USAID/OTI Sri Lanka Field Report
November 2004
Program Description
USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) program in Sri Lanka assists in generating greater support for a negotiated peace settlement to end the long-standing conflict. To accomplish this aim, USAID/OTI’s two objectives are:
- To increase collaboration and participation among diverse groups to set and/or address priorities;
- To increase awareness and/or understanding of key transition issues.
Based on these objectives, USAID/OTI provides grants that: support positive interaction among diverse groups of people; promote participatory decision-making at the community level; improve livelihoods; and facilitate the flow of accurate information from multiple viewpoints.
Working with local NGOs, informal community groups, media entities, and local government officials, USAID/OTI identifies and supports critical initiatives that move the country along the continuum from war to peace. Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) implements the $14.8 million small grants program and manages USAID/OTI offices in Colombo, Trincomalee, and Ampara. Between program start-up in March 2003 and the end of November 2004, USAID/OTI cleared 256 small grants worth approximately $6.219 million.
Country Situation
Problems in Trincomalee – On November 29 the Sri Lankan government ordered a curfew in Trincomalee after an attack on a bus that had remained in operation during a call for a strike. Unidentified attackers threw a grenade at the bus, killing one person and injuring four others. Police suspect the strike was called by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) front organization to retaliate for pro-government opposition to the LTTE’s “Heroes Day” ceremonies on November 27. In conjunction with that protest, staged by a Sinhalese nationalist group, rebels abducted a local government official who had issued instructions that the LTTE flag should not be displayed in government-controlled areas.
Much Awaited Heroes Day Speech –
In what analysts and diplomats labeled posturing, the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s annual Heroes Day speech served notice that the Tigers would return to war unless the government agrees to peace talks based on a rebel blueprint for self-rule. Prabhakaran said that he had "reached the limits of patience" and that government delays on discussing rebel demands would leave them "no alternative" to the "freedom struggle". Responding to Prabhakaran’s speech, the government issued a statement on December 1 saying that the LTTE’s insistence on new talks focusing solely on the Tigers’ proposed interim administration “is scarcely conducive to good faith negotiations.”
JVP Maintains its Unhelpful Rhetoric – On November 30 the pro-Marxist People’s Liberation Front (known as the JVP), the Sinhalese nationalist junior coalition partner, warned in Parliament of another armed youth uprising in the South if a LTTE interim administration is set up in the North and East. Despite being part of a government that publicly professes interest in reviving the peace process, the JVP has become increasingly vocal in opposing any talks focused on the LTTE interim administration proposal.
Government Unveils New Budget – On November 18 the Finance Minister presented to Parliament what is expected to be a controversial budget, describing it as “pro-growth” and “pro-poor,” with an emphasis on stimulating job creation in the rural economy, small- and medium enterprise development and public investment in infrastructure. The opposition has predicted that the ruling coalition’s maiden budget will result in the printing of money and higher inflation.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
As stated in the October report, OTI Sri Lanka has altered its strategy by narrowing its focus both geographically and programmatically and adopting a more structured and uniform approach to depoliticize and demystify key political transition issues, with decentralization chief among them. One major change has been a directive to staff to move away from a proposal-driven approach that is largely reactive to more proactive programming that is driven through discussions between OTI program staff and local-level community leaders. This change is in place and program staff member have spent the past two months honing down target areas and holding a series of meetings with local communities to describe the OTI approach and identify new initiatives together. As a result, grant development has slowed while staff members undertake needed preliminary work in the OTI-identified strategic locations. The slowdown was anticipated and is not problematic as staff set the stage for the large number of new grants that will emerge from the discussion and planning process that has been underway since early October.
On November 1, the LTTE imposed a “trucking charge” on trucks using the A9 highway to move goods to Jaffna. This surprise move has jeopardized OTI’s work in Jaffna, basically negating a transport system that was negotiated last year to allow OTI goods to move “tax-free” through the LTTE-controlled area of The Vanni. Two OTI staff traveled to Kilinochchi in mid-November to hold a working-level meeting with the LTTE to discuss this issue, and despite a cordial exchange the problem remains unresolved, with the LTTE insisting that only UN-owned vehicles are exempt from the “trucking charge.” OTI has told the LTTE that it will not pay this charge and that as a result current Jaffna-based projects will be curtailed and no new funding will be put into the area. Other donors are also facing this problem and the USAID Mission is liaising with them on the issue.
