Years of Experience on ICT for Development
Centres
Students
Districts
He started his career, in a small way as a high school teacher at Nalanda College, Colombo. In his lifetime span, he earned many awards/honours too numerous to mention. Some of them are-a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Vidyodaya University ,an honorary doctorate of Humanities from Emilio Aguinaldo College , Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1969, the Gandhi Peace Prize from the Government of India in 1996, the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 1991, the Niwano Peace Prize in 1992, the King Beaudoin Award and other international honours for his work in peace making and village development.
Dr. Ariyaratne, a strong believer in Gandhian principles of non-violence, rural development and self-sacrifice, has shaped the Sarvodaya Movement similar to Buddhist ideals. The original Sanskrit definition of Sarvodaya is “the welfare of all”, but Ariyaratne redefined it to reflect a Buddhist ideal, "the awakening of all”. When he received the Hubert H. Humphrey International Humanitarian Award from the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 1994, Dr. Patrick Mendis described his former mentor as the "Gandhi of Sri Lanka”. In 2006, he received the Acharya Sushil Kumar International Peace Award , and has been nominated to the Constitutional Council as a civil representative in 2015.
And in 2007, Dr. Ariyaratne was bestowed with the highest National Honour- Sri Lankabhimanya (honouring those who have rendered exceptionally outstanding and most distinguished service to the Nation). Today, he is the President Emeritus of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement
He is the founding Chair of LIRNEAsia, a think tank active across emerging economies in South and South East Asia, and was its first CEO. He served as Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. He was an Associate Professor of Communication and Public Policy at Ohio State University in the US, Visiting Professor of Economics of Infrastructure at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and Honorary Professor at the University of Moratuwa, and Associate Professor of Communication and Public Policy at Ohio State University in the US (1987-2000). Prof. Samarajiva was also a Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Post and Telecom in Bangladesh (2006-09).
He is a Sri Lankan economic policy think tank and serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at Carnegie India. Prof. Samarajiva is Chairman of Communication Policy Research South, an initiative to identify and foster policy intellectuals in emerging Africa and Asia. He is a member of the Board and former Chair of the Lanka Software Foundation. He serves on the Editorial Boards of six academic journals.
He is a Business Management Graduate of Victoria University – Australia with Executive training at NUS Business School in Singapore and has received extensive management training at Nippon – Keidanren International Cooperation Center (NICC) in Japan. At present, he is a member of the Board of Governors of National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS), National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) and the Council of the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC). He has been a Director of Board of CSR Lanka (Guarantee) Ltd since 2013. He is a past President of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources – (IPMA-HR) Sri Lanka Chapter and an Executive Committee Member of the IPMA-HR Asia Network. He is a founder/ Fellow member and a past President of the Association of Human Resource Professionals in Sri Lanka (HRP). He has won the Prestigious HR Leadership award at the Asia Pacific Congress (APHRM) in 2007/08 and was recognized under the global HR excellence category, for the contribution made to HR for the economic development of the country.
In July 2000, he became the Executive Director of Sarvodaya and was responsible for the implementation of the island-wide integrated development programme of Sarvodaya through a network of over 50 district centres and training institutions.
Dr. Ariyaratne has been extensively involved in health programmes related to the war affected communities in Sri Lanka and also helped in the Tsunami recovery programmes in the country (a project of over USD 15 million) in association with the Health Ministry and the UN agencies to provide services to nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons.
In recognition of his dedication to humanitarian and peace initiatives, in February 2007, Dr. Ariyaratne was awarded the Degree of Civil Law by the University of Durham, U.K. Dr. Ariyaratne has extensive experience in working with governmental bodies, UN agencies, and multilateral agencies and serves in several senior governmental advisory committees.
He is the Chairman of Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and Co-chairman of the National Council on ICT and Space Technology for The Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) in Sri Lanka. He is also a member of the advisory board for ICT at the Export Development Board (EDB) and represents the IT industry on the boards of several leading universities. He is a Chartered Engineer, Certified Gamification Master and holds an MBA and a First Class Honours Degree in Software Engineering.
