Management:

Priyanthi Fernando, MA (Leicester)
Executive Director
Priyanthi has over 20 years of experience in the development sector in Sri Lanka and overseas, coordinating a global network, leading the country team of an international NGO and working with local NGOs. She is a Board Member of the Energy Forum, Sri Lanka. . Priyanthi has specialised in social development issues with special reference to the transport and energy sectors, gender analysis, networking and communications. As the Executive Director, Priyanthi provides overall leadership and direction to the CEPA team.
Interests: Gender, technology and infrastructure, policy advocacy, communications and networking.

Kishani Cader, ACMA
Head of Finance and Administration
Kishani is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA). She has over 20 years of experience in all fields of financial management, research and consultancies. She is responsible for the overall management of finance and administration.

Udan Fernando, PhD (Amsterdam)
Team Leader, Communications and Policy Programme
Over the past 20 years, Udan had held leadership positions in Sri Lankan development organisations, functioned as a freelance consultant in Sri Lanka and abroad and held a senior staff position in a research & consultancy organisation in the Netherlands with work experience in Europe, East & West Africa and South East Asia. Udan has had academic and professional training in management, law, labour studies and international development cooperation. He has taught in universities in Sri Lanka and the Netherlands as a visiting academic.
Interests: Aid policy, development cooperation, communication for social change/
development, strategic planning and organisation development.

Karin Fernando, MA (Brandeis)
Team Leader, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Karin has an MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, USA. She has nine years of experience working in development project implementation and environmental management with NGOs and multilateral agencies and monitoring impacts of development projects. As Team Leader of the Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme, she is responsible for developing the PIM programme, its outreach and advisory services.
Interests: Sustainable development, environmental and natural resource management.

Kulasabanathan Romeshun, MA (Colombo)
Team Leader, Poverty Assessment and Measurement Programme
Romeshun has worked in the development field for the past fifteen years in government and funding organisations. He has a Masters in Financial Economics from the University of Colombo. As Team Leader for the Poverty Assessment and Measurement Programme he is responsible for developing the team's work on understanding poverty, developing poverty measures and applied research of CEPA.
Interests: Development economics and infrastructure development

Senior Research Professionals:

Nilakshi de Silva, MPA (Princeton)
Senior Research Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Nilakshi studied economics and politics at Monash University, Australia and has a Masters degree in Public Affairs (MPA) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA. She has over fifteen years of experience working on development issues, including in the public and non-government sectors as well as for multilateral agencies.
Interests: Development and public policy, evaluation and impact monitoring

Nayana Godamunne, MSc (Oxon)
Senior Research Professional, Communications and Policy Programme
Nayana read Politics and Sociology at the University of Bristol and has a Masters in Forced Migration from the Department of International Development, University of Oxford. She started her career in the financial sector but moved to work in international development where she has more than 12 years of experience working on programme designing, project implementation, policy development and independent consultancy on issues of displacement, livelihood development and gender. She works on the 'policy aspects' of the Communications and Policy Programme and Co-Leads the Poverty and Vulnerability thematic.
Interests: Displacement, resettlement, migration, gender and vulnerable people as well as research uptake and links between research -practice - policy.

Geetha Mayadunne, PhD (Peradeniya)
Senior Research Professional, Poverty Assessment and Measurement Programme
Geetha received her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Peradeniya. She specialised in Applied Statistics and Econometrics for her Master's degrees from the University of Colombo and Monash University, Australia. Before joining CEPA, Geetha was the Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Agriculture. She has over fifteen years of public sector experience in development policy analysis and at the early stages of her career she worked as a Statistician at the Department of Census and Statistics.
Interests: Development Policy Analysis, Statistical and Econometric Methods

Chaturanga Weerasekera, BA (Peradeniya)
Senior Professional/Librarian
Chaturanga is a Chartered Librarian with over 17 years of professional experience in knowledge dissemination and resource centre management. She is responsible for the overall function of the CEPA Resource Centre including the physical and digital library and dissemination of CEPA publications. She coordinates off the page information sharing events such as the Book Club and Film Club. Chaturanga also manages tracking of funding sites for the organisation.

Research Professionals:

Roshni Alles, BA (Peradeniya)
Editor, Communications and Policy Programme
Roshni studied English Literature and Sociology for her degree at the University of Peradeniya. She has over ten years of experience in publishing and service oriented organisations in Sri Lanka and Singapore. As a member of the Communications and Policy Programme she coordinates the CEPA publication strategy and provides editorial support to the CEPA team.

Amila Balasuriya, MSc (Peradeniya)
Research Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Amila has a Masters in Natural Resource Management from the Post-Graduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the same university. As a member of Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme and environment thematic, he is responsible for contributing to advisory services and applied researche undertaken by the programme and the thematic area.
Interests: Impact monitoring, rural livelihoods, environment, and natural resource management

Mansi Kumarasiri, MA (Colombo)
Research Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Mansi was closely involved in the collection and analysis of data for the External Independent Monitoring of Resettlement Activities of the Southern Transport Development Project. She has also worked in several monitoring and evaluation activities undertaken under the PIM Programme. Prior to joining as a full time staff member, Mansi worked in the field with the PIM team on the Moving Out of Poverty in the Tea and Rubber Sector study and in Developing a Model for Pro-poor Connectivity Interventions. Mansi is currently the thematic champion for the infrastructure thematic area.
Interests: Monitoring and evaluation, infrastructure and international relations

Gayathri Lokuge, BA (Kelaniya)
Research Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Gayathri holds a degree in languages and is reading for her Masters in Development Studies at the Faculty for Graduate Studies, University of Colombo. She worked in the Poverty and Conflict team providing input in the conceptualisation of studies, data collection, analysis and report writing. She has done extensive research and advisory work related to poverty and conflict especially in the conflict affected North and Eastern part of Sri Lanka. She does training in the areas of conflict sensitivity, impact monitoring and understanding poverty and is currently the thematic champion for the post-war development thematic area.
Interests: Monitoring and evaluation, poverty and conflict, training, ethnography, language studies and translation

Kamal Liyanage, M.Phil. (Peradeniya)
Online Communications Coordinator, Communications and Policy Programme
Kamal held a Masters Degree in Development Communication from the Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya and a Bachelors degree in Natural Science from the Open University of Sri Lanka. Kamal handled the CEPA institutional website, the Poverty Portal and the Reimagining Development websites. While at CEPA he was responsible for revamping the institutional website and the Poverty Portal with an emphasis on Migration.

M. A. Mohamed Munas, MA (Colombo)
Research Professional, Poverty Assessment and Measurement Programme
Munas studied Agricultural Economics as an undergraduate and holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Colombo. He was a member of the Poverty and Conflict team during which time he has researched issues of poverty and conflict over the past six years and provided input into the conceptualisation of studies, carrying out data collection, analysis and writing. He led a market study and value chain analysis conducted for an international NGO in 2010. Munas is the thematic champion for the migration thematic area.
Interests: Agricultural economics, business management, poverty and conflict

Ishara Rathnayake, M.Phil. (Peradeniya)
Research Professional, Poverty Assessment & Measurement Programme
Ishara has over eight years of research experience on poverty related issues. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, specialising in Agricultural Economics and holds an M.Phil. from the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya. She currently coordinates a study related to enhancing the capacity of and cooperation among civil society groups and local authorities in Northern Sri Lanka conducted for an international NGO.
Interests: Agricultural economics, nutrition, gender and poverty assessments

K. I. H. Sanjeewanie, BA (Kelaniya)
Research Professional, Poverty Assessment and Measurement Programme
Sanjeewanie studied social statistics along with economics and currently reading her Masters in Business statistics at the University of Moratuwa. She has involved in Impact Evaluations and Poverty Assessments by providing inputs in the conceptualization of studies, data collection, analysis and documentation. She has done extensive research and advisory work related to multidimensional poverty and wellbeing. She also works as an individual consultant in impact evaluations for multilateral agencies. Sanjeewanie has also been involved in coordinating CEPA Open Forums and she has carried out some training on understanding and measuring poverty.
Interests: Applied statistics, international trade and finance, gender, research techniques.

Junior Research Professionals:

Tehani Ariyaratne, BA (SBU)
Junior Research Professional, Communications and Policy Programme
Tehani studied Psychology and Anthropology at Stony Brook University, USA. She is a part of the Communications and Policy Programme team and is involved in developing the alternative communications strategy for CEPA. She is currently working on a Civil Society Fund project on the ageing demographic, the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium and environment and sustainable development projects.
Interests: Gender, religion and ethnicity, environment and sustainable development, alternative communications and social media

G. D. Geetha Harshani, BA (Colombo)
Junior Research Professional, Communications and Policy Programme
Geetha studied Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Colombo. At CEPA her responsibilities are working on the Poverty Portal website and coordinating its outreach activities. Geetha is also a member of the team that coordinates CEPA's Innovation Fund and supports other programmes in data collection.
Interests: Gender, sociology, international relations and research methodology

Basith Inadeen, BA (Colombo)
Junior Research Professional, Communications and Policy Programme
Basith has a degree in Social Science from the University of Colombo. He has done extensive field level data collection work and field coordinating in the development sector for various think-tanks and research institutions. He is presently working with the Communications and Policy Programme at CEPA and contributes to CEPA's Poverty Portal outreach activities.
Interests: Ethnography, CBO engagement, post conflict development and migration

Nadhiya Najab, BBusCom/BComn (Monash)
Junior Research Professional, Communications and Policy Programme,
Nadhiya studied economics, communications and international studies at Monash University. She is part of the Communications and Policy Programme team and is developing a media strategy for CEPA. She is currently working on a project on post-war reconciliation in Sri Lanka and diaspora involvement.
Interests: Migration, Post-war development and communications strategies

Administration:

Eranga Amunugama, Bsc in Business (Manchester)
Program Development Specialist
Eranga is part of the Finance & Administration team and works closely with the Programme teams. He is responsible for Programme Development, Resource Mobilisation and Strategy to grow CEPAs various research projects. Eranga has worked at CARE International as a Programme Advisor responsible for Corporate Sector partnerships and in marketing and consulting roles in the private sector before joining CEPA.

