WILAT Sri Lanka lays road map to success

WiLAT (Women in Logistics and Transportation) is the women’s body of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and was formed with the objective to promote and encourage the art and science of logistics and transport. Since its formation in 2013, WiLAT plays an active role in promoting gender diversity in the industry through value adding activities.   

WiLAT conducted a Strategic Planning workshop to lay down a manifesto and a road map to success on 30 May at the EFL Campus. The workshop was conducted by WiLAT Sri Lanka Chairperson Gayani de Alwis, for the newly elected Executive Committee. At the workshop de Alwis spelt out the objectives and the structure of the year plan of WiLAT by aligning the actions to sub committees under the respective Vice Chairpersons, Anoma Ranasinghe, Niroza Gazzali and Kamanie Ekanayake to have more focus and clarity under the identified areas.  

She also stressed on the need to develop interventions with vigour to create awareness, attraction, progression and retention of relevant stakeholders and the importance of embracing this model to add value to them.  

The ExCo brainstormed for the SWOT analysis keeping in mind the changing and demanding dynamics of the industry. The respective subcommittees developed their individual action plans whilst aligning the related events for the year with the overall strategic plan. This was followed by the publicity and media plan to educate, create awareness and connect the key stakeholders of the industry to promote and attract the future generations to the Logistics, Transportation and Supply Chain arena which was presented by Amra Zareer, ExCo member.    

To add some excitement and fun to the workshop Exco member Maithree Attanayaka, conducted some team building activities which helped to interact and get to know each other better. Judging by the active participation, the outcome of the workshop was a resounding success.   

In conclusion of the workshop de Alwis stressed the importance of collaborating with other women’s bodies to carry out joint activities this year to derive synergies and achieve the common objective to increase gender diversity to create value for the respective professions. Continuous professional development will be a top priority for WiLAT this year. WiLAT Global convention will be held in Dubai from 12 to 13 September and a delegation from Sri Lanka will participate she said. WiLAT intends to organise a walk in August and a members day in December in addition to many value adding activities for their members.  The signature event of WiLAT, ‘Ignite’ mentoring program will be celebrated with a new outlook in November she added.

 

The main objective of WiLAT is to promote and encourage the art and science of logistics and transport. WiLAT is a part of an ever expanding global network within CILT. The Global launch of WiLAT was held on 3 June 2013 in Sri Lanka during the CILT international convention. Currently, WiLAT is present in 17 countries with over 1,800 members in the global network which is expanding rapidly. WiLAT Sri Lanka is one of the five pioneering fora of the global network and was established on 21 March 2013. 

The underlying mission of WiLAT is to provide a forum for women engaged in the industry to network and provide opportunities for career advancement and to empower women to become leading professionals in the industry. WiLAT also emphasises to create awareness on career opportunities in the industry, provide access to information sources on continuous professional development, provide networking opportunities to share best practices, provide training and mentoring opportunities to make a positive contribution, continuously develop and nurture a talent pipeline for the industry and to drive change in industry through diversity.