Context
The Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed to a ceasefire in 2002. It was at this stage in the civil war that the Facilitating Initiatives for Social Cohesion and Transformation project (FLICT) was launched. The objective was to help bring about conflict transformation by supporting civil-society actors. Over the years, however, the ceasefire broke down and hostilities began to escalate again. In March 2009, the government forcibly ended the civil war. The fundamental causes of the conflict have never disappeared, though, and new conflicts have emerged. Political and economic discrimination between different ethnic, religious and social groups has led to unequal development and structural discrimination.
Objective
Key state and civil-society actors are working together to implement the core elements of social integration on a practical level.
Approach
The Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration (MNLSI) has a mandate to promote social integration in Sri Lanka and help bring about reconciliation. GIZ is supporting the partner ministry in formulating policies, implementing them at local level and developing human resources.
Partners from the field of art and culture are being given support to work on the topic of social integration using their own methods and thereby help to make the population more aware of the issues. At the same time, the project is also supporting networking and dialogue between and within the different levels of the state, civil society and the private sector, with the aim of putting policy strategies on a solid national footing and ensuring that experience gained during implementation is fed back into the policy-making process.
Results
One of FLICT’s biggest successes was the introduction of the National Policy for Social Integration (NPSI) in 2012. The project provided advice on formulating this policy.
In five pilot districts, FLICT has taken on the role of intermediary and moderator between state and civil-society actors, with 16 inter-religious dialogue events held over the last three years for around 3,000 participants.
FLICT is currently supporting the implementation of 54 micro-measures by offering technical assistance and financial contributions. These measures include building and renovating schools and community centres, which particularly benefits marginalised groups.
The project has continuously developed innovative and successful concepts for promoting social integration and improving the skills of various actors, including the very popular Art of Coexistence training course, which has been run 25 times since 2011 and been attended by a total of over 500 participants.