Project Implementation

Thirteen geographic areas were selected for project implementation in the first year. The following criteria were adopted in the selection of the geographic areas:

1. Poverty and remoteness
2. Include at least one area from each of the provinces so that all provinces are represented and also for ethnic diversity.

Geographic Areas Selected

• Kolonna
• Aranayake
• Hingurakgoda
• Padaviya
• Katuwana
• Ambagamuwa
• Chavakachcheri
• Uhana
• Kalmunai
• Soranathota
• Siyambalanduwa
• Anamaduwa
• Kaduwela

The activities carried out in the regions can be summarized as follows;

• Workshop on the theme "Children's Rights are Human Rights" for Grama Niladharis in the Katuwana DS Division - 19th February 2005

• Awareness program for Samurdhi officers on "Children's Rights, Women's Rights and Mediation Boards" - 12th March 2005 at the Divisional Secretariat Katuwana.

• Awareness programs for Field Officers attached to the DS office, Youth Leaders, Community Leaders and Agricultural Officers - 29th May, 2005 at the Divisional Secretariat Katuwana and Cultural Centre.

Awareness program for Grama Niladharis and Staff of the Divisional Secretariat - 14th March 2005 at the Divisional Secretariat Aranayake.

• A poster competition was organized amongst five schools in the Kolonna DS Division. The theme of the competition was "SAY NO TO CHILD ABUSE".

• A leaflet was printed in collaboration with the Police Stations of Kolonna and Siyambaladuwa respectively highlighting basic responsibilities and duties of parents in preventing child related offences.

• Through the Legal Aid Foundation and BASL, Legal Aid Desks have been opened in four of the areas selected under the project namely - Hingurakgoda, Badulla (to target Soranathota), Batticaloa and Kalmunai.

• Awareness program for Grama Niladharis in Hingurakgoda - 16th & 17th May, 2005

• Provided Tamil to Sinhala Dictionaries to the two police stations coming within the Chavakachcheri DS Division - the Chavakachcheri and Kodikamam Police Stations.

The Residential Training Programme held from 16th-18th March 2007 at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo is an annual event which brings together regional committee members of the Equal Access to Justice Project from 20 areas of the country namely Katuwana, Kolonna, Aranayake, Hingurakgoda, Padaviya, Ambagamuwa, Chavakachcheri, Uhana, Kalmunai, Soranatota, Siyambalanduwa, Anamaduwa Kaduwela , Neluwa, Walasmulla, Kanthale, Rasnayakapura, Manmunai North, Mannar Town and Hatton.

The Equal Access to Justice Project has as its objective the enhancement of access to justice by disadvantaged groups of the society through the application of a human rights based approach. The mandate of the Project is carried out with the assistance of regional committees established in the above areas comprising of duty bearers and claim holders in the justice sector including divisional secretaries, panelists of mediation boards, lawyers, police officers, prison officers and civil society leaders. This year the conference was held in Colombo with the participation of approximately 150 regional committee members. The fact that all 20 regional committees were represented at this conference including committees from the North and East was very encouraging.

The key note address was delivered by Hon. Karu Jayasuriya, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs on the theme “Delivering a people-friendly service to the public”. Other presentations were made by President’s Counsel Manohara De Silva on Public Interest Litigation, Deputy Solicitor General Sarath Jayamanne on the Role of the Society and Duty Bearers in Facilitating the Administration of Justice, Acting Director General of the Sri Lanka Institute of Bankers Ms. Ranjini Goonethilake on Positive Thinking for Organizational Change.

The highlight of the programme was the group presentations made by the regional committees setting out the activities that have been conducted by them during the year 2006. Participants shared their experience in the regions relating to the conduct of programmes under the project including the identification of strategies to target disadvantaged groups such as the poor, women, children, disabled persons and internally displaced persons, the types of programmes conducted to promote access to justice, the difficulties faced in implementation which proved to be very useful to understand access to justice issues in the different regions. Also it helped to motivate regional committees to follow the example of some regional committees that have performed exceptionally well during the past year and learn from them. A briefing on the mid-term evaluation of the project was also included in the agenda for the benefit of the regional committees where what is recommended for future programming was highlighted. It was a productive conference generating a lot of good ideas and suggestions for our future activities.