‘The Strength of Sri Lanka lies in its unity and its diversity.’
Future Leaders’ Conference - Sri Lanka UNITES
‘Mere absence of war is not peace. To attain peace, reconciliation is the process and to attain reconciliation understanding and acceptance is pivotal’ states Ashokbharan Nalliah Kumaraguruparan of Sri lanka Unites.
Gathered on the 8th of August 2015, at the Royal College Skills Centre, Sri Lanka Unites held their press conference on their flagship event ‘Future Leaders Conference’ which is to be held for the seventh consecutive time.
Sri Lanka Unites which was founded in 2008, aims to establish peace which could not be achieved merely through a military victory. The body of Sri Lanka Unites believes that it is the mindset of the society which can truly ensure that the mistakes of the past will no longer be repeated. In order to build this new nation free of ethnic boundaries and violent thoughts, Sri Lanka Unites targets the youth whom they aspire to be agents for reconciliation and not agents of violence.
Seven years since its establishment, Sri Lanka Unites is now a strong network of over 15,000 participants who are all passionate to build a better nation since the 30 year conflict. The members of Sri Lanka Unites are ‘collectively dreaming for a peaceful and reconciled Sri Lanka’. As means of inspiring the youth, they maintain regular contacts with schools and works on projects to end harassment against women. Their flagship event the future leader’s conference is a major platform to speed up reconciliation at a personal level.
The Future Leaders Conference is an event which brings together students aged 15 to 18 selected from schools across all 25 districts. This year the event will be held at St. Thomas’ College, Badulla where the participants will be awarded full scholarships to attend the event. Held from August 12 to16, this residential conference hopes to inspire the youth to make themselves leaders fit for tomorrow’s society.
Broken into three segments: Everyday Reconciliation, Value based leadership and leadership for development and reconciliation, these 500 students will be mentored to form a youth which can learn to solve problems through peace and prosperity and leave behind the conflicts of the past. These students will be exposed to leadership values and activity based learning which will build them. They will also be guided to initiate the process of serving their respective communities.
Members of Sri Lanka Unites commented that their previous future leaders’ conference had been extremely effective and recounted their personal experiences. They hope that this time too their event would turn successful. Sri Lanka Unites firmly believe that understanding is the key to reconciliation and that the youth is the driving force for a better Sri Lanka.