"Town Hall discussions" - a method employed in many countries both in the west and the east amongst developed and those labelled underdeveloped, to provide voice for their citizens and provide a forum where citizens and politicians can meet and discuss, exchange ideas and follow up on previous discussions in a peaceful, organized and democratic manner – are now in Colombo.

The first round of Town Hall discussions will be held on Monday 16th at Viharamahadevi Park in an open space under the Nuga tree inbetween the Open Air Theatre and the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, from 3.30 pm onwards.

A few concerned individuals , journalists, civil society activists, new digital media writers have gathered together to provide this platform where this civic society voices can be heard, feedback given, action taken, and they are made part of this continuing change through a Town Hall discussion mechanism.

With the help of media organizations and social media activists in the country, they are seeking to create this mechanism between national level politicians of this country representing all political parties represented in the Parliament and a new group of young and vibrant civic society voices with the aim of providing a platform and a mechanism to capture and focus a conversation that will keep them constructively engaged.

This initiative caters to the demand from the civil society to be heard without their message being filtered by media, especially in a scenario where the civil society believes it has contributed substantially to this new political culture.

“Town Hall discussions do not have a "leader" nor do they have an organizer. It is a place where policy makers sit together with civil society and share their views with the aim of influencing policy making process. Discussions are held in public places and anyone can walk in and out!,” the official Facebook page of the event said.