UPEI Shares Expertise with Sri Lanka
Professors from the University of Prince Edward Island are applying their skills as educators and researchers to assist the Ampara District of Sri Lanka. They are working with Canadian and local organizations to improve living conditions for people in the area whose lives were devastated by the tsunami two years ago.
Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-President of Academic Development at UPEI, is overseeing three Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded projects in the Ampara District. The first is called The Development of a Holistic Child Intervention Program. She is working with Dr. Kim Critchley, UPEI Dean of Nursing, to develop a program for children who have been placed in a safe house. These children are former child soldiers or children who have experienced domestic violence.
"The safe house is a haven for children who experience violence and are removed from their homes by the courts. Children stay in the safe house for up to three months. There are three staff members at the present who provide care only," explains Dr. Timmons who, like Dr. Critchley, is a member of the UPEI Children's Health Applied Research Team (CHART). CHART will be working with South Eastern University, the Probation Department of the Government of Sri Lanka, and UNICEF to set up a demonstration site in the safe house which trains community workers to assess children's needs, develop programs, and evaluate their effectiveness.
The second project, Human Rights and Peace Education, involves Dr. Graham Pike, Dean of Education, and Dr. Wimal Rankaduwa, Coordinator of the UPEI International Development Studies Program. As its title suggests, the project aims to develop awareness and skills in children and youth on issues relating to human rights and peace. They will be working with South Eastern University, teacher training colleges, and local NGOs to prepare training workshops that focus on communication skills, team building, self-esteem building, decision-making and negotiation skills.
Dr. Rankaduwa, in cooperation with Professor Tim Carroll from the UPEI School of Business, will also play a key role in a third project to develop a practical business planning program to assist the small- and medium-sized business sector to overcome the considerable challenges that face the sector in a post-tsunami environment. He is working in association with the business faculty at South Eastern University.
After the tsunami of 2004 ravaged Sri Lanka, Dr. Rankaduwa helped to start a fundraising drive at UPEI to create the Island People's Medical Centre. Members of his extended family, who live in Sri Lanka, led this effort in which 12 centres treated people displaced by the tsunami in the southern area of the country.
UPEI is working in Sri Lanka in conjunction with the Canadian Agro Sustainability Partnership Inc. (CASP), Canada's largest strategic alliance that mobilizes and co-ordinates Canadian interests and expertise in international sustainable agriculture.
