Management Update

 RECENT WORK 

The Greeting Card is finally passable - we have to learn our lessons on why it took so many hours on the part of 3 or 4  persons. 

The FECT annual report summary put together by SG is to be worked on by me later.  So that we can send it out today. 

The CFP Foundation pre-proposal was submitted. I admit I did not realize it was only a preproposal till later. The parts of the proposal that was culled should be assembled next week so that we can use them for a fuller proposal. 

There were no outputs from JG last days on the Writ - we have to get our staff to deliver outputs rather than just chatter - this was her first week. 

We may have dropped the ball on the DAMRO purchase order for chairs. The sale will be over - worth checking today and placing the order. 

MANAGING COMING FUEL, ELECTRICITY AND BANKING CRISES 

Prices shall rise like on all else. The petroleum refinery does not have oil next few days and NCPP may not have enough coal till the SW Monsoon is over.  We need to store petrol including for the generator. 

Electricity may not be available regularly. 

For the office,  We need to assemble solar-based backup power system. 

There is already the Jackery Solar Panel and Jackery Battery that I brought last time - think that shall last a couple of  - ZI check that it works for off-grid. 

Figure out whether I should send a Jackery and Solar Panel or we can make our own for both offices. 

Banks are at risk - I keep telling them to have two or three months in hand. 

I figured out that the number we had given to Seylan Bank for the wire transfer back to US was for the Savings account - and we should give the Current Account.  Shall write to them. 

Keep 2-3 months of funds in hand - banks may run out of money. 

One of my batchmates Renuka Rodrigo wanted to send some funds across to Kandy in USD - so we are paying him @230 - think we should keep funds in 

USD. This is just to hedge against a bigger drop in currency value. 

You can always buy things without keeping LKR. 

NEXT YEAR RESOLUTIONS 

Staff at FECT may be undermining my own outputs as I am spending my time on completely useless work such as being a personal assistant to them. They have, come to expect it.  As a result, I cannot do what shall be useful. 

They are the failings and neglect of Weekly, Monthly and 6-month reporting by a few - of course, a few people when trying to navigate in a boat can sink it all. 

As much as I keep asking everyone to use a dictionary - the Greeting Card - took so much time because of Malapropism - use of words because they sound grand and a failure to do simple checks.  I think I could have done the card myself given all the feedback I had to give. 

The strategic planning is not completed in parts and does not inform the work plans - what happens is people are doing work like serving at an all you can eat buffet. We need to have meetings every month at least and better every week. 

Please provide your input. 

We have already taken some actions.  

I shall have to consult with Management experts without getting further disappointed and see what further actions to take. 

Management Update

 With VA departure has come up all of a sudden - I have been immersed in the legal docs

Not sure we can arrange a bit of a send off for them. I had thought of asking you all to organize something tomorrow - maybe in one place

- find out (without any pressure) whether she is able to come again - we can combine with

a send off for NH.

Tomorrow is half a day in the Banks as per the Govt calendar

http://documents.gov.lk/files/cdr/2021/2021_E.pdf

If there were anybody traveling for xmas, good to know in advance - else there are things to finish by tomorrow.

Also pay attention to

http://documents.gov.lk/files/cdr/2022/2022_E.pdf

with the deadline on 15th and 22nd for the two proposal applications to Asia Foundation and Aus Embassy - have to pay attention to the Thai Pongal. 

Given all this - we may just have to keep our shoulders to the wheel.

ps - interviewed Jeewani X? Gunawardene was introduced by Deshani K for the legal position and so far things are good and we may have her come in on Friday / tomorrow.

Management Updates

 Disbursements

With me being delayed, it won't be until Monday that I can sort this out - maybe it shall be Tuesday before I am fit to go to Digana BoC. 

Considering that it is one week late, and some staff may have issues, 

Mrs SMZ says that she may be able to loan some money to pay for half of the payroll. 

So RZ shall have to see whether she can get the funds out of PB based on her instructions. 

If any of you have urgent financial needs before next week - let RZ or me know - we shall see what can be done. 

If not,  if the funds are obtained, RZ can start with disbursing for the Interns as more of them can be covered. 

