Ms.DISSANAYAKE Champika Thushari Roshanie (Sri Lanka)

Introduction

It was my first visit to Japan which made significant development in my professional life. The programme objective, ‘Strengthen Capacity of regional/local and central government officers in conflict-affected countries in charge of local development and community development in terms of policy/plan formulation and implementation,' was fully aligned to my professional responsibilities in Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration(SLIDA) in the capacity of Senior Consultant as well as Deputy National Project Director of JICA FORWARD Project.

The programme topic was "Capacity Development of Local government for Community Rebuilding in Conflict-Affected Countries" funded by JICA and conducted from January 23 to February 14, 2018. The participating countries are Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, Uganda and Philippines. JICA's assistance for capacity development of local government in conflict‐affected countries are in operation at above participating countries including Sri Lanka. The writer is the only female participant among 13 No's of participants. This training programme was designed to expose the participants to Japanese best practices in Local Government system.

The programme was consist with in house sessions, sessions in organizations and field visits. We got the opportunity to visit four main prefectures out of forty seven. Field visits have been arranged to visit main cities such as Hiroshima, Sendai, Iwaki and Mitaka to get the experiences about Local Government contribution in community rebuilding.

The programme was a super blend of lectures, discussions, field visits, filed discussions, wrap up sessions, observations and lectures. We were able to visit four prefectures in Japan to get experience about disaster recovery policy planning and implementation

Benefits of the programme

Participants were allowed to learn and discuss Japanese strategies on disaster recovery development programmes during first three days. We had a great opportunity to learn Japanese Administrative and Governance policies with special emphasis to Local Governance. Study visits and sessions conducted in different prefectures were immensely benefited to understand their Local Governance strategies. I was amazed by experiencing friendly and disciplined Japanese people who contribute countries' economical and social development. Support and courtesy of JICA officials made my life comfortable and relax mind for studies.

Sustainability

Every learning point in the programme was directly applicable for my duties and responsibilities in SLIDA. The programme helped to develop my lecturing skills in new subject area.

Immediately after the programme I implemented learned topics in SLIDA as follows and am continuing to do so for the 2020 onwards

I am happy and proud for having visited Japan, I will always remember this country in my life.

Thanks for JICA Head Quarters, Colombo Office and Japanese people who paid tax for granting sustainable training for me.