Entrants's Name: Sanjana Hattotuwa

Country: Sri Lanka

Field: Information/Technology

Innovation - idea: Groundbreaking research and practice into the use of ICT to support and strengthen peacebuilding and conflict transformation. InfoShare - www.info-share.org - and my blog (to date the only one of its kind on the web) - http://ict4peace.wordpress.com have more details on ICT4Peace.

Innovation - why it is pioneering: Conflict resolution, management and transformation theory and practice is rooted in frameworks before the internet and web. Ways through which the web (on PC's to mobile phones) and the internet can widen and deepen actors and processes of building peace, even in the most violent of contexts, is what I have engaged in - through my own work and research in an active peace process.

Strategy - how it achieves impact: ICT4Peace endeavours to use the increasing footprints of broadband internet access (through WiMax, WiFi and mesh networks for instance) to disseminate content in support of peace that is generated by the communities embroiled in conflict. New media, for instance, assumes that even communities that are illiterate can produce valuable insights into the dynamics of peace and conflict by recording their voices on digital media, or by recording human rights violations on camera or digial video.

Paragraph 36 from the Tunis Commitment clearly highlights that ICT for Peacebuilding is no longer the domain of geeks or early visionaries. The rapid advancements in technologies providing greater access to the internet carry with them the social responsibility to see that the content generated and promoted using these networks strengthen peace and democracy in regions where there is a deficit of both.

Strategy - growth plans: http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/what-is-ict4peace/

Impact to date: ICT can help create that complex adaptive systems that will be at the heart of tomorrow’s peacebuilding initiatives. ICT4Peace is not just an important facet of peacebuilding, it is also a vital catalyst - enabling other valuable initiatives achieve greater results with more lasting impact on the communities than would otherwise have been possible. In sum, ICT4Peace and by extension, using Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for peacebuilding, as I’ve written about here, are not figments of a fanciful imagination. They stem from ideas that are rooted in the art of the possible in a peace process - ideas that will define the practice and theory of peacebuilding in the years to come.

Future impact: A decade hence, my work and research would have shaped mainstream thinking, practice and research globally on the use of ICT in peacebuilding, peacekeeping and conflict transformation. There is no comparable research experience with any single individual or organisations specialising in ICT4Peace and the marriage of hitherto disparate fields of CR and ICT. Much more than a personal effort however, a decade hence, I would have engendered a new thinking and paradigm shift by helping a new generation of peacebuilding use technology to better help them bring peace.

Sustainability - resource base: InfoShare is funded by USAID and a concert of other funders - http://info-share.org/projects.html - depending on the project. I have no financial support for my research and work at present. I usually operate on a shoe string budget, often use my own money to engender cutting edge ICT / New Media solution to help me in my own work in Sri Lanka and other countries.

The multiplier effect of facilitating ways through which ICT can help democracy, good governance, peace and reconciliation in a country such as Sri Lanka can be felt in many other regions and contexts. Models developed through my work and research in Sri Lanka on ICT4Peace are scaleable, and can be adopted and implemented in any peace process.

Major challenge for the field: Some of the challenges are outlined in an article on ICT4Peace I wrote recently - http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/peace-it/

The creation, dissemination and archival of knowledge is going to be a central challenge for ICT4Peace - we need better systems, better human relationships to generate hope.

Contact Information:

Name: Mr Sanjana Hattotuwa - Senior Researcher
Country: Sri Lanka
Website: www.cpalanka.org

Bio: http://sanjanah.googlepages.com/