The implementation of the project was successfully completed in February 2015. As per the terms of the contract established with Ravaya Newspaper, the following activities were undertaken: 1. Procurement and Installation of Equipment and Software: Following a competitive bidding procedure, price quotes from three reputable computer vendors were called and the following equipment were procured from the vendor whose quotes were most cost effective: •Desktop computers with monitors •and mouse with OEM software •Laptop computers (10) •Tablet PC (3) •A3 laser Printer (3) •A4 laser Printer (1) •A4 Photo Scanner (1) •Broadband router and access point (2) •Software MS Office (13) •22'' Monitor (1) •Webcam with Headphone & Mic (10) •UPS (3) Purchase and installation of the equipment was completed on 22 Sept 2014. Seven of the desk-top computers were installed and networked in the news room while three computers were installed to support the online version of Ravaya. 2. Training of staff: Training of the editorial staff in the utilization of computers for newsroom activities was carried out by under the guidance of a well-known expert Mr. Sanjana Haththotuwa. The training programme was launched in the first week of October 2014 with weekly introductory lectures followed up by practical on the job training. The on the job training was completed by the end of October 2014. The key areas of training were: Online journalism, criteria for sourcing online information and asserting reliability, search engines, language solutions for Sinhala, useful government & non-governmental websites, news agencies, sources of statistical information and info graphics, development issues and sources, international media online, conducting online interviews through skype, recordings, basic editing in digital formats and basics of MS Office. 3. Enhancement of Ravaya’s online presence: The training on web site maintanance was carried out with the trainer provided by the equipment supplier. Ravaya’s online presence was enhanced with the use of new computer equipment and its new upgraded website is now up and running at www.ravaya.lk with regular updates uploaded by the Ravaya staff who are now well trained to maintain the web site. The web site has multimedia facilities particularly to project audio-visual interviews carried out with the newsmakers. 4. Improvement of the printing facilities: The printing facilities of Ravaya were improved with refurbishment of the printing section and printing facilities. A new printing machine was procured by Ravaya out of the beneficiary agency’s contribution for this project. The improvement to the existing printing facilities enabled Ravaya to increase the number of newspaper copies produced from 25,000 to 30,000. Conclusion: Overall the project has achieved its immediate objective by contributing to improve the staff capacities, in terms of a well-equipped computerized news room, utilization of online resources, enhanced page-lay outs and revamping the website with relevant training. The fact that the newspaper was able to increase its circulation from 25,000 to 30,000 is evidence that the productivity and the outreach of Ravaya newspaper has increased. In regard to Ravaya website an analysis through Alexa shows that it has the rank of 213 in Sri Lanka, which is normal for a weekly newspaper. However, most people access Ravaya’s Facebook page, which has nearly 15,000 subscribers.
