26 May 2026 –
Organization: Verité Research
Name of Organization’s Representative: Sankhitha Gunaratne
Website: www.veriteresearch.org
Email: director@veriteresearch.org
Country: Sri Lanka
Which seat are you nominating for? South Asia Regional Seat
Organization’s profile
Verité Research (VR) is an independent interdisciplinary think tank providing strategic analysis and advice to governments, international organisations and the private sector in Sri Lanka, and at a global level. Its economics, governance, politics and legal practices, combined with extensive media and development experience, afford Verité Research a unique insight into Sri Lanka’s economy, polity and society. Our interdisciplinary team thrives on seeking answers to big questions and developing evidence-based solutions to the most challenging, urgent issues facing Sri Lanka. Verité Research already has a history of public engagement on government accountability
Verité Research is the largest think tank in Sri Lanka, with dedicated Governance and Anti-Corruption, Economics, Legal, Media, and Parliamentary Research teams. The combined expertise of these teams’ spans anti-corruption, trade policy and trade facilitation, public finance, parliamentary research and legal expertise. Verité Research offers analysis that is deeply embedded in Sri Lanka’s socio-economic and political fabric with the aim of driving transformational impact on national policy.
Organization’s Experience
Verité Research combines substantial experience on anti-corruption, in policy advisory work, sustained engagement with government stakeholders, and collaboration with multidisciplinary technical teams. The organisation has worked closely with government agencies in Sri Lanka including to support the E-Government Procurement Secretariat, to provide input to the National Procurement Bill and Procurement Guidelines, to develop rules, regulations, and SOPs, including SOPs governing public access to information, etc. It has continuously collaborated with and monitored the work of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through its IMF Tracker, including on critical anti-corruption and governance reform.
As a member of the Coalition, the team attended the 11th Conference of States Parties in Qatar, making oral and written submissions to the conference, on the novel Governance-Linked Bond invented by Verité Research and its utility in the fight against corruption, on asset recovery, and on prevention. Members of the team have also been panelists at various COSP side-events over the years, on asset recovery, strategic litigation, etc.
Top 3 Priorities to Achieve as a CCC Member
- Push for better accountability of States Parties in the UNCAC process – disclosure of review reports and performance/non-performance, resolution sponsoring and contributions, voting behaviour, etc.
- Advocate for increased coordination between origin, pass-through and destination jurisdictions in asset recovery efforts
- Increased knowledge-sharing and amplification of anti-corruption efforts and corruption realities in the South Asian region for cross-learning, and supporting regional advocacy efforts.
Candidate’s profile
Sankhitha Gunaratne is the Head of Governance and Anti-corruption and a Deputy Director at Verité Research. Sankhitha holds a Master of Arts in Corruption and Governance from the University of Sussex, and a Chevening Scholar and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of Colombo.
Prior to joining Verité, Sankhitha served as the Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International Sri Lanka. She has also served two terms as a board member of the UNCAC Coalition.
With a legal background as an Attorney-at-Law, she has dedicated her career to anti-corruption in Sri Lanka and abroad, promoting transparent, accountable, and participatory governance, achieving critical impact through accountability for grand corruption through litigation, macro-critical reform of key anti-corruption legislation and systems, and providing knowledge leadership for cultural change. Her work spans the right to information, election campaign finance, procurement, public sector integrity, private sector corruption, and international asset recovery.
In her current capacity, she leads a dynamic team dedicated to conducting cutting-edge research with global application, such as ‘A Method for Targeting Information Disclosure to Flag Corruption Risks in Procurement’.
Contributions to the work of the Coalition
As an experienced governance professional, I bring expertise in organisational management to the CCC. This includes ensuring that the Coalition continues to run in a responsible, accountable manner, while committing to its core purpose and work.
Representing South Asia, I would contribute my experience from the robust, world-leading campaigns carried out locally, to the international stage through the Coalition. This includes work around Governance-Linked Bonds (a sovereign bond instrument linked to governance performance), civil society-led governance diagnostic assessments parallel to the IMF’s own, pushing for IMF transparency, and extensive advocacy experience combined with technical expertise using important windows of opportunity.