Purchases and Lugging things and deciding what to leave behind 

I have a mountain of things now that are not going to fit into the two bags I have. My bags shall be at the max allowed weight limit. 

The extra bag is $200 - it is better to make another trip - and get 2 bags. 

I shall also look into shipping options - there is a collector here but the ship sails in November and cargo arrives in Watapuluwa in early Dec. 

So we may have to choose - what to leave behind. 

If I had more space I can bring things such as milk powder - am told there is no milk powder in the office. 

you can see the purchase lists. 

Today, I had the delivery of a portable power supply - big version of the item from Jakery we have  - this is heavy - but it plugs to a solar panel which I also go  - but may be what we end up needing. 

I bought a Celeron PC on a whim - since it was $200 - and good for typing. 

SLAAS 

Finally two of our abstracts was rejected - but one of these had been submitted maybe by SG to Section E2  - same was accepted by Section A. The Material balance one was not accepted also by Section E2. 

The same of similar has been accepted by the AGU for the covid - but for AGU we mashed up the 3 XP abstracts. This is a highlight as I have submitted about a dozen abstracts and none were rejected till now. 

So I wrote to them querying their procedures. This is the kind of waste of time, I cannot resist - but I want to write a paper on why we can get things accepted internationally but not nationally.  Shall forward to the authors. 

Appointment Letters 

have been drafted but the ones I sampled had errors - it was no proof read properly. 

We also need to update our instruction documents - staff handbook - IT and security guidelines to reflect the updates - so that staff can refer to it. 

Applicants 

I was hoping that we have the applicants lined up so that I can onboard them in person - so please do more than just rest on the Sunday Observer - because we know that it is not effective except occasionally. 

We need a strategy for each position - so those whom have been allocated in charge among - need to send a plan to execute in the next days. 

As it is I don't see that in the weekly work plans, worse there are no work plans for some. 

Since the price was under Rs. 4K this time, we went ahead - they spelled fiction as faction - which is of course a completely different meaning and reflects badly on us - specially if we are trying to recruit a writer 

- too many people think that spell correct is all they need. 

We don't need to fill all the roles but at least some. 

As things are there are such big gaps that we cannot write any proposals because of weakness in planning, writing, budgeting, administration and also lack of time for me. 

Colombo Visit 

I have written about this - there needs to be a focus on what are the next steps - to accomplish - and who shall be responsible - for this - please sort this out. 

Nisthar (Misriya's brother) van is a large capacity van and it is better to see the availability for that as we can space our staff on the trip over. 

COP26 

These are usually jamborees that I have never attended - there were 25 before - but since I can make a stop in Glasgow on my way back. 

I am considering going for this because there may be proposal opportunities there along the lines of work we are doing. 

If not going there, I shall go to MV.  In this light, and even if I don't go, we may have to organize the rest of the month for this. 

Strategic Plan Implications for the Communications Work and the Influencers

 FUTURE TRAJECTOR OF FECT IN NEXT YEARS

1. FECT is seeking in the next years
           -  to focus on our work on the Dengue Project going on till April 30, 2022
           - to consolidate past work for SL and MV - through publications, communication, knowledge management
           - we need to get additional stream of funding than the PEER Dengue Project
           - we need to be at the top of the Data Assimilation and Analysis Work on Env and Climate in SL
           - we need scientific computing skills to be added
           - we have to be ready if big opportunities come to us.
           - we are looking at improving our core research
           - we have to get our basic systems in order - in IT, Admin, Research and the Themes             


OPPORTUNITIES
2. Opportunities that FECT has for funding are
         - for funding in Maldives through project opportunities that may come up through FECT-MV and in particular Hudha and Aslam. 
         - bilateral funding in SL ( while the UK Embassy funding was not helpful, it does not mean that funding though bilateral is closed)
         - funding in the US through new programs - foundations as well some USAID and other programs
         - funding for the components of the CCA proposal

3. Opportunities for FECT to advance non-traditional funding:
        - Through providing Instrumentation Services and Installations
        - Through providing weather and air quality and weather services via Mobile Apps (- with a sponsored model or advertisement based models) 
        - Through some e-commerce options (which we should keep for much later) 

4. Becoming a Publisher and Educational Service Provider
        -  Through becoming a TVEC diploma awarding institute ( - this shall at least get us some discounts and softwares and enable us to register as an educational org.)       
        - Through becoming a Publisher on non-profit books in our field - esp high quality books on Climate Change
        - Through publishing high volume books through other publishers - maybe even externally.


