Telecentres are the only windows to Information Communication Technology in many parts of Sri Lanka. These are run by Telecentre operators, who have been trained to disperse this information. A workshop organized by Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya and supported by the Information and Communications Technology Agency (ICTA) and Telecentre.org, a collaborative initiative of IDRC in Canada and Microsoft was held on the 26th and 27th September for these operators. Titled “Networking Grassroots – ICT for People” the workshop provided a platform for these operators to share their experiences, table their problems, and seek solutions as a group. The program also aimed to develop the capabilities of the operators.
Sarvodaya has been honored by the United Nations for its outstanding humanitarian work after the catastrophic Tsunami of last December. The organization has been presented the 2005 Habitat Scroll of Honor award, a prize that is granted annually by the United Nations Human Settlement Program for outstanding work in the field of settlement and shelter. Sarvodaya is among 8 awardees this year.
Click here to view UN Press Release on 2005 Habitat Scroll of Honor Award
In an electronic letter dated September 7th, Francisco Vasquez, the World Habitat Day Coordinator of the program, informed Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, the Executive Director of Sarvodaya, of the honor. Vasquez wrote that Sarvodaya was awarded the Habitat prize because of “the way its well established network was able to intervene effectively when the country was hit by last year’s devastating Tsunami. Within hours, the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement opened a national operations centre that provided half a million dollars worth of humanitarian aid in the first three months.” He went on to commend the organization for its work in towns and villages across Sri Lanka for almost fifty years to promote peace, adequate water and sanitation, a clean environment, and basic health, education, energy, communication, and housing for everyone. Even as the organization continues with this work, it has also made a large commitment towards the Tsunami recovery effort with an intensive, drawn-out plan, which encompasses not only building new homes and providing material comforts to those who lost theirs to the tidal wave, but also organizing programs to alleviate the mental trauma suffered by them.
It was exactly 180 days ago that the most devastating natural disaster hit the shores of our land. The Tsunami tragedy of December 26th 2004 did not discriminate against any religious, ethnic, class or caste differences. It took away the 40,000 lives and left nearly a million people homeless. Riding on the “waves of compassion” coming from all corners of the world, from people belonging to all walks of life, people with a big heart, Sarvodaya was able to get into action within 2 hours of disaster hitting Sri Lanka and continue to work towards reawakening Sri Lanka. On this day, when we look back on what we have been doing the past 6 months, we would like to again pay our gratitude to all these wonderful people and organizations who made it possible for Sarvodaya to do all what it did up to now to help recover from this tragedy and more importantly, as we reiterated in our Tsunami to Deshodaya Plan 6 months ago, all these contributing to CREATING A NEW SRI LANKA.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Special Envoy Ms.Tokiko Kato visited the Sarvodaya Headquarters on 5th September 2005 to study the Sarvodaya Tsunami recovery programme, particularly the ecology and environment related activities.
Ms.Kato, a well known singer in Japan, was appointed as Special Envoy for UNEP in October 2000 to visit environmental protection and conservation activities taking place at the grassroots level in the Asia Pacific Region and to encourage those involved, as well as publicize these activities. UNEP Special Envoy has been vigorously involved in several environmental protection activities in the region and held exchanges with people through her music.
The 4th International Greenscout Jamboree was held between the 30th August and 2nd September 2005 at Sarvodaya Bhikku Training Center Pathakade, in the Ratnapura District. Greenscout Movement was initiated by the Japan Asia Friendship Society (JAFS), a longstanding partner of Sarvodaya which promotes intercultural understanding and youth development in the Asian region.
A National Workshop to Train Sri Lankan Telecentre Operators and Encourage an Exchange of Ideas on Experience Gained while Running the Centres On 26th and 27th September 2005 at the Vishva Samadhi Hall, Sarvodaya Headquarters.