Effectiveness of Conflict Transformation Theory in Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Young Visionary Initiative 2023

Abstract

The Civil War between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ended in 2009, resulting in many wounds within Sri Lankan societies. But the reconciliation still seems elusive even 14 years after the Civil War. Sri Lanka continues to endure new damages because the nation is attempting to heal from the recent Easter Sunday attack and people‟s struggle; this revealed many border sociopolitical issues where the ethnic divisions have relied upon the core. This research suggests the necessity of reconciliation in Sri Lanka to sustain peace therein. The reason is that Sri Lanka remains within the shades of ethnic violence. Therefore, this research aims to explore a practical theory as a tool to enhance the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka. This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of conflict transformation theory to build reconciliation in post-pandemic Sri Lanka. This research uses a mixed method approach to measure the effectiveness of Conflict transformation theory with descriptive statistics, questionnaires, and context analysis in the data analysis. The „Young Visionary Initiative 2023‟ (YV2023) is a peace-building and reconciliation project launched by the Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR) – I use this project as the ground to test the effectiveness of conflict transformation theory. YV2023 initiative provides diverse youths with knowledge of non-violent conflict transformation and practitioner space, launched on the conflict transformation theory implemented by John Paul Lederach (1990;1997). Secondary and primary data were respectively collected by the YV2023 project reports and their participants‟ experiences. Finally, the expected result of this research recommends the Conflict Transformation Theory (CTT) as an effective tool for the reconciliation process in the post-pandemic era. Also, this research suggests that the Sri Lankan government and NGOs utilize CTT as an effective tool in their reconciliation initiatives to build peace in Sri Lanka.