Alumni societies help project Colombo plan’s positive image - CP Secretary General

Sarath MALALASEKERA

Colombo Plan Secretary General Patricia Yoon-Moi said the Colombo Plan Alumni Societies would serve as ambassadors of the Colombo Plan who will help project positive image of the organisation to the world.

The Colombo Plan Secretary General was speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Colombo Plan International Society (CPIS) recently.

She said the CPIS has shown itself to be a socially responsible society where a group of like-minded experienced and talented individuals have come together to keep the spirit and the good name of the Colombo Plan flying high.

“I wish to commend the CPIS for its contribution to the country since October 1985. I am going to use the CPIS as a model for developing the Colombo Plan Alumni network of Association. I was also encouraged by the CPIS contribution and active participation to form Colombo Plan Alumni Societies in other member countries, the Secretary-General said.

“I joined as the 20th head of the Colombo Plan in August 2007, and since then, I am very proud to be the Patron of this society.

The CPIS is part of the Colombo Plan and as head of the Secretariat, I have seen how CPIS supporting us. Since the Colombo Plan has the best regional drug demand reduction programme, we will always be ready to provide inputs in this field.

Explaining in details about the “Colombo Plan Strategic Vision for 2025,” the Colombo Plan Secretary General said that the Colombo Plan has designed out future programmes in consultation with our donor countries based on the needs assessment survey which was conducted last September 2007.

The main programmes are public administration and environment, private sector development, drug advisory programme and long term fellowship programme, which was restarted in 2005. These programmes are implemented using the South-South cooperation approach whereby, developing member countries share their experiences, especially the sucesses gained.

For this year, there is a significant expansion of programme activities, in the number of beneficiaries and funding, compared to previous years. Just as an indication, funding for the DAP has increased 260% from last year and our budget activities are more than US $ 7 million.

CPIS President Upali Jayasekera said the Society is involved in Drug-Abuse Prevention Programmes as part of the social service activities and thanked the Colombo Plan Secretariat for the cooperation extended. Sam Chandrasena was re-elected as the Secretary and Tilak Fernando as the Treasurer.