Sri Lanka Award Promotes Peace, Dialogue, Good Government

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a five-year, $12 million contract to support regional government in Sri Lanka's eastern and north central provinces. The investment will expand the agency's democracy and governance work by helping to improve the areas of security, local government accountability and conflict resolution. The contract was awarded to ARD, a subsidiary of Tetra Tech, Inc., of Pasadena, Calif.

The program, called Supporting Regional Governance, will build on USAID/Sri Lanka's successful democracy and governance efforts, designed several years ago to address development needs resulting from the on-going ethnic conflict after the ceasefire agreement. The new program also aims to improve regional government in eastern Sri Lanka by increasing citizen participation.

"USAID remains committed to its assistance programs in Sri Lanka despite the renewed conflict," said Rebecca Cohn, USAID/Sri Lanka mission director. "We're confident our new partnership with ARD will support our goal of helping Sri Lanka and apply the best governance practices from around the world."

For more information about USAID and its programs in Sri Lanka, visit www.usaid.gov.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.

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