‘GAMMADDA’ WALKS FROM VILLAGE TO VILLAGE FOR FOURTH YEAR: NEW REPORT LAUNCHED

8 May 2020, (Kandy)- The Fourth Edition of the ‘Gammadda Door-to-Door Report’ (download here) was launched by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya Prof Upul Dissanayake at the University premises in Kandy and transmitted digitally to the Gammadda team in Colombo, today. The 3rd Edition was launched last year at the BMICH, but safety measures meant that the report had to be launched digitally, in keeping with the Annual Plan set out by Gammadda. This is the fourth time the combined teams from the Gammadda Movement and the University have conducted this initiative, where teams of volunteers walk from village to village and home to home, collating information on the standards of living in rural Sri Lanka.

“Conducting this together with the News 1st team for so many years has been a wonderful experience. Mainly because of the dedication of the combined teams and the result of that hard work is ultimately benefiting people in a real and tangible way”, said Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dissanayake.

The data is painstakingly analyzed by the University and the report prepared. The door-to-door initiative was first conducted in 2016, a decade after the Gammadda Village Forum concept was carried out in rural parts of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has over 14,000 ‘Grama Seva’, or Village-level administrative divisions and Gammadda over the years by consistent and concerted effort, has reached a vast majority of them. Today each village and division reached by the door-to-door initiative has its own Saviya community-organization, which in turn works with the Gammadda Foundation to carry out projects to meet the challenges faced by village communities. It is out of the data gathered and compiled that various community-driven projects are selected and actioned out, giving ordinary people the opportunity to be part of rural development in Sri Lanka. ‘GAMMADDA DOOR-TO-DOOR’ reports of the past have been feted and recognized by the UN, Oxford University, Brown University, The University of Maryland to name but a few recognized global institutes. More recently, The Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas partnered with Gammadda as well. “This launch signifies two important beginnings: the launch of community-based projects and the planning phase of our next ‘door-to-door’. Because learning never stops and always listening to the people, is the lifeblood of community and public service”, noted Chevaan Daniel, Group Director, indicating the next steps that will be taken by Gammadda.

(Download the e-book here)