Projects conducted during 2015 by AKOFE with the assistance of KOICA

Summary of activities completed by AKOFE during 2015

Fowling activity plan was approved by KOICA for the calendar year 2015. Accordingly a sum of  USD 19,200 was received from KOICA in August 2015. Accordingly bellow activities were conducted

  1. Planning session and work shop for Ex-CO members
  2. Equipment donation program-Gonigoda hospital
  3. Development of web-site and data-base management
  4. Printing of news letter
  5. Donation of school equipment to two schools in Ampara
  6. KOICA-AKOFE Follow up and capacity development seminar
  7. KOICA -AKOFE friendship night 2015
  8. School project second phase

Activity  01: Planning session and work shop for Ex-CO members

Planning session and workshop   was organized in mid of July 2015 for the Ex-Co

Members. Main objective of the program was to prepare a detail action plan for carrying out the annual activity plan. Projects were identified and finalized after evaluation number of alternatives. Detail action plan was prepared assigning the responsibilities to sub groups for carrying out separate projects. Presidents and members were appointed for each subcommittee,

Ms Han Ae Jin, deputy Resident representative and some of the staff of KOICA took part in the planning session. Dr Pinto, Chairman, Vocational Training Institute conducted a special lecture on productivity enhancement while Mr Roshan Serasinghe, Ms Han Ae Jin, Mr Jayampathi, and Mr Wishwajith also addressed the gathering. Ex-Co members also made presentations on various subjects pertaining to the Korean experience.

Activity 02: Equipment donation program-Gonigoda hospital

Donation of hospital equipment was made to the Hospital of Gonigoda n Mid-September 2015   Gonigoda Hospital is categorized as a Divisional Hospital in ‘C’ Category and comes under the supervision of the Regional Director of Health Services [RDHS] Kurunegala in the Provincial Ministry of Health, North Western Province [NWP]. The hospital was selected based on the recommendation made by the Secretary,  Health of North Western Province.

As per the request made by the DMO of the hospital the items donated were, Adjustable Examination Bed for the ETU,ECG Machine, Pulse Oximeter, CTG Machine, Oxygen Regulators, Oxygen Cylinder stands, Spot lamps, Emergency Trolley, Television to the word,

Drug Trolleys etc.

Ms Han Deputy Resident Representative of KOICA, President and  the Ex-CO of AKOFE, and the Secretary of Health (NWP), Director of Health(Kurnuegala), DMO and the staff of the hospital and a large gathering of  villagers took part in the event.

Activity 03: Development of web-site and data-base management

Existing web-site was updated with the current activities while changes were made in the home page and layout of the web site. New web site carries number of new fields for a user friendly access and also lot of information relating to AKOFE and KOICA activities.

Activity 04: Printing of newsletter

KOICA –AKOFE Newsletter was printed in November 2016. This newsletter carried lot of useful information pertaining  to AKOFEE and KOICA. Among them are summery of activities conducted by AKOFE in 2015, of activities carried out by AKOFE throughout the year, details of AKOFE Ex-Co, details of KOICA activities, important facts about KOREA and few articles of KOICA fellows about the KOREAN experience. Newsletter was distributed among the AKOFE membership, and other connected parties.

Activity 05: Donation of school equipment to two schools in Ampara

The program   was organized for supporting   the schools in a remote area to upgrade their education level. Two schools, AM Paragaskele Mahawidyalaya and AM/Kotawehera Vidyalaya, were selected from a remote area in Ampara district of Eastern Province.

School 01: Pargaskele Mahavidyalaya

Pargaskele Maha Vidyalaya  is the only main school in the Pargaskele area. This school  is situated in a  rural area of the district and it has classes up to grade 12. This is a mixed school consisting of 450 children and 23 teachers.Most of the children are from low income families.

As per the requirement of the school, AKOFE donated a heavy duty photocopier, agricultural equipment, sports equipment, dancing and musical equipment and shoes and books for the Children.

School 02: Kotawehera Vidyalaya

The second school benefited under AKOFE aid program was AM/Kotawehera Vidyalaya. This is  a mixed school with least facilities in the area consisting of 163 children and 16 teachers. This school has classes only up to grade 11. AKOFE Donated a photocopier, home science equipment, agricultural items, sports goods, books and shoes for the children

Handing over ceremony was conducted in one school, Paragahkele Vidyalaya. Executive Committee of AKOFE, principle and the teachers of two schools and Children took part in the event.

Activity 06: KOICA-AKOFE Follow up and capacity development seminar

Fellowship Knowledge Spread Follow-up seminar focusing on “From Human Resource Development to Economic Development”  was  conducted on 27th   of November in Cinnamon Grand hotel. There were nearly fifty  government officials in the area of Technical Vocational Education and Economic Development, who had gone through the KOICA fellowship program in the years of 2014 and 2015.The purpose was to gather the insights to enhance the productivity through sharing of training experience, to create a forum to  and interacting of fellows and to improve performance of KOICA project-based program through the fellow networks. This session was followed by panel discussion by Mrs.Rizna Anees, Director,External Resources Department along with Mr.Serasinghe. Panels were moderated by Mrs.Han,Ae Jin; Deputy Country Director KOICA. 

Activity 07: KOICA -AKOFE friendship night 2015

The main activity of AKOFE is the KOICA-AKOFE friendship night for its members which is conducted in December each year. This year the event was held on the 9th of December 2015 at the “Samudra Ball Room” of Hotel Taj Samudra hotel.

The event started at 5.30PM and spanned for about four hours. Highest participation was recorded this year. Total number of participants was over 250 which included the general membership, special invitees comprised of senior government officials, officers from Korea related agencies, representatives from Korean business community, and the representatives of media agencies.   Hon Karu Jaysooriya, Speaker of the parliament grace the occasion as the chief guest while H.E Chang Won-Sam Ambassador was as the guest of owner. The event was extremely successful and highly praised by almost all the invitees and dignitaries. Also His Excellency Chang Won-Sam Ambassador of South Korea, Mr Cho-Kyu Chan, Resident representative and Ms Han Ae Jin Deputy of KOICA also expressed their gratitude to the Executive Committee. The program  of the event comprised of presentations about the activities carried out by of KOICA and AKOFE, speeches by the special invites, cultural entertainments of Korea and Sri Lanka, and a time for familiarization.

There were enormous activities involved in accomplishment of the event. This included preparation posting and confirmation of invitation, hotel arrangements,   multimedia arrangements, preparation of AKOFE video in a very short notice, newsletter, dancing groups, videography, photography, media publicity and , event day activities such as registration, oil lamp, ushering, gallants etc. All these activities were well attended by each member in the team which made the entire event a great success. Help extended y staff of KOICA was excellent in organizing the event.

Activity 08 : Donation of school equipment-Kotawehera Vidyalaya (Second phase)

Donation of school equipment was made to Kotawehera Vidyalaya has the second phase of the earlier project. Among the donations, a heavy duty photocopier was donated on a special request made by the principal to meet a long stood requirement. Hundred pairs of shoes were also provided.

AKOFE could end a very  successful year, 2015, with accomplishment of  8 activities in a short period of six months. This achievement was possible mainly due to the high commitment and involvement of Executive Committee, excellent support and guidance always extended by KOICA and the confidence placed by the general membership.