Born of a desire to unite the various communities of Sri Lanka under one banner, Mother Sri Lanka was founded in 2008, under the able leadership of Dr Janaki Kuruppu. An alumna of Methodist College, Colombo, Dr Kuruppu also holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Colombo and University of Missouri, USA, an M.A. in Statistics from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. from the University of Colombo.  She has also received numerous awards and accolades for her work including the Shramabhimani Award in 2012 and the World Woman Leadership Award, India in 2014.

Dr Kuruppu initiated Mother Sri Lanka with the primary aim of promoting responsible citizenship amongst Sri Lankans. With experience in over 20 different industries, she started her career as an entrepreneur and was responsible for bringing Nielson to Sri Lanka and spearheaded it to become the largest Market Research company of that time.

The goals of Mother Sri Lanka include inculcating and promoting responsible citizenry behaviour that supports nation-building, engaging in poverty alleviation and livelihood development activities. It also promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women thereby enabling women to play a positive role in nation-building while promoting the overall welfare of children and engaging in the promotion of their rights, benefits, education, health and other related issues.

Q How many years has it been since the inception of Mother Sri Lanka?
We started the organization in November 2008 so we have been in operation for 15 years now.

Q How and why did Mother Sri Lanka come about?
In the backdrop of an almost 30-year-old war, people were so negative about the country and the future looked very bleak. We felt the need to start a movement to make the citizens think positively about the motherland, be proud to be a Sri Lankan and give back to the country.

Q What sort of work does Mother Sri Lanka do?
Mother Sri Lanka is a story of a small group of patriotic citizens who wanted to tell their family of 20 million people to hold their heads high in pride and believe in themselves uniting under one flag, as one nation, as one people. Established in 2008, Mother Sri Lanka (MSL) is a non-profit, independent, non-political organization set up under the Companies Act. We are a 100% local foundation managed by a group of committed Sri Lankan professionals from the public and private sectors for the benefit of all Sri Lankans. All MSL projects are financed by generous donors in the private sector, donor sector, and philanthropists, as well as through fundraising programmes and the sale of authentic Sri Lankan products.
Mother Sri Lanka MISSION: To be a catalyst to generate “Good Citizenry” behaviour patterns among Sri Lankans through their Spiritual, Educational, Socioeconomic and Cultural development.

Q During the height of the war in Sri Lanka Mother Sri Lanka was seen as a somewhat unifying foundation. What role does it play now?
While the overarching objectives of the movement still remain the same (ie. think positive about the motherland, be proud to be a Sri Lankan and give back to the country), the specific objectives have evolved with time. Soon after the end of the war in 2009, the focus evolved into ‘uniting as one family’ and since 2012, it has been on ‘Building Responsible Citizens’.

Q What is the need of the hour for the foundation?
The need of the hour is to make a bigger impact with the work we are doing to build “Responsible Citizenship”, to increase the awareness of Project RUN conducted among school children and to expand the livelihood development project.  

Q How can people get involved?
People can get involved by joining us as volunteers to organize events and as ambassadors to take our message across to a wider audience and be more impactful. We are also always ready to welcome new corporate sector members as Executive Committee members of the organization.

Q What are the key projects undertaken by the foundation currently?
We continue 2 of our main projects: Project RUN which is conducted among schools every 2 years and building Responsible Citizenship.

We at MSL feel that as the country is gaining material development, there is a dire need to develop the feeling of responsibility among our citizens to appreciate the resources given to us as citizens.  Hence, we have embarked on this endeavour of building ‘Responsible Citizenship’ with our children starting from their school days.  We are the first and probably the only organisation focusing on developing ‘Responsible Citizens’ which we believe is an essential component for the country to progress.

Mother Sri Lanka’s flagship schools programme named as MSL Project RUN was launched in 2012, with the blessings of the Ministry of Education.  MSL Project RUN has become the practical aspect of the Citizen Education subject which will eventually help build responsible citizens. The project has been introduced to 2600 schools island-wide and has shown excellent progress since its inception.

Mother Sri Lanka “Love Sri Lanka” Project:  Building Sustainable Livelihoods and Protecting Authentic Sri Lankan Products
Launched in 2016, with the main aim of protecting the livelihoods of micro-entrepreneurs who are engaged in the production of authentic Sri Lankan products.  The final outcome of the project is to alleviate the poverty of vulnerable segments of society, women’s empowerment and ensure the continuity of the production of authentic Sri Lankan products for future generations.  The project is a non-profit, self-financed project and currently approximately 125 micro-entrepreneurs from 10 districts with over 1,000 families directly and over 5,000 families indirectly benefit from this MSL initiative.  

MSL Project RUN, an acronym of three powerful components, Responsible Citizenship, Unity and National Pride is a unique concept where children were motivated and encouraged to design projects that helped uplift lives and enrich communities across the island.  The holistic objective of this project is developing a ‘Responsible Citizen’ while instilling positive thinking and the values of ethnic harmony, leadership and teamwork. The project also focuses on enhancing entrepreneurship, leadership qualities and project management skills of the youth which will eventually develop students who are strategic thinkers, analysts, motivators and group achievers who can contribute towards nation-building at a young age.

Q What are some of the key projects completed by the foundation that have added value to the community?
Project RUN which is an ongoing project, has so far successfully concluded 5 rounds of the competition, since its inception in 2012.
The livelihood development project also supports over 100 micro entrepreneurs from 8 districts impacting the livelihoods of over 1000 people directly and approximately 5000 people indirectly for the last 8 years.

Q The foundation was seen as one that encouraged participation and involvement of all communities. How successful has this model been?
This has been one of Mother Sri Lanka’s biggest achievements. The E/S/T fonts used in the name and the tagline of ‘my family of twenty million people’ have clearly sent the message of the importance of unity, and co-existence among all communities in the country.  The feedback from students, teachers and parents and how they continue to do projects under this theme are the proof of this success.  

Q What are some of the challenges the foundation has faced and how have you overcome them?
Due to the economic crisis in the country, it is difficult to find donors who are willing to support our work.  We are a non-profit organization with a Board of Directors and management team who work on an honorary basis; however, it is becoming more and more difficult to find volunteers and sponsors due to the economic crisis.

Pix Courtesy: Mother Sri Lanka Mission