Princess Diana Award for two young peace builders

Two young peace builders from Sri Lanka- Janith Prabashwara Perera and Anojitha Sivaskaran have been honoured with The Diana Award 2021 for going above and beyond in their daily life to create and sustain positive change. 

On Monday, June 28, the 2021 Virtual Diana Award Ceremony was premiered on Youtube with Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Board Members and Judges of the Diana Award and the recipients.

Established in 1999, the Diana Award continues Princess Diana’s legacy by establishing a formal way to recognise young people who were going above and beyond the expected in their local communities.

Janith Prabashwara Perera from Colombo has engaged in volunteering, peace building and social work since 2013. He has worked closely with refugees, war victims and others attempting to make a positive and meaningful change.

At the national level, Janith functions as the Director of Capacity Building at Citizens Youth Led Movement and Advocacy Team Lead and Communications Lead at the Youth Peace Panel of Sri Lanka hosted by the UNFPA - Sri Lanka and Chrysalis. He is also the current Facilitator and a former Task Force Member of International Youth Alliance for Peace and Steering Committee member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network of Sri Lanka.

He is also the Executive SDG Advocate and Spokesperson of ‘Global Peace Let’s Talk, United Kingdom’; Ambassador-at-Large at World Institute for Peace, Nigeria; Consultant at Impact Youth Sustainability, DR Congo.

Janith is a visiting lecturer at several universities and higher education institutes in Sri Lanka and abroad and is a Certified Peace Educator from the Global Peace Institute, United Kingdom.

Anojitha Sivaskaran from Jaffna is a youth and peace activist working with grassroots civil societies in Sri Lanka. As a person who was born in and lived through the worst phase of Sri Lanka’s conflict in the midst of the war zone, she is passionate about sustaining peace in the country. She speaks Tamil, English and Sinhala equally fluently and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Kelaniya.

 Anojitha believes empowering young people and utilising them as "Peace agents" is the integral solution for sustaining peace building in Sri Lanka. She has been part of Interfaith Colombo, a volunteer youth network who works to promote peace by engaging different religious communities and enhancing mutual understanding for more than four years.  She has also been serving as a core member of Global Refugee Education Council, part of Canada's Together for Learning campaign – an international campaign to ensure that all refugee and displaced children can access the education they need and deserve.

She has been selected as the Global Ambassador 2021 & the Country Ambassador of Sri Lanka for Youth Opportunities to facilitate and support young people around the world to find opportunities for their development through sharing of information.

Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, says: “We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients from the UK and all over the globe who are changemakers for their generation. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens.

“For over twenty years The Diana Award has valued and invested in young people encouraging them to continue to make positive change in their communities and lives of others.”