HelpAge workshop strengthens Senior Citizens

Help Age officials addressing at the workshop held in Colombo Divisional Secretariat.

The leaders of thirty (30) Senior Citizen Committees (SCC) in Colombo, Maligawatta, Mattakkuliya and Keselwatte Divisional Secretariats were educated on the development of their advocacy and capacity building skills by HelpAge Sri Lanka (HASL) recently.  

The objective of the workshop was to train SCC leaders how to maintain their committee record books and Registers, Cash Registers and Inventory Books in the legal and methodical way.  

The workshop was held at Colombo Divisional Secretariat Auditorium and it was funded by HelpAge International, UK under the Sponsor a Grandparents (SAG) project. About 70 leaders of 30 SCC’s attended.  

The programme also strengthened and encouraged SCC leaders on how to improve the productivity and efficiency of their respective committees.  

Addressing the session, HelpAge, Project Finance Officer Manoji Galappaththi explained about the proper way of maintaining the main cash book, petty cash register, Ledger, monthly accounts, Balance Sheet and the Trial Balance.  

Programme Manager Chaminda de Silva explained the SCC leaders about elders rights, adopted by the Government through the Elders Rights Protection Act no. 09 of 2000 and its amendments and also the duties and responsibilities of SCC officials towards the members of their Senior Citizen Committees.  

Programme also strengthened and encouraged SCC leaders on how to improve productivity... 

He said each committee should have their own constitution and accordingly all SCC’s should have the structure consistent with a President, Secretary and a Treasurer.  

HelpAge, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Swarna Ekanayaka said there are approximately 11,905 registered SCC’s all over the country and highlighted the responsibilities of leaders of the societies and how to provide welfare facilities to members and also to develop their societies.  

Colombo Divisional Elders Federation, President Godwin Hapuarachchi thanked HelpAge for creating the awareness of the leaders of elder societies in the Colombo DS Division how to handle the administration work of each SCC.  

HelpAge Executive Director Samantha Liyanawaduge said similar workshops will be conducted in other parts of the country to strengthen other Senior Citizen Committees island-wide.