Sunday Times 2
Mother Sri Lanka aims for unity, empowerment and development
View(s):The Mother Sri Lanka (MSL) movement started in 2008 by the Mother Sri Lanka Trust is a non-profit, independent charity. The foundation and the trust carries out work under the brand name “Mother Sri Lanka” (See pic) with the logo/name written in all three languages and the tagline “My family of twenty million people” has been designed to resemble a movement for everyone from all ethnic and religious groups to work in unity to build a successful future for all.
Mother Sri Lanka showroom on Parliament Road, Kotte
Mother Sri Lanka is the story of how the people of one resilient island nation in the Indian Ocean did not allow thirty long years of terrorism drown their hopes and dreams for their motherland. It is the story of a small group of patriotic citizens who wanted to tell their family of twenty million to hold their heads high in pride, believing in themselves – the story of how a country can overcome bloodshed and rise from the ashes of war, learning from the mistakes of the past, uniting under one flag, as one nation, as one people who believe in their country.
Believing that economic empowerment is a great equalizer, its work with urban and rural communities covers gender equality and livelihood development. It also adopts a bottom-up approach starting at grassroots level with a network of 1000 youth and school clubs across the country.
Mother Sri Lanka carries out programmes targeting pre-school children, school children and the youth. It also conducts community programmes for impoverished women, aiming at their empowerment.
Project RUN
Its Project RUN – with the three letters in RUN representing Responsible Citizenship, Unity and National Pride — is a concept where children are motivated and encouraged to design projects that help uplift life and enrich communities in which they live.
The Mother movement’s Love Sri Lanka Project, which is designed to protect authentic Sri Lankan products and empowering local craftsmen, continues to move from strength to strength despite the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was launched with the aim of protecting local arts and crafts and industries that help sustain traditional practices.
The collection of products which are sold under the sub brand “Love Sri Lanka” with the tagline “100 smiles for your 100 rupees” is one of the most popular brands of Sri Lanka souvenirs with a wide range of products targeting Sri Lankans and tourists. These products are available at Mother Sri Lanka showrooms at 410/131, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 and 614, Sri Jayawardenepura Mawatha, Kotte.
A business managment training programme being conducted for micro-entrepreneurs
Mother Sri Lanka Founder and Chairperson Dr. Janaki Kuruppu says “I always make it a point to interact with all my suppliers and advice them on product design and sustainable business practices. In one of my interactions with two women entrepreneurs once when we visited the supplier in their home in Polonnaruwa, I wanted to buy some of their products for myself, and I paid them double of what they were asking for. That small gesture brought such a beautiful smile to her face, which really made an impact in my mind. It was this incident that made me come up with the tagline “100 smiles for your 100 Rupees”, because I have seen the genuine smiles that we are able to bring to their faces by the support we give.
“So when you buy one of these products from us, even if it is a few rupees more, you should feel glad that you are bringing a smile to someone less privileged. Also, we are a 100% non-profit organisation, so there are no shareholders who are trying to make a profit out of this project”.
Mother Sri Lanka also believes that economic empowerment of women is one of the most successful approaches to gender equality. Hence, most of the micro entrepreneurs supported by Mother Sri Lanka are women, while there are a high number of talented men who are making a significant contribution to the project. About 125 micro entrepreneurs from 10 districts, with over 1,000 directly employed and over 5,000 families indirectly, benefit from this initiative. The product range include clay, brass, leather, handloom, batik, cane, lace, stationery, ecofriendly and organic products, food and beverages, herbs and medicines and personal care products.
MSL projects are financed by generous donors in the private sector, international Govt./Non- Govt. sectors, philanthropists, as well as through fund raising programmes and from the sale of Sri Lankan arts and crafts.
The Board of Trustees & Executive Team of Mother
Sri Lanka comprise the following;
Chairperson: Dr. Janaki Kuruppu.
Trustees Thushantha Karunanayake, Piyadasa Marabage, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, Prof. Ananda Jayawardena, Eastman Narangoda, Riaz Saban and Samantha De Silva.
Other committee members are: Chandrika Kannangara, Mohideen Saheed, S. Karunakaran, Surangi Fernando, Shameena Pallie, Air Chief Marshall Gagan Bulathsinghala, Amrit Canagaretna, Priyadharshini Karunarathne and Devaka Wickremasuriya.