Co-Founder, Directress, Programme Designer and Strategist, Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR)

Dishani Jayaweera is the directress, programme designer and strategist of the Centre for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation(CPBR). Recognizing her work in peace-building, she received the Peacemaker in Action award by Tanenbaum Network- USA in 2012, and became the 2nd runner-up of the Annual ‘Coexist Prize’ by Coexist foundation-UK in the same year. Together with the co-founder, Professor Jayantha Senevirathne, she also received Niwano Peace Award for 2015 for her outstanding contribution to peace building work in Sri Lanka. She serves in Global advisory comittees of Alliance for Peace, USA and Jesuit Refugee care servicese International, Malta. She co-founded the CPBR in 2003 with life partner, Prof. Jayantha Seneviratne. In 2013, she cofounded 'WOMAN' to exploure the role of women religious leaders and young girls role in healing body, mind, soul and soil. The organisation operates on the belief that the peacebuilding process begins with individuals. CPBR working with young people, women, community and religious leaders, understanding them to be powerful shapers of social attitudes and behaviours in Sri Lanka, and key to bridging religious and ethnic divisions. CPBR encourages personal transformations that will, in turn, empower communities to seek structural and political change. The organisation’s interfaith work promotes understanding among Sinhalese Buddhists, Tamil Hindus, Muslims, and Tamil and Sinhalese Christians through dialogue, training in conflict analysis and transformation, and supporting clergy as they mobilise communities to experience the joy of interdependence and coexistence. Biography data as at 28.10.17