Nishantha Mallawaarachchi,

Co-Chair, Millennium Development Goals Programme of the UN–South and West Asia Region

Mentee:

Dylan, 12, United States

Nishantha Mallawaarachchi is a Fulbright Scholar with an international reputation as a skilled practitioner in youth empowerment. He is an experienced child and youth empowerment trainer and a researcher on development communication. He has conducted a number of child and youth empowerment training. His recent assignments include training children and youth in “self managed personal development” under the child and youth empowerment collaboration between the Department of Social Studies of the Open University of Sri Lanka and Dialog Telekom. He has over 10 years of experience in community-based youth development work and is also a reputed Development Journalist. Furthermore, he has won a number of international awards such as the Commonwealth Youth Award, Jaycees International Award for one of the Most Outstanding Young People in Sri Lanka in 2007 and Sri Lanka United Nations Friendship Organization Award for one of the Outstanding youth in Sri Lanka. He also is a Visiting Lecturer for the Diploma in Youth in Development Work at the Open University of Sri Lanka and functioned as Media and Communications Consultant for International Non Governmental Organizations. Nishantha specialized in Poverty and Youth issues at the Centre for Poverty Analysis.

As a multi-skilled personality, Nishantha also carried expertise in community-based electronic media and makes a most outstanding contribution through institutes such as Rajaraja Radio based in Sri Lanka and Kooterney Television of Rockies Network based in Canada. Nishantha is the Official Youth Spoke Person for Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka. He is also the Co-Chair of the South and West Asia Region of the Millennium Development Goals Programme of the United Nations.