Lalith Lankatilleke, Father of the “People’s Participatory Process” of Reconstruction, Bids Farewell to UN-Habitat after 36 years.

July 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Mr.Lalith Lankatilleke, Senior Human Settlements Officer of UN-Habitat responsible for the country operations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka has bid farewell, having retired after 36 years of service.

An Architect-Planner by profession, Lalith has worked for over 40 years in the field of human settlements. 36 years have been spent with the United Nations.

Lalith first joined UN-Habitat in 1978 as a Housing Architect based in the Seychelles. He went on to serve UN-Habitat in numerous countries in Africa and Asia including Sri Lanka, South Africa, Namibia, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, thereafter moving to the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in 2006.

Lalith is a staunch proponent of the “People’s Process” of reconstruction, placing families at the centre of reconstructing their homes, with communities acting as the main catalyst for developing and rebuilding their villages following a crisis. His passion is to help disadvantaged communities, particularly in enabling people to gain their rights to land, shelter and services. Through his work with UN-Habitat, Lalith had the opportunity to achieve these goals and to undertake ground breaking work in housing and human settlements.

His contributions have been realized through the establishment of sound housing policies in several countries including Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and East Timor. As the Head of UN-Habitat in Afghanistan, he spearheaded the post conflict recovery and reconstruction. His efforts in making the “People’s Process of Housing” as the mainstream housing process in South Africa has been recognized internationally and by the highest political authorities in South Africa. In Sri Lanka in the 1980’s, he was the “Architect” of the Urban Housing Sub Programme of the world-renowned Million Houses Programme when he served in the National Housing Development Authority. He also initiated successful savings and credit movements for the poverty-stricken population in Sri Lanka, Namibia and Bangladesh.

Many of Lalith’s colleagues affectionately refer to him as “Apuchi” (a term meaning father in Sinhalese) as he is considered a father and mentor to all staff members, providing guidance and support through a consultative mode of management. Although he has left UN-Habitat, his work with the people will continue through the ongoing practice of the methodology that he championed.

Lalith will be fondly remembered by all his colleagues at UN-Habitat for his dedication, his innate ability to think outside the box and find solutions, his belief in people and “bottom-up” development, and his inclusive, participatory approach regardless of age, gender, race or position.