Senel Wanniarachchi - Tech for Democracy

Senel Wanniarachchi is Co-founder & Director of Hashtag Generation - an organisation led by a group of young tech-savvy Sri Lankans.

Senel Wanniarachchi leads Hashtag Generation, an organisation led by a group of young tech-savvy Sri Lankans, working towards building a society where everyone has the skills, information and tools to be active participants in making the decisions that affect their communities, technologies and bodies.

Senel Wanniarachchi is currently pursuing a PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also sits on the board of the Innovation for Change South Asia Hub which is a collective of organizations and human rights defenders working together to preserve the civic space in South Asia.

Senel Wanniarachchi holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science which he followed on a Chevening Scholarship and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Colombo.

Speaking events

Listen to Senel Wanniarachchi speak at the conference

18 Nov3:19 pm - 4:03 pm

Session 4: New Solutions for tech for democracy and human rights: bringing in global and local voices

Achim Steiner

Flemming Møller Mortensen

Farida Bemba Nabourema

This session highlights voices from a range of stakeholders from around the world. Civil society, youth representatives, and other non-state actors from across governance eco-systems will present their experiences and evidence on challenges and opportunities on how to drive a progressive agenda for an open, safe, and inclusive digital world where technology works for democracy and human rights.

The session is jointly facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Focus and will be kicked off by Executive Director of the Togolese Civil League, Farida Nabourema, followed by a message from the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner. Based on a series of roundtables with Southern Voice, a network of +50 think tanks in the Global South, and a scan of the horizon for some of the most promising pro-democracy digital projects taking place today, the session takes the audience on a roundtrip across the globe to present key challenges and approaches on how to make digital technology a vehicle for democracy and human rights.