A research and funding body on socioeconomic and political questions, governed at arm's length from the Foundation to protect its independence.
What it is
A research and funding institution studying socioeconomic and political questions relevant to Jaffna and the wider Northern Province. Its defining feature is not its subject matter but its governance: it is designed to be a separate legal and institutional body from the Foundation, with its own charter and board, so its findings answer to evidence rather than to the family that endowed it.
What it is not
Sri Lanka's North already has serious independent research institutions working on exactly these questions, among them Dr. M. Sarvananthan's Point Pedro Institute of Development. This pillar is not a rebrand or a competitor to that or any other existing think tank. It is conceived as a distinct body, under its own name, expected to work alongside, cite and be cited by existing institutions rather than duplicate them. The body's eventual name is still to be decided.
How it starts
This pillar is planned for Phase 2, 2028 to 2031, after the archival centre and the first socioeconomic pilot are already running. That sequencing is deliberate: the Foundation wants governance experience with smaller, more directly controlled projects before it takes on a second institution built specifically to operate outside its direct control.