FSD Sri Lanka has been assigned to work in the districts of Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu. Today FSD employs 700 staff in Sri Lanka who locate and destroy landmines and unexploded ordnance in order to prevent accidents and enable development activities in the Northern Province.

FSD Community Liaison teams, with the support of AusAID, has initiated activities based on the theme of “Stay Safe – Bright Future”. The aim is to increase awareness among children about the dangers of mines and UXOs in their communities. The campaign will raise awareness and promote behavioural change amongst this high risk part of the population.

As part of this initiative, FSD conducted competitions in mine awareness amongst 14 schools in Vavuniya and Mannar districts, covering the entries of essay writing, songs, speech, short story writing, rearranging sentences and dramas. In order to award 450 winners, FSD organized a prize giving ceremony and distributed certificates, gold, silver and bronze medals and trophies at a ceremony on Friday, 13 May 2011, at the Cultural Hall in Vavuniya.

“We have organized this event for the second time after having received positive feedback and comments from the previous competitions in Mullaitivu district. Children are important members of our communities and it is very important that they are aware of the threat of landmines and they know how to protect themselves from mine/UXO accidents” says Subhashinie Garusinghe, Community Liaison Officer FSD.

“The aim is to keep our children safe from the dangers of landmines and UXOs so that they can be a part of Sri Lanka's future development. It will take a few more years before all of the landmines have been removed from the soil and until that time, initiatives like this one will help keep our children out of harm's way. FSD would like to thank AusAID for its continuous support for this initiative” added Nigel Robinson, Programme Manager FSD.

FSD would like to extend its gratitude to the Chief Guest, Government Agent Vavuniya, Mrs. P. S. M. Charles, and other special guests, Mrs. Dulani Sirisena, Senior Programme Officer, AusAID, and Mr. K Thavarathnam Planning Director of Zonal Education in Vavuniya North and Lt Colonel Mahinda Civil Affairs Officer from 61 Division.