Webinar on “Re-establishing the professional links with Planning Institute of Australia”
The International Relations Committee of the ITPSL organized the webinar as an initial step to meet the intense expectation of the current Executive Council of the Institute which is to “establish professional’s links with other professional institutes across the globe”. It was a privilege to have the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), as the first internarial institute, which ITPSL extended the hands of collaboration considering the strong relationship between two institutes which was strengthened during the Tsunami rehabilitation period with the “Post Tsunami Planning Support Project”.
The webinar was held via an online platform (Zoom) on Monday, 20th of September 2021 / 9.30 AM SLT (GMT+5:30), 2.00 PM AEST (GMT+10). Mr. David Williams, Chief Executive Officer of PIA was invited as the Keynote speaker of the webinar. “Planning in the Australian context” was an exclusive introduction with a flashback to the historical evidence and modern Australia. His explanations on “Governance structure and the management structure of PIA, PIA’s Underlying strategy, learning framework and professional development Activates of PIA was found very novel and stimulating.
Plnr. Hemantha Jayasundara, Plnr. Piyal Silva and Plnr. Kishan Sugathapala were the three exclusive panellists in the panel discussion and Plnr. Indu Weerasoori moderated the session. Professor Andrew Butt, Prof. Trevor Budge and Mr. Steve Dunn, who always supports ITPSL in various ways, also attended the event. Representatives from both institutes shared their experience and possible opportunities for future collaboration. It was highlighted that the relationship should benefit both Sri Lankan planners as well as Australian planners.
Any country is not isolated under the umbrella of the global village concept. It is high time for us to join hands with the world, and to march towards sustainable development. There are a lot more for us to enable with such strong relationships and collaborations. It is a constructive way forward from PIA to join hands with ITPSL. Considering the limitations under the Covid situation, the next steps will be limited to CPD programmes and other online discussions to enhance the knowledge pool of both institutes. Further, it is expected to move towards volunteer exchanging programmes and to more advanced steps of collaboration in time. The collaboration with PIA will be an example to start over to join hands with other professional institutes all over the world. We congratulate all the stakeholders to succeed with rocket speed.
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