While working at the multimedia agency Drik PLC in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she held multiple positions as the Communications Manager, Head, Drik Picture Agency and was the first Project Manager for the award winning Rural Visual Journalism Network. She also managed the Secretariat for the VI & VII Chobi Mela International Photography Festivals held in 2011 and 2013 in Dhaka.
An avid photo blogger, her writing fuses images from the past and present and is enriched with family memoirs, local history, legends and myths to weave a rich fabric of Sri Lanka's cultureShe holds an MSc (with Distinction) Information & Library Studies, Loughborough University, UK.
He was a Visiting Research Fellow to IDRC, Canada (2007 – 2008 Oct), and South Asia Regional Coordinator for GKP (Global Knowledge Partnership) (2006 – 2008). He holds a PhD in Biotechnology (Tissue Culture) from University of Tokyo, Japan, and an Executive MBA, at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His long involvement with grassroots sector as the Deputy Executive Director (1994/2004) and an honorary Vice President to Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya had led him to become a consultant for organizations including the UN, IDRC and many other International Development Organizations.
Overcoming all odds, she’s not only succeeded introducing several educational programmes to suit different age limits but worked out the delivery of these programmes through a unique network of over 120 Telecentre operators with a model adopted towards supporting local entrepreneurship. Marking 07 years of successful & sustainable programme delivery, Fusion Education received the recognition of two of the global leaders in technology Cisco and Microsoft in 2015. This paved the way for Fusion Education to take a further step becoming an authorized education partner of Microsoft IT Academy and Cisco Networking Academy. Her entrepreneurial characteristics paved the way for her to take Sarvodaya-Fusion as a fully scaled social enterprise.
In 2016 she led the awareness program called “IT Yahamaga” (Securing SMART Generation) to island wide school students, which has come to be today, a highly popularized program exposed to over 60,000 students, covering around 300 schools with the latest technologies, tools and their usage, to be innovators and to become positive contributors to the society while being responsible digital citizens. In 2019, “IT Yahamaga” has come to be a very popular program, among schools, including principals and teachers.
Shirani utilizes her experience and exposure in developing and establishing relationships with Corporates and other development sector partners while supporting to develop and design innovative and sustainable CSR initiatives that have been well accepted by the partner organizations keeping in line with the mission of Sarvodaya-Fusion. Going beyond “Digital Literacy” in an era where the country is in need of more technological solutions in the development process both economic and social, Shirani took the challenge to design and successfully implement National and subnational level projects based on “Digital Benefits” which was able to address situations in Health & Nutrition and Disaster Management involving different stakeholder groups in Sri Lanka.
She is keen to contribute with her knowledge and experience to the under privileged youth in rural Sri Lanka, to minimize the digital gap that prevails outside Colombo. Deshika takes over responsibility to operate Fusion Education Academy as a sustainable initiative with a plan to equip the youth in rural villages with latest technological skills and competencies while giving them the opportunity to access internationally recognized specialized programs.
Having the right qualifications, a positive attitude, and the best foot forward, Isuri well fits Sarvodaya Fusion and works as the Program Development Executive, taking over partner relations.
Dr. Harsha is a well-recognized ICT4D sector expert with 15+ years of experience in a variety of fields including: wireless technology, telecentres, start-up social enterprises, multi-stakeholder partnerships, donor relations, social impact assessment, project design and economic sustainability.
He was a Visiting Research Fellow to IDRC, Canada (2007 – 2008 Oct), and South Asia Regional Coordinator for GKP (Global Knowledge Partnership) (2006 – 2008). He holds a PhD in Biotechnology (Tissue Culture) from University of Tokyo, Japan, and an Executive MBA, at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His long involvement with grassroots sector as the Deputy Executive Director (1994/2004) and an honorary Vice President to Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya had led him to become a consultant for organizations including the UN, IDRC and many other International Development Organizations.
He is a Business Management Graduate of Victoria University – Australia with Executive training at NUS Business School in Singapore and has received extensive management training at Nippon – Keidanren International Cooperation Center (NICC) in Japan. At present, he is a member of the Board of Governors of National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS), National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) and the Council of the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC). He has been a Director of Board of CSR Lanka (Guarantee) Ltd since 2013. He is a past President of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources – (IPMA-HR) Sri Lanka Chapter and an Executive Committee Member of the IPMA-HR Asia Network. He is a founder/ Fellow member and a past President of the Association of Human Resource Professionals in Sri Lanka (HRP).
