US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO920

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000920 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR D, SA, SA/INS; PASS ALSO TO AID/ANE/ESA 
(BBUNDY) and AID/DCHA/OTI (RWAX) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PGOV, PREL, PINS, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Sri Lanka: Status of USAID/Office of 
Transition Initiatives 
 
1. SUMMARY:  As Washington prepares for the Tokyo 
Donors' Conference next month, we thought it useful 
to provide an update on what promises to be a 
highly successful assistance program in Sri Lanka. 
USAID/OTI has made excellent progress during the 
past two months and should become fully operational 
by the end of June. With a combination of 
Transition Initiatives and Economic Support Funds, 
USAID/OTI manages a flexible, fast response $3.5 
million small grants program that supports the 
peace process. To date, OTI has signed 17 grants in 
different parts of Sri Lanka valued at 
approximately $370,000 and will soon open field 
offices in Trincomalee and Ampara. END SUMMARY 
 
2. Since commencing in early March, the USAID/OTI 
Sri Lanka program has sought to enhance the 
political space needed to further the ongoing peace 
process. OTI has two main objectives - mitigating 
conflict and building constituencies for peace. OTI 
has delivered visible, high impact peace dividends 
to lessen the influence of potential spoilers of 
the peace process, and supported conflict 
mitigation and resolution activities in flashpoint 
areas such as Trincomalee and Batticaloa in eastern 
Sri Lanka. OTI grants support positive, community- 
based interaction among diverse groups of people; 
promote citizen involvement in community decision 
making, particularly for rehabilitating community- 
based infrastructure; improve livelihoods and 
provide skills training; and, increase 
dissemination of balanced information and diverse 
points of view. OTI's contractual partner, 
Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), implements 
the $3.5 million small grants program. 
 
3. The Colombo-based part of the OTI program has 
become fully operational. In order to have the OTI 
program more linked with local communities and to 
present a higher profile for USG assistance to Sri 
Lanka, field offices will open in Trincomalee and 
Ampara. OTI staff have made several visits to each 
location over the past six weeks; we anticipate two 
field offices functioning by the end of June. 
 
4. During the start-up phase, OTI cleared seventeen 
grants obligating approximately $370,000. Initial 
grants have achieved regional diversity to 
underscore the nationwide focus of the program, 
plus have targeted key program areas such as 
community-based reconstruction projects and needed 
media-related initiatives. In recent weeks, OTI has 
funded two prominent Sri Lankan Colombo-based NGOs 
to implement activities that target information 
dissemination and conflict-sensitive reporting; 
made eight grants in Jaffna mainly for high 
visibility "peace dividend" projects such as 
schools and micro-enterprises; provided a grant to 
the base hospital in Puttalam to address a glaring 
public health problem; and another grant to a local 
organization in the South to promote exchanges 
between communities there and the Northeast. 
 
5.   In order to underscore the fast and flexible 
nature of the program, within the next two weeks 
OTI will field a team in southwest Sri Lanka to 
explore post-flood grant opportunities as people 
return and begin rebuilding shattered lives.  Given 
the devastating effects of the floods and the very 
real possibility that unwieldy and unresponsive 
post-emergency support mechanisms will lead to 
political discontent, OTI plans to use its "peace 
dividends" mandate to help repair key 
infrastructure such as schools, feeder roads, and 
irrigation canals. 
 
6.   The following is a list of the 17 OTI grants 
to date: 
- Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies: Newspaper 
Advertisements on Petition in Support of Peace 
Process 
- Jaffna Social Action Center: Creating Livelihoods 
for Returnees on Karainagar Island 
- Jaffna Zonal Education Department: English 
Language Enrichment Program 
- Jaffna's Wholistic Health Center: Re-activation 
of Three Pre-Schools 
- Chundikuli Girls School: Peace Education and 
National Integration Workshops for Jaffna School 
Prefects 
- Vaehilihini Development Center: Peacebuilding 
Training Among Community-Based Organizations in 
Moneragala 
- Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India: 
Rehabilitation of the Varany Mission Poultry Farm 
- Chavakacheri Hindu College: Reconstruction of 
School Water Supply System 
- Jaffna's Wholistic Health Center: Promoting Peace 
Building Schools Through Non-Violent Communication 
- Chandrapura Skandavarodaya High School in Jaffna: 
Construction of Science Lab Facility 
- Center for Policy Alternatives: Community Level 
Seminars on Peace Process Issues 
- Center for Policy Alternatives: Conflict- 
Sensitive Journalism Field Workshops 
- Child Vision: Construction of Incinerator at 
Puttalam Base Hospital 
- Muslim Rights Organization: Land Tenure Survey in 
the Eastern Province 
- Karuna Center for Peacebuilding: Workshop for 
Reconciliation Trainers 
- Center for Policy Alternatives: Peace Monitor 
Publication in Three Languages 
- International Organization for Migration: 
Information Counseling and Referral Service for Ex- 
Combatants 
WILLS