Published by Sanjana
An Ashoka, Rotary World Peace and TED Fellow, I have since 2002 used, studied and advocated Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to strengthen peace, reconciliation, human rights & democratic governance.
I founded in 2006 and till June 2020 curated the award-winning Groundviews, Sri Lanka's first civic media website. From 2002-2020 I was a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. At CPA, I pioneered the use of social media for activism and advocacy, as well as digital security training for human rights activists since 2010.
I specialise in, advise and train on social media communications strategy, web-based activism, online advocacy and grounded social media research.
Through the ICT4Peace Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland, I help strengthen information management during crises and programmes to address violent extremism online. For nearly a decade, this included leading the Foundation's work with the United Nations.
Since 2008, I have worked in South Asia, South East Asia, North Africa, Europe and the Balkans to capture, disseminate and archive inconvenient truths in austere, violent contexts.
I am currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand on the intersection of social media, political communication, violence generation and the realisation of Sri Lanka's democratic potential.
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