B. Grant Activity Summary – March 2003 through November 2004
| Community Impact Projects |
2 |
$148,929 |
79 |
$2,682,170 |
| Livelihoods |
3 |
$ 56,203 |
64 |
$1,520,542 |
| Media and Information |
6 |
$162,592 |
54 |
$1,018,666 |
| Conflict Mitigation |
7 |
$143,380 |
59 |
$ 997,514 |
| TOTAL |
18 |
$511,104 |
256 |
$6,218,892 |
During November the Ampara office signed just four new grants, reflecting the large amount of time and effort that program staff are committing to the upfront labor-intensive process encapsulated in the revised strategy. While this process means that grant development happens more slowly, it will pay off in terms of a large number of grants for any given strategic location. The four November grants were spread over Ampara’s geographic coverage area and were all related to targeting “key people” as defined during OTI’s October strategy session. Two of the grants funded a series of meetings with key people in two of Ampara’s strategic locations to begin the process of project identification and selection. The other two grants targeted peace-related awareness building in Badulla and Moneragala, bringing together key community leaders to provide them with information on power sharing mechanisms (such as federalism) in the Sri Lankan context and the past, present and future of the ethnic conflict. These awareness programs are being conducted for local political leaders, local level government council members, government development and agricultural officers, village level religious leaders and CBO and NGO leaders.
The Trincomalee office funded five new grants during November, an increase over October and all of then going to newly-identified strategic locations. The largest grant went to the Muthur Peace Committee, a group that includes a diverse membership of public and private citizens who work together to support initiatives to reduce mistrust and miscommunication between Tamils and Muslims. The grant will provide the Muthur Peace Committee the means to follow through on several community priority projects that include well construction, the renovation of a building, the construction of a community center, visits among youth, and the submission of a request to the Ministry of Education to start a mixed-ethnic school. A second Trinco grant will fund a number of local NGO staff to participate in a Colombo-based mediation training that will provide needed skills for conflict management and mitigation work. The third grant was given to a local government office to support the formation of multi-ethnic farmers' cooperative societies while the fourth grant was awarded to a local women's NGO to conduct five conflict mitigation workshops for local leaders. The last grant went to a former grantee to support the screening of the peace-oriented film “Take This Road” that includes a facilitated discussion among government, religious and village leaders who will be invited to view the film.
The Colombo offices, which cover the “deep” South, the greater Puttalam-Anuradhapura area, Jaffna and activities with a national scope, funded nine new projects in November. Two were for national initiatives. The first was to a USAID Sri Lanka Democracy and Governance grantee to strengthen an internet-based communication platform that can link key members of Sri Lankan civil society with national policymakers in the ongoing debate on peace. This grant will also support as a resource library for information on critical transition issues. The second national initiative was given to the Colombo-based organization, Young Asia Television, to mass produce the peace-oriented film “Take This Road” for distribution throughout Sri Lanka.
Six of the other seven Colombo grants targeted the South. Two grants were for activities in Galle that will focus on livelihoods and infrastructure work by the British NGO Intermediate Technology Development Group and a leadership skills training program for young people involved in a volunteer network. Three other grants went to groups in Hambantota district to do a mass media program on peace, a youth development and sports initiative, and local-level infrastructure rehabilitation projects that were identified through a community-oriented process funded by an earlier OTI grant. The sixth South grant was given to a local NGO in Matara district to improve the livelihoods of former OTI project beneficiaries from the peaceful coexistence program that was held in Kirinda-Puhulwella DS division earlier in the year.
The final Colombo-based grant was given to a group in Puttalam to promote relations between internally displaced and host community Sinhalese, Muslim and Tamil farmers while also enhancing their ties to local governmental authorities. In an integrated series of activities, the grant will provide materials to prepare ten model organic home-garden plots and train 300 selected farmers from eight villages in organic farming techniques. Also, the grant will provide technical assistance for 20 meetings on local problem solving mechanisms and ten workshops on peaceful coexistence that will include the screening of the USAID-funded movie "Take this Road."
