Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation was established in December 2010 with the noble objective of supporting marginalised people around the world in achieving a sustainable means of livelihood. Now, it proudly moves to the next phase of aid in war-ravaged Sri Lanka, committing a mammoth RS 3000 000 000 rupees to various projects. The motto of Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation is “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for lifetime”.
Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation is an independent charity organisation solely funded by Lycamobile. Being just four years old and having effectively completed its 1st phase of projects worth Rs 589 000 000 rupees, it has already committed Rs 3000 000 000 to its 2nd phase for newly identified charitable projects in 11 districts. In some areas it carries out its own ambitious projects, while it also fully funds other charitable organisations such as Sivan Arul Illam, which aims to achieve its objective of providing a sustainable means of livelihood and educational support to those who have been badly affected by the war.
The patron of Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation, Mrs. Gnanambikai Allirajah, Chairman of Lycamobile and Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation Mr. Subaskaran Allirajah, Co-Founder Mrs.Prema Subaskaran, Deputy Chairman of Lycamobile Mr. Prem Sivasamy and Chief Executive Officer of Lycamobile Mr. Chris Tooley, are ceremonially launching the 2nd phase at newly opened administrative offices in 8 districts in the north and east. The geographical locations selected for project implementation are Ampara, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu, Mannar, Puttalam, Polannaruwa, Trincomalee, and Vavuniya districts. These locations will be clustered into three groups for easy project implementation purposes. Accordingly, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu districts will come under Cluster 1, Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Polannaruwa districts will come under Cluster 2, while Mannar, Puttalam and Vavuniya districts will come under Cluster 3. A 40 member team with 8 officers are joining for the smooth implementation of these projects.
Even 5 years after the end of the war, people in the north and east are still looking for donations and assistance from the government and donor communities to ensure future generations are developed with stability and dignity. As the anticipated assistance didn’t arrive for 5 years, the living conditions in these former war zones continue to remain the same or deteriorate further, with increased poverty. The communities in the north and east, especially the younger generation and children, continue to face many socio-economic hardships without any answers in sight.
Some of the issues currently affecting the development and integration of this younger generation include internal migration to other parts of the island, which has many associated risk, illegal migration, either voluntarily or enforced by parents, an increase in child labour and many other forms of abuse.
It is under these agonising conditions that Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation is continuing with its charity work, magnanimously targeting the people in need. The project activities and distribution of input by Lyca’s Gnanam Foundation are planned to support children and parents directly to improve their day to day living conditions. We aim to achieve a drastic reduction in school absenteeism and dropouts, improved physical and psychosocial capacities, improved teacher student coordination, access to resources and we continue to contribute to social development activities in these target locations.
The 2nd phase will also comprise a project which aims to meet the undying demands for special needs. This includes holding regular medical camps and providing counselling to deal with conflict-related anxiety and depression issues as well as organising English and Tamil tuition classes. Some items in the distribution list:
· 2000 bicycles · 2000 sewing machines · School bags for 10,000 children living under the poverty line · School uniforms for 10,000 children living under the poverty line · 10,000 exercise books, reading books and writing utensils · 500,000 pens and 500,000 pencils · Funding evening tuition classes to further improve the efficiency of school children · Higher education bursary for 100 undergraduates · Funding leadership training courses · Funding livelihood support · Funding medical camps and counselling camps
