As the "Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia".
The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in January 1950, and was attended by the finance ministers of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ceylon, Pakistan and New Zealand, and the prime ministers of Ceylon and India. Membership has expanded significantly over the years to the current 28 governments.
The primary focus of its work is on the development of human resources in the south and southeast regions of Asia. Aid to education 1950 to 1983 came to $72 billion, of which $41 billion came from the United States.[1][2]
Host country of the Colombo Plan
The Colombo Plan enjoys a host country agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka in the form of a memorandum of understanding with privileges and immunities that are afforded by the Government of Sri Lanka.
In a speech made in Colombo on 5 July 2010, the 4th Secretary-General Dato'Patricia Yoon-Moi Chia said: "The gearing up of the level of our activities is made possible through the voluntary contributions of member countries and international agencies such as OPEC fund. Last year our programming was over US$10 million and we expect a more than US$12 million programming this year with almost another US$2 million in terms of cost-sharing from our member countries. With funding from the United States Government and 13 other member countries, the Colombo Plan is now the biggest stakeholder in drug demand reduction in the Asia-Pacific, with a special initiative in Afghanistan."[3]
Programme for Private Sector Development (PPSD, estd: 1995)
Programme for Public Administration & Environment (PPA, estd: 1995)
The Plan now
Over the years, while adhering to the concept of human resource development and South-South Cooperation in addressing issues of economic and social development, the programme content of the Colombo Plan has been changing to take account of the needs of member countries in a fast changing world economic environment. In the early years, the training programmes were more of a long-term nature, while recent programmes have been focusing on providing advanced skills and experience sharing aimed at arriving at the best practices in different fields of economic and social activities as a means of good policy making and governance. The current programmes of the Colombo Plan are in the areas of public policy formulation in an environment of globalisation and market economy, private sector development as a prime mover for growth, drug use and dependence prevention and treatment in member countries and addressing gender issues. The Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education located in Manila also provides skill development opportunities for technicians in middle level.
In her 2010 speech, Dato' Patricia Yoon-Moi Chia states: "The current Colombo Plan looks very different since our restructuring and revitalisation in 1995. As we continue to build upon our past successes, the new Colombo Plan uses cooperation among developing member countries or South-south Cooperation between the developed member countries and developing member countries, to underpin all our activities. Since our restructuring in 1995, we have now provided 16,082 scholarships to 23 member countries for both long-term and short-term training programmes."[3]
Past secretaries-general
The Colombo Plan underwent an organisational transformation and renewal in 1995, and the Colombo Plan Bureau became the Colombo Plan Secretariat to be headed by the Secretary-General, instead of a Director. The first Secretary-General was Dr. Kim Hak-su from Korea (January 1995 – March 1999) who was succeeded by Dr. Sarat Chandran, India (April 1999 – June 2003), Mr. Kittipan Kanjanapitkul from Thailand (June 2003 – August 2007), Dato' Patricia Yoon-Moi Chia from Malaysia (August 2007 – August 2011), the first Asian woman to hold this position, Mr. Adam Maniku from Maldives (15 August 2011 – November 2013), Mr. Kinley Dorji from Bhutan (May 2014 – April 2018) and, Ambassador Phan Kieu Thu (May 2018 - December 2021). The incumbent Secretary-General, Dr. Benjamin P. Reyes from The Philippines assumed duties on 1 May 2022 as the organisation's 8th Secretary-General.
Notable Colombo Plan scholars
Dr Sanduk Ruit (Nepal), founder, Himalayan Cataract Project and Tilganga Eye Hospital, Kathmandu.
Mapatunage James "M. J." Perera (Sri Lanka), he made broadcasting history by being the first Ceylonese Director General of Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia, taking over the helm from John Lampson of the BBC.
Dr. Ismail Mohamad /Ishmael Mohamed (Malaysia). General Surgeon/ medical practitioner, Winnipeg Canada.
Early criticism
The Plan has been criticised on various grounds. Some Asians see in it only the hand of British imperialism, especially as it is not aimed at developing national self-sufficiency. It offers an almost exclusively economic solution for problems which are also political and social. Dangerous issues such as landlordism and the organisation of labour, which invite Communist exploitation, are barely touched on, doubtless because it seemed politically inexpedient to raise such questions.[6]
There have been four past members of the Colombo Plan including two founding members in 1950, Canada and the United Kingdom. South Vietnam and Cambodia joined together in 1951. On 2 Jul 1976 South Vietnam was succeeded by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which withdrew in 1978. Vietnam was a provisional member from 5 Nov 2001 to 18 Nov 2003 until it was accepted as a full member in 2004.
Auletta, Alex. "A retrospective view of the Colombo Plan: Government policy, departmental administration and overseas students." Journal of higher education policy and management 22.1 (2000): 47–58.
Lowe, David. "The Colombo Plan and 'soft' regionalism in the Asia-Pacific: Australian and New Zealand cultural diplomacy in the 1950s and 1960s" (Alfred Deakin Research Institute, 2010) online.