WEAKNESSES

5. Work Planning and  Monitoring Internally
          - in some areas, it is weak enough to Undermine the Organizations Functioning
          - Over the last months, IT, Admin, Research, Communications have recovered.
          - The weak areas are Publishing,
          - The neglected areas are our past projects
          - The Crisis Areas are Financial, FECT-Inc, Legal 

6. Financial Management is Manual
          - Financial work is done by hand - and partly because of that - accounting is slow
          - Backlog in accounts extend to a year
          - ongoing accounts are not visible to the Board
          - and there is a lack of ability to keep track of the financial flow - so there is no financial control and lots of financial risks 
          - as this work cannot be entirely manual during COVID. 
         - Financial Projections are not being presented to guide on whether we can afford to recruit or take on training courses

7. Attempts to have Internal Audits Done is taking so long that it is killing the momentum.
          - much of our processes are not documented
          - work allocation is not clear
          - there is no monitoring of work
          - there is no reallocation of work that is not getting done.

8. Knowledge Retention, Knowledge Management, Risk  of Losing the Knowledge Workers and Poor Transmission of Knowledge
We are an Information and Expertise based organization - and we need improvements - there are ISO standards for this

          - Our systems to organize knowledge has made some progress in terms of TB, OSF, Blogs - but there is lot of weakness
          - We need to improve on our TB, OSF, Blogs and Build our Internal Filing System

9. Digital Information is not organized at all
          - Our Digital Files are very poorly organized - we have talked about this without any progress
          - we have such a crude system of keeping our files organized
           - it just works where each person is storing the files - and then when the person leaves, there is a dump
          - There is some system to take back-ups - but this is with an overloaded persons such as TH in charge.
          (Think that ZI’s next big project is to take this on - maybe in late July) 

THREATS

Threat scenarios have receded except some risks such as banking and covid afflictions.

Principal Threats
     - If COVID does not recede until we can meet in person within a year -
     - Legal Threats have receded but in the worst case, we have to plan to counter it
     - Rule of Law is becoming weak in Sri Lanka - so we should be careful about ambitious plans (so ruled out starting a University) 
     - Financial Management Threats
               - because of banking breakdowns
               - Currency Instability that can come
               - Poor Financial Control

RISK MANAGEMENT

7. HR / Staffing

        - we have to balance the staff levels in keeping with our work needs and also the need to stretch out funds for a long enough period.
        - we should not lose core competencies in Admin, IT and Research
        - we have to manage turnover  - was recent high turnover due to internal issues or external (- I think it was external, what do you think)
        - we should be careful about recruiting in bunches - need to have good diversity.

          - At present, we have
                      - 4 persons who have been around for more than 4 years,
                      - 3 for a 1 year, 
                      - 3 who have been here for 6 months, and
                      - 3-5 who are here for 1-3 months. 
             This is a reasonable distribution - but any departures of those who are here longer-term can take a lot of head-knowledge out.


8. Reducing the Load on Principal Scientist, Lead Researcher and IT Admin

        - Reconfiguration is needed
                - as General Manager Role Played by Principal Scientist is damaging the productivity of the PS and the institutions output and outreach. 
        - Recruiting Personal Aide / Writers / Accounts persons - has been FAILURES over the last few years

Management meeting on 17.05.2021

 Meeting Minutes 

1.15pm - 2.00pm

Participants - LZ, RZ, AN, TH, FS & ZJ

Discussed on staff working on

FS -  Preparing service letters to DS, DV, SS  as they requested

         Working on the staff job description - As commented by Dr - Discussing with RZ

         Fwd: ACTION REQUIRED: System Account Pending Expiration in U.S. Government’s System for Award Management (SAM) - worked with ZJ

          Checking the applicants sent to fectcv & hrtropicalclimate.

