Workshop on “Leadership and Community Action” Hatton, July 17th 2010
A one day workshop on “Leadership and Community Action” was held at the SIDA Training Centre in Hatton by Peace Initiatives teams under the broader plan of supporting and collaborating with Community Based Organizations for peace and reconciliation.
The objective was to create a formally structured group of people in the plantation sector with a mandate for future work with increased awareness and concern on community issues and developed leadership skills to address these issues
The target group was local activists selected from the previous two consultative meetings based on their interest and activism. A total of 22 with 16 male and 6 female participants of Indian Tamil origin attended. They represented diverse professional backgrounds such as government school teachers, NGO workers, journalists and estate factory officers with most of the participants being school teachers which paves the way for empowerment through education
The importance of forming a group of leaders in the plantation sector was discussed by NPC’s National Coordinator, Mr. Nathan as it will enable them to continuously support everyone in their community. The resource person, Prof. Mookiah, addressing the participants emphasized that there’s a dearth of members in the parliament representing the plantation sector community and therefore, a need exists to fill this lacuna by empowering them to become leaders initially in their local community. The need to expand the work of NPC to central province was highlighted by the Executive Director, Dr. Jehan Perera as minority problems are not only confined to North and East areas in the country.
In the open forum, the participants opened up about different problems and discriminations they are exposed to such as their lands for home gardens being captured by the ethnic Sinhalese villagers in their neighborhood, depriving them of celebrating their cultural practices which coincide with celebrations of the Sinhalese, obstructions for trading in their own language during Buddhist pilgrimages, being subject to open criticisms during victory day celebrations even after one year from ending the war.
The participants were motivated to work as a group of leaders in their local community and to create a committee with a formal structure and a mandate. Their awareness on issues pertaining to the plantation sector and opportunities to address these issues was improved through information shared during the discussions. As a whole, a group of local leaders in the plantation sector with an interest for activism was created and motivated to continue not only a dialogue but also activism for social betterment and economic empowerment.
The members of the newly set up working committee of the Plantation People’s Forum for Alternatives will be meeting on July 27th to plan future actions and projects.
Following this workshop, NPC expects the Plantation People’s Forum for Alternatives in Hatton will continue a dialogue on issues in the plantation sector and will look to support their efforts to socially and economically give voice to community issues in order to bring justice by sensitizing and convincing the local authorities and political leaders.
Mr. Jeyaraj, Coordinator of the PPFA A participant addressing during the
addressing the participants during discussion session
the introductory session
