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SLJB celebrates finding 6,000 jobs

The Sri Lankan Job Bank recently completed one year of service, during which 6,000 jobs were found and filled. SLJB includes volunteer staff.

This non profit organisation utilises excess of income towards basic training such as English language, typing skills etc.

The Sri Lankan Job Bank (SLJB) is a grass roots level, community based employee - employer meeting point, a project initiated by the Professional Association of Youth Affairs - retired staff of the National Youth Services Council.

With a vision of ‘Jobs for all’ Sri Lankan Job Bank aims at providing a solution to the grave national issue of unemployment the country is suffering from and plans to be a conduit via which employers and job seekers can ‘meet’. SLJB maintains voluntary staff of three organisers in each Grama Niladhari division who gather information on employment needs in the community.

The SLJB caters to both the employer and the job seeker through maintaining a database with details of the job seeker and of the available job openings. This large database is updated with additions daily.

Member Employers of the job bank have access to the database through a username and password. A nominal fee is charged for membership which is a very low amount in comparison to the advertising and recruitment charges companies has to incur annually for publication of job vacancies and recruitment and short listing.

SLJB also acquires information of the applicant, interviews individuals, includes in the database and shortlists candidates, all for the same amount, which is yet again cost effective for the Employer.

SLJB believes that the information gap is the major contributor to unemployment in Sri Lanka. Hence its mission to ‘secure jobs for the unemployed youth of Sri Lanka and to provide a meeting point of potential Employer and Employee’ is its sole intention.

As a key part of the unemployment percentage exist at community level, SLJB reaches and operates on these levels by gathering employment needs through placing three organisers on each Grama Sevaka division, which has enabled the organisation to work at grass-roots level. Hence this makes SLJB a community-based organisation for the community.

Bodhi Ranasinghe Foundation is the Executive Partner of SLJB in the Colombo District.

Bodhi Ranasinghe, Chairman of the Foundation said at one of the many job fairs that were held regularly, ‘Due to unemployment our youth suffer from great distress which leads to unsettled society.

I’m very happy to assist people to acquire employment through Sri Lankan Job Bank. It is the hope of the authorities to expand the services in the future, he said.

Business Superbrands felicitated

Superbrand International paid tribute to a number of Business Superbrands last week. The Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) became the first and only Business School to receive Business Superbrand status.

PIM pioneered the MBA programme in Sri Lanka over two decades ago. It continues to conduct the country’s leading MBA programme. Over 2500 PIM alumni hold key positions in both the private and public sectors.

PIM continually upgrades its curricular and delivery modes in keeping with the changes in the larger environment in order to make its programmes the best in class. A blend of modern theories and concepts of management, and their real-life applications has made PIM’s programmes stand out from the rest.

An expert local and foreign panel of lecturers constitute the institute’s faculty. They also contribute to the enrichment of knowledge in their respective areas of expertise through research and publications. The Institute’s Sri Lankan Journal of Management is a quarterly publication on research in management.

Dave bids adieu to Bodyline

Horana Bodyline Garment’s Managing Director, Dave Ranasinghe bade farewell to his establishment after a career spanning sixteen years.

His dedicated service to the company enabled it clinch a number of prestigious awards such as National Productivity Award 1999, Victoria Secret USA Award for Quality 1998, Mast Award for Quality 1999, Best Energy Conservation Award 1999, and Gold Medal for the best exporter 2001.

In addition Ranasinghe won the award for the best Chief Executive Officer 2001 and 2002.

He was a well-known social worker who helped the low-income families by providing scholarships, educational materials to schools, assistance to Ranaviru families, amenities to hospitals in the area.

South Asia ...

Review by Saman Kelegama

Produced by Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India, and published by Oxford University Press, India,

South Asia has emerged as one of the fastest growing regions with an average growth rate of 8 per cent over the past five years. Yet, the region continues to be the home for over 40 per cent of the world’s poor and fares poorly in terms of different indicators of human development, such as education, health, nutrition and sanitation.

This is worrying and the danger is that the current downside risks posed by the deterioration of the external environment could slow down the South Asian growth and further aggravate poverty and human development. The report argues that South Asia can face this challenge much more effectively with deeper regional economic integration as outlined in the earlier chapters.

The basic argument of the report is that for far too long, the economic logic of integration in South Asia has been overwhelmed by geo-political considerations and now with the deteriorating global economic environment, renewed effort must be made to give economic integration a chance in order realize fully South Asia’s potential for rapid and inclusive growth.

An integrated South Asia, the report argues, will be able to secure its due place in the emerging broader regional architecture in Asia and above all, exercise its role in shaping global governance.

The report is rich with data, highlights (in boxes), and references, and has cogently articulated the case of deepening economic integration in the region. It is the most up-to-date report on South Asian Development and Cooperation in the region. It is a timely report released just before the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo and will be extremely useful for South Asian policy makers, business leaders, development thinkers, and practitioners. (Concluded)