Dear Member,

APSL has grown from strength to strength over the past 16 years and we are proud to serve the Sri Lankan community both in the UK as well as Sri Lanka. APSL is built on a strong foundation with professionals from different disciplines, established networks, track record of successful projects and credibility to achieve our vision to help develop peaceful, just and prosperous Sri Lanka.

APSL regularly organise number of events and projects for the benefit of our members and the Sri Lankan community in the UK. To name a few Ask the Expert series and Young Professionals events to showcase leading Sri Lankan professionals, We Sri Lanka event to promote reconciliation among communities, Living in the UK series, Student Engagement and APSL Mentoring scheme for young Sri Lankans and Research Symposium to give a platform for young researchers to present their research projects.

We continue to deliver our relief and sustainable development programmes in Sri Lanka. To name a few the Scholarship Scheme and Student Essentials project for school children, Solar Villages for sustainable development in rural communities, Emergency Relief Fund to support Sri Lankans during emergencies such as natural disasters, Cancer Relief and Chronic Kidney Disease Relief.

2019-20 was a highly productive year for APSL. We continued to grow the initiatives from last year and improved our community engagement both in the UK and Sri Lanka. The Scholarship Scheme, one of the most successful programmes of APSL marked its 5th Anniversary in 2019 and is currently supporting 95 students in Sri Lanka.

One of the major initiatives we launched last year was the Florence de Silva Memorial trust for Children. With kind donations through late Mrs. Florence de Silva’s Will, APSL set up this initiative to support Sri Lankan children in numerous ways. So far, we supported 17 projects and donated over 1.6 million Rupees for good causes.

We have made significant progress with the APSL Solar Village Project and the 3rd Solar Village is nearing completion in Mullaitivu district. We also expanded the Cancer Relief Project by establishing number of new centres to support cancer patients in Sri Lanka.

When the Covid-19 Pandemic started affecting the whole world in the beginning of the year APSL started exploring the ways to support the Sri Lankans affected. We launched APSL Emergency Response fund in March to support Sri Lankans financially. Through this, we supported over 1600 families in various parts of Sri Lanka and provided PPE and equipment to 9 key hospitals.

We also launched a webinar series in April to support Sri Lankans by providing guidance and information. The webinars featured timely topics such as employment, immigration, economy, mindfulness as well as Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. Those webinars were delivered by leading professionals in their respective fields.

2020-21 expected to be another busy year for the APSL team and we plan to launch number of new initiatives. I highly appreciate your continued support for APSL activities and look forward for your participation in the future events and projects.

Thank You.

Dr. Mahesh de Silva

PhD, CEng, MIET, Six Sigma Green Belt, Prince 2 Practitioner

President

Association of Professional Sri Lankans in the UK (APSL-UK)