Social Change through digital engagement and representation of Sri Lankan Youth

For an inclusive and resilient democratic society  

Although the Government of Sri Lanka, supported by the international community, has taken substantial steps regarding the democratization process and in improving freedom of expression, the space and capacity for political participation of the country's young generation is still small. Thus, their involvement in the political debate and the contribution to the democratization process remains limited. In current times it is more important than ever to promote democratic participation of all groups within society.

That is why, with this project, Helvetas targets youth across all ethnic and religious backgrounds in the districts of Matara, Galle, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Killinochchi to contribute to a functioning democracy and thereby to a peaceful coexistence in Sri Lanka. Working together with selected local partner organizations, Helvetas creates dialogue spaces and strengthens the capacity of young voters to act as active citizens and to increase their understanding and participation in democratic processes and a pluralistic society.

Young people who are empowered to act as promoters of the democratization process advocate for democratic principles and for the strengthening of democratic leadership in the country.

In the first run of the project, prior to the presidential election in December 2019, more than 90 young people of different backgrounds received training on personal development as well as on democratic governance, citizenship rights, local government roles and responsibilities. Additionally, the participants were trained on digital media techniques, digital story-telling and running digital advocacy campaigns on photography and videography. The capacitated young people then become mentors reaching out to far more young people in the country, by conducting these knowledge transfer sessions on democratic education in their circles and at community level. For the second phase of the project, trainings for more than 150 young people are planned.

The youth network created is further strengthened through ‘Multi-Stakeholder Forums’ which consist of local politicians, Government officials and civil society actors. This gives trained youth the opportunity to participate in existing democratic processes, including Youth Parliament and village citizens committees.

As a key element of Lankan Youth CAN, Helvetas established a digital platform (Facebook page) as a virtual space to gather experiences and opinions of other youth, to raise their concerns, to argue and counter argue on contentious issues as well as hate speech and stereotypes reaching more 500,000 people in a 3 months period in 2019.

Apart from that, through Lankan Youth CAN, Helvetas launched the advocacy campaign “Youth Demands from Elected Representatives" which is organized by the youth network in respective districts. The social-media-based campaign is accompanied at the community level through street drama, awareness-raising programs, poster campaigns and distribution of information material. Targeting all spectrums of social groups, the outreach campaign seeks to spread the collective voice of youth which will eventually harness a critical mass who has broadened understanding of civic activism, democracy and pluralism.

Lankan Youth CAN is funded by the Federal Foreign Office under the zivik funding programme of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa).