The Academy will be a one year program that will run from February 2021 to February 2022. Each session will be conducted over the weekend for 6 hours online with a two day residential training every last weekend of the month.

The participants will have the opportunity to interact with peers from every district of the country each week for lessons that have been carefully and thoughtfully curated to increase their skills and knowledge. Each session will be conducted by reputed experts in the relevant field. Participants will have an opportunity to learn and interact with some of the best minds from Sri Lanka while getting an opportunity to engage in additional international accredited courses.

The two day weekend training held at the end of each month will provide participants to interact with their peers in person, engage in knowledge sharing and learn together. The weekend trainings will be intensive sessions that allow participants to engage in-depth with each of the policies that the Centenary Movement focuses on.

Each participant will be given a detailed curriculum that reflects the themes and topics that they will be taught throughout the year. Each resource person will use this as a foundation to share their knowledge and experience.

At the end of the academic year each participant will be paired with a mentor in their respective fields. The purpose of this 3 month mentorship program will be to have an opportunity to learn from experts and visionaries in the field, who will be able to expose the participants to their networks while sharing their knowledge and expertise

1. Looking Inwards
-Understanding and mapping your personal value system
-Deep reflection on one’s personal /career to form a cohesive personal narrative
-Fleshing out a personal vision and mission statement
-Mapping out your personal network

2. Grassroots Campaigning
-Developing a systems thinking mindset
-Understanding and comparing different models of community organizing
-Mapping a well timed grassroots campaign with SMART goals spread across the year
-Teamwork and people management
-Fundraising
-Voter psychology

3. Understanding the local context
-Conduct surveys and community discussions
-Contextualize learnings

4. Policy Formulation
-What is a policy? What makes a good policy?
-Case studies on some economic and social policies

5. Finance
-Personal finance
-Campaign finance
-Government finance

6. Communication and branding
-What makes ideas stick?
-Personal branding
-Speech writing
-Networking
-Debating on social media
-Public speaking/ personal development

Current Landscape and Political Evolution since 1948

Duties and Obligations of different political offices

Powers and circumscribing of Powers

Legislative Structure & how to make a bill?

13 A, 19 A, 20 A – What were they about?

Gaps in the existing current political/constitutional Architecture

I. Case Studies:

Bipartisanship

Law reforms (domestic violence / MMDA)

Gender and governance

II. Engaging and leading your constituents (mapping out an issue faced by residents in their electorate/)

III. Networking and Communications

IV. Fund mobilization strategies

Pros and cons of grassroots fundraising and relying on big donations

V. How to defend your stance?

Ethnic and religious diversity; including history, grievances and solutions
Empowering women; especially to take up decision-making roles and also by addressing obstacles to their full participation in public life and equality in private life
Upholding the equal dignity and worth of persons with disabilities; through education, policies on accommodation and changes in the law

Ensuring Macroeconomic Stability

Stimulating Economic Growth

Reshaping the Economy to be Future ready

Creating an environment conducive for doing business

Brief history and introduction to the National Health Policy of Sri Lanka.

The core principles underlying a comprehensive and sustainable health policy.
Putting it into practice: Implementing a national health policy.

Identifying the practical challenges in the health sector;

a) Resource Allocation and Mobilization, b) Campaign Financing and c) Human Resource Management.

Functioning of the health sector with a focus on administration (administrative structures) and stakeholder engagement.

Future of health; innovations, research and development, medical informatics, information systems and health promotion, and public-private partnership projects.

Integration of latest technology, and how to build partnerships with institutions for technology transfer.

Intensive data collection and data management to improve efficiency and accountability in providing patient care.

Response to sudden disasters and crisis management such as pandemics, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters.

Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Reproductive Health, Mental Health and gender inclusiveness.

• Defining key terms and concepts eg: Climate Change vs weather
• Global phenomenon, History, threat multiplier

Climate change and Biodiversity in Sri Lanka

• Role of Micro-climate
• Current reality and projections (statistics)
• Existing policies and gaps

Conflicting interests?

• Balancing economic activity and biodiversity conservation
• Balancing deforestation and Agri expansion

Impacts of Climate Change and Biodiversity Agriculture

• Water scarcity
• Diversification of crops/skills and overall adaptation strategies

Impacts of Climate Change and Biodiversity on Fisheries

• Alternative approaches/livelihoods
• Adaptation strategies

Role of alternative energy in reducing impacts of Climate Change

• Moving away from fossil fuels is possible!
• Green energy sources i.e.: harnessing solar power at communal level
• Biomass and other forms

Stakeholders and advocacy

• Practical solutions for business community i.e.: “going green” but still making profits
• Managing communal tensions related to Biodiversity losses

Case studies of successful + unsuccessful initiatives (practicals/group work)

• Local and Global examples
• Identifying global tactics and contextualizing for SL

Nexus studies (practicals/group work)

• Discussions/activities to map out interlinkages between env and other areas of development

Environment and Politics

• Discussions on political leadership needed to address dilemmas related to env and agri policy in different local contexts
• SL as a key international player for Climate Action in partnership with other countries at high risk eg: Maldives