Developing Competencies in Good Governance and Local Leadership in Sri Lanka: ODL as a viable option to reach the periphery

Uma Coomaraswamy
The Open University of Sri Lanka

Abstract
A Diploma programme in Participatory Governance and Local Leadership jointly developed by the University of Northern Illinois, USA with the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) and the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) is administered by the SLIDA in partnership with OUSL. The project was funded by the US State Department. It was an intervention to develop competencies of leaders of NGOs and local development institutions in building a democratic culture at the community level extending to national level as a part of "Strengthening Civil Society in Sri Lanka through Building Advocacy Partnerships and Developing Local Leadership".

It is at present offered in English medium as a conventional programme based on face-to-face teaching. This mode of delivery has restricted the target group to urban and to those who are proficient in English.

Due to the national need for training both in the centre and in the peripheral areas in fundamentals of good governance and due to the inherent capacity of OUSL to reach the population in all districts through the distance learning channels and the ICT network, OUSL has taken the initiative to transform the curriculum into self learning courses and offer the programme in a distance mode.

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