The J-RAP Desk works towards justice, forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, inside the church as well as outside it, and towards shalom, meaning peace understood as wellbeing rather than the absence of fighting. Its work is organised around the six Marks of Mission.
Ms Jeanne Samuel was appointed Chair of the Board in November 2025, succeeding Mr Rohan Edrisinha.
Speaking on the law
The Desk initiated the public statement issued by the Bishops of the Church of Ceylon, the Rt Revd Dushantha Rodrigo and the Rt Revd Nishantha Fernando, on the proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill. The Bishops restated the Church's long standing call for the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and set out its concerns about the new Bill's provisions.
The statement was carried widely in print and broadcast media. Alongside opposition from human rights organisations at home and abroad, it contributed to the Government reconsidering the legislation and postponing its presentation to Parliament.
Water, and the right to it
Twenty three awareness programmes on water resources were held during the year, mostly in rural communities across six districts, sponsored by the United Thank Offering in the United States. Leaflets prepared by the Desk in all three languages were distributed at each. The programmes covered water rights, conservation and sustainable management, and were built to leave communities able to argue their own case rather than to be spoken for.
Working with women
With the support of the Anglican Board of Mission in Australia, the Desk ran seven capacity building programmes for women in the North, the East and the South, and three advocacy programmes. Sessions covered domestic violence, child abuse, parenting and the social pressures particular to each community. Ninety women took part, several of them attending something of this kind for the first time. Small group sessions continued through the year with the Desk's befriender-counsellor in Vavuniya.
Savings with Education
Supported by Episcopal Relief and Development in the United States, this is the largest thing the Desk does and the least known.
Twenty eight savings groups have been established across Ampara, Badulla, Vavuniya and Polonnaruwa, involving more than 470 rural women from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Members learn savings management, small loans, livelihood development and household financial decision making. Five educational modules were developed from needs the members themselves identified, including Asset Based Community Development and one on children's education produced with the Board of Christian Education.
The programme is now expanding into the Southern Province with the National Christian Council's disaster risk reduction work, with introductory sessions at Hambantota, Galle, Baddegama and Akuressa reaching more than 170 people. More than 35 women have been trained as field facilitators and group leaders.
Education support
Twenty six children and young people received scholarships, learning materials and travel support during the year, with weekly evening coaching classes in selected subjects. Additional coaching in mathematics, English and Tamil ran at Pundaluoya, and Ordinary Level mathematics at Gal Oya.
At Oppuravillam
The Desk initiated the revived mission at Oppuravillam and sits on its management committee. It funds nutritional support for the pre-school children, and ran two training programmes for pre-school teachers in the Northern Province, at Karuna Nilayam in Kilinochchi and at Oppuravillam in Vavuniya. Its counsellor continues one to one and family counselling, and has begun using sport as a way into psycho-education, with encouraging results. A third batch of eight students completed IT training at Achchipuram with no dropouts.
Child protection
Awareness programmes ran for Sunday School children, school children, youth groups, parishes and community groups, reaching around three hundred children and young people. The work covers child protection, human rights, land rights, environmental concerns, domestic violence and conflict transformation, with follow up through counselling and, where necessary, referral to the authorities. The Sunday School programme was run with the Board of Christian Education.
Perspectives from Russia
In January 2025 the Desk hosted two Russian civil society activists, a human rights lawyer and an educator, for a discussion on Russian society and on how education either produces active citizens or does not.
Israel and Palestine
The Desk has run sessions on the history behind the present conflict, and specifically on the false narratives and misreadings of Scripture promoted by some Christian groups. The Anglican Communion has warned for two decades about the theology behind those readings, and the Diocese has taken the view that its own members should understand the argument rather than absorb it from elsewhere.