As a part of the Inspire Programme series which comes under the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between the Helvetas Intercooperation gGmbH and the University of Jaffna, the Annual Forum was organized in Colombo by Helvetas and supported by Sri Lanka Development Journalists Forum (SDJF) on 28th of May 2022.

The theme of the Forum was ‘LEARN. SHARE. CONNECT – Diversifying Learning Through Synergies’ and the overall objectives of the Forum was to provide: a platform for knowledge building and information exchange; and an opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas and enable peer-to-peer learning.

There was a total of 60 students from all four universities, the stakeholders of the MoU: University of Jaffna, University of Peradeniya, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and South Eastern University as15 from each university participated.

There were three sessions conducted at the Annual Forum as follows :

• Panel Discussion on Investigative journalism, “Striving for Democracy Through Investigative Journalism” with three renowned journalists as panelists: Ms. Dilrukshi Handunetti, Executive Director for Center for Investigative Reporting Sri Lanka; Mr. Shihar Aneez, Investigative / Data Journalism trainer at the Center for Investigative Reporting Sri Lanka; and Mr. Rifthi Ali, Founder/ Chief Editor of Vidiyal.lk. The session was moderated by Mr. Azad Mustaffa, Program Director -SDJF.
• Techniques of ‘Mobile Live Streaming’ by Mr. Alexshanther Kamilas and,
• Right to Information (RTI) Act by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL).