SCORE, Through Partner Shanthiham, Increases Access to Mental Health Services During Covid-19 Lockdown and Beyond
By Kathya de Silva Senarath The Covid-19 pandemic is not only a health issue— it is also an economic issue with businesses declaring bankruptcy and many losing livelihoods due to lockdowns and other disruptions to the economy. While significant focus must remain on addressing economic shocks and treating the physically ill, the pandemic’s impact on…
Read MoreSCORE-Facilitated Legal Clinic on Radio Creates Awareness Among Communities, Prompts Action
By Kathya de Silva Senarath Many agree that suspicion and cynicism against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka existed for some time alongside the larger ethnic tensions between Sinhalese and Tamils caused by the 30-year civil war. Competition on socio-economic gains, land issues – especially in the North and East – and the general lack…
Read MoreSCORE’s Timely Donations to Combat Covid-19 Help Build Capacities to Speed Up Opening of Kilinochchi Hospital
by Kathya de Silva Senarath The government opened its first regional Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Kilinochchi in the Northern Province on November 11, 2020, as a part of an island-wide program to increase capacities to treat the growing number of Covid-19 patients in the area. The USAID-funded Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE) project,…
Read MoreSCORE Helps Sharpen Women’s Knowledge and Leadership Skills to Promote Good Governance
By Kathya de Silva Senarath Before Covid-19 hit Sri Lanka, long queues were the usual scene at hospitals, and patients had to wait a long time to get medicine. Such was the case at the Vavuniya General Hospital as Samantha Sebanesarani, an Urban Councilor recalls, when she went for checkups. Additionally, the pharmacy closes during…
Read MoreDisabling Myths with Abled Minds
USAID SCORE supports persons with disabilities start livelihoods By Kathya de Silva Senarath Thirty-three-year-old Isuru Piyumal, from the rural village of Nugeyaya in Sri Lanka’s most marginalized Moneragala district, had been a dependent all his life. His parents realized when he was just three months old that he had an intellectual disability, and they did…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Seizes Opportunity for Reconciliation through Channel Repair in Aathiyammankerni
By Kathya de Silva Senarath Tamil and Sinhala villages of Aathiyammankerni and Samagipura in the Trincomalee district have been directly affected by the country’s 30-year conflict that continues to inflame tensions between the two communities. Tensions were aggravated further in 2006 when the LTTE blocked the Mavil Aru sluicegates that brought water to thousands in…
Read MoreSchools Use USAID SCORE-donated COVID-19 Protective Equipment to Ensure Safety to Children Facing Crucial Government Examinations
Sri Lanka is gripped by another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as children prepared to face crucial government examinations of Grade 5 Scholarship and the Advanced Level on October 11 and 12 respectively. The former enables children, especially those in rural areas, the opportunity to attend better schools with more facilities while the latter selects…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE-Donated Equipment Helps Keep School Dengue-Free
By Kathya de Silva Senarath, Reporting Officer, USAID SCORE/Global Communities A public school in Gintota in the South of Sri Lanka is one of the schools that benefitted from USAID Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE)’s COVID-19 island-wide response in mid-August. The school authorities struggled to clean and disinfect their premises due to lack of…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE/RDF-established Water Purification Plant in Vavuniya Provides Clean Water to Residents
N. Sridevi, a single mother of two from Maharambaikulam in the conflict-affected Vavuniya district in the North of Sri Lanka, had been concerned over the area’s drinking water for many years. The people in the North and North Central Provinces have been experiencing high levels of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) for the last decade, and…
Read MoreIn Sri Lanka, Youth Social Media Group Combats Hate Speech and Misinformation
The USAID-funded Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE) provided training to 28 youth leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the Monaragala District to counter the spread of fake news and hate speech online that became rampant following the Easter Sunday bombings, the group learned how to educate people on deciphering legitimate from fake news, in…
Read MoreYouth-led Advocacy Initiatives Creating Communal Harmony and Positive Changes
There are various instances in Sri Lanka’s history when tensions between ethnicities have resulted in turbulence and bloodshed. Over the years, instances such as the insurgencies, three decades of armed conflict and the Easter attacks last year increased distrust and disharmony among ethnicities. Politicians take advantage of ethnic divisions for their political objectives which causes…
Read MoreMaking Schools Safer for Children to Return During COVID-19 in Sri Lanka
By Kathya de Silva Senarath, Reporting Officer, USAID SCORE Program in Sri Lanka As thousands of children returned to school in August following five months of closure, an initiative supported by the United States has helped disinfect schools and ensure a healthy learning environment for Sri Lankan students. In cooperation with regional health and education directors, medical officers,…
Read MoreCOVID-19 Response in Sri Lanka
The Global Communities team in Sri Lanka is collaborating with government health authorities to protect communities from COVID-19. Activities have included addressing the urgent needs of hospitals, schools, health facilities and health workers for personal protective equipment disinfectant equipment, setting up isolation units and other items, and social messaging to raise awareness in targeted populations…
Read MoreCyber Guardians Champion Reconciliation through Social Media
The recent ‘Cyber Guardians Forum – The Role of Social Media in Transforming Sri Lanka,’ organized by Search for Common Ground (SfCG) with USAID SCORE/Global Communities support, revealed several milestone achievements of the SfCG’s Cyber Guardians project under the SCORE program. More than 100 youths were trained in social media at three boot camps, resulting…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Empowers Monaragala Youth to Become Reconciliation Champions on Social Media Platforms
USAID SCORE recently facilitated a group networking session and a workshop for 26 youth from Moneragala selected with the support of the National Youth Services Council based on their interest and capacity and has remained engaged with SCORE in promoting social cohesion and reconciliation on social media. The workshop was a follow-up to previous trainings…
Read MoreEntrepreneurship Development Activity in Sri Lanka Wins Global Communities “One Good Idea” Award
In 2015, Global Communities’ launched the One Good Idea Award as an opportunity to create, innovate and promote learning from within and capture the innovation and learning that occurs at both the headquarters and field level. The Award, which is supported by the Sanders Family Foundation, allows us to reflect on how we can strengthen…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE in Sri Lanka Promotes Beekeeping as an Innovative Way to Mitigate Human-elephant Conflict and Improve Local Livelihoods
Following the community resettlement in 2010, frequent incidents of elephants raiding crops in the Paddikudiyeruppu GN division in Vavuniya North in Sri Lanka have resulted in a number of human casualties as well as severe economic consequences due to crop losses. To mitigate the consequences arising from the human-elephant conflict, the Paddikudiyeruppu community suggested engaging…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Promotes Reconciliation and Social Cohesion Through Youth Sports Festival
Using sports as a vehicle for reconciliation and increased social cohesion, USAID SCORE together with the National Youth Services Council organized a sports festival recently in Maduruketiya, at the school grounds in the Monaragala district. SCORE is a three-year social cohesion and reconciliation activity implemented Global Communities to strengthen Sri Lankan led efforts to advance…
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