         helping to fill the gaps of interns leave - Dr suggested let the intern to fill their leaves own

TH -  Responding to the emails

         Updating the Trello Board (OCW/ Instrumentation - Working & not working ) 

         Went through the IT/Digana / Akurana/ Admin boards - Dr suggested keep track on other  boards as well

         Follow up on FS forwarded CV - Internship for IT

RZ-  Doing the finance tasks

        Updating Audit reports

        Updating the finance TB

        Redoing the hours work in Admin/HR/ Legal

        Prepared the weekly reporting

AN - Review the KW/CK/SG weekly reports

        Data Acquisition - Sri Lanka & Dengue

        Dengue OSF - Checke Akurana Entomology

                                Sri Lanka Entomology

        Pending & next steps

ZJ - Exporting & uploading the PPTS to the g drive

Digana Office

NH - Keep monitoring the relations

         Decided to go to Akurana or WFH 

         Take a medical leave

         Provide a laptop as she want to work  - AN pl check

Disinfect the Digana office - Check with Dr. Kusum

Recruitment

   IT intern - TH need to follow

   Accountant  - Applied  from Matale, Willing to come to Akurana

  Geology - AN interview her & give your feedback

Call for the interviews as the lockdown released

Prepare a google map to provide applicants able to find the place easily. 

Shortcoming to sort out

  - Recognize what is not working, Not getting done, make a work planning

  - Trello Board - What board is need, If not updating the boards what is the alternative

  - Suggesting follow up small meetings - Prepare agenda

      TH ( with the team) - IT & BHC

      FS ( TH, RZ) - Admin, HR & Legal

      FECT Tasks - ZJ with Dr

      AN  ( with the team) - Research

Re-Management Update

 Last week, DD left, and there was a hope to finish off the BHC project but it seems that we are struggling here. 

For DD, there is some follow up that ZJ can take on. 

BHC 

I was hoping that there would be some contributions on the BHC from home - but nothing so far. 

I can send   

Climate story board shortly

Disaster Story board as well. 

But there is a struggle on the work on the 

Disaster Brochure - am struggling to get SG to connect whats in the head and whats in the 

Climate Change Brochure - not started 

I was hoping we could get all the infographics done - but those allocated to each infographic did not respond during The Weeknd so far. 

So with that being the circumstances  and the level of commitment  - we shall have to continue the work in the office - until the government tells otherwise. 

WORK MONITORING 

These are also neglected for a while so we need these to come on as well. 

ADMIN

• - HR
• - LEGAL  
• - IT 
• - INSTRUMENTS 
• - COMMUNICATION 
• - FECT TASKS  
• - DATA 

And the 

PROJECTS

• DENGUE 
• NCPP / EFL 
• BHC 
• CCA 

So we shall have to work on these in the office this week and bring them up to speed. 

Please be ready with the updated progress on these topics and projects 

LZ TO DEPART TO NYC 

I shall depart in 3 weeks - and sooner if there is any sign of being unable to travel. 

HIRES 

As discussion Administration requires better Administration. 

I am quite desperate as to why things are not happening - and so we shall have to break the Staffing guidelines that we use if we cannot get this done. 

We should hire 4 people to help take on the work that I am doing 

- FECT Manager

- a personal aide

- Writer - Science 

- Legal / Social Writer 

There is a need for Admin and Accounts Assistants too. 

PAST MEETING MINUTES 

- I don’t see the last meeting minutes uploaded on the blog for mgmt - or anything before that - seems symptomatic of the lack of follow up. 

The focus on each persons output exclusively rather than on themes and projects - is not helping. 

Management Discussed on 26/04/2021

 Time - 10.30am to 11.50am

Participants - LZ, TH, RZ, AN,ZJ 

Due to the pandemic and having the need to work from home Dr.LZ asked on how to manage and monitor works of staff. The immediate tasks that were  identified are as follows

1. Fix work from home guidelines - RZ, TH, ZJ  to do 

2. Provide a format for reporting daily tasks - RZ, TH, ZJ to do 

3. Monitor work hours of staff in Trello board while working at home and office - FS to check

4. Audit the OCW of staffs by allocating a card for each person in the OCW trello board - RZ to do 

5. Do a proper analysis of local risk of COVID-19 at present - KW and CK to do 

And the other topics that were discussed are 

Internal Audit 

- RZ, TH, to come up with main topics for the Internal audit for the institution and to spend not more than 2 days on it 

FECT Management documentation 

- RZ was able to access the blog, TH, AN and FS to check if they can access and permissions 

HR 

- Departures and transition - TH to check with others if everything is documented by those who left recently. 

