The Collective for Historical Dialogue & Memory (CHDM) is a specialist institution working collaboratively and across to disciplines to devise and implement processes that interrogate Sri Lanka’s complex past, document the present, support the information needs of its citizens and that promote the creation and exchange of knowledge. CHDM’s mission is to work with the past in order to contribute to collective efforts in creating just futures for all peoples in Sri Lanka.

Established in March 2022, CHDM’s founding members work in the fields of human rights, anthropology, transitional justice, media, gender studies, sociology of education, archives and records management, psychology, and museology. CHDM has three main programmatic areas: Access to Information, Memories & Evidence (AIME), Access to Futures of Critical Learning (AFCL) and Museums, Communities & Reparative Practices (MCRP). It functions as an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit organization.