SriLankan Cares launches project to uplift youth in Mullaitivu District | Sunday Observer

SriLankan Cares launches project to uplift youth in Mullaitivu District

26 March, 2017
Exchanging the MOU documents:  L-R Niroshan Ranawake - SriLankan Cares Manager, SriLankan Airlines, Suranga Jayasekera - Research and Development Manager, Foundation of Goodness, Fazana Ibrahim - Head of Project Management, Foundation of Goodness, Kushil Gunasekera - Founder/Chief Trustee Foundation of Goodness, Ajith Dias Chairman - SriLankan Airlines, Anushka Ekanayake -  Project Ambassador SriLankan Village Heartbeat Project, PradeepaKekulawala - Head of Human Resources, SriLankan Airlines
Exchanging the MOU documents: L-R Niroshan Ranawake - SriLankan Cares Manager, SriLankan Airlines, Suranga Jayasekera - Research and Development Manager, Foundation of Goodness, Fazana Ibrahim - Head of Project Management, Foundation of Goodness, Kushil Gunasekera - Founder/Chief Trustee Foundation of Goodness, Ajith Dias Chairman - SriLankan Airlines, Anushka Ekanayake - Project Ambassador SriLankan Village Heartbeat Project, PradeepaKekulawala - Head of Human Resources, SriLankan Airlines

SriLankan Cares, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of SriLankan Airlines, has embarked on a remarkable journey to empower and uplift thousands of youth, women and children in the Mullaitivu District, one of Sri Lanka’s most underprivileged regions.

SriLankan Cares entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Foundation of Goodness for a commendable long-term collaborative effort through the Village Heartbeat Project.

The MOU was signed on behalf of SriLankan Airlines by Ajith Dias, Chairman, and Pradeepa Kekulawala, Head of Human Resources; and on behalf of the Foundation of Goodness by Kushil Gunasekera, Founder and Chief Trustee, and Fazana Ibrahim, Head of Project Management, at the SriLankan Airlines’ Boardroom in Colombo’s World Trade Centre.

SriLankan Cares will use its wide-ranging resources to actively source funding for the construction of a full-fledged Training Facility at the Village Heartbeat Project Centre that the Foundation of Goodness is setting up at Oddusudan in the Mullaitivu District. The Training Facility, equipped and maintained by SriLankan Cares, will be utilized for a tremendous range of highly valuable educational and vocational programs for youth, children and women in the entire Mullaitivu District. One of the most underprivileged areas of the country, with a population of just under 100,000 scattered in far flung areas, the Mullaitivu District has fewer modern facilities and opportunities of empowerment and upliftment than most other areas.

The facility will include a sophisticated Computer Training Centre equipped with ten modern personal computers; a Community Centre; and a fully equipped Library. This would enable the centre to be utilized for free-of-charge educational and training programs for youth, children and women, including English classes, Year Five Scholarship classes, Women’s Enterprise Courses, Youth and Women’s Empowerment Programs, Children’s Goodness Club meetings, Village and Environment Improvement Plans, Spiritual Training to improve the quality of life, Volunteer Expertise oriented programs, and much more.

SriLankan Cares’ support would go towards construction, equipment and the maintenance of staff. Construction of the centre is expected to take six months and is scheduled for completion in September 2017. SriLankan would also provide support for maintenance of the centre through March 2020. The Foundation of Goodness will provide land in Oddusuddan for the centre, coordinate its construction and carry out training programs and administration functions of the centre.

SriLankan Cares carries out a wide range of activities in three main focal areas – Child, Planet and Talent – aimed at uplifting underprivileged segments of society and protecting the environment. It often works with other charitable organisations and CSR initiatives of Sri Lanka’s many corporate houses, and has worked with the Foundation of Goodness on many occasions.

SriLankan Cares has identified child mental health as an area requiring attention and built the first ever Multi-disciplinary Child Psychiatric Ward at Lady Ridgeway Hospital in Colombo. Taking this initiative forward, the Village Heartbeat Project hopes to widen its scope as a development plan for national child psychiatry services and will act as a hub for special programs to enhance the child mental health development programs in the North.

The Foundation of Goodness has constructed centres in several locations throughout Sri Lanka through the Village Heartbeat Project. The first centre was launched in 2007 at Udumulla near Hikkaduwa, followed by a similar centre in nearby Rathgama, and then more centres farther afield in Monaragala and Matara. 

 

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