Sri Lanka Project (GROW II) Advisory Committee
February 14, 2006 (Tuesday) 1.30 p.m to 3.30 p.m.
Seminar Room, Learning Center
Present: Phyllis Cunningham, Jaya Gajanayake, Laurel Jeris, Kay Forest, Gene Roth, Meena Razvi, Ida
Mandica, Rey Ty, and Nalika Diyadawa
Minutes of the Meeting:
 Gene Roth moved for the approval of minutes and Kay Forest seconded the motion.
 Jaya introduced Ida and Rey as the planning team for the forthcoming GROW seminar to
be held on April 5 and thanked them for their participation in the meeting and for the
support they give to the project.
 Update on project activities
Jaya gave a brief overview of the project related activities since her reporting during her
last Advisory Committee meeting. The major highlights included:
 Jaya will depart to Sri Lanka on May 18 for one month work in Sri Lanka. Work
will involve a workshop for the Diploma group, end-of- project seminar planning
work, pre-seminar on June 12, end-of project seminar on June 16, and model
villages’ related work.
 Laurel will leave on June8/9th for one month stay, also to conduct a workshop for
the Diploma Group and carry out other work mentioned above
 Kay will leave on June 8th for 12 days. Her major work in Sri Lanka will be to
participate in the Sri Lanka seminar as a representative from NIU, and also to
carry out an end –of-the project evaluation, partnering with a local consultant.
End-of-Project Seminar in Sri Lanka
Jaya indicated that the end-of-the-project seminar in Sri Lanka will revolve around the GROW
Declaration, specifically to assess its progress so far and the road ahead. She indicated that 33%
women representation as was requested in the GROW Declaration has become somewhat more
complex since the election manifesto of the new President calls for 25% women participation.
During the next advisory (CAG) meeting of the Sri Lankan partners, this issue on the quota
system for women will be the major agenda item and also the planning for the Sri Lanka
seminar.
 New proposal (State Department)
Jaya updated the committee on the new proposal. She indicated that the proposal had
been already submitted to the State Department by the Office of Sponsored Projects.
 NIU seminar in April
Most of the meeting time was centered on planning for the NIU seminar, now scheduled
for Wednesday April 5 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30 at Barsema Visitor Center.
 Jaya mentioned that this is the most important project related NIU event and the
best opportunity to share the GROW II project experience with NIU community,
specifically with the students. Therefore, she indicated that it is very important to
market the seminar among students and in this regard the faculty members in AC
will have a major role. Jaya requested the professors in the AC to invite their
graduate classes to attend the seminar. She further mentioned that majority of the
participants in the last project seminar were students from CAHE, an outcome of
the marketing efforts by Laurel.
 Rey presented a detailed marketing strategy that he is hoping to carry out for the
seminar. Components included securing support from the co-sponsors, interviews
with the Northern Star and multiple web-site postings.
 Phyllis mentioned that involvement of students in the seminar to share their
experiences on international development should be considered important. Also
the methodology of presentations should be conversational and interactive and
should try to avoid slide shows and power point presentations.
 Roth indicated that making the seminar the weekly meeting of graduate classes by
the professors in lieu of their usual meeting day could be encouraged.
 Laurel invited Gene Roth to be the keynote speaker
 Other major “speeches” in the seminar prior to the keynote speech are: (a)
Provost on Memoirs on Sri Lanka (b) Deb Pierce - Welcome and the Impact of
NIU/Sri Lanka Partnership
 “A Conversation with GROW Advisory Committee” – is the other major agenda
item. Meena Razvi, Kay Forest agreed to participate in this. It was mentioned
that the other AC members should be consulted for their possible participation in
the panel.
 Phyllis reiterated the need to involve community members in the seminar. Kay
stressed the importance of building intellectual network in general.
 The meeting adjourned at 3.30 p.m.