Puthukudiyiruppu, June 2013. Photograph by Seshanka Samarajiwa When the war finally concluded in 2009 it was estimated that as many as one million landmines and items of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) remained as a deadly legacy of the conflict. Based on surveys conducted after the war a total of 2.065 km2 of land was designated as Confirmed Hazardous Areas. This feature explores the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the day to day operations of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), an international mine action agency deployed in Sri Lanka. The location is Puthukudiyiruppu township in Mullaitivu District of Northern Sri …

Negombo. July 2013. Photograph by Muradh Mohideen The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was a turning point in Sri Lanka. Devastating nearly two-thirds of the country’s coastal region, it claimed over 35,000 lives, and displaced another 500,000. The South, North, East and West were all affecting, in varying degrees. The tsunami also led to a critical turning point in the relationship between the government and the LTTE, with the political acrimony that surrounded the proposed relief sharing mechanism, the P-TOMS. Since then, Sri Lanka has taken disaster management a lot more seriously, with the government, supported by international agencies, putting in …

Udabaddawa, August 2013. Photograph by Anushka Wijesinha From factory bench to computer chair, the job aspirations of Sri Lanka’s youth are changing rapidly. In the 1980s, following the liberalisation of the economy and limited industrialisation that came with it (particularly in the hundreds of ready-made garment factories), the country’s youth saw manufacturing sector work as the path to prosperity. Thirty years on, gaining upward social mobility necessarily means, in the minds of many young people, getting a service sector job – an officer in a government department, a sales assistant in a retail outlet, and of course, a computer whiz …

Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretariat, Colombo, July 2013. Photograph by Anushka Wijesinha The idea of ‘bringing government closer to the people’ can have many connotations. In contemporary Sri Lanka what jumps to mind first is the debate on decentralisation and the 13th Amendment. Thirty years ago, inter alia, the government was woefully inadequate in providing people with basic services at a critical time of need. Ten years ago, obtaining any kind of service from a Government department meant long queues and longer waits – all this adding to dissatisfaction and disengagement by the public with government related matters and services. This feature, …

Puthukuduyiruppu, June 2013. Photograph by Aamina Nizar ICT in post war Sri Lanka explores the use of information and communication technologies by people living in the North and East. Over the last few years infrastructure and connectivity in the North and East have rapidly developed. While there is still no electricity in some parts of the North and East, billboards of all network service providers dot the landscape, internet cafes and mobile/computer repair shops are common in towns in both Provinces. This feature highlights unique use of ICTs in these areas by ordinary people rebuilding their lives after the 30 …

Meemure, June 2013. Photograph by Aamina Nizar Many of us take connectivity for granted – we have our mobile phone at hand at all times, we stress when there is no 3G coverage, when the internet is slow, or when bad weather affects the TV show we are watching. Meanwhile, there are people in parts of Sri Lanka for whom connectivity is a luxury not a basic need, an occasional choice rather than an integral part of their daily lives. This is sometimes because of a lack of interest or relevance to them and their work, a lack of availability …