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Opening doors for Lankan Diaspora to reach out to motherland
OOSLA’s Director General V. Krishnamoorthy: Overseas Sri Lankans can become the country's development partners. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Nearly 3 million Sri Lankans are estimated to be living overseas. Successful and well-organised, the Sri Lankan Diaspora (now referred to as Overseas Sri Lankans – OSLs) in various countries have assisted their motherland in many ways over the years, though there had been no formal mechanism on the part of the State to coordinate with the Sri Lankan Diaspora to ensure the most effective utilisation of their support. The Office for Overseas Sri Lankan Affairs (OOSLA), which has been in operation since the beginning of this year, aims to change that.
OOSLA is the result of a proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his Interim Budget for 2022, where he called for the establishment of an “Office for Overseas Sri Lankans,” which would act as a central point of coordination to obtain the support of Sri Lankans living abroad. Following Cabinet approval given last December to a proposal made by Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, OOSLA was established in January this year under the Presidential Secretariat with a number of experienced retired career diplomats in key positions.
OOSLA’s research shows that between 2.5 to 3 million Sri Lankans have gone overseas in five key waves over the past several decades since Independence, for different reasons, with people being still on the move. This migration is part of any civilization and is a fact of human life, V. Krishnamoorthy, OOSLA’s Director General told the Sunday Times.
OOSLA’s ambit covers a wide range of Sri Lankans living abroad. These include non-resident Sri Lankans who are mostly contractual migrant workers living overseas, those who are Sri Lankan by birth but are now citizens of another country, people who were not born in Sri Lanka but are descendants of Sri Lankans as well as foreign spouses married to Sri Lankans.
Mr. Krishnamoorthy with the OOSLA team
“Even though they are resident outside Sri Lanka, they have an affinity to their motherland and would like to connect with the country. In that sense, we consider these people as our people. They are our assets, so this office is a center point to have this two-way connection and facilitate their interests,” said Mr Krishnamoorthy, a former senior career diplomat.
OOSLA is already working with 23 key stakeholders; both in the public and private sector to engage with Overseas Sri Lankans (OSLs). These stakeholders include the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Public Administration, Public Security, Tourism and Lands, and Education, the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Board of Investment, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and National Chamber of Exporters. In addition, Sri Lanka’s 62 Overseas Missions are also working with OOSLA to coordinate engagement with / assistance from OSLs living in their respective countries. The office intends to cooperate with OSLs individually as well as collectively through their respective organisations in those countries, OOSLA’s DG explained.
The agency has identified several key areas when it comes to coordinating with OSLs. These are education and knowledge sharing; trade and investment; philanthropy; tourism and promoting home visits and consular affairs.
The government is also currently working on a Bill to grant more powers to OOSLA and make it a permanent institution.
However, it has already started connecting with Sri Lankans based overseas and is engaged in several small-scale pilot projects. These include a conversational English class being conducted for students of an upcountry school by a second generation Sri Lankan based in Canada. “Her father had connection to the upcountry and as such, she was interested in conducting her teaching programme in upcountry schools. When she connected with us, we approached the Education Ministry, who connected us with a school where all communities study. We identified that the class can be conducted for students from Grade 10 who had done their GCE Ordinary Level examination and were awaiting their results,” said Mr Krishnamoorthy. An hour-lomg class in conversational English is now conducted every Friday by the Sri Lankan OSL via Zoom. Staff from OOSLA also join via Zoom to monitor the sessions, along with a representative of the Zonal Education Office and another English teacher.
Other pilot projects that are being coordinated by OOSLA include a leadership training programme conducted by a second generation OSL in Canada for trainees of the National Youth Corps (NYC) and a cybersecurity training programme for IT instructors conducted by an OSL based in Estonia.
OOSLA also coordinates with respective agencies regarding difficulties faced by OSLs, such as delays in obtaining dual citizenship certificates, passports and visas. “If there are any policy level bottlenecks where the government has to intervene, this office becomes important. Since we are under the President’s office, we have convening power. We make representation to Immigration to see if they can look into these matters and expedite them,” said the DG.
Mr Krishnamoorthy emphasised that OOSLA will not encroach on any other agency’s territory but is acting as a center-point of coordination when it comes to connecting OSLs. “We only connect the dots. The respective institutions take over afterwards. All the respective departments must work together. This is a shared responsibility. It is in everyone’s interest. OSLs can become a development partner in our country’s progress and the entire country can benefit as a result,” he stressed.
OOSLA’s focus at the moment is on Sri Lankans domiciled in the US, UK, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, but it intends to thereafter widen its focus to other regions. “Our Diaspora is spread far and wide, even in some places where we don’t expect them to be. There are OSL communities in parts of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It may not have been their desired destination, but they have put down roots there and are doing well for themselves. And they want to contribute,” said Mr Krishnamoorthy.
A major expansion of OOSLA’s reach is expected to occur on December 18, which is International Migrants Day. Events being held by OOSLA to coincide with this day will see the launch of its official website – www.oosla.lk. The website will be developed to be interactive in nature and is part of OOSLA’s efforts to become a reliable partner for OSL’s to engage with Sri Lanka. The agency already has an active presence on Facebook and Twitter.
OOSLA has also reached out to different organisations representing the Sri Lankan Diaspora. These include the Sri Lanka Buddhist Cultural Centre in Hong Kong, the Mother Association in Germany and the Global Tamil Forum. “We believe all our activities give a clear path to reconciliation as well,” said Mr. Krishnamoorthy. As retired ambassadors, he said they know from firsthand experience of how Sri Lankans based overseas reach out to ask how they can help when something happens back home. “That emotional feeling for one’s motherland is there. But these feelings must be translated into action, and there must be some institution ready to coordinate. That is what we hope to do,” he noted.
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