Founded in 1977, the Standing Committee of Tamil Speaking People (SCOT) is one of the older Tamil organisations in the United Kingdom. Our mission is to support the vulnerable Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka, particularly in the Northern, Central and Eastern provinces.

Our current focus is on promoting Education, Employment and Empowerment throughout these provinces via projects that try out new initiatives on a small scale before replicating successes on a larger scale. We seek to run projects as professionally as possible within the constraints of limited time and funding from us and limited expertise and experience amongst locals. After investing the resources provided by our Members and well-wishers in the small-scale pilot projects, we promote the initiatives that prove successful to a wide array of donors with greater resources who can invest in their scaling up and continual running to deliver the widest and longest-lasting benefits possible.

From time to time, emergencies arise – sometimes natural, sometimes man-made – that affect the people we are seeking to help. Where we are competent to help deal with these emergencies fairly, effectively and efficiently, we do so, using additional funds raised from Members and other donors. We may also use funds already held if time is of the essence, replenishing them from the new funds when they become available.

All the disasters over the years that have befallen the people we support have left huge psychological and emotional scars on them, which can and do hold them back in terms of improving their lives. Supporting recovery and rehabilitation in respect of mental health via Education, Employment and Empowerment is part of our remit, working with specialist mental health charities and government organisations where appropriate.

SCOT remains a non-political charitable organisation, registered with the UK Charity Commission. We believe in working in partnership with established national and international non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka who are best placed to identify needs and priorities for Education, Employment and Empowerment, basing funding decisions on where the need is greatest and the yield offers best value for money.