Avanke Marcom Associates

The courage of a great leader to fulfill his vision comes from his passion, not his position. (John Maxwell)

Going down memory lane ... all the way back to March 2016.

Capturing Dreams of Youth in my little notebook

A phone call had come from the other end of the globe. My Research Partner asked me whether I could assist him in conducting some qualitative research in 3 Provinces of Sri Lanka so that an International NGO could bid successfully with adequate information from the ‘ground’ for a youth employment programme. …Or, by the way, I was told that I had only two weeks to complete the job and submit a report. My answer was nonchalant, “When can they approve the estimate?” – So, we got on Skype and spoke with this prospective Client. “Give us this day to give you a proposal”, we told them. “Give us your Bank account number and SWIFT code”, came in the reply. Well, it took some time to prepare the proposal, and since the prospective client was 10 hours behind us, we could work on it till the late hours of the night and go to sleep.
Whenever the Sandman walks into Avanke`, he pulls up a chair and works along with me.
Early the next morning, we were on Skype again and were told that our proposal; -methodology, costing, timeline etc., was fine and to proceed. We developed the discussion guides for Focus Group Discussions, recruitment questionnaires to enlist youth for FGDs; in-depth interview questionnaires for Employers, Principals, lecturers and students of Vocational Training Institutes, and also for NGO Representatives, Officials of the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training and Ministry of Agriculture.
A couple of days later, I was off to the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, to Jaffna – 400 KM from Colombo and then to Trincomalee in the Eastern Province, a further 240 KM on the road and a day later to Galle – 110 KM from Colombo.
After 127 interviews and a week filled with sleepless nights where I was working till 3.00 am, the job was done. The Sandman was spurring me on and screaming,” Stay awake, stay awake and for you can sleep when the work is done.”
The work was interesting, no doubt much more than the travelling. Speaking to youth about the type of employment they were looking for, capturing their dreams in my little notebook and speaking to NGO Representatives, Employers, Government Officials, and Principals of Vocational Training Institutes gave us a greater understanding of issues concerning youth employment and skills gaps.
This job was like running a 100-meter race over and over again, but the strong wind hitting my face and the adrenaline build-up was worth it… especially after the money was credited to my account

I was asked to deliver the keynote address at Asia Foundation's CSO partners forum- "Strengthening Social Cohesion in Sri Lanka."- I spoke about addressing social cohesion not only from a multi-ethnic and multi-religious perspective but from a broader framework covering gender, inter-generational, income, and political ideology, all of which have fractured our society and adversely impacted social cohesion. We have to start with ourselves, our family and our community and then also build strong relationships with public officials. Social cohesion is all about trust. and therefore, both horizontal and vertical relationships are equally important.

Fable: DON'T ARGUE WITH “DONKEYS”

The donkey said to the tiger:

- "The grass is blue".

The tiger replied:

- "No, the grass is green."

The discussion heated up, and the two decided to submit him to arbitration, and for this they went before the lion, the King of the Jungle.

Already before reaching the forest clearing, where the lion was sitting on his throne, the donkey began to shout:

- "His Highness, is it true that the grass is blue?".

The lion replied:

- "True, the grass is blue."

The donkey hurried and continued:

- "The tiger disagrees with me and contradicts and annoys me, please punish him."

The king then declared:

- "The tiger will be punished with 5 years of silence."

The donkey jumped cheerfully and went on his way, content and repeating:

- "The Grass Is Blue"...

The tiger accepted his punishment, but before he asked the lion:

- "Your Majesty, why have you punished me?, after all, the grass is green."

The lion replied:

- "In fact, the grass is green."

The tiger asked:
- "So why are you punishing me?".

The lion replied:

- "That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green.

The punishment is because it is not possible for a brave and intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey, and on top of that come and bother me with that question."

The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who does not care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on arguments that don't make sense...

There are people who, no matter how much evidence and evidence we present to them, are not in the capacity to understand, and others are blinded by ego, hatred and resentment, and all they want is to be right even if they are not.

When ignorance screams, intelligence is silent. Your peace and quiet are worth more. ❤️

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Yesterday I was at the "YCLI Peace Day celebrations at MAS Athena in Thulhiriya hosted by Youth Community Leadership Initiative (YCLI) along with the implementing partners; WHO, UNDP, UNV and NYSC. Over 400 youth from all over Sri Lanka attended the event and we took the opportunity to develop a questionnaire and conduct a survey on language rights.

At the South Asia Regional Workshop on Think Tank as Vehicles for Social Progress - at the panel discussion on "Think Tank's future avenues, strategies and roles."- My work as CEO of Marga Institute

One of our Research Assistants conducted a rapid exploratory survey on Farmer issues by interviewing over 50 Farmers via telephone. Here is a brief presentation of our findings.

Green Clean Agricultural Industry Presentation Template Check out this presentation designed by Loganathan Mathan.

If you ask the right questions, you will find the answers and solve most of our problems

The Jefferson Memorial and the 5 Whys - by Jerilyn Edginton Ever wonder if we really got to the root of a problem? This is a video about a near miss and a simple solution!

A survey that I designed and conducted within a few days. Is Sri Lanka facing a social and political transformation? Only time will tell.

A rapid exploratory survey on system change A public opinion survey Marga Institute conducted online in April 2022 concerning system change

My work at the Marga Institute afforded me little time for creative work in 2021. However I was able to develop these videos to promote second language learning and language rights. This is the work I did for National Language Equality Advancement Project.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ryy42wPcxY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuygkk_ccXs andhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf0Mt8Xn8-s

Be a part of the solution. Inform Official Languages Commission Video 03 Sinhala Video to explain whom to inform Official Languages Commission when there are mistake on public name board or if name board is not available in all three lang...

2021 was a busy year with work at Marga Institute but I still had time for some creative work as I developed campaigns with Magic Mango to counter hate and harmful speech and to promote the official languages policy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ0P1zjuVM andhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TflSX8x98uw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIYoF5lq1Po

Video 03 Subtitle E It is time to correct those who engage in harmful speech. Make it uncool

Excited about using our online education and training portal for the first time at Marga Institute

Getting ready to conduct our 3rd and 4th Training Workshops on Language Rights on the FuseClassroom web platform for the first time.