District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) conducted several actualisation activities promoting the message of pluralism to support the peacebuilding and reconciliation process for selected target groups under NPC’s Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT) project. Anuradhapura DIRC organized a Deepavali celebration at a kovil for children to experience the traditions associated with the festival. The Chief Priest explained the practices of Hinduism to the children.
Two sub-committees were established at Navanthurai and Navatkuli in the Jaffna district to counter ethnic and religious tensions that exist due to the lack of infrastructure development, lack of educational resources and the irresponsibility of the local government institutions and their officials. The Navanthurai sub-committee had a meeting for 24 local leaders to discuss ethnic and religious conflicts affecting peace and coexistence in the area. Issues identified included lack of irrigation facilities and infrastructure.
The sub-committee established in Navathkuli organized a meeting for 29 community leaders, youth, academics from local universities and local government authority members to discuss problems contributing to ethnic and religious disharmony. Community leaders said young people were abusing drugs due to the lack recreational facilities in their schools and in the village, which had resulted in a high school dropout rate. They said local government authorities have not provided a solution to the problem,
The two sub-committees agreed to have a follow up meeting between community members and government officials to solve the issues affecting ethnic and religious peace. Moneragala DIRC conducted two awareness creation activities for mothers of disabled children and for youth in the Badalkumbura area. The first activity focused on explaining discrimination faced by parents due to the lack of policies to protect the rights of disabled children. The second activity explained pluralism and its concepts to youth and its importance to maintain peace and harmony. They were told how to analyse conflict and how they could contribute to resolving it.