Canadian High Commissioner David Mckinnon and US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz paid separate visits to the Matara District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) and the Puttalam DIRC to learn about their work.

Three new Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRCs) were established in Kuliyapitiya, Batticaloa and Panduwasnuwara under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Coexistence (CERF).

The Civil Society Platform (CSP), founded by NPC in collaboration with other civil society organizations, will conduct a campaign to prevent the 19th Amendment of the Constitution from being abolished, it was decided at a meeting to prepare the CSP’s strategic plan.

Two solidarity visits were conducted to Nuwara Eliya and Jaffna under the Actively Countering Extremism (ACE) project funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) to promote religious and ethnic understanding and harmony.

A training workshop on Non Violent Communication (NVC) was held for community members of the Navakkenikadu and Sumedankarapura villages in Seruwila in the Trincomalee district under NPC’s project Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) Activity.

A solidarity visit was conducted to Horowpothana organized by Anuradhapura DIRC on the request of Ven. Yakaweva Jinarathana Thero, the Chief incumbent of the temple in the area. This was under NPC’s project ACE Actively Countering Extremism (ACE) funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).

Under NPC’s project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-Level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT), refresher workshops on pluralism were conducted for selected District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) members from Jaffna and Vavuniya and Kegalle and Kandy.

A training programme on conflict identification, prevention and management was held for Grama Niladharis, government officials, police officers, religious leaders and NGO representatives in Weligama under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF).

NPC Board Member and former Vice Chacellor of the Eastern University, Professor M. S. Mookaiah, attended a programme in Hatton conducted by NPC under the ACE-IT intervention supported by the European Union (EU) for marginalised people living in the plantations in the area, including those with different types of disabilities.