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| Viluthu Releases its calender 2012 |
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Ahavili, the popular educational publication of Viluthu comes back again in December 2011. This publication has been temporarily suspended with its 76th issue in December 2010 due to a financial crisis. Viluthu had strived hard since January 2011, and finally secured funds from one of its donors during September 2011. After a lapse of 11 months, Ahavili would be in the hands of its readers from December 2011. The editorial board of Ahavili has undergone changes and appropriate personnel have been included into the new editorial Board. The first meeting of the new editorial board was convened on the 15th of October. A handbill describing the recommencement of the publication has been distributed to Schools, Libraries and Educational Institutions. The 2011 December issue of Ahavili would be available on Monday the 19th of December. |
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Viluthu has published the quarterly newsletter by the name ‘Thalaivi’ (the feminine name for leader) on behalf of the Womens Rural Development Societies (WRDSs) in August 2011. This newsletter has been published in order to establish and maintain better relationships between these WRDSs and to share the experiences in terms of the success of the projects implemented by these societies. This newsletter carries stories of good practices, exceptional leaders, news and views of the members of the WRDSs, and articles commenting on the on-going development schemes in the villages. |
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Irukkiram is once again facing a financial crisis as theVeerakesari, one of the leading daily newspapers of the Express News Papers of Ceylon (Private) Limited, which had undertaken the printing and distribution of Irukkiram, informed us of the inability to extend their support anymore. Therefore we are compelled to suspend the publication of this magazine till we secure funds to continue our efforts. We express our sincere thanks to the Express News Papers of Ceylon Limited for their support extended to Viluthu.
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Training Of Trainers Programme On Mediation |
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A
training of trainers workshop on Mediation was held on the 26th and
27th of November 2011 at ESID, Havelock Road, Colombo 06. The Resource
persons were Mr. M. Thirunavukarasu, a lawyer by profession and Mrs. Sarojini
Kanendran, the Chairperson of Viluthu. The TOT was conducted in order to train
the mediators from the districts covered by the Viluthu branch offices. It is
expected that these trainers will conduct training programs from January to
March 2012 to participants who would be the nominees not only in conflict
mitigation, but also become role models
of the society, who can bring about a change towards equity and social
integration. Such persons, as Viluthu believes will become good mediators when they sit in sessions of
the Mediation Board, if selected.
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Awarding Of Certificates For TOT Participants |
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Viluthu has successfully conducted a Training of Trainers programme in ‘Gender and Development’ in the Jaffna District. The participants of this programme were awarded with certificates of merit during a ceremony which was held in Jaffna at the Kailasapathy Arts Theatre of the University of Jaffna on the 5th of November 2011. The District Secretary of Jaffna, Mrs. Imelda Sugumar was the Chief Guest of the occasion while several distinguished personalities graced the occasion as guest speakers. |
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Annual Progress Review Of Viluthu\'s Programmes |
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The residential sessions of the progress review were held for five days from 26th to 30th September 2011, in Colombo. The aim of the review was to analyze the past performance, including the achievements and setbacks faced by the different programmes implemented by Viluthu in the four districts. The District Officers, Documentation Officers, and Field Officers of the Viluthu\'s branches in the districts of Jaffna, Puttalam, Trincomalee and Batticaloa participated in these sessions. The sessions were facilitated by the C.E.O and specialized persons in the field of counseling and relationship building. The Chairperson and the members of the Board participated and encouraged the officers for their commitment and effort to highlight the programmes of Viluthu.
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Yet Another Collaboration Forged! |
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Viluthu signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Foundation, a pioneering state Institute mandated for Adult Education, on 15th September 2011 to jointly conduct a course in Journalism in Tamil. The six month course on journalism has been conducted by Viluthu since 2009 and more than 80 men and women have benefited through the four batches of course conducted till end of June 2011. The Sri Lanka Foundation in appreciation of the Journalism Course conducted by Viluthu has come forward to collaborate with Viluthu and jointly conduct the course. This course would be conducted at the SLF and the first advertisement for the next batch of course would be published during the 2nd week of October 2011.
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Completed Projects |
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The consultancy services offered by the World Bank to Viluthu in order to Improve Women’s Access to Livelihood Opportunities and Local Services in the Post-Conflict Context of Sri Lanka has been completed. The project consisted of four stages, a literature survey, consultation with stakeholders, review of the implementation manuals of the NELSIP and RaP programmes and pilot participatory projects. All four stages have been completed and the final report containing the findings and the recommendations has been submitted to the World Bank.
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Ms. Sharifa Khanam, an internationally acclaimed Human Rights Activist and a reputed gender trainer from Tamil Nadu visited Sri Lanka on the invitation Viluthu from 23rd to 28th November 2011. She is the President of the STEPS organization in Tamil Nadu, South India, and works for the Muslim women. She has taken the leading role in resolving community and family related disputes.
During her stay in Sri Lanka, she was invited to speak at the following meetings organized by Viluthu.
- Meeting with the Media Group of Viluthu in Colombo.
- Meeting with Viluthu’s Project Partners (Women Defining Peace) in Colombo
- Meeting with the grass root women in Puttalam.
- Meeting with the grass root women from Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara, in Batticaloa.
At the end of her whirlwind tour, she was asked to revive, guiding suggestions to improve the projects of Viluthu and for which she replied, “you all have done so much. Even back at home we do not have the kind of empowered women that you seem to have. Let us plan for mutual beneficial exchange programmes between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka”. So Viluthu is now looking to organize such exchange programmes twice an year. |
Observing the low voter turnouts in the last three elections of the Jaffna Municipal Council elections, the Presidential and the Parliamentary elections, Viluthu began a voter education project in late February 2011. It used a study circle reader, a 20 minute short film titled “Speak through your Vote” as tools to raise awareness in view of the upcoming local government elections in the North.
Viluthu considers the Pre-School activity important as this is the foundation for a child’s development. But these pre-schools are run by NGOs and Private individuals. In most cases the pre-school teachers is either not paid any salary or poorly paid. Therefore qualified people do not come forward to serve these pre-schools. People with basic G.C.E. (O/L) qualification and not doing anything at home, join as pre-school teachers. These pre-school teachers are not exposed to any systematic training and also they do not have any job security. There exist no control systems for these pre-schools. Therefore Viluthu began an advocacy for persuading the Eastern Provincial Council to take responsibility for pre-schools. Viluthu’s Study Circle of resource persons took this up. They invited Mr. Parasuraman, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council, for a meeting in 2009. He agreed to take this issue as a legislation to be passed by the Provincial Council. Repeated meetings with the councilors eventually brought about a pre-school statute enacted by the Eastern Provincial Council. Following this three committees, the management committee, the advisory committee and the planning committee have been formed. Arrangements have also been made to register the 1520 pre-schools in the Eastern Province and information has been gathered of the 3338 pre-school teachers in order to revise their salaries.
The war affected community is presently returning to their home places, to a totally devastated physical and social infrastructure. The struggle for survival is the symbol of their life style. This also means that their lives are beset with conflicts in the competition to access and control land and other resources. Furthermore, the dismembering of community life has mean the break up of nuclear families leading to the destitution of the women. This community is in dire need of legal assistance, which again, is long drawn and very expensive. The Mediation Boards have become the panacea of the marginalized rural community desperately looking for alternative avenues of conflict resolution.
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