As the Country Director for WFD Sri Lanka, Sanjay is responsible for designing and implementing a range of programs that promote democracy and governance. These programs focus on legislative, political party, and civil society development, with a particular emphasis on promoting youth and women political leadership, civic and voter education, inclusive communication strategies, digital democracy, and countering hate speech and disinformation.
Sanje Vignaraja was the Senior Program Manager for IRI in Sri Lanka where he managed a range of democracy and governance programs focused on legislative, political party and civil society development. For the last ten years, Sanje Vignaraja has focused on areas of youth and women political leadership, civic and voter education, inclusive communication strategies, equal rights advocacy, inclusive digital democracy, safe migration policy advocacy, counter trafficking advocacy and public policy interventions, principally within underrepresented communities. His ten years of international development sector experience includes managing of multi-million-dollar programs in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka within large international democracy, governance and labor organizations, where he has demonstrated the ability to build thriving and vibrant initiatives through innovative partnerships.
He is an Attorney at Law and a Chevening Scholar and completed master's programme in International Human Rights and Social Justice from Queen Mary University of London.