Australia Awards South and West Asia

M. A. Munazir, an Assistant Director, Provincial Planning Secretariat at the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) is an  Australia Awards alumnus who undertook a Master of Development Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2014. Upon completion of his studies, he returned home and re-commenced work at the EPC where he continued to maintain links with his lecturer Dr. Bart Klem.

Dr. Bart Klem, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne who is reading for his PhD on Post War Development, chose Trincomalee for his research studies.

At the time, the EPC was involved in the resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced due to the internal conflict in Sri Lanka.

For this purpose, the EPC was in the process of preparing a comprehensive district resettlement plan for each district in the Eastern Province.

Munazir who was in touch with Dr. Klem, sought the latter’s support for the preparation of the resettlement plan for the Eastern Province. Following a mutually beneficial understanding with Dr. Klem, the two parties commenced work on the preparatory work for the resettlement plan. Inputs by Dr. Klem were instrumental in the preparation of the Resettlement Plan of which Munazir was a part of. Dr. Klem’s inputs enabled the EPC to finalize documentation which in turn supported his research studies.

Munazir also arranged meetings between Dr. Klem and senior officials of the EPC where they discussed the possibility of sharing knowledge and experience in development prospects by way of conducting seminars for senior officers of the EPC through Australians lecturers and researchers, including officials from the University of Melbourne.

Alumni maintaining positive linkages with Australian and Australian organizations is one of the objectives of Australia Awards and Munazir’s story is an excellent example of the positive impact of the Australia Awards program!