He has won the Prestigious HR Leadership award at the Asia Pacific Congress (APHRM) in 2007/08 and was recognized under the global HR excellence category, for the contribution made to HR for the economic development of the country.
While working at the multimedia agency Drik PLC in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she held multiple positions as the Communications Manager, Head, Drik Picture Agency and was the first Project Manager for the award winning Rural Visual Journalism Network. She also managed the Secretariat for the VI & VII Chobi Mela International Photography Festivals held in 2011 and 2013 in Dhaka.
An avid photo blogger, her writing fuses images from the past and present and is enriched with family memoirs, local history, legends and myths to weave a rich fabric of Sri Lanka's culture. She holds an MSc (with Distinction) Information & Library Studies, Loughborough University, UK.
With a burning passion on localized Service marketplace, and realizing a dire need in this area, Nish created another trailblazer and co-founded Workforce.lk- a Services marketplace offering people to outsource chores and errands to others in their local neighbourhood with speedy service.
Nish holds a Business Management MBA from the University of Colombo and Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Peradeniya. He is a former Engineer-Technology of Virtusa and CAMMS and has 15+ combined years of experience in the Management and Technology arena. He specializes in IT Consulting, Digital Marketing, Project Management and Team Management.
With his know how on social and digital media he has conducted workshops to Corporations on Digital security, Advanced Digital Marketing Techniques, Online Safety, Human Behavior Analysis ,Online PR, B2B Social Selling/ Social Media Marketing Basics, and LinkedIn, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter Marketing Training. Prasad has a Master’s degree in Telecommunication and IT from the University of Sikkim Manipal. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations and has attended many international training programs including training at George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Washington on D.C.
Prasad has worked at U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs, for more than 8 years and his expertise on social media is nearly unrivalled. He has trained over 6000 people across the country, in Maldives, India since 2012 on different social media training programs, and received many International awards. Prasad is also consulted in the area of Online Personal Branding, for VIPs, Directors, Executives Civil society members and Politicians since 2012.
Yajish began his legal career as a State Prosecutor for the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka. He is a visiting lecturer for the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and has functioned as host in several legal television programs in Rupavahini, ITN and Colombo Television. He acts as the Convener of the Professional Development Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka while functioning as the Legal Advisor and a Board Member of several companies and Professional organisations.
Ashey has experience in Training and setting up new Sales teams & Sales channels Island wide, conduct training and motivation programs for Sales & Distribution teams and Introducing Train the Training (TTT) platforms. He has worked at Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd , Lanka Bell Limited, PC Partner (Pvt) Ltd , Citi Bank – UAE ,Eureka Technology Partners (Pvt) Ltd. He has received Special Awards as NASCO Territory Manager of the Year (Telecommunication Sector) – Bronze Medalist 2015 and Airtel Lanka Best Sales Manager – Channel Sales (2015)
As a trainer she focuses on Personal Finances as well as on Leadership, Management and Personal Development topics. She also conducts seminar on personal excellence, positive attitudes, career paths and future planning. Her workshop design and training delivery has benefited a wide variety of Sri Lankans including entrepreneurs, students, women and different categories of employees, executives, workers and senior management. Some of her Sri Lankan clients are HSBC,Unilever, Sri Lanka Australia Natural Resource Development Projecta, Jasteca, Peoples Bank , Finlay Group to name a few.
She has been a guest lecturer at RISEBA University, Latvia, and worked at BRAC Lanka Finance PLC, and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – Holland, Sri Lanka. She is also Studying Master’s degree (pre-doctoral) in International Business Management at RISEBA,Latvia 2018/19.Janani has a Master’s degree in International Management at Teesside University, UK , B.Sc. (Sp) in Food Science and Nutrition, Wayamba University, Sri Lanka . She is also a Language Translator Translating Tamil and Sinhala to English and vice versa.
