Sri Lanka and the Diana Awards 

Yasara Ramanayake, a past pupil of Visakha Vidyalaya, is a graduate from the University of Kelaniya specialised in International Relations and simultaneously holds a LLB from the University of Wolverhampton. 

As a compassionate girl towards social service, she started her journey of helping others at a very early stage. Through the “Cousins Club” which was formed by the siblings and cousins of her family inspired her way forward for community development. Through various fundraising done within family and friends, the club was able to initiate many community projects. 

2015 onwards she has been volunteering largely at many youth organisations in Sri Lanka. She was able to carry herself from being a volunteer to the national co-ordinator at The Road to Rights Youth-Led International Organisation, where she was able to ideate and lead impactful projects that affect the community at large.

The major challenge Yasara faced in her journey was stigma. She said: “When it comes to human rights education, there is a lot of stigma evolving around it.” 

“Volunteerism is a wonderful phase of life. I see it as an experiential learning journey about the community. I invite all the school leavers and young people to join a course and volunteer. That experience will mold you and give you many valuable life experiences to perform better in life while contributing to a good cause for the people and planet,” she added. 

Yasara has been playing leading roles at various initiatives under The Road to Rights, joining multiple national and international level conferences, advocacy initiatives, and activities. Further, she led the children’s book project, working together with the late veteran Sybil Wettasinghe, to promote human rights education in Sri Lanka. However, due to her death last year the book was not published, but she looks forward to publishing it by the end of this year while honouring the legacy of Sybil Nanda. “This book was one of the last books which was illustrated by her, and it will certainly mark her legacy”, she said. 

‘Volunteering experiences changed my life’: Janith Prabashwara Perera 

Janith Perera is a graduate in Conflict Resolution and Peace from the Department of International Relations, University of Colombo. He has completed his Masters Certificate in Executive Strategic Leadership Management from the Jacobbs-Abbey Global Institute for Leadership Studies in the US. 

He is known as a peacebuilder and educator – using multiple approaches for peacebuilding work and contributing to peacebuilding as a peace advocate, activist, educator and researcher. 

Further he is also a Member of the Asia Advocacy Team on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda hosted by UNOY and Former Researcher to the EU-funded South Asian Research Project “Amplifying the Leadership of Local Youth (ALLY)” in PVE and Peacebuilding. An Advocacy Team Leader at the UNFPA, he hosted the Youth Peace Panel of Sri Lanka, and he is the Director of Capacity Building at Citizens Youth-Led Movement. 

Janith shared his journey: “In 2013, I got the opportunity to volunteer at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2013). In 2014, I got the opportunity to volunteer at the World Conference of Youth (WCY 2014). These two volunteering experiences changed my life. I was exposed to world leaders, the international community and youth from many countries around the world. When I saw the matters of international significance, youth matters and peace and reconciliation discussed, it grew in me an inner passion to work towards social work, youth empowerment, peace and reconciliation.”

Speaking about the obstacles Janith had to face, management of time with other priorities such as with education, family and work has been a main obstacle, it was learnt. Further, he said, limited financial capacities have affected him a lot. “For example, as a volunteer I have had incidents in which I had to cover my transport and food costs numerous times. Furthermore, for projects I initiated or mentored, I haven’t had enough funds to accomplish targets and goals,” he added.  

Janith’s message to readers was: “I would like to invite all readers to volunteer their leisure time to charities and community organisations. Volunteerism connects you to people, especially when you meet people from diverse ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds – it is a platform for you to learn about others and to get rid of social stereotypes and prejudices.” 

Anojitha Sivaskaran is a youth and peace activist working with grassroots civil societies for four-plus years in Sri Lanka. As a person who was born in and lived through the worst phase of Sri Lanka’s internal war in the midst of the war zone, she is passionate about sustaining peace in the country. 

She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Kelaniya, which focused on areas of conflict transformation, conflict management, peace, reconciliation and overcoming structural inequalities. Currently, she is working as a project officer at National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, specifically under the project called “Creative Youth Engagement for Pluralism”. This project capacitates selected state university students to raise awareness and positively influence the public discourse about pluralism and intercommunity relations in order to strengthen the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. 

She has been part of Interfaith Colombo, a volunteer youth network who works to promote peace by engaging different religious communities and enhancing mutual understanding for more than four years. She has also been serving as a core member of Global Refugee Education Council, part of Canada’s Together for Learning campaign – an international campaign to ensure that all refugee and displaced children can access the education they need and deserve. 

Further, she has been selected as the Global Ambassador 2021 and the Country Ambassador of Sri Lanka for Youth Opportunities to facilitate and support young people around the world to find opportunities for their development through sharing of information. Her leadership and community work for building sustainable peace in the country has been recognised and acknowledged by several organisations and people at both local and global level. 

She was invited as one of the discussants for a high-level UN75 dialogue on “Shaping Our Future Together”, a part of the UN 75th anniversary celebrations in Sri Lanka, where she shared a lot of her personal experiences and highlights on the current context of the country. She also moderated the third in a series of UN75 dialogue on shifting demographics, where representatives of IOM, UNHCR, and UN-Habitat took part as panelists. She has continued to speak in the many public forums and different media forums on several critical topics.