Recovering from thirty years of conflict, the greatest challenge Sri Lanka was facing in 2013 was to maintain the peace and stability it has achieved. Although political violence ended in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the ideologies of communalism and sectarianism remained in the fringes of Sri Lankan society. The Harmony Centres and clubs concept was introduced in Sri Lanka with the understanding that taking peace for granted and failure to invest in social harmony will return Sri Lanka to social unrest and conflict; and recognizing community initiatives are imperative in advancing the spirit of reconciliation as social harmony cannot be achieved by the directives of the state alone. The mission of the Harmony Centres and Clubs is to promote inter-ethnic, intercultural, and inter-religious understanding and interactions and provide holistic education for conflict transformation in contributing towards the development of a trusting and resilient nation.

1. Establishing Harmony Centres
in Sri Lanka

2. We have won one of the most
ruthless wars. But how can
we embrace peace?

3. ‚If we are peaceful, if we are
happy, we can smile and blossom like
a flower, and everyone in our
family, our entire society, will benefit
from our peace‛
- Thich Nhat Hanh

4. ‘When you find peace within
yourself, you become the
kind of person who can live
at peace with others.’
-Peace Pilgrim Quote
• .

5. Introduction to
Harmony Centres in Sri
Lanka (HCS)

6. Objectives
• To promote community initiatives in
harmonious living
• To enhance inter-cultural, inter-ethnic and
inter-religious interactions
• To recreate and sustain a resilient nation

7. Focus
• Cultivate and promote the importance of
harmony and reconciliation
• Engage local communities in a manner that
embraces their unique heritage to foster a
collective rich national identity.
• Add value to the
individual, social, economic, health, spiritual
needs

8. Values
• Being sensitive and respectful
towards diversity
• Understanding ground realities
and providing sustainable
solutions;
• Responsible and resilient in
promotion of harmony and
reconciliation; and
• Empowering people by
enhancing their ability to
become meaningful contributors.

9. Structure of the Harmony
Centres
National
Level
District
Level
Community
Level
•National Advisory Committee
•National Harmony Centre Secretariat
•District Coordination Committee
•District Harmony Centres
•Harmony Clubs

10. National Advisory
Committee
• To Develop Policies and
Guidelines, and advice on HCS
• The committee will consist of
representatives from,
o
o
o
o
GOSL
Security Forces
Religious Dignitaries
Selected NGOs

11. National Harmony Centre
Secretariat
• Implementation of the Project
• Monitor District Harmony Centres and
• Critical Feedback

12. Research and Training
National Harmony
Centre Secretariat
Resource Centres
Culture & Entertainment
Sports & Physical Education
Community Assistance
Health & Wellbeing
IT & Media
Maintenance

13. Research and Training
• Implement and Manage Research projects,
• Organize Conferences, Seminars, Workshops,
• Training programmes including language
training, conflict transformation, Sri Lankan
Studies, History
• Publish research findings

14. Resource Centres on
Harmony
National Resource Centre
(NRC)
District Resource Centres
(DRC) (24)
Harmony Club Resource
Centres

15. Role of the Harmony
Resource Centres
• To collect, classify, process and deliver print and
electronic information on Peace and
Reconciliation.
• The resource centre will include material
concerning,
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Sri Lankan Studies
History
Sri Lankan Culture
Sri Lankan Identities
Conflict Resolution,
Human Rights in relation to Peace and Conflict Resolution,
Ethnic Issues, Religious Conflict,
Cultural impact on peace,
Transitional Justice,
Government , UN and NGO reports on peace

16. All Resource Centres will be
networked and inter-linked
with the Government Libraries
and Civil Society Network for
Information Sharing.
Harmony Resource Centres
should be people
friendly, interactive, equipped
with state of the art technology
and well designed using
unique Sri Lankan architecture
to portray distinguish identity
and attract people.

17. Culture and
Entertainment

18. • Cultural and Entertainment unit will work on
enhancing all forms of cultural activities by
organizing,
o
o
o
o
o
cultural festivals,
artist camps,
photographic and artist exhibitions,
dance and drama festivals and
conducting performing arts training programmes.
• This unit will work closely with Ministry of
Culture and Arts to give significance for its
activities.

19. Sports and Physical
Education

20. Sports and Physical
Education unit
• will work closely with Ministry of Sports and Ministry of
Youth Affairs in developing physical fitness, peace
and harmony through sports.
• This unit will also focus on reviving traditional sports
and martial arts.

21. Community Assistance
• will develop the plan of
action with the
consultation of the
community.
• They will work closely
with the community
societies, Samudhri
officers, NGOs and INGOs.
• Would provide direct
support or link community
to the required services.

22. Health and
Wellbeing
• work on reviving the traditional healing and
wellbeing practices in the university
community. Such as organizing yoga
classes, meditation classes, Ayurveda, Siddha
and other forms of traditional healing clinic;
workshops on wellbeing.
•
This unit will work closely with the Ministry
of Indigenous Medicine and Ministry of
Health in fulfilling their vision.

23. IT and Media
• Online
Harmony
Centre
• Publicity on
Mass Media

24. Online Harmony Centre
A platform to share news, resources and interact on Harmony in Sri
Lanka. The On-line Harmony Centre will link all the Harmony
Centres, Harmony Clubs and Harmony Libraries.
The Objectives,
• To create awareness and share information on the activities of
Harmony Centres,
• To promote Government agenda for reconciliation and
transitional justice in Sri Lanka,
• To provide a record of programmes conducted through the web
page;
• To provide information on policies, laws, project reports, research
papers, baselines, evaluations on reconciliation and transitional
justice through a web portal,
• To provide access to online resource databases and scholarly
information on peace, reconciliation, conflict resolution and on
Sri Lanka and to promote Reconciliation and transitional justice
through Social networking interfaces

25. Staff – National Harmony
Secretariat
• National Project Director
• Six National Project Coordinators
(Research &
Training, Library, Culture, Sports, Community
Support, Health & Wellbeing)
•
•
•
•
National Webmaster
Admin Officer
Finance Officer
Assistants

26. District Coordinating
Committee
• To coordinate and implement Projects
at the District Level
• Members of the Committee will
include representatives of
o
o
o
o
GOSL
Security Forces
Religious Dignitaries and
Selected NGO

27. District Harmony Centres
• Establish and Monitor
Harmony Clubs
• Organize activities at
the District level,
• Provide feedback to
the National
Committee on District
level Harmony
activities.

28. Staff – District Harmony
Centres
• District Project Director
• Six District Project Coordinators
(Research &
Training, Library, Culture, Sports, Community
Support, Health & Wellbeing)
• IT Office
• Admin and Finance Officer
• Assistants

29. Harmony Clubs
• Established in all schools and all Universities
• Linked to the District Harmony Centres
• The School will appoint a Teacher to Coordinate the
activities.
• The School Harmony Club Library managed by the Librarian
in the School.

30. The Pilot Project
Harmony Centres in
Killinochchi and Jaffna

31. Actively Initiating and promoting the work of
Harmony Centres will endorse the commitment for
Reconciliation and
will effectively contribute towards sustainable
development of Sri Lanka.