Recruitment 

- After discussions it was identified we need to recruit a researcher, writer, programmer(to handle tropicalclimate.org), hardware and a statistician 

- Greeting card could be shared to the FOSID group with a text saying "Vacancies available"

Manager 

- RZ and TH to prepare a profile for a manager so that we can advertise by the end of Friday

- Dr.LZ's comment - Someone who could write in English, well experienced and retired    

Strategic Review 

- Each Theme can be reviewed sequentially so that we can finish off soon - staffs who aren't working on BHC deadlines this week can spend some time on it 

TVEC registration

- Documents to be organized for TVEC registration - DD, ZJ to follow up  

Internships 

- As the internships of SP,DD,SG are coming to an end they can continue if they would like to stay - Let Dr.LZ know personally on this if there is anything up 

Management update

 Farook and Helper due Sunday

Thinking of getting him going with small ramps for my Mother 

NCPP 

Tomorrow - Sunday - At least AN and KW will be coming to AKurana so that we can properly finish up the NCPP report. EFL says we can give end of Monday - so I think if we start on Sunday, we can really have a chance of finishing this. 

Others can consider coming on Sunday for lieu leave.

BHC 

We have requested a revised submission end date to April 30 - I have given some specific items that need to be completed. 

Access to CU websites. 

We seem to have access to 

SLIATE Departures on April 5

We have to deal with the issue that the end of the internship for the SLIATE folks is coming up on April 5 - two weeks away. 

Shahana and Achintha told me yesterday that they shall not continue. 

Achintha has a sponsor - his cousin who is a lecturer - for the ICBT top up degree starting in May sometime - Think the twins went out around mid - May. 

Shahana is looking to do the BIT course - she is not sure when the BIT starts - she is not sure where in Polgolla she can do - although she can do in Colombo as Duleeka did. 

I am not sure what the thinking of Azra and Ushan is ? Shall talk to them. 

Transition Planning. 

Thus for SS and AJ  let plans to complete their work - rather than let them start on new work - and properly document and transition. 

Now I have given UA instructions to work only on disease.lk - except to support posting docs. 

Who is going to handle 

Drought.lk, and tropicalclimate.org ?

Dont think that disaster.lk was started by Shahana. 

———

Back to FOSID 

There will be FOSID folks available in April after the New Year. 

Management / Personnel Issues to cope with CCA and other work in coming Month

 I need to offload the work as much a possible - so all of you shall have to adjust your roles so that we give priority to the CCA - but with all others having work on this regard, 

- AN to coordinate documentation and see DD’s work 

- AN and RZ to coordinate MV work

- ZJ and FS - can work to assist me with my personal work - unless they are needed for other things. 

- TH, ZJ and ZI to coordinate work on the IT side 

- Sewwandhi on Water + Nelun and Ramesh can polish 

- Mafa and Madhura on CZM and Fisheries 

- Umar Marikkar, Jr on Renewables - but Snr hates Vidhura. So cannot do that. 

he can take over the finish up of the Websites and supervise the SLIATE folks to help TH. 

Am not sure how much the Interns are willing to contribute  - and in any case, we should not be overly reliant on them. 

We shall have to bring in Alum into this - CG, PE and SR 

- CG on the Graphics for the BHC - SR suggested a relative in Alawatugoda

- TH talk to CG 

PE can work on the EFL - I would think we just hand over the work on that to HJ and PE and move ID to help with the CCA project 

Shall email her - and maybe TH to coordinate. 

- SR - can contribute on IT - SEO and websites

Talked to Sanjaya R - he is willing to contribute - on the IT side - such as on SEO, Website compatibility, also we had sent him to S. Korea to work on CC and to Nepal on AgMIP - he shall give CV too. 

