TSA HONOURED WITH PEOPLE’S AWARDS

Winning these awards has motivated us to work more at the community level

The Ampara and Polonnaruwa branches of The Social Architects (TSA) were awarded ‘The Citizenship Appreciation Felicitation Award’ at a ceremony organized by the Ministry of Mass Media for promoting Right to Information Law at grassroots. The awards ceremony was held at the auditorium of the Ministry of Mass Media on 15th October, to celebrate International Day for Universal Access to Information which falls on the 28th of September, popularly known in Sri Lanka as International Day for Right to Information.

These awards were presented to individuals and organizations to recognize those who extensively use the RTI Law, which was enacted in 2016 in Sri Lanka to enhance accountability and transparency, which in turn, increases citizen participation in the governance process. Speaking on TSA’S achievements, Programme Manager, Suranga Perera said, “It is a very happy moment for TSA. TSA’S Ampara and Polonnaruwa branches used the Right to Information Law for the benefit of the public. It’s an appreciation to our team for all the hard work we did. Winning these awards has motivated us to work more at the community level. We hope to continue to take the RTI Law, which is ranked as the 3rd best Law in the world, to the people.”

TSA Programme Officer Atchara Muthu added, “RTI is an important tool for building communication between communities and public authorities. People are afraid of public officers. RTI is a tool that will encourage people to exercise their rights. RTI can also be used as a platform to reduce corruption, and bring about reconciliation and development among communities.”

TSA aims to create a community of practitioners at the grassroots to deal with the past, and be in charge of their own development process where, communities are better able to build constructive relationships with government institutions, the private sector and civil society in ways that are sustainable. TSA operates in nine districts in the North, East, Central, North Central and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka.