20,000 people moves into new homes in the north.

02/01/2014 – Jaffna, Sri Lanka: The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society’s Post Conflict Recovery Programme managed to complete the targets of ensuring 20,000 people (4000 families) move into a new home within the year (2013).

The Programme with the funds from the Government of India aims to rebuild 16,800 houses ensuring that over 85,000 people gets a new home. All of these families are returnees of the 30 year old conflict that ravaged the north of the country.

The President of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) Jagath Abeysinghe said that it was due to the hard working and the commitment made by the staff of the PCRP programme that the achievement was possible.

“Our aim is to provide quality service to the people who have already been suffering for over 30 years due to a war. So we have made sure that we give them the full support in order to settle down to a new and dignified life as soon as possible”

The Red Cross Post Conflict Recovery Programme (RC – PCRP) in Sri Lanka has been implemented successfully with the SLRCS since April 2010, having a partnership with International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners.

The programme contributes to the sustainable rehabilitation and reconstruction in the North of Sri Lanka, an area of the country, which remains in great need of development assistance. It primarily supports people who have been displaced due to the conflict and are now resettling.

From 13 July 2012 onwards, the RC PCRP entered a new partnership with the Government of India receiving funding for the repair of 2,800 and construction 14,000 new houses. Through this additional assistance.

“This programme is designed to ensure that the people who we support have a voice in their rebuilding efforts. What we do is to provide them the financial and technical support to make sure that they take the initiative in their own rebuilding. This give them the ownership of their future” said the Director General of SLRCS Tissa Abeywickrama.

He further said that the staff of SLRCS, specially in the PCRP Programme will continue to ensure that people who are awaiting to receive housing grants from the Red Cross will give proper priority as the project moves ahead in 2014.