Ever since its inception, Sewalanka has worked with a number of international partners whose assistance plays a crucial role in the operation of the organisation.

An important and long-standing partner of Sewalanka is the Nippon Foundation, one of Japan’s largest non-governmental organisations.

Over the past two years, following negotiations with Sewalanka, the Nippon Foundation has been helping to provide relief aid and assistance to internally displaced people (IDP) in the east of the country.

Recently Sewalanka was pleased to host a delegation from the Nippon Foundation and an accompanying team of journalists, who visited the country to assess the progress of ongoing relief efforts.

The delegation was comprised of Mr Shuichi Ono and Ms Maki Honda as well as journalists from a number of Japanese newspapers and television networks.

Sewalanka provided an itinerary for the delegation’s visit to the east and arranged for the visitors to meet with presidential advisor Mr Basil Rajapakse to discuss the prevailing security situation in the east and Government plans for the development of the region.

In the east Mr Shuichhi and Ms Ono visited a number of IDP camps and were able to interact with refugees, while journalists conducted a number of interviews. The visitors then attended an army briefing detailing the status of the army’s current relief efforts and visited a Nippon Foundation funded prosthetics centre. The final leg of the trip included a visit to Sewalanka’s Islander Centre and organic farm.

While witnessing first hand the manifest difficulties still faced by IDPs Nippon Foundation delegates expressed their satisfaction at the progress made thus far and said that they looked forward to working in partnership with Sewalanka in Sri Lanka in the future.