SRI LANKA: Amid Peace, Business Turns to Education, Health

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Dec 5 (IPS) - After shunning involvement in Sri Lanka's nearly two-decade old ethnic conflict, the business community isspearheading efforts to put the country back on track not onlythrough its support of the peace process, but other initiatives as well.

''Questions are asked. Why didn't we get involved earlier? Maybe we should have and not allow this war to get prolonged because ultimately it was the business community that suffered a lot due to rising costs and loss of markets,'' said Neela Marikkar, spokes woman for Sri Lanka First,a peace organisation initiated by the private sector.

She believes the business community must start investing in the country as the peace process gains momentum and not wait for a peace agreement to be signed.

The government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) launched peace talks in Thailand in September and a ceasefire between their combatants has been holding since December 2001, the longest in the history of the conflict.

The LTTE have been fighting a secessionist war against the central government since July 1983 in a war that has cost the lives of around 60,000 lives.

In mid-December an 18-part television series on the civil war, produced by Sri Lanka First, will go on air nationally. The programmes will discuss the human, psychological and economic costs of the war and consider lasting solutions.

S Balakrishnan, programme director of the National Peace Council,a non-government group, says the inclusion of Sri Lanka First in this year's peace process is a first for the business community.

''The group has brought strength to the process and with the business community being influential and a powerful lobby, it is a welcome addition to the peace building process,'' Balakrishnan said.

Sri Lanka First is also making great strides in pushing education and health as business essentials.

In fact the powerful and wealthy corporate sector in recent years has taken its corporate responsibility very seriously by putting moneyinto initiatives to build the physical and intellectual capital needed fora strong workforce.

Among the welcome steps taking place right now are efforts by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the island's most powerful business group, todraw a blueprint for a national education programme that would eliminate workplace discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS.

At an HIV/AIDS workshop led by the CCC in October, Renton de Alwis, secretary general of the chamber, said the private sector needs tounderstand and learn to cope with the disease, particularly now that SriLanka has low levels of HIV/AIDS prevalence. ''We have a lot of challenges in this sector.''

Dr Kare Moen, advisor for the Norway-based Centre for Health and Social Development (CHSD) said employers must get involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS because governments cannot go it alone.

''HIV has a negative influence on the business environment and the sooner steps are taken to be aware of the problem and reduce its impact onthe workplace, the better it is for companies and their profitability,''he said.

Investing in children is another major theme running through the work of Sri Lanka First.

In October around 100 chief executive officers from Sri Lanka's private sector met in Colombo under the auspices of local businesses and the U.N.Children's Fund (UNICEF) to get the business community to pledge their support for funding programmes for needy children.

Some examples already exist in battle-damaged areas. One of the most fervent appeals at the UNICEF event came from Dawn Austin, director of alocal exporter of fruits and vegetables.

Austin spoke of the work her business doing to help fund a home for children in war-torn Jaffna, an experience she described as ''extremely rewarding'' for all concerned.

In another initiative, top business leaders are working on providing education to poor kids and access to the English-language learning for underprivileged rural children.

''We need to make things happen à not sit down and list things for action,'' says Michael de Zoysa, managing director at a Colombo tea firm.

Business leader Das Wijeratne, also a veteran tea trade specialist,suggested the creation of 50 schools for underprivileged children to learn computer education and Information Technology (IT), widely seen as thefuture of developing countries.

''The Sri Lankan business community's immediate priority should be improving the quality of education with child-friendly schools as well as promoting conflict resolution among the children to prevent an ethnic conflict in the future,'' said Ted Chiban, the Colombo-based UNICEFrepresentative.

''We need to help rural people and their families. Only if they prosper can we prosper. The private sector has an important role to play in improving rural communities,'' said Ranjit Page, managing director ofCargill Ltd, which runs the biggest private sector retail chain in SriLanka. (END/IPS/AP/IF/IP/FS/AAG/RAL/02)