Arigatou International – Nairobi (End Child Poverty and the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) in partnership with Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement will have a Southeast Regional meeting from 7 – 10 December 2018 in Sri Lanka. This meeting brings together between 15 – 20 GNRC members and partners from South East Asian countries with GNRC presence. The countries include India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines, Malaysia, Bhutan, Maldives and Indonesia.

End child poverty will specifically take advantage of the meeting to open its Education Centre in Sri Lanka as well as popularize the work of its Knowledge Centre, whose physical hub lies in the same region – Sri Lanka and an online hub on the website. The meeting will also build momentum to implement targeted commitments arising from the GNRC 5th Forum (held in Panama, May 2017) in which the GNRC committee for Sri Lanka will be launched. By the end of the meeting, we hope to gain more momentum to deepen the End Child Poverty work in the region, specifically popularize the International Day for Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) campaign. The campaign mainly involves reflection and action towards ending child poverty.

The meeting is also strategically placed to take place at the time when Sarvodaya will be celebrating its 60th anniversary, hence participants in the meeting will join Sarvodaya in the celebrations on 7 December 2018. End Child Poverty – Knowledge Centre has in the past partnered with Sarvodaya to organise trainings targeted not only at dissemination of knowledge but also at ending child poverty.