Looking to talk to some younger people 

For CCA, 

In reality, we have till end of the month - only 6 more days to put all together - thereafter we can get clean up of documents. 

We need to schedule work for external resources 

FS and AN need to make a list of proposals - funded or not for SL and MV - think you already have something. 

ZJ to make full paper archives for us to work off. 

FS and AN to make a list of Partners for SL and a list of LoS that we already have for past proposals or LoI.  

US

- LZ needs to send CV and other material to EI 

- LZ needs to send List of past work to Upmanu Lall 

In MV 

HA and AA - we need to get them activated - starting with a summary document - and a meeting today. 

Need to assure AA of role beyond March. 

Need to figure out how to approach govt partners, private sector and community orgs. 

Have to prioritize this today as their week has started and shall end early. 

In SL 

Get the following activated early this week and go to Colombo next 

VR - make him to get contacts for me. 

SP - Get Premalal Activated

Sarvodaya - Need to arrange to meet on Saturday 

Identify Past Work on this -  Sectoral Partners in both countries and whom to Handover Coordination

- Coastal and Marine 

- DRM - Red Cross, Lirne Asia 

- Water Resources 

- Renewables.

- Agriculture 

- Logistics 

- Fisheries and Coastal 

- Tourism 

Management Staff updates

 WEEKLY SUMMARY 

I have send the summary of the weekly report -  I see that I had missed IT and have mailed TH to see whether he could provide some highlights to complete it 

- please review on the Themes concerned to you whether I had got the highlights 

AN - Research + Data 

TH - IT + Instrumentation 

FS - Admin + HR+ SS + Advocacy 

RZ - Finance + Legal 

That leaves out 

Communication 

Training and Education 

Which seems blank. 

Lets have this a regular weekly task for the Theme Leads. 

LEGAL 

TH and MS may attend court. 

I plan to come to be on the outside - had some car tire leak problems - am trying to see whether it is safe to come - with the spare. 

If Heshan is staying back - and he does not except what is essential when he comes by car - as he wants to beat office traffic. I shall be there to talk to him. 

Now shall be going to Kudugala to meet with Wijethunga who lost his wife on a trial - shall be away till 730 pm.

There are documents that need to be obtained from the Courts by TH - the receipts may be in Akurana - we have to figure those out so I can bring those. 

WEEKLY PLANS 

WITH TH AND I being distracted in the AM tomorrow , people have not yet sent their weekly plans 

Plans remain to be in Akurana on Tuesday and Digana on Wednesday. 

NARMADA HEWAGE has accepted but she does not have the online facility at home - i.e no computer. 

We have sent an email for 3 months - see fectcv - and she wants to be in Digana - AN is in touch - she has a Balagolla place to stay - so 

We may find an older PC for her - TH is still to determine which is suitable.  

PROJECTS 

My focus is going to be on the 2 projects - BHC and CCA proposal - I have a meeting Monday night to finalize somethings. 

Chemonics person contacted me - she used to work at EFL on the COT project. 

BHC project - talked to VR - his daughter left to Colorado yesterday - so his availability should improve 0 discussed a few things about private sector involvement in SL, possible role for him as Deputy COP, and so. On. 

We are due to have a meeting on Wed or later. 

Think Hasmiya is capable of pulling the report for the EFL project as long as she does not fall sick. Anyway that is not consequential. 

STRATEGIC PLAN 

Lets push it along as much as possible after getting the C&M students work on the project 

HR DOCUMENTATION 

We need to fix the problems of messed up guidance documents and how things are organized in the Internal Page. 

SLIATE. - TH we really need to send the 4 months evaluations for the 4 people tonight. Just let me know what state they are in. 

Management Staff updates / Zoom

 Groundwater Abstract

We are decompressing after the submission late last night of the Abstract for the Kenya conference -

 unfortunately, we could not get it done early and it has been dispiriting. 

Think I have left AN with a headache last night due to my procrastination. There is still work to be done on this for the presentation that is later this week.  

Procrastinations, Bottlenecks and Commitments. 

