SriLankan Cares launches project to uplift youth in Mullaitivu District

Exchanging the MOU documents (from left): SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Cares Manager Niroshan Ranawake, Foundation of Goodness Research and Development Manager Suranga Jayasekera, Foundation of Goodness Head of Project Management Fazana Ibrahim, Foundation of Goodness Founder/Chief Trustee Kushil Gunasekera, SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ajith Dias, SriLankan Village Heartbeat Project Project Ambassador Anushka Ekanayake, SriLankan Airlines Head of Human Resources Pradeepa Kekulawala 

SriLankan Cares, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of SriLankan Airlines, has embarked on a remarkable journey to empower and uplift thousands of youth, women and children in the Mullaitivu District, one of Sri Lanka’s most underprivileged regions.

SriLankan Cares entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Foundation of Goodness for a commendable long-term collaborative effort through the Village Heartbeat Project. 

The MOU was signed on behalf of SriLankan Airlines by Chairman Ajith Dias and Head of Human Resources Pradeepa Kekulawala, and on behalf of the Foundation of Goodness by Founder and Chief Trustee Kushil Gunasekera and Head of Project Management Fazana Ibrahim at SriLankan Airlines’ Boardroom in Colombo’s World Trade Centre.

SriLankan Cares will use its wide-ranging resources to actively source funding for the construction of a full-fledged training facility at the Village Heartbeat Project Centre that the Foundation of Goodness is setting up at Oddusudan in the Mullaitivu District. The training facility, which will also be equipped and maintained by SriLankan Cares, will be utilised for a tremendous range of highly valuable educational and vocational programmes for youth, children and women in the entire Mullaitivu District. One of the most underprivileged areas of the country, with a population of just under 100,000 scattered in far flung areas, the Mullaitivu District has fewer modern facilities and opportunities of empowerment and upliftment than most other areas of the country.

The facility will include a sophisticated computer training centre equipped with 10 modern personal computers; a community centre; and a fully equipped library. This would enable the centre to be utilised for free-of-charge educational and training programs for youth, children and women, including English classes, Year Five Scholarship classes, Women’s Enterprise Courses, Youth and Women’s Empowerment Programs, Children’s Goodness Club meetings, Village and Environment Improvement Plans, Spiritual Training to improve the quality of life, Volunteer Expertise oriented programs, and much more.

SriLankan Cares’ support would go towards construction, equipment and the maintenance of staff. Construction of the centre is expected to take six months and it is scheduled for completion in September 2017. SriLankan would also provide support for maintenance of the centre through March 2020. The Foundation of Goodness will provide land in Oddusuddan for the centre, coordinate its construction and carry out training programs and administration functions of the centre.