Preface / Forewords

Foreword

We are faced with the most unprecedented challenge of our lifetime. COVID-19 pandemic by now has impacted almost every human being living in this planet with only little windows of hope to its end in sight.

The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is not only the pioneering grassroots community development organization in the country, but also the premier humanitarian organization which has been at the frontlines of disaster response for over six decades in Sri Lanka. At the time of publication of this first Suwodaya Report (covering 01 March 2020 to 31 March 2021) on the Sarvodaya Movement's Response to COVID-19, Sri Lanka had to unfortunately face the third wave of COVID-19 epidemic with an exponential increase in the number of cases reported.

In these circumstances, Suwodaya, i.e., Sarvodaya response to COVID-19 continues with great vigor with the commitment of all my fellow colleagues and volunteers from national to village communities.

I wish to pay my tribute to the members of the Executive Council, the Official Committee Members of the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya and all the Staff led by Mr.Chamindha Rajakaruna, Attorney –at –Law, and his Senior Management Team, District Coordinators and Staff members. Members of governing bodies of legally independent Sarvodaya units, their Chief Executives and Staff for their committed service during this challenging time.

There were numerous kindhearted well-wishers and development partners who supported us in our response in numerous ways. I wish to sincerely thank them all.

I wish to also extend my gratitude and appreciation to all government agencies including the Ministry of Health and the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) and UN agencies, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Last but not least, my sincere appreciation goes to Mr. Udesh Fernando, Director - Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning (SIHL) for serving as the Editor of this publication.

Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne

President Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement