Representatives from European Parliament visit to Shannon Estate

Representatives from the European Parliament   visited Shannon Estate to evaluate the progress of the Community Development Forum . They evaluated the leadership qualities amongst the Associates with special focus and discussions on creating opportunities towards the betterment of female Associates.  The high percentage of participation by female Associates was appreciated greatly by the visitors. It was a very successful event that enabled us to showcase the progress made at Watawala Plantations in employee engagement at estate level.

Target was to get maximum support and contribution towards achieving  organizational goals whilst empowering the Associates in decision making. 

Water Project -Ouvahkelle Estate

On Vellikellie Division of Ouvahkelle Estate, a Water Project and 25 Houses was officially declared opened on the 7^th February,2014 by our CEO Dr. Dan Seevaratnam and Mr.Suresh Bartlett the National Director of World Vision Lanka. Also present was Mr. Alex Samuel the Deputy General Manager-Plantations.

The Total cost of this Housing Project amounts to Rs.14 Million and the Water Project amounts to Rs.12 Million. This work was aided by the Government of Australia and implemented by World Vision Lanka. The Associates of Vellikellie Division along with the Community of Ouvahkellie Estate participated. Vellikellie Division is situated in the most remote area of Nuwara-Eliya District with a population of 1416 persons. They did not have shelter to live and did not have access to safe drinking water for a long period of time.

The Management of Watawala Plantations PLC who understood the difficulty of this Plantation Community sought the assistance of World Vision Lanka to implement this Housing and Water project for the benefit of this community.

As a plantation company, we invest in building communities as 96% of our workforce lives on the plantations.  We have a dedicated team at each estate who proactively engages with the communities to identify their needs in order to formulate necessary action plans.  Community stakeholders are given the opportunity to bring up their issues and concerns at the monthly Community Development Forums held at each estate which is chaired by the Estate Manager who ensures that proper minute is maintained of the meetings to facilitate action. The legacy issues of housing on plantations has been a hurdle for decades and we believe that issues related to this impede the socio- economic progress of the estate Associates.  Watawala Plantations has taken a corporate decision to migrate all employees living in line rooms to individual houses by 2020.  Accordingly we have launched many projects in 4 Estates with the assistance of Doner Agencies & the PHDT to-date we have completed more than 250 houses and handed over the keys to the employees.  We have ongoing projects for a further 20 houses and believe we are on target to achieve our vision for resident Associates.