Country/region: Srilanka (South Asia)
Conflict: Civil War and Ethnic conflicts
Organisation: Center for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation (cpbr) Home for diversity.
Field of work: Interethnic, faith, regional harmony, conflict transformation, ecological spirituality and healing
Amali Wijeratne is the Director of Organizational Management and Finance of the Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation (cpbr), Home for Diversity, Colombo, Sri Lanka. cpbr is a non-governmental organization exploring creative means to promote and practice interdependency, inclusivity, non-violent conflict transformation, and collective living as earth children. Artistic expression, interfaith actions/celebrations, earthwork, and awareness-raising work are the key tools adopted by cpbr to initiate dialogues at diverse levels to develop empathy-rooted relationships among and between deeply wounded and polarized societies in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a country that has gone through human-made and natural catastrophes in diverse periods for varied reasons. The 30-year civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009, was one of the most brutal conflicts in Sri Lankan history. Post-colonial statecraft, which is based on centralization, standardization, and homogenization, is the key root cause of the civil war between minority rebel groups and the state armed forces. The 2009 Easter Sunday attack, the 1971 and 1989 youth insurgencies, and the 2004 tsunami are the other key natural and human-made catastrophes Sri Lanka faced in recent history. In this context, cpbr played a role in healing, reconciling, and developing empathy-rooted relationships through diverse initiatives.
APINAM: Religions for Humanity—Interfaith Religious Leaders Initiative, WOMAN: Sister wing of CPBR, IRIS SISTERS: Interfaith Young Women Filmmakers Initiative, WARNANGAL: LGBTQIA+ wing of cpbr ,The Young Visionary Fellowship, a three-year program focused on conflict transformation for youth leaders, is the primary initiative of cpbr.
Ms. Wijeratne is playing a leading role as one of the directors at cpbr, contributing through her management, finance, and operational capacities. Her integrity, humanity, empathy, authenticity, and passionate enthusiasm are the key characteristics contributing to the growth of the cpbr community in the past 6 years. She holds a BSC Management degree with a specialization in accountancy. She is reading for her master’s in management.