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- Your excellencies
- High commissioners and Ambassadors associated with the Coaching in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building Initiatives and FLICT,
- CCPI First batch of consultants,
- Ladies and gentlemen.
At the outset I would like to thank the organizers of this event for giving me this opportunity to address you this evening.
My Ministry and I are extremely proud to be associated with this very important Endeavour. The Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration being the present counterpart Ministry, has seen FLICT grow from very modest beginnings from 2003 to a project with over a hundred partners. But it continues to have a small project unit to undertake all the management, facilitation and coaching work. We, members of the steering committee and the donor group agreed to their concerns of the need for a mechanism to provide coaching services through a pool of trained certified consultants. We felt that this approach makes a perfectly sensible solution compared to having a large pool of people at the project unit.
My Ministry as you may be aware has a joint portfolio of Constitution Making and National Integration, both critically important at this juncture of Sri Lanka's history. If I may indulge our "Vision" is A constitutional order that ensures unity in diversity, peace and good governance " and with a stated mission as " Formulate policies, programs and strategies, and implement them in order to achieve constitutional changes that reflect the will of the people, and promote power sharing, ethnic and religious harmony, peace building and national integration ".
These core values are operationalized in all of the structures and programs we implement. The mission is implemented, through different models and FLCT is one such model Except for FLICT the other models are administrative and management systems of the government of Sri Lanka. FLICT, is administered by GTZ the development Cooperation management arm of the Government of Germany. Of course the project is further unique in that the governments of United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Denmark have contributed funds and technical know-how. This is a unique situation, again reflecting an acceptance of diversity in organizational structures to transfer knowledge and deliver services in managing cultural diversity and governance.
I believe that all who undertake peace, good governance and related work are engaged in effecting changes and therefore are compelled to meet challenges. The inference that is to be drawn is that change is difficult and more challenging and in these times it calls for courage and professionalism. The consultants who are trained by us in the CCPI program need to bear this small but vital message in mind – be courageous and be professional in all you do.
Thank you. |
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