Interactive seminar on ‘Citizens’ engagement in tomorrow’s city’ on 15 Sept.

The Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives is organising a series of events titled FOCUS on the theme of ‘the Global City’ this year. 

Organised in Sri Lanka for the last three years, the FOCUS events look to foster debates and ideas, but also share scientific analysis and knowledge on themes of common interest to Sri Lanka and France.  

In this framework, the Embassy of France to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, collaborating with the Junior Chamber International – Sri Lanka, will stage an interactive seminar on the topic of ‘Citizens’ engagement in tomorrow’s city’ on 15 September from 5.30 p.m. at the Jubilee Room of the Galle Face Hotel.  

Cities are dynamic spaces, conducive for debates, collaborations and experimentations between various stakeholders, and are where original solutions to the main challenges of our time are shaped.   

This event is an interactive experience, allowing participants to exchange and engage in their solutions for the future of the city. Gathering entrepreneurs, start-ups, local associations or movement builders to rethink together tomorrow’s city, the organisers’ final objective is twofold:       to show the value of citizen’s engagement and community-driven initiatives to make the city smart and sustainable, and to offer a platform for debate and networking in order to foster an active citizenry and further engagement in the city.   

To start off the debate, the organisers have invited a selection of successful entrepreneurs to form the panel. They will share their experience of participative models and technologies to make the city smart and lead the way for a sustainable development: Founder of the mobility app PickMe Jiffry Zulfer, founder of the Good Market Achala Samaradiwakara, Research Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) Danesh Jayatilaka and from France, Clémentine Malgras, community-connector for the OuiShare platform in Paris, will be present.  

Three working groups representing key stakeholders in the city will interact with the panellists, sharing their ideas and solutions on building tomorrow’s city. The rest of the audience - and anyone interested - will also have the opportunity to participate and engage on those issues by connecting on the website www.focuslk.com. 

The organisers invite everyone to connect on this website to share both their ideas and expectations about tomorrow’s city, as well as any questions or solutions about how citizen’s engagement can help in this process. Public contributions will be discussed during the conference and the audience will be able to vote electronically on selected questions.  

Dr. Ravi Fernando, Executive in Residence at the INSEAD Social Innovation Centre, based in France, will moderate the discussions.