MINUTES OF THE CORE ADVISORY GROUP (CAG) HELD ON 15TH OCTOBER 2004 AT SRI
LANKA INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (SLIDA) AT 9 A.M
Present –
Prof. Swarna Jayaweera
Ms. Seela Ebert
Prof. Uma Coomaraswamy
Mr. T.M..KB. Tennakoon
Ms. Leelangi Wanasundera
Ms. Ranjani Manuelpillai
Ms. Indrani Sugathadasa
Ms. Amara Peeris
Apologies -
Ms. Jezima Ismail
Ms. Indrani Iriyagolla
Prof Jayaweera chaired the meeting in the absence of Ms. Jezima Ismail
Minutes were confirmed unanimously.
Seela mentioned that she attended a meeting on 9th November 2004 at the Ministry of Women’s
Empowerment and Social Welfare to discuss the matter on quota for women in Local
Government in reference to the Cabinet decision taken in this regard.
GROW Declaration
A lengthy discussion took place on the approved Cabinet memo of 1/3 seats allocated for women
at the Local Government level. Although it was approved on principle the modalities of how the
seats could be allocated is yet to be determined. After much discussion the CAG group decided
that the Sub Committee comprising of the 4 Ministers should send a paper on the importance of
allocating 1/3 seats for women in Sri Lanka for the Local Government level. The same letter to
be addressed to all Heads of Political Parties. Although it was discussed about asking for
reservations in nominations, later it was decided to leave it to the relevant authorities and the
party hierarchy to give nominations to adequate number of women so that 1/3 seats could be
obtained by women.
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The subcommittee comprising of Indrani S. Ranjini and Seela to prepare a paper to be submitted
to the four Ministers who have been appointed to the Sub Committee by the Cabinet to look in to
this matter. CENWOR would give all the research material on the subject and Indrani S
promised to prepare the one page note and send to Seela by 22nd November. On agreement by
Seela and Ranjini the paper to be distributed to all CAG members before sending it to the
Ministers officially. Unofficially at personal level Ministers to be contacted by the members.
This note would be sent to all the heads of political parties too.
Report from Mr. Tennakoon regarding the training programme at NIU
The report from the Professional group who visited NIU was not ready although Dr. Mahim
Mendis had promised to send it to Mr. Tennakoon to be submitted to the meeting.
Mr.
Tennakoon would co-ordinate with Dr. Mahim Mendis and get the report delivered to Seela at
his earliest.
Mr. Tennakoon also mentioned that the team who went from Sri Lanka were very well looked
after by Dr. Jaya Gajanayake and Prof. Laurel Jeris while at NIU. This was further corroborated
by Leelangi, Amara and Seela who went on the training in 2003.
Progress of the Certificate Course to be implemented by SLIDA and Open University
Mr. Tennakoon said that all the team members who went to NIU had gained much knowledge in
especially on preparation of curriculum for the Certificate and Diploma Courses. Professor Uma
Coomaraswamy mentioned that as the Open University has prepared curriculum on many
subjects that Mr. Tennakoon and the other colleagues will be able to make use of the already
available literature when preparing the modules.
Mr. Tennakoon informed that the professional group who went on training have been assigned
subjects to prepare the modules for the Certificate Course which is to commence from 15
January 2005.
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Governance - Pradeepa
Gender / Community Participation – Wijaya
Leadership – Tennakoon
Media and Communication - Mahim
IT
- Shironica
Local Government – Nandani
English – SLIDA
Another lengthy discussion was held regarding the medium of instruction. It was agreed that the
first course should be conducted in English with simultaneous translation facilities provided
whenever possible. This would enable the people from grass roots (real target group) to benefit
from the course. 35 participants will follow the first course. The four NGOs who belonged to
GROW I will be able to nominate two people each for the course while the newly formed NGO
Coalition Members will be entitled to send one participant each for the course. In addition other
participants from the Government Sector will be identified by Nandani from the Local
Government Net Work. The course will be conducted at SLIDA two-week days for a period of
six months. Food and lodging will be provided free of charge by SLIDA. Participants should be
screened by the respective NGOs to identify people with passes in Advanced Level and
knowledge of English. Each lecturer to give the entire contents of the course so that it could be
transferred to the Distance Learning method by the Open University.
She also mentioned that after the first course is completed there is a possibility of conducting a
Distance Training Course and a module could be prepared in Sinhala and Tamil to cater to more
beneficiaries.
As the Certificate Course and the Diploma will be awarded by NIU, SLIDA and the Open
University Prof. Uma mentioned that permission of the Senate and the Council has to be
obtained at the earliest to fulfill the requirement of the Open University.
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NGO Coalition
Seela had received replies from the following NGOs confirming their willingness to be in the
coalition.
1. Women’s Savings Effort – Wilpotha
2. Lawyers for Human Rights and Development
3. Institute of Social Development
In case any NGO is not willing to be in the Coalition the following additional NGOs were
identified by CAG –

Uva Community Development Centre, Badulla

Sinhala Tamil Rural Women Network, Nuwara Eliya

Social Mobilisation Foundation, Hambantota
The following CAG members to contact the Coalition NGOs who had not replied still
Siyath Foundation & Women’s Development Centre – Prof. Jayaweera
SEEDO, Ampara & Community Development Organisation, Puttalam – Ms. Ismail
Sinhala Kantha Sangvidanaya – Ms. Iriyagolla
The next meeting will be held at 9 a.m .on 10th December at Muslim Women’s Research and
Action Forum (MWRAF) 73/19 E, Temple Road, Off Kirulapone Avenue, Colombo 6,
Seela
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