Towards removing communication barriers in Public Service

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Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena addressing the symposium of National Languages Equality Advancement Project (NLEAP).-Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh-NLEAP Director Michael Emblem

For several decades there was an awareness of the need to develop gender-sensitive and diversity inclusive strategies to address communication barriers that impede the effective delivery of public service. Communication difficulties have been identified as the main barrier.

Although the Official Languages Act has laid the foundation for effective work for removal of this barrier, the slow progress of its implementation became a major concern. Hence, in order to strengthen the implementation of the Official Languages Policy, the National Languages Equality Advancement Project (NLEAP) was launched. Its aim was to reduce poverty and improve economic and social equality of Sinhala and Tamil speaking women and men throughout Sri Lanka by strengthening the implementation of the Sri Lankan Official Languages Policy and enhancing acceptance by Sri Lankan women and men of the cultural diversity in the country.

The first phase of this Canadian assisted project was concluded with a Symposium on NLEAP in Colombo on Tuesday (July 11). Addressing the Symposium, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the objective of the Official Languages Policy of Sri Lanka is to enhance acceptance by Sri Lankan women and men of the cultural diversity in the country.“Overcoming communication barriers also help for speedy economic development and ensuring uniformity in development. That in turn helps to reduce poverty and improve economic and social equality of Sinhala and Tamil speaking women and men throughout Sri Lanka,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that cohesion of any nation comprising of different communities, depends largely on the ability to communicate with each other. Language is also an inalienable right of the people. Communication rights involve freedom of opinion and expression, participation in one’s own culture, linguistic rights, rights to education, privacy and assembly, he said.

The Canadian Director of National Languages Equality Advancement Project, Michael Emblem said the NLEAP project has served as a forum for academics, students and professionals to focus on specific challenges relating to the multilingual nature of Sri Lanka and gender-based barriers and to find solutions to them.

The Department of Official Languages with the support of NLEAP, convened an Advisory Committee on Translation (ACT). ACT is an initiative set up under the purview of the Department to have oversight on policies relevant to translation and interpretation services in the public sector. The mandate of the ACT is to provide policy direction and appropriate actions to Government policymakers to enhance translation and interpretation services in the country.

The objective of the ACT session was to enhance professionalism of translation/ interpretation services, which is essential to ensuring the effective implementation of the Official Languages Policy. Director Emblem commended the ACT members for the vital role they would play in supporting the Government to provide effective gender-sensitive bilingual public services.

Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh said Canada, as a bilingual nation, has shared its experiences with Sri Lanka through the NEALP project. The Canadian High Commission said in a twitter message, “Today and tomorrow, we celebrate the achievements and impact of #NLEAP, a Canada-funded initiative supporting #languagerights in #SriLanka. #reconciliation#socialcohesion#genderequality”.

The High Commissioner Walsh also gave an assurance that Canada would continue to support the project as working with the Government of Sri Lanka and civil society organisations, the project will further strengthen gender-sensitive bilingual communication skills of public servants; improve the capacity of key ministries to deliver public services in both official languages, Sinhala and Tamil at national and provincial levels, especially in bilingual communities; increase awareness of language diversity and language rights; and increase the ability of citizens to communicate in the official languages.

There is firm conviction that the strengthened implementation of the Official Languages Policy would make a difference in the lives of women and men by improving the delivery of public services, fostering greater inclusion, and indeed ultimately reducing poverty and providing opportunities.

Endorsing NLEAP as one of the flagship projects in Canada’s Development programme in Sri Lanka, Linda Erichs – Counsellor (Development) and Head of Development, High Commission of Canada said at an earlier event pointed to the opportunity it created to draw on Canada’s experience in protecting and promoting Language Rights. She was hopeful that the technical exchanges would stimulate further reflection and ideas on strengthening implementation of Sri Lanka’s OLP.

“We are pleased to fund this project in this particular area which we consider an important contribution to continued strengthening of Canada Sri Lanka bi-lateral relations,” she said. She also highlighted the integration of Gender Equality as key to the project’s success. Also noted was the far-reaching impact of the National Languages Fund. Ms. Erichs commended the greater numbers being directly impacted and influenced in grassroot communities through the activities of the Local Civil Society Organisations being partnered by NLF.

Under the NLEAP project several manuals were produced and they would greatly empower translator trainers of DOL and second language teachers to include in their teaching curricula elements of diversity, inclusion as well as intercultural communication.

The ‘Valuing Non-Language/ Non-Verbal Communication Facilitation Manual’ was presented by Malraji Wanniarachchi (Capacity Development & Governance Specialist, NLEAP). Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Intercultural Learning (CIL) this manual is designed to provide trainers with a framework they can use to provide highly participatory, face-to-face, learning experiences.

The ‘Training Manual for Key Trainers: Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment and the Nexus with Language Rights’ was introduced by Saama Rajakaruna (Local Gender Equality Specialist, NLEAP) as a resource for key trainers working on promoting Language Rights to incorporate Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in their work spheres. The manual is designed to enhance their understanding of concepts related to gender and gender equality, as well as provide insight into the nexus between gender equality, women’s empowerment and language rights.

Premier Gunawardena expressed gratitude to the Government of Canada for the financial support extended to the NLEAP Project and thanked High Commissioner Eric Walsh for his support to extend the project to help Sri Lanka to achieve its objective of equal advancement in national language usage.