Key reasons is I was not at my best last days - with sleep problems - I am good today 

and there were too many things on my plate. Also my PC got stuck and was not able to edit the Word documents even now. Also AN PC was also slow after the update. 

So some immediate and medium term solution is needed. 

I keep wanting to not take on new work with tight deadlines. However, this is hard to avoid as you shall see from below.  

-PEER Dengue 

After the submission, Kelly has written - our last report was fine -RZ / MS have to follow up on the financial side and our next report comes due on April 15 - now that is also pretty much in the next two months deadline. We need to recruit for this and target and get the papers out. 

I told Dr. K that we shall give a computer by Monday - she is willing to work much more now that she has given up on the NDCU gig - we need to interact more with her. 

We have to figure out how to focus some folks on this grant. 

- AQ / EFL wants a report by end of March and has put 3 K Rs on the table - since this work is done - and we want to build the partnership - and they have been pleading, 

 I agreed to go along. We can use an RA to put things together. We need to update our instruments - all this is working fine. 

Need to send Invoice today

Burial / Issue

This is heating up further now - the research was done so we could get a paper done and we can write for the popular press. Am interested in the wider issues of Science and Nationalism - so may tell SLAAS Section F that we can do some work on this - like a seminar. 

- BHC / Communication 

is unable to disburse funds outside their financial year - so that means that we have to finish that grant - in 2 months instead of 4. They have sent the contract. 

This is going to tax us and stress us for next two months. Vidhura is going to do his part. Its about 1.5M LKR - we need to get the funds out. 

Still to follow up with BHC to confirm that what we sent was sufficient. Then RZ has to get the funds so that we can hire. 

Strategic Planning

- The strategic plan is slowly going on - taking a bit of time - think we can use the C&M students for the BHC grant - so we may have to get that done quick. 

C&M - one of the students Dilushi was going to work on Legal, Labour Documentation and Publishing. 

Need to meet with ID and SP end of day. 

- Legal work

 - there is lot of correspondence to catch up on - plan was to use DD for this. 

There is also a need to get prepared for the cases - LT is around Feb 8 or 9 ? Not sure when the CoA is? Things are going crazy at the superior courts now. 

Recruitment

- we need a graphics person and social media person for Communication for the BHC grant and we need scientists for other positions. I shall need to decide and move today with the FOSID applicants. 

Need to shortlist, contact and decide today. 

Staff Review

- The 6 month review needs to get completed - so shall try to focus on that this week. So far given feedback to SS, UA and AJ - and they need to revise. 

TH lets get through AM today, AN lets do KW and then I shall work way through my reports with ZJ and NA before coming to you all.  

CCAA / USAID

- the CCAA is our key grant - and two organizations wrote to me about that - it turns out that one org had my acquaintance from IRI Molly Hellmuth in it - so since I did not respond to the headhunter, I had to write this AM. There is another company that contacted FECT. And I need to reach out to USAID as I have not done this. 

Need to email these folks. 

SMZ to Melbourne on April 1

- Now my sister has bought a one-way ticket for my mother to leave on April 1 - there is a lot I had planned to do with her - in terms of organizing docs, writing some of her stories and learning some things from her - and that is not something I shall get back. Separately, we need her to sign off on various banking materials, organizing legal docs. 

Management Update

 SUPERVISION

We had planned that you would take over supervision in December - but I had continued on account of absences and illnesses.

Now that Jan has come Please take over the daily and weekly supervision for
IT - TH  for SLIATE ppl
Research - AN for KW and SG 
Admin - RZ and FS
I shall continue with NA and ZJ while giving technical inputs to others.

You need to insist that the tasks match with what are the priorities and you review the previous weeks plans and see whether they are
Measuring up.

IT STAFFING
Seems the SLIATE folks are learning to manage us rather than the other way around.
This is partly because we are neglecting them. So TH shall have to prioritize that and others should not try to pull him in for this.
There Internship runs out in 2 months - so good to give them detailed feedback and see whether they correct themselves. 

We shall also need to recruit urgently there - we have 1 person ready to start on Jan 8 - Isuru Dissanayake
And made offers to two others - asked them to confirm by 5th.

There are also NIBM, ESOFT persons applying - lets look at them too.