President
Sevanatha – Urban Resource Center
Jayaratne has been a pioneer in developing participatory methodologies for urban upgrading in Sri Lanka since the mid-80s. He has worked in both the public and Non-Governmental sectors to implement owner-driven community-led projects in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Town Planners, Sri Lanka and holds a Master’s in human Settlements Planning and Development from AIT, Thailand and a s degree in real estate management.
He has worked as a senior urban planner in Urban Development Authority and National Housing Authority, Sri Lanka. In addition, he has worked as a lecturer and trainer specializing in urban land management in academic and professional organizations. As a Technical Advisor, he has taken Sri Lankan experience on participatory land management and urban upgrading to UN-Habitat programs and projects in Tanzania, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
He is a founding member of Sevanatha, Urban Resource Center, a leading national NGO in Sri Lanka established in 1989 that promotes participatory mechanisms to improve tenure security and infrastructure of poor urban settlements and decentralized waste management at the local government level. He has done community-led settlement mapping in 30 big cities. A community-managed housing finance model successfully with secure tenure arrangement for urban poor in Bangladesh working as an International Advisor on Secure Tenure, Housing and Planning under Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction project from 2009 to 2014. Currently, he works as a consultant of Urban Building Safety Project in Bangladesh
