STRENGTHENING LOCAL GOVERNANCE
The Foundation has carried out programs to strengthen local governance and improve the business environment since the beginning of 2005. Nearly a tenth of the country’s 330 Local Authorities (LAs) -- which include municipal councils, urban councils, and pradeshiya sabhas -- have participated in programs to build local officials’ capacity, improve service delivery, and encourage community and private sector participation in local decisionmaking. Through these programs, the Foundation has helped the business community and local governments work together to boost economic growth and job creation in the provinces and help local authorities develop medium-term development plans for their areas. Other activities have focused on increasing citizen participation in decisionmaking; improving the delivery of basic services such as garbage collection; increasing LA revenue; meet post-tsunami recovery needs; provide the poor with greater access to justice; advocate for local governance policy reform; and identify and replicate best practices.
NEW LAWS TO PROTECT VICTIMS AND WITNESSES OF CRIME
At the request of Sri Lanka's Law Commission, the Foundation provided research support, expert advice, public consultations, and advocacy for the development of the first-ever law in Sri Lanka guaranteeing the rights of witnesses and victims of crime. The Foundation supported the Commission’s public consultations, which involved members of the bar and judiciary, the police, the medical association, and other civil society organizations who discussed the legislation’s value and content. The Bill is on track to be enacted by Parliament. The legislation establishes a National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses, which will be responsible for monitoring the enforcement of the new law, codifying the specific rights of victims and witnesses of crime while providing new protections for both, imposing tough penalties for retribution against victims and witnesses, and establishing a special fund for compensating and protecting victims and witnesses.