Dishani A. Gunasekera
Accountant
Dishani is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and had over ten years of experience in the development sector in both financial and administrative fields. She was involved in financial management and administration and had been with CEPA since its inception. Dishani resigned from CEPA in mid 2012 for employment in the Middle East.

Chaturika de Silva
Assistant Accountant
Chathurika works with the Finance Team at CEPA. She is responsible for the provision of accounts, project costing/information and other financial information. She has completed the Foundation Level of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants-UK (CIMA), and is currently studying for the operational level examination of CIMA-UK.

K. M.Rajitha Chamali
Accounts Assistant
Rajitha has completed Certificate in Accounting & Business (CAB) Level II at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and is currently pursuing studies for CIMA exams. She also has one and a half years of experience in the banking sector.

Nimmika Madurangi
Accounts Clerk
Nimmika joined the team as Accounts Clerk in 2012. She is currently studying for the final level exams of AAT.

Feroza Sakkaf
Office Manager
Feroza joined CEPA as an Executive Secretary and currently functions as Office Manager. Feroza provides secretarial support to the CEPA team and logistical support for the Board and Annual General Meetings. She is responsible for documentation relating to personnel management.

Juanita Wickremeratne
Receptionist/ Logistics Coordinator
Juanita has over ten years of experience in secretarial and administration work in the service industry. Her work function involves programme logistics, general administration, public relations and providing secretarial assistance to the Executive Director.

D. M. N. U.Guneratne
Administrative Clerk
Guneratne joined CEPA in December 2001. He supports the Librarian and Accounts and Administrative team in day to day administrative tasks.

Support Staff:

Ramya Baddugodage
Joined CEPA in January 2002 and is responsible for the maintenance of CEPA's working environment and for organising the refreshments at CEPA events.

Abeyratne Banda
Office Aide - Joined CEPA in December 2001 and is responsible for providing support for CEPA's day to day administrative tasks and dialogue and exchange workshops.

Sumith Priyashantha
Driver - Joined CEPA in 2002 and supports the teams in their field visits.

Merlin Rodrigo
Office Aide - Joined CEPA in May 2001 and is responsible for the maintenance of CEPA's working environment and for organising the refreshments at CEPA events.

Consultants:

Dharini De Mel
Dharini joined CEPA in November 2012 to coordinate activities relating to the Annual Symposium. She together with Dilomi Wijesinghe, Sahani Maddugoda and Kushmin Perera helped coordinate the symposium.

Bishen Fonseka
Bishen is an IT Consultant in charge of maintenance and troubleshooting of all computer systems. He is is also responsible for the overall integrity of the network, server deployment and security.

Azra Jafferjee
Independent Consultant on evaluation, poverty and social policy analysis. She has worked with the Centre for Poverty Analysis as Senior Professional and Team Leader of the Poverty Assessment and Knowledge Management and Poverty Impact Monitoring programmes from 2002 to 2005. She presently supports CEPA in monitoring the impact of policy influence projects in South Asia for 3ie.

Chamindry Saparamadu, MA (Development Studies) (Geneva), LLM (Wales)
Chamindry is working as a researcher in the 'Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium'. An Attorney-at-Law by profession, Chamindry has a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Delhi, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Colombo, a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Wales and a MA in Development Studies, with focus on State-Building from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of the University of Geneva. After four years of legal practise in the Appellate Courts of Sri Lanka in fundamental rights, administrative law and criminal law litigation, Chamindry entered the development sector in 2003 and worked with UN agencies and bilateral donor agencies both as a practitioner and a researcher. She has over 08 years work experience in the sector in policy analysis, legal and social research, project design and development, project management, monitoring and evaluations.
Interests: Development Cooperation and aid policies, Peace-building and Reconciliation, Nationalism, State-building, Democratic Governance & Rule of Law

Project Assistants:

Aftab Lall BA (Delhi) MA (IDS, UK)
Aftab joined CEPA in 2012 to work on the global Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium. He is working on a political economy analysis of the resettlement process and carrying out a literature review on aid delivery and impact in conflict affected regions of Sri Lanka.

Nilangi Ranasinghe
Nilangi joined the CEPA team in September 2012 to assist with the resource centre functions. She was involved in clearing the Library database for the new website. At present, she is helping with the Reference Library activities and provides support in layout tasks for CEPA's promotional material.

Interns:

Aung Myo Oo - Interned at CEPA and undertook a literature review for the Migration thematic.

Shyla Gunesekera - Joined CEPA to assist in the planning and conceptualisation of the Annual Symposium on Reimagining Development.

Thilini Samarasekera - Interned with CEPA and did a literature review under the Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme.

Isharna Walsh - Interned with CEPA to do a literature review for the Research on Land Acquisition, Livelihoods and Food Security in Sri Lanka funded by Oxfam.

Anitra Ratnayaka - Was an intern with CEPA and assisted in creating a database of projects and training programmes.

The Board of Directors have pleasure in presenting the above report to the members together with the Audited Financial Statements for the year.

Prof Hiran D. Dias
Chairperson (for and on behalf of the Board of Directors)
4th June, 2012