FAQ

This is a group of persons who have been actively working on this concept over the last few months being appointed by the President by giving them a formal recognition so that their task is easier. There are 18 eminent persons appointed so far. A secretariat will be established within the Presidential Secretariat to support and coordinate the work of the Task Force.

As mentioned most of them have been contributing to the development of this concept voluntarily. And few of them are appointed as top government officials who can effectively contribute.

In that case not only those but even various other disciplines such as health, Education, Legal, Engineering etc also should be included. Already it is a large group and they are empowered to bring in experts who will volunteer to support as and when needed. All those members of the Task Force contribute voluntarily without accepting any personal benefit.

Certainly yes. We will need many volunteers as we progress. Please send in your expertise and area of interest using the web site,  App, hot line or email address. We shall engage on a need base. 

Primarily the task force will stimulate, promote, facilitate various initiatives. There are many initiatives already in progress started by different government, non governmental, civil society activists, and even private sector organizations. The Task Force will, depending on the need will facilitate more effective implementation, clear any road blocks, intervene with different agencies if needed, work on possible legal and institutional changes needed.

Although we mention them as three different themes for ease of reference as you can appreciate, they are interconnected and inter dependent as well.
As a society we need to re-focus our attention to our inherent positive qualities such as being civic conscious and be more considerate about each other.
Making our roads safer for all
Making our public spaces safe and clean
Promoting friendly courteous attitude towards tourists treating them as our guests
Promoting Dignity of Labour from childhood
Promoting concepts like 5S to improve orderliness and productivity
Promoting Disable Friendly public spaces
Promoting High Quality Public Toilets
Streamlining Garbage disposal across the island
Ensuring that our beaches are clean in a sustainable manner
Protecting our water resources sustainably
Promote the culture of Reduce, Re use and Re cycle culture
Strengthen public resistance to Corruption
Are some of the key areas we will be initially focused on. These are good examples to demonstrate the inter dependence of these areas.

Firstly it is the Sri Lankan Citizen who is going to make this happen. We as the TF will support and facilitate only.
We believe it has to be done with the individual, home, roads and public spaces, schools education institutions, work places, beaches, waterways and overall environment eventually.

That is a very good question. In fact, this is the best time to restart on all fronts.
If we do not make ours a cleaner country, our roads to be safer how can we expect to develop tourism.
Unless we make our public spaces disabled friendly how can we get them involved in the economy? Ours is a fast aging population. Many of them will need wheel chair access or surfaces that are safe to walk with walking sticks. If not all of them will be restricted to move. With smaller families and more and more parents living without their children this is going to be a major issue soon.

These are just two examples. We have very little time to do all of this. We lost time due to war, tsunami, covid, easter attack, economic crisis. We are already  late.

Most of our activities will be facilitating, stimulating, and coordinating work. They do not need significant finances and we will be working closely with partners who will support us. Secondly some of these activities are already being done by various organisations. They need some bottle necks to be removed. There may be some specific activities for which there will be some funds from the budget moreover we expect the expat Sri Lankans to donate towards Clean Sri Lanka Fund.

This will be a first of its kind. Where every donor will be able to track how the funds will be used in a very transparent way. It is governed by a special panel and subject to government audits and rules.

Yes to change attitudes the media has a very important role to play. Not only traditional media but social media as well. We believe that media will use their creativity and promote the ideas themselves, without just reporting the activities of CSL project.

We will be using all possible channels to reach the general public, whether it is the government structure, or NGO sector, Private Sector, or  Religious establishments we consider all of them to be our partners. This is not a project of the Task Force. This is a national initiative and movement.

As soon as the people embrace the concept and act upon them. Having said that we need to emphasize that this is a long term initiative. Our vision is once the concept gains momentum it will be embraced by all sectors of the society and they will do their own thing in line with the concept. For example, the private sector recognizes the best corporate citizens. In that effort if they consider contributing to CSL goals then that will be what we expect.

Our fundamental approach is Sustainability. We will be considering the entire value chain of a process and embed sustainable steps to ensure they can continue. Where possible and relevant many initiatives will make business sense. Eventually someone has to pay for most of the services. There is nothing call a free lunch.

Obviously, children imitate adults. We think adults should set an example first. Having said that, we will be working closely with the education system from pre school and early childhood development stage upwards. For instance, we want to promote and recognize 5S in schools at every level, based on the number of students. So we compare in an equitable manner. We will seek the support of Jasteca in conducting this at a national level.

A good question. Roads and Road safety starts from the quality of drivers, quality of vehicles and quality of roads. We will engage with all stakeholders and understand the root causes and find ways to tackle them, instead of just one aspect. There are various bodies who have a stake in this starting from Dpt of Motor Traffic, RMV, RDA, Provincial Road Authorities, Police Department, Road Safety Council, Hospitals, Insurers, Engineers, Ministry of Justice, Treasury are just to name a few. Our approach will be all of them to find lasting and progressive solutions

There is a strong legal framework to curb corruption now. But there needs to be  de- bureaucratizing of processes to make them more transparent and people friendly. While digitalization is one way we will recognize those institutions that will make their process transparent and simple.

We will work towards every public office to declare them as Corruption Free Zones and empower people to raise against such behaviour.

Possible National Level Lagging Indicators.

1.     Air Quality improvement by x% year on year in all major cities.

2.     Water Quality of all major water resources.

3.     Increase of forest cover by X% over a period of xxx years.

4.     Above 90% recycling of all recyclable material. (separate % for different items)

5.     Carbon Footprint reduced by 2030

6.     All public spaces in all Municipal Council areas to meet set standards for cleanliness, accessibility and safety.

7.     Reduction of road accidents by 80% over three years.

8.     Reduction of incidence of Dengi and such diseases spread due to poor environment condition

9.     100% adoption of 5S by all public schools

10. 100% adoption of % 5S by all public offices

11. Meet visual orderliness stipulated by country and town planners.

12. Availability of Public Toilets in all towns and major bus and train stations.

13. Every food outlet to have acceptable quality standard grading issued by an appropriate authority.

14. Reduction of paper usage in public sector institutions by 50% within 3 years.

15. Reduce vehicle usage by public sector by 50%

16. Beaches to be 100% free from waste left over by beach users.

17. Transparency perception improvement to …. By

18. Reach Best cities indices for all major cities

19. Zero incidence of vandalism by users of public property

20. Zero incidence of Bribery and Corruption involving public officials above officer grade.

21. 25% waste Reduction in waste generation within five years.