Our Guiding Principles

Vision

Our vision is a Sri Lanka where every citizen can effortlessly watch the Hansard – i.e., follow parliamentary debates and decisions – as part of their daily civic life. We envision an engaged society that keeps a close eye on Parliament, leading to greater accountability and trust in public institutions. By illuminating what happens inside Parliament, we aim to bridge the gap between elected officials and the people, ultimately strengthening our democracy.

Mission

Our mission is to leverage official Hansard records and modern technology to promote transparency and accountability in Sri Lanka’s governance. We are committed to:

• Access: Making parliamentary proceedings easily accessible and understandable through summaries, search tools, and interactive features. Parliamentary transcripts are often lengthy and technical, so we use AI to simplify and explain them for the public.​

• Accountability: Tracking the performance and promises of Members of Parliament (MPs) to ensure they deliver on their commitments. We shine a light on what MPs say and do – or fail to do – in Parliament, helping citizens and the media hold them accountable​

• Civic Engagement: Fostering an informed community of citizens, journalists, researchers, and students who actively use parliamentary information. Through educational resources and engagement tools, we encourage the public to participate in discussions about governance and policy.

HansardWatch is English-only at launch, focusing on broad accessibility in Sri Lanka’s link language. (Future plans include integrating Sinhala and Tamil content to reach all linguistic communities.) We maintain a professional, non-partisan stance, ensuring that our content is reliable and mission-driven.

Our Story

In the wake of Sri Lanka's profound economic crisis and the historic 2022 citizen's movement known as the Aragalaya, it became undeniable that a critical disconnect existed between the country's governance and its people. The crisis laid bare a system where a lack of transparency enabled catastrophic economic mismanagement and fueled public distrust.

It was from this context that Hansard Watch was conceived. We recognized that while the Aragalaya demonstrated the public's demand for accountability, a systemic tool was needed to sustain that scrutiny. The legislative process, documented in the dense and lengthy Hansard, remained a black box for most citizens, journalists, and even researchers.

Hansard Watch was founded to permanently open that box. We are a non-profit, non-partisan initiative dedicated to bridging the information gap between Parliament and the public. Our mission is to transform the official legislative record into an accessible, searchable, and understandable resource, empowering every citizen to monitor the promises, performance, and policies of their elected officials. We are a professional tool for a more transparent and accountable Sri Lanka.

Our Core Commitments

1. Non-Partisanship: We are independent and unbiased. Our analysis is driven by data, not political agenda.
2. Accuracy: We are committed to the highest standards of accuracy, using official Hansard records as our single source of truth.
3. Accessibility: We believe this information belongs to everyone. We are dedicated to making it simple, clear, and available to all Sri Lankans.