C. Indicators of Success
Muslim and Sinhalese Communities Overcome Conflict to Celebrate Eid Festival Together - The Kirinda – Puhulwella area was once seen as one of the most conflict-prone places in the Southern Province’s Matara district. The area is mainly Sinhalese, but with a sizeable Muslim population. Even small incidents were manipulated to violence, sometimes resulting in the loss of life from both sides. As a result, both ethnic groups have traditionally felt great suspicion toward each other.
To help break this cycle of violence and suspicion, OTI funded a project entitled “Peace and Co-existence” followed by assistance for organic farming and coir production. An expert in peace building facilitation managed the “Peace and Co-existence” workshop program for 100 selected Sinhalese and Muslim women with four different workshops held over a one-month period. To capitalize on their positions in the community as people of influence, the facilitators provided the women with techniques and guidance in mediation and peace building.
The solidarity among the women by the program’s end led them to form a Sinhala – Muslim women’s organization. During the Ramadan fasting season, the women’s group demonstrated unity by organizing seasonal celebrations together. First, Sinhalese showed their friendship towards Muslims by sharing food for the breaking of the fast. In return, Muslims invited Sinhalese to their homes for the first time to celebrate the Eid festival, treating them to Muslim food. Finally, on November 22 both communities came together to organize a community-wide Eid celebration for the first time. Significantly, the event was held at the local Sinhalese cultural center. Government officials, including the Divisional Secretary, were present for the occasion. The festival started with the raising of the national and Muslim religious flags while Muslim girls sang the Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil. The occasion was colored further by different types of events, such as traditional Sinhala New Year festival sports, Tamil and Sinhala songs, dancers and dramas. The climax of the day was the meal, which was a mixture of traditional Sinhalese and Muslim food.
Water-supply Scheme Builds Stakeholder Relationships in South - In the Deniyaya region of the South where community infrastructure was damaged or destroyed during heavy flooding in 2003, a gravity-fed water system has accomplished much more than provide clean drinking water for nearly 10,000 people. The project has cemented relationships between the Sinhalese and Tamil families who donated their labor to the project and fostered respect between local government authorities and the civil society organizations through which the $58,777 grant activity was implemented. Over two hundred villagers contributed more than 40,000 volunteer labor hours in building the system, some traveling upwards of five kilometers to the site from their homes along the crest of a mountain.
Local government officials initially dismissed the activity as an imminent failure – not least because civil society groups were driving the process, as opposed to the public sector. But the commitment of volunteers, along with the leadership of the Sewa Lanka Foundation, an indigenous non-governmental organization, and the Sinharaja Conservation Committee, a community-based organization, proved successful and changed attitudes as a result. Work on the system, which supplies water from a natural spring to more than 1,500 families from two different communities, was completed in just 30 days. The Divisional Secretary said the local government would have required five more months to finish the job and described it as “the most successful water project ever in the Deniyaya area” offering his office’s free technical support for any future projects that Sewa Lanka might undertake in partnership with community based organizations. Furthermore, the Deniyaya Area Council offered to contribute $1,500 towards any future water system.
D. Program Appraisal
Given the strategy re-targeting in October and the decision to be more proactive in project development, OTI Sri Lanka was unable to meet its approximate spending targets in November. Even so, there was an increase in funds awarded relative to October. In light of the intensive efforts being made in the strategic locations it is anticipated that by early next year grant funding targets will be met more consistently. Still, staff members remain concerned about the challenge to develop new grants, given that the program is determined to respond to changes in the political climate rather than to a constant stream of grant proposals. The program team will meet in December to review a number of issues related to the revised strategy.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
In December USAID/OTI Sri Lanka will:
- Continue to implement strategy revisions made in the wake of the September 2004 mid-term assessment and a subsequent program team meeting, which articulated the need for more proactive programming and process-oriented interventions with a political edge;
- Continue to focus work on agreed upon strategic locations by developing a series of interconnected activities over an extended period of time;
- Work to better link local, regional and national media and information initiatives where appropriate to ensure cohesiveness and maximize synergies;
- Continue to meet with the LTTE at an operational level to remove a newly imposed “truck charge” that is being levied on vehicles transporting goods on the A9 highway. Without a waiver, OTI will be forced to end its project work in Jaffna; and,
- Hold the first quarterly program team meeting to discuss work progress under the revised strategy and share “lessons learned” about more pro-active grant development.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Rachel Wax, Program Manager, 202-712-1243, rwax@usaid.gov
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