to better governance.
3. As SLIDA wishes to conduct the programmes as fee-levying program, it was discussed whether
SLIDA could institutionalize the GROW modules and change the modules to suit the needs at the
grassroots level.
A one-day workshop to be organized to review the modules of the Good Governance Programme
and CAG members will be invited to attend the workshop, to be held at SLIDA in November. Mrs.
Indrani Iriyagolla will be a major resource person for the workshop.
It was noted that the English medium programme should be able to attract international students.
Also CAG decided to implement two parallel programmes in Sinhala and Tamil. The members
were keen on maintaining a combination of English, Sinhala and Tamil and this will be discussed in
detail during the workshop.
Mr. Tennekoon suggested that local funds could be used for module preparation and typing.
4.
Prof Uma Cumaraswamy who is out of the country at the moment, had submitted a letter to
be placed before the meeting. A brief overview of her letter is as follows:
i.
ii.
iii.
The decision to offer the Advanced Certificate Programme in Participatory Governance
and Local Leadership through distance mode by OUSL has been approved by the
University.
The University is now involved in the preparation of the learning materials.
A proposal submitted to the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in 2005, when Prof.
Uma was the Vice-Chancellor, for financial assistance for the preparation of learning
material, has been considered positively.
iv.
She has also pursued the possibility of making the programme a South Asian programme
under the aegis of COL. COL has informed in September 2006 that they will be assisting
the project and has granted US$ 7000. Prof. Uma proposes to discuss this further when
she meets COL staff members at a conference to be held in Jamaica during October 30 th
to November 3rd, where she is expected to make a presentation.
The Members thanked Prof. Uma for the interest taken in continuing the programme through the
distance mode.
5.
The information received from Dr. Jaya Gajanayake regarding the visit of Mrs. Jezima Ismail
to North Illinois University, was discussed at the meeting. The members noted that they were
happy to hear of the presentation made by Mrs. Ismail at the NIU that will help not only to enhance
the visibility of the Programme, but also the recognition of the CAG Chairperson by the Advisory
Committee at NIU as well as other staff members of NIU.
6. The suggestion to network in the Asia regions with India and Bangladesh, was also accepted in
principle.
7. CAG members discussed the importance of the GROW Project and discussed the possibility of
raising funds locally for its continuation. Due to the partnership between international, local
academic institutions as well as the collaborative efforts of the NGOs in this project, the members
felt that there could be funders who would interested in assisting the planned program.
7.
It was decided to request Dr. Jaya to send a project proposal to Sri Lanka so that CAG
members could adjust it to suit the local situation and submit for funding.
8. Another topic discussed was the electoral reforms that will be taking place in the near future in
Sri Lanka. It is reliably understood that 20% to 30% quota is to be given for females. Due to the
present system, it was suggested to implement the following plans early on to encourage women to
participate actively in local govt. politics:i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
List the women candidates earlier than the men candidates so that they could be builtin early into the lists and be ready for the elections.
Train a good set of trainers to go to the district level to train the potential candidates.
Strengthen democracy awareness of the leaders as they do not have the political will to
appoint women candidates. The politicians to be briefed at some stage of the project.
The civil society to be organized as a force to enhance democracy, advocacy and
governance.
9.
Mr. Herath informed that the present students would sit for the final exam on 8th December
and 19 participants will be completing the Diploma at the end of the year. He was requested to
include the Diploma Programme in the SLIDA calendar. It was agreed that the programme should
be modified to suit the local NGOs and to attract local participants.
10.
The next meeting will be held on December 11, 2006 at 10.30 a.m. at SLIDA.
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