Hosted by
Kavindya Thennakoon
Moderator
Kavindya Thennakoon graduated cum laude from Wellesley College, MA majoring in Anthropology and Cinema & Media Studies. She is currently a dean's fellow at the Stanford University pursuing Masters in Learning, Design and Technology.
In 2014, she co-founded Without Borders, which won both the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Award and the Harvard Global Trailblazer’s for their impact within the local education space.
To Kavindya, “meaningful youth engagement” means going beyond mere tokenism to give young people the power to create, decide, and impact.
Change Makers: Reimagining Learning
15 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 GMT+5:30
Online Zoom Event
Schools and classrooms as we traditionally know them to have ‘killed creativity’. The world desperately needs a new approach to learning that works for every learner and educator. Learning that is accessible, equitable, playful, outcomes-driven, and re-imagined. Stay tuned as we unveil more details.
Speakers*
Poornima Meegammana
Director of Youth Development at Shilpa Sayura Foundation and leading Nextegen Girls in Technology Initiative
Meegamman is an educator, filmmaker and social entrepreneur. She has made a number of empathy-driven short films about social issues with topics ranging from Child Soldiers, Cyber Harassment, Gender Equality etc. Currently, Poornima is the Director of Youth Development at Shilpa Sayura Foundation and leading Nextegen Girls in Technology Initiative that increases women participation in emerging technology careers. Poornima Is also an Adobe creativity scholar and her creative and social development work has been recognised with many international awards
Kalani Bandara
Head of Operations -
Without Borders
Kalani comes from a background in Training and Project Management. She has engaged in both government sector and private sector in designing and scaling education focused interventions at grassroot level in rural schools and communities in Sri Lanka.
Tharushi Weerasinghe
Investigative Journalist /
Law Student
Tharushi was an active youth policy maker for the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development as a part of the team that formulated the "STEM 2030 Agenda" policy document which aimed a revival at the education system in Sri Lanka. She has also been involved in the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Women and Gender.
Change Makers
Change Makers: Reimagining Health and Well-being
16 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 GMT+5:30
Online Zoom Event
How are innovators rethinking health and wellbeing from hospitals and care institutions to our homes, Healthcare. Stay tuned as we unveil more details.
Speakers*
Dr. Arshath Zameek
Arshath is a Doctor, Clinical researcher and Educator - Former Diabetes and Endocrinology unit National Hospital Kandy / Coordinator - SLENDO 2020 - Kandy Division. International Climate Champion -Sri Lanka 2011/12
Kaavya Pathirana
Interim Shelter Lead and Communications Officer for Emerge Lanka Foundation
Kaavya is the Interim Shelter Lead and Communications Officer for Emerge Lanka Foundation; a local charity organization that works to support insititutionalised female survivors of sexual abuse. She works with an incredible team to maintain a high quality, growing programme which Emerge takes into shelters, and teaches young women entrepreneurship, Life Skills and Reproductive Health. Kaavya is also passionate about telling the authentic stories of survival and resilience; and has done so through her travels while working with Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka; and continues to do so currently through Emerge.
Lahiruni Poddalgoda
Founder and Head of Projects of Project Bloom
Lahiruni is the founder of Project Bloom, a youth lead volunteer initiative. Project Bloom is a collective power of young people working towards a brain healthy adolescent population in Sri Lanka. Project Bloom’s primary project is based at the adolescent unit of the National Institute of Mental health in Sri Lanka additionally project Bloom focuses on advocating mental health among young people with the goal of breaking the stigma surrounding the topic in the island. Lahiruni is currently based between Melbourne and Sydney Australia studying a Bachelor of Youth work aund Youth studies at the RMIT University in Sri Lanka whilst managing Project Bloom and working with Blooms amazing team remotely.
Change Makers: Reimagining Technology
17 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 GMT+5:30
Online Zoom Event
Over the past decade technology has dramatically changed our everyday realities in ways that we hadn’t imagined before. How are young people leveraging technology for good? To rethink everything from how we stay healthy to the way we learn. Stay tuned as we unveil more details.
Speakers*
Madhushi Welikala
Founder of DiabMate and Winner of the APICTA Gold Award (Tertiary Category)
Software Engineer -
Axiata Digital Labs
Madhushi is a researcher and a tech enthusiast who recently graduated from University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She has led and been a part of winning teams in several international, national level and university level innovation and coding competitions. In 2019, she secured the Gold Award at Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards for her innovation DiabMate, a novel technology where blood glucose level could be monitored non-invasively, bringing pride to Sri Lanka. Currently, she is working as a Software Engineer at Axiata Digital Labs
Eyas Fazul
Mechatronics Engineer and Founder of RHODA AT, Sri Lanka’s first electric smartbicycle
Eyas is Mechatronics Engineer who wants to make a mark in sustainability as he believes it’s the only metric of concern for future human survival. Before venturing into electric mobility he spent most of his career in the solar industry introducing novel technology and business concepts such as SolarDeals.lk (Booking.com for Solar) and third party rooftop solar investments in Sri Lanka to fast-track the conversion of barren commercial rooftops into clean energy farms with the hopes of sustainable energy production. His mission now is to make urban mobility sustainable through light electric mobility devices, starting with the RHODA AT, Sri Lanka’s first electric smartbicycle.”
Kishoth Navaretnarajah
Co-founder & Director Dream Space Academy - Community innovation centre tackling complex local socio-economic and environmental challenges with challenge-based learning
Sandaru Surangaya
Product Manager - IMI Games by Arimac - Sri Lanka's Largest Mobile Gaming Platform
Sandaru is a Graduate from University of Moratuwa with a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering. He is a Tech Enthusiast, Public Speaker, Voice Artist, and a Blogger