Senior Professionals:
NILAKSHI DE SILVA, MPA (Princeton)Senior Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Nilakshi studied economics and politics at Monash University Australia and has a Masters in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA. She has more than twelve years experience working on development issues, including in the public and non-government sectors as well as multilateral agencies.
Interests: Development and public policy, evaluation and impact monitoring.
AZRA ABDUL CADER, MA (ISS)Team Leader, Senior Professional,, Poverty Assessment & Knowledge Management Programme
Azra studied Sociology at the University of Delhi, India and went on to do her masters in Development Studies specialising in rural livelihoods at the Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands. As the Team Leader of the Poverty Assessment and Knowledge Management, she is responsible for management of the activities within the Programme.
Interests: Rural livelihoods and development, conflict and displacement, gender, child issues and urban poverty.
Team Leader, Senior Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Karin studied Environmental Science at Allegheny College, USA and Sustainable International Development at the Heller School, Brandeis University, USA. She has 7 years experience working in development project implementation and environmental management with NGOs, and multilateral agencies. As Team Leader of the Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme, she is responsible for developing the PIM programme, its outreach and advisory services.
Interests: Sustainable development, environmental management, communications and impact assessments.
NAYANA GODAMUNNE, MSc (Oxon)
Senior Professional, Project Development Specialist
Nayana studied Politics and Sociology at the University of Bristol, UK and has a Masters in Forced Migration from the Refugee Studies Centre at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford, UK. She has worked in the private and not-for-profit sectors and has more than ten years experience working in international development on donor funded projects. She works with the team leaders and management team in designing concepts and developing projects.
Interests: Displacement, gender and livelihood improvement
Professionals:
ARUNIKA MEEDENIYA, BA (Colombo)Professional, Poverty Assessment & Knowledge Management Programme
Interests: Econometrics, Development Economics, Quantitative Research related to field techniques and data management
Arunika has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and also had a 03 months internship at CEPA as a part-requirement of completing her degree, during which period the fieldwork on User Needs Survey of the Development Sector in Sri Lanka and is currently working on PAM Programme activities related to database and methodology development. In addition, she contributes to the team working on monitoring Southern Transport Development Project.
GAYATHRI LOKUGE, BA (Kelaniya)
Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Interests: Poverty and conflict, language studies and translation. Gayathri studied Languages. She supports the PAC team providing input in the conceptualisation of studies and carrying out fieldwork. Gayathri was also involved in the Moving Out of Poverty studies.
ISHARA RATHNAYAKE, M.Phil (Peradeniya)
Professional, Poverty Assessment & Knowledge Management Programme
Interests: Agricultural economics, nutrition, gender and poverty assessments. Ishara has over four years research experience on poverty related issues. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture specialising in Agricultural Economics and holds an M.Phil from the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya. She coordinates activities related to the poverty resource centre, especially related to the poverty database and managing the CEPA website.
MANSI KUMARASIRI, BA (Kelaniya)
Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Interests: Poverty impact monitoring, International Relations and languages. Mansi is currently closely involved in the collection and analysis of data for the External Independent Monitoring of Resettlement Activities of the Southern Transport Development Project being carried out by the PIM programme. Prior to joining as a full time staff member, Mansi worked in the field with the PIM team on the Moving Out of Poverty in the Tea and Rubber Sector study and in Developing a Model for Pro-poor Connectivity Interventions.
M.A. MOHAMED MUNAS, BSc (Peradeniya)
Professional, Poverty and Conflict Programme
Interests: Agricultural economics, business management, poverty and conflict. Munas studied Agricultural Economics. He supports the PAC team providing input in the conceptualisation of studies and carrying out fieldwork. Munas was also involved in the Moving Out of Poverty studies and the CEPA Innovation Fund.
Junior Professionals:
AMILA S. BALASURIYA, BSc (Peradeniya)
Junior Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Interests: Socio-economic impacts of agriculture, modern agricultural technology and management. Amila's initial work with CEPA was during the one month intern placement which is a partial requirement of his degree in Agricultural Crop Science. He now supports the team working on External Monitoring of the Resettlement of Southern Transport Development Project (STDP) carried out by the PIM programme.
