As part of the government’s policy declaration for food production and green revolution, 4000 tree plants were distributed free of charge to the families, living in Grama Niladari Division of Periyakulam and Iqbal Nagar under Kuchaveli Divisional Secretariat Division on 23rd November.

The highly fertile Kuchchaveli region is well-known for agriculture. This activity is being carried out by Muslim Aid to encourage the people of this region to engage in food production and to expand agricultural cultivation as a solution to the food crisis in the country.

In order to make it stable and profitable, with the broader experience Mr. K. Gunanathan, the Divisional Secretary requested Muslim Aid Sri Lanka to implement this cultivation plan as a solution to the food crisis.

Sri Lankan youth should be trained, mentored, motivated, and guided in all forms of alternative dispute resolution to solve disputes within communities in order to build a harmonious nation where everyone can coexist peacefully regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity. The SEDR project is a unique intervention that empowers youth to become stakeholders that can understand, analyse, and explore various alternative options to resolve community conflicts.

The overall objective of the SEDR project is to strengthen dialogue between the people and the state, contributing to the resolution and upstream prevention of local disputes.
With the successful intervention of phase one of the SEDR programme, the second phase of the intervention of the programme was launched on Friday 18th November 2022 as a 5-day residential training programme with 25 youth (18-35) participants from communities within the Eastern Province.

One of the approaches that contributes towards the objective of the SEDR program is the use of the Active Citizens module to train selected youth. The Active Citizens initiative is a social leadership program from the British Council that promotes intercultural dialogue and social responsibility as key leadership competencies, focusing on Social Action for Supporting Effective Dispute Resolution.

The trained youth will be in the field for one week to identify potential disputes in the areas they live. The second part of this training session commences on 30th November for four days, where five identified potential disputes will be analysed and discussed in depth, and participants will propose Social Action Projects (SAP) that will tackle the resolution of these community disputes in alternative methods.

The SEDR program is implemented by Muslim Aid Sri Lanka in the Eastern Province in partnership with the British Council and with the funding support of the European Union. Five divisional secretariat areas are being targeted for phase two of this project, namely: Uhana, Sammanthurai, and Addalaichenai in the Ampara district and Kuchchaveli and Mutur in the Trincomalee District.