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Pushpi Weerakoon is a Sri Lankan social activist, who works in the fields of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, transitional justice, social cohesion, restorative justice, and gender empowerment. She received Rotary International's Rotary Alumni Global Service Award in 2025.
Pushpi Weerakoon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ratnapura, Sri Lanka |
| Occupations | Peacebuilder; conflict resolution specialist; community development practitioner |
Early life and education
editWeerakoon was educated at St. Bridget's Convent, Colombo.[1] She later studied law at the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom.[1] She attended Chulalongkorn University in Thailand as a Rotary Peace Fellow in 2007.[1]
She completed an M.A. in Conflict Transformation (2010) at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP), Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), United States, through a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.[2] She participated in a symposium on restorative justice at Harvard Law School in 2015.[3]
Weerakoon later completed a Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the University of Wales. As of 2025, she is a doctoral candidate in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University for Peace in Costa Rica.[1]
Career
editEarly in her career, Weerakoon was involved with Sri Lanka's reconciliation initiatives following the civil conflict, and coordinated programs promoting mediation, dialogue and social cohesion.[2]
She later worked at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), where she was involved in establishing the social cohesion and reconciliation unit for the Sri Lanka mission, and had postings in Iraq, Bangladesh, Geneva, The Bahamas, El Salvador, Central America, Haiti, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Pacific islands and Pakistan.[4][1]
On 24 June 2025, she received Rotary International's Rotary Alumni Global Service Award 2025 at the Rotary International Convention in Calgary, Canada, and delivered a speech.[5][6] She was reported to be the first Sri Lankan recipient of this award.[1]
Awards and recognition
edit- Rotary Alumni Global Service Award (2025) — presented during the Rotary International Convention in Calgary; Rotary and Sri Lankan media report her as the first Sri Lankan to receive the award.[6][5][1]
- National peace recognition (2011/2012, Sri Lanka) — local coverage notes a Rotary-related national peace award for humanitarian service.[1]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sri Lankan peacebuilder awarded 'Rotary Alumni Global Service Award'". Daily FT. 17 June 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- 1 2 "Sri Lankan Rotarian Heads Reconciliation Efforts". EMU Peacebuilder. May 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ↑ "Professor Carl Stauffer joins former MA students at Restorative Justice Symposium at Harvard Law School". EMU News. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ↑ ""A peace-building front-liner's work often goes unnoticed" — Pushpi Weerakoon". Daily Mirror (Hard Talk). 17 July 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- 1 2 "Sri Lankan Peacebuilder wins Global Rotary Award". Daily Mirror. 14 June 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- 1 2 "Rotary announces US$2 million Programs of Scale grant to foster peace in Colombia". Rotary.org. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
External links
edit- Eco-conscious Leadership: Managing Sustainability & Survivability | Pushpi Weerakoon, IOM, UN on YouTube
- Op-eds by Weerakoon on groundviews.org
- "Making her mark in the peace-building world". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 27 April 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ""A peace-building front-liner's work often goes unnoticed" — Pushpi Weerakoon". Daily Mirror (Hard Talk). 17 July 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- "Pushpi Weerakoon — CJP Alumni profile". EMU Peacebuilder. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2025.