Sri Lanka Supporting Regional Governance Program (SURG); October – December 2009 Quarterly Report

The program, implemented by ARD, Inc. under Contract No. 383-C-00-08-000501-00, supports regional governance in the Eastern Province and Polonnaruwa District by focusing on four program components: social equity, local governance, community empowerment and transformation, and open dialogue. After the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) in May 2009, SuRG expanded its programming to include the Northern Province. During the period from October 1 to December 31, 2009, SuRG made significant progress on contract implementation activities and management and administration. Grants were awarded to three major election monitoring groups for voter education and monitoring the January 2010 presidential election in the Northern Province. Eight fundamental rights cases and one habeas corpus case were filed in the Supreme Court, and 51 participants completed a six-month human rights education program in Trincomalee. Fifty-three human rights lawyers from the Northern, Eastern, North Central, and Western Provinces were trained on legal strategies and techniques to defend human rights victims. Sixteen SuRG scholarship recipients completed the Sri Lanka College of Journalism 2009 Journalism Diploma Program, and research on the "Study of the Legal Protection of Life/Liberty Rights in Sri Lanka" and "Liberty Rights At Stake; the Virtual Eclipse of the Habeas Corpus Remedy in Sri Lanka" was completed. Twelve thousand and five hundred signatures were collected in signature campaigns from Batticaloa, Jaffna, and Colombo to secure a clause in the reform of the Local Government Elections Ordinance of 1989 mandating a 25% quota for women in the nominations presented by political parties for local government elections. The Peace Secretariat for Muslims set up Inter-Ethnic Forums in each of their five regional Muslim Peace Assemblies, and 207 local authority staff and elected officials from 11 LAs continued Tamil or Sinhala language training. Two hundred forty-nine people participated in provincial consultations on the implications of the implementing of the 13th Amendment on regional development and governance and the Provincial Councils in the Northwestern, Central, and Northern Provinces. CMEV deployed 300 monitors for the Southern Provincial Council elections in October, and a grant for SL Rs. 8,652,960 was awarded for the "Mobilization of Community-Based Human Rights Defenders" project. The SuRG Social Equity (SE) team continued to support and monitor ongoing partner activities while also helping potential new grantees develop proposals for new initiatives. The SE team began development and preparation for upcoming training for judges from the Northern and Eastern Provinces and preparations for a Rule of Law Assessment scheduled to be conducted in February 2010. ARD identified and contracted three consultants to conduct a targeted analysis of the status of the rule of law development in Sri Lanka. The assessment will lead directly into a strategy for justice sector and rule of law assistance that prioritizes areas that could benefit from USAID and broader United States Government (USG) intervention, and will include recommendations for programming. In this quarter, the following new grants were awarded and activities initiated: ARD010 – "Strengthening Housing, Land and Property Rights in Eastern Sri Lanka"; and ARD022 – "Mobilization of Community-Based Human Rights Defenders."