V Awards | Volunteer Awards

V AWARDS: Judges Profiles

V AWARDS JUDGE: Professor. Somasundaram Sandrasegaram

An education specialist that currently works for Asian Development Bank and is also a council member of the National Institute of the Education.
Received a scholarship from the Japanese Government to complete a masters in Education at Hiroshima University after completing an undergraduate qualification in the subject from Peradiniya University.
Previous Dean of the Faculty of Education at University of Colombo, and has lectured at Alabama University and University of Hiroshima.
A former member of the National Education Commission, a council member of the South Eastern University and Education Board Member of the Open University Faculty.
Authored 30 books in both in English and Tamil, as well as numerous articles.

V AWARDS JUDGE: Deshabandu Mrs. Jezima Ismail

Complete undergraduate studies at the University of Peradeniya and post graduate studies at McGill University and the University of Sydney.
Taught at Devi Balika Vidyalaya (Castle Street Girls School) for many years before becoming Principal of Muslim Ladies College, Colombo.
Founder of the Academy for Adult Education for Women, Sri Lanka Muslim Women’s Conference, Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum and Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Education; all of which have been established for over 20 years.
Held the title of President of the Sri Lanka Federation of the University of Women and was formerly President of the SAARC Federation of University of Women.
Currently a Commissioner, of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and internationally has been a UN and Commonwealth Election Observer in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Recipient of the ‘Outstanding Educationist of the Year’ and ‘Outstanding Achievement in Women and Development’, which was awarded by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

V AWARDS JUDGE: Dr. Vinya S. Ariyaratne

General Secretary of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka and a medical doctor specialising in Community Medicine.
After a brief spell serving in the Government Department of Health and overseas fellowships and training in public health, he joined the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri Jayawardenepura as a Lecturer in Community Medicine in 1995. Resigned from academia in 2000 and joined Sarvodaya as Executive Director.
Extensive experience in community health, village development and promoting volunteer action at all levels.
Particularly involved in health programmes related to the war affected communities in Sri Lanka. Was responsible for the overall coordination of the Sarvodaya’s emergency response after the 2004 Tsunami and later the entire reconstruction programme - one of the largest Tsunami recovery programmes in the country.
Heavily involved in civil society peace and reconciliation initiatives. Has been trained as a professional facilitator for peace dialogues and engages in teaching assignments related to peace building, conflict resolution and reconciliation.

V AWARDS JUDGE: Mr. C Jayaratne

V AWARDS JUDGE: Ms. Sunethra Bandaranaike

Graduated from Oxford University with a Honours Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).
Has worked as a researcher in the Minority Rights Group in Sri Lanka and at the Overseas Development Institute in the UK.
Held the post of Co-ordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1973 to 1977.
Chairperson of the Sunethra Bandaranaike Trust, set up in 1995 to provide financial assistance to those involved in the performing arts.
Established the Sunera Foundation in 2000, which focusses on using performing arts to enhance the lives of people with disabilities, as well as raising awareness of the need to integrate them into society.

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