img_container
03 Jan

“Learning, sharing and looking back”; The Values4All Joint Workshop – Kurunegala 2019

venue : Thulhiriya - Kurunegala
Date : 01/03/2019
Time : 08:00 AM

The Values4all youth trainers from the National Youth Services Council (NYSC), Sarvodaya and Rotaract met at a Joint Workshop from 26th to 28th February 2019 at MAS Athena in Kurunegala. Gathering trainers from Kalutara, Kurunegala, Trincomalee, Ampara, Vavuniya and Mannar, the workshop was the ideal opportunity to meet fellow-trainers, share experiences and learn from each other’s challenges and reflect on how far they have all come since the first Training of Trainers in June 2018. Officials from The Asia Foundation, Ministry of Education and Sri Lanka Unites joined the joint event on the first day of the workshop. The Assistant Director of Education – Nanasa e-thaksalawa Unit of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Sumudu Wasana also delivered a very crucial keynote where she pointed out the importance of information literacy and its impact especially on learning values. The workshop comprised of interactive training activities based on the Values curriculum and reflection sessions on various topics such as perception of values, non-violent communication, conflict escalation and management, understanding co-existence, and understanding memorialization through story telling. The youth trainers also had an exceptional opportunity to watch the renowned movie “Him, Her, The Other”, produced by ONUR and directed by three award winning Sri Lankan film makers; Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage and Vimukthi Jayasundara was projected for the participants followed by a panel discussion allowing them to share their views on the movie. The Asia Foundation also invited winning amateur youth photographer of the Pic Your Values Competition Ms. Suyothami Yoganathan to present her with the winning award. This was a competition organized by The Foundation open to youth from across the country to share photographs that portrayed any one of the seven values taught in the Values Curriculum. The competition was organized by The Asia Foundation together with the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka, with the sponsorship of Camera.LK Ms. Yoganathan was awarded with a medal from the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka and a voucher worth Rs.50,000 from Camera.lk. Overall, the workshop was quite successful in allowing the youth trainers to meet and share their experiences as Values4all Trainers. Their journey only begins now, as the Values Curriculum will next be rolled-out by these trainers, in each of the 6 districts to around 75 youth from their respective districts.