G. D. GEETHA HARSHANI, BA (Colombo)
Junior Professional, Poverty Assessment and Knowledge Management Programme
Interests: Political Science, Sociology and International Relations. Geetha is currently involved in CRISE and GTZ applied research projects.
K.I.H. SANJEEWANIE, BA (Kelaniya)
Junior Professional, Poverty Impact Monitoring Programme
Interests: Applied Statistics, Development Economics, Research Techniques. Sanjeewanie studied social statistics for her degree along with economics. Prior to joining the PIM team at CEPA she worked extensively in field data collection and data entry for the External Independent Monitoring of Resettlement Activities of the Southern Transport Development Project
LAKWIMASHI PERERA, LLB (London)
Junior Professional, Poverty Assessment and Knowledge Management Programme
Interests: Policy related issues, gender and poverty. Lakwi has a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London External Programme. She had a two month internship at CEPA where she assisted in the preparation of the Country Strategic Opportunities Paper for IFAD prior to joining the PAM Programme as a permanent member. She is involved in the PAM Programme activities related to dialogue and exchange, especially the SA-evidence based policy in development network.
Associates:
In addition to fulltime staff, CEPA invites experts to be attached to the organisation as Associates. Associates have previous work experience with CEPA, either as staff members or consultants. CEPA Associates enter into a one-year fixed term contract and commit an agreed number of days to support CEPA on various tasks.
PRASHAN THALAYASINGAM, MA (Sussex)
Prashan studied International Relations and Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. He is responsible for the management of the PAC Programme and has coordinated the studies Post-Conflict Justice Issues in Sri Lanka and Moving Out of Poverty in Conflict Affected Areas, the Making Peace, Keeping Peace work in the Puttalam District and also the more recent partnerships with the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), GTZ etc.
Interests: international organisation of peace and war, post-conflict reconstruction and development and post-conflict justice.
NERANJANA GUNETILLEKE, MPhil (Sussex)
Neranjana received her training in Economics at the University of Colombo and moved on to Development Studies at IDS. She has eight years professional experience in poverty research and working with development programmes to maximise the impact of their activities on poverty. Formerly a CEPA training coordinator, and the team leader of the PIM programme, Neranjana now works as a Senior Professional on assignments in both the PIM and PAM programmes and has been invited to serve on the management team.
Interests: poverty impact monitoring, rural infrastructure and training.
RAMANI GUNATILAKA, PhD (Monash)
Freelance Consultant
Interests: Economic analyses in the areas of inequality, poverty, labour markets and microfinance. Ramani is currently participating in the design of the applied econometrics components analysing vulnerability and subjective welfare in the longitudinal study of poverty dynamics in Sri Lanka to be conducted by the PAM Programme in 2006.
DILENI GUNEWARDENA, PhD (American)
Senior Lecturer, University of Peradeniya
Interests: Development microeconomics, poverty and inequality. Dileni is a member of the PAM team. She authored the publication “Improving Poverty Measurement in Sri Lanka” and is providing a disaggregated analysis of poverty data. Dileni is currently participating in the conceptualisation and development of the longitudinal study of poverty dynamics in Sri Lanka.
NIREKA WEERATUNGE, PhD (Toronto)
Freelance Consultant
Interests: Participatory poverty assessment, socio-cultural aspects of entrepreneurship, local knowledge and practice in natural resource management, gender, livelihoods and environment issues.Nireka contributed to the study Moving Out of Poverty in the Estate Sector commissioned by the World Bank. She also co-authored the chapter “Butterfly, Elephant, Eagle or Monkey? The Shadow Sides of CEPA” for the publication “Triangulation Squared: Assessing Impacts of the Poverty Impact Monitoring Unit. Nireka is also participating in designing the ethnographic component of the longitudinal study on poverty dynamics in Sri Lanka.
AZRA JAFFERJEE, M.Phil (Cantab)
Freelance Consultant
Interests: Poverty and Economic Analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation, Impact Assessment, Training and Moderation, Writing and Journalism. A former member of the PAM programme, Azra provides support to CEPA on poverty and impact analysis and its publication and communication material.
