Programs
Democracy and Governance
Current Programs:
Supporting Regional Governance (SURG) (2008 - 2011)
This program will facilitate post-conflict transformation in the Eastern Province that began in 2007 and increase citizen engagement in regional and local government, strengthen inter-community reconciliation, and promote social equity through the following four components:
1. Social Equity:
- Increase local information and knowledge to improve human security by improving access to national, regional, and local services. Examples include education services, accessing the justice sector, economic opportunities, and humanitarian aid;
As part of the SuRG program, Local Authority leaders meet with USAID staff to discuss current needs in communities recovering from the conflict in the Eastern Province.
- Expand the range of civil society organizations which promote social equity as an integral part of their mandate, such as cooperative societies, trade unions, farmers' societies, and district chambers of commerce; and,
- Train members of provincial bar associations and the regional judiciary to increase the potential of the legal system to support conflict transformation.
2. Local Governance:
- Provide technical assistance and training for regional and local government officials to improve participatory planning, budgeting, and financial management; and,
- Provide language training in Tamil or Sinhala to targeted provincial and local government officials.
3. Community Empowerment and Transformation:
- Strengthen key national peace mechanisms; and
- Increase citizen participation in governance by expanding consultations between communities and government institutions to promote community-led development and mitigate local conflict.
4. Open Dialogue:
- Support national and regional journalist organizations and train print, radio, and television journalists from the Eastern Province to improve reporting of regional news; and
- Facilitate reporting by regional media outlets on the impact of national developments on the regions.
Enhanced Capacity for Relationship Building among Indigenous Actors (ECRB)
(February 2009 - July 2010)
USAID has granted $600,000 to Mercy Corps to strengthen multi-ethnic associations so they will act as a force for peace and reconciliation in eastern Sri Lanka.
This 18-month program has three goals. First, it will work to improve the ability of community leaders to resolve conflict and build bridges amongst all ethnic groups through training in mediation and reconciliation, and the sharing of best practices to promote tolerance and understanding. Second, the program will strengthen a range of civic associations so they can promote their interests in peaceful ways through training in negotiation, joint problem solving, and advocacy. Finally, ECRB will work with these civic associations to identify and implement projects that will build ties across communities.
ECRB will be based in Ampara District. Mercy Corps will implement the program in partnership with the Inter-Religious Federation of Ampara District (IRFAD), a local organization representing all major religions in the country. The program will also provide capacity-building technical assistance to IRFAD.
Recently Completed Programs:
Building and Strengthening Civic Foundations for Sustainable Peace (Completed August 2008)
USAID supported the 64 "Peoples Forums" dedicated to promoting peace, good governance and democracy throughout the country. These forums included representatives from all aspects of civil society including government officials,
A villager makes a point ahead of a recent USAID-supported People's Forum meeting.
religious leaders, business owners and professionals, laborers, farmers, fishermen, and regional journalists, with all three ethnic groups and age groups represented. Forty-eight percent (48%) of the participants were women. The forums implemented 35 projects through small grants given by USAID, and they developed people's action plans for the second round. The forums also formed seven regional networks and a national network, which transformed into a National People's Forum Federation.
The program supported capacity building in the Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM). With USAID support, PSM established five regional offices in Ampara, Puttalam, Batticaloa, Galle and Trincomalee, nine human security monitoring committees, and five Muslim peace assemblies in the East. The program supported the development of a long-term strategic plan for PSM and a series of consensus building workshops.
Combating Corruption (Completed October 2007)
USAID funded the Sri Lanka Anti-Corruption Program (ACP) and assisted relevant Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) institutions and civil society organizations in developing and strengthening measures to combat corruption, with a particular emphasis on monitoring the disbursement of tsunami-related development assistance. The program strengthened the capacity of the Department of the Auditor General (AGD), the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABC), and various local and national civil society organizations to deal with corruption.
In addition to the training programs and workshops conducted for the officials of the AGD and CIABC, the ACP implemented an awareness raising campaign and established a coalition of civil society organizations to combat corruption. A number of research papers on subjects such as "The Impact of Corruption on Poverty and Economic Growth", "Analysis of Anti-corruption and Related Laws," and "Weapons for Fighting Corruption" were produced and disseminated. Television and radio spots were produced and broadcast, a children's book was published, and an educational program was initiated in partnership with the Ministry of Education. With the participation of stakeholders nationwide, a National Anticorruption Action Plan was prepared and presented to the government authorities and to non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Increasing Local Government Capacity for Good Governance (Completed September 2007)
USAID provided training and technical assistance to officials from 35 local authorities, including 13 in the Eastern Province, eight in the Southern, five in the North Central, four in the North Western, three in the Central, and one in Uva. Of these local authorities, 22 came from tsunami-affected districts, where challenges were more acute, and 13 came from non-tsunami-affected districts. Training included financial management and budget design, service delivery, community consultations, and good governance practices.
The program promoted collaboration between local government and civil society, and representatives from civil society organizations working in both non-tsunami and tsunami affected districts were trained in project management. To support officials trained in financial management, USAID provided our local authority partners with computers, printers and fax machines. The program replicated 18 best practices in management and service delivery with our local authority partners, including a locally designed financial reporting system.
Study tours were arranged for local officials to observe indigenous best practices in financial management and service delivery. The program provided technical assistance and training to improve service delivery to the community. Each local authority, in consultation with the community, prioritized one service delivery area and developed a three- to five-year development plan.
Officials from 22 partners were trained in facilitating community consultations, which helped authorities develop and implement tsunami recovery plans. It also enabled USAID partners to establish citizen committees to collaborate with local government. USAID provided funds to tsunami-affected local government partners to hire much-needed technical staff, allowing partners to address critical tsunami recovery priorities.
A Leading Practices Symposium on local government was held in Colombo in July 2007, and a city link program was established between Vancouver, Washington and two Sri Lankan municipalities: Anuradaupura Municipal Council and Kataragama Pradeshiya Sabha.
Increasing Equitable Access to Dispute Resolution Resources (Completed September 2007)
USAID supported the training of 4,150 mediators from the Ministry of Justice's Community Mediation Boards. More than 1,100 community advocates were trained as paralegals. These community champions were drawn from targeted vulnerable groups: plantation sector workers, internally displaced persons and tsunami affected communities.
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