Noolaham Foundation

Noolaham Foundation is a legally registered (GA 2390), non-profit, non-partisan, secular entity, founded to provide enhanced access to information sources and foster knowledge-based development in Sri Lanka.

The digital library and archive function as a repository for various community institutions and fulfill the information needs of students, researchers, historians, activists and the public.

Such platforms can also cater to the needs of local and international researchers who are interested in studying the various aspects of the Sri Lankan Tamil speaking communities.

Sri Lankan Tamil speaking communities have transmitted their knowledge through written, oral, visual and artifact sources over millennia.

For example, Sri Lankan Tamil speaking scholars played an instrumental role in collecting, printing, publishing ancient palm-leaf manuscripts in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Since 2006, Project Noolaham started accepting donations and in-kind support to accelerate digital preservation efforts.

For content management, Project Noolaham initially used a basic HTML website, and then it migrated to Joomla, and is currently using Mediawiki and Islandora.

In 2011, Noolaham Foundation invited all stakeholders to participate in a strategic planning process and developed its Roadmap 2020 with the emphasis on institutionalization, global transformation, and observance of ethical and professional standards.

Noolaham Foundation encourages a collaborative-leadership framework whereby contributors lead one another to achieve organizational and community goals.

Volunteers in Sri Lankan and diaspora contribute to processes and projects as process/project mentors, subject matter experts and contributors.

It consults with Gray Board, Advisory Pool, Management, Staff as well as other stakeholders as needed to direct Noolaham Foundation activities.

Noolaham Foundation is organized as processes and projects to enable high level of collaboration while maintaining clear lines of communication and accountability.

Sector (including program) and project updates must be compiled into the Monthly Report for review & sign off by the Governance Board as well as the wider Noolaham Foundation community.

The stats compilation for sector, monthly and project reports for ongoing activities such as digital preservation, multimedia documentation etc should be automated as much as possible via the Noolaham Dashboard.

Noolaham Foundations seeks to build an open, positive, collaborative, respectful atmosphere for all staff and volunteers.

All of Noolaham Foundation meetings must be pre-announced on respective process or project email threads, with reasonable notice period.