Staffordshire is one of the eight original Consortia established by the Local Government Association in 2005, to assist with the medium and long-term rehabilitation of the tsunami affected areas of Sri Lanka. Steve Hopkins describes the outcomes of a recent visit to Sri Lanka.

The Staffordshire Consortium, which comprises the local authorities in the County, Staffordshire University and NHS Stoke-on-Trent, is working in Kalmunai, Ampara District, in the east of Sri Lanka. 

A visit to Kalmunai was organised in March 2010, which involved a series of meetings with Local Government officials, with South Eastern University (SEU) in Kalmunai Region, and at the offices of the Regional Director of Health Services in Kalmunai. The visit culminated in a round-table discussion where a set of priorities were decided in three areas of work: waste management; health issues; and links with SEU. This included the decision to form a Consortium in Kalmunai along the lines of the Staffordshire Consortium.

Intensive training in disaster response was identified as a need for officers from the Regional Director of Health Services, SEU and Kalmunai Municipal Council, which should then be cascaded to colleagues through their respective institutions.  The online distance training will be managed in partnership between the Universities of Staffordshire and Kalmunai.

In the area of waste management, the Staffordshire Consortium and their partners in Kalmunai are investigating possible support to help increase the capacity of Kalmunai Municipal Council’s vehicle fleet in order to augment weekly waste collections. In addition, in collaboration with the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities, they aim to increase the solid waste management skills of officers, and awareness of these issues, through learning from other councils in Sri Lanka which have already achieved such improvements.

In health, staff at SEU have identified a range of issues for applied research including: low birth weight, diseases prevalent in the area (eg tuberculosis and dengue fever) disaster preparedness, and solid waste management.  It is expected that this research would be co-ordinated by SEU and involve members of the Staffordshire and Kalmunai Consortia, as well as local NGOs and the United Nations Office for Project Services.

Thanks to the university links, the distance learning centre at South Eastern University is now open for student enrolments. Stafforshire University is being approached to assist with technical support on the preparation of course material and training for Geographical Information Systems, both for academic purposes and for pressing public health issues such as dengue fever outbreaks.

One of the major benefits experienced by the Staffordshire consortium is the improved dynamic between the local partners which has meant that partnerships in the home environment are much more productive. All partners have embraced the consortium approach, through which expertise has been brought in from across the region, providing a stronger and more sustainable project. It is expected that a similar consortium in Kalmunai will enable even greater benefits to be realised.