Sri Lankan Youth Learnt Internet Governance and Freedom of Expression

Three day’s ‘Training of Trainers’ program for youths on ‘Internet governance and freedom of expression’ was concluded in Colombo on 21st of October under the project title: A Localized Approach for Advocacy supported by Counterpart International (CPI) and Implemented by Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF).

Twenty participants who included young journalists, activists, lawyers and civil society members from across the Island were selected for this program through a competitive application process. Participants learned the basics of Internet governance, freedom of expression, right to information, online harassment, digital citizenship , privacy, protection & training techniques.

Normally, most of the Internet governance forums and discussions are limited to Colombo and its English speaking community. On account of that, this is a good initiative by the SDJF in which the concept of internet could be extended to rural areas and in local languages. “This is going to really help us to create a wider awareness on Internet governance and digital citizenship in our village”, said one of the participants in the training program.

DJF with the support of Internet Society of Sri Lanka Chapter, will develop online tools in the local languages to generate/improve digital literacy among the rural populations of Sri Lanka. In this process we expect that the trained participants (from above ToT) will be utilized to achieve this task in the future.

For more information on the program, please contact info@ldjf.org or 011-2806265.