About 50 percent of the population in the project area (three southern provinces in Sri Lanka) live below poverty line (on less than $1 a day) compared to about 7 percent of the population nationally; and about 60 percent of the population lack basic services, such as drinking water, sanitation, credit, markets, etc. Although various poverty reduction initiatives have been launched over the years in these areas, they have tended mostly either to be unsustainable or not suitable for replication on a large enough scale to have a significant impact on the problems, or have not reached the poorest and most vulnerable households.
- The project - known as Gemi Diriya - builds on a successful pilot called Village Self-help Learning Initiative (VSHLI) that was introduced in 2000.
- The objective of the 12-year program (in three phases) is to enable rural communities improve their livelihoods and quality of life.
- The objective of phase 1 is to enable the communities in three southern provinces to build accountable and self-governing local institutions and to manage sustainable investments by: (i) devolving decision-making power and resources to community organizations; (ii) strengthening selected local governments which demonstrate responsiveness and accountability to rural communities; and (iii) working with federations of village organizations, the private sector and NGOs on economic empowerment to increase the size and diversity of livelihood options.
- The strategy adopted involves direct resource transfer and participatory decision-making involving all community members using a Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach.
Some 100,000 households (about 500,000 people) in the poorest districts of Sri Lanka have benefited from community infrastructure and productive investments (drinking water, access roads and bridges, ICT centers, access to credit, markets, skills and income generation).
Highlights:
- About 500,000 people through 535 village organizations (registered under the Company’s Act) have gained confidence and voice in deciding and implementing their development priorities and have benefited from infrastructure and income generation activities.
- Before the project, about 70 percent of households in the project villages had no access to credit and marketing facilities. Now, about 14,000 self-organized savings and production groups have been set up and are actively mobilizing savings. Savings groups have used their cumulative savings of US$4 million to leverage credit equal to about ten times that amount, and have invested this savings in more than 125 types of income generating activities. They have also attracted Foreign Direct Investment of US$ 10 million.
- Investments in local infrastructure have allowed for partnerships between communities and the private sector, better market linkages and access to basic services. For example, in village Madumasgulla, the construction of a bridge allowed safe crossing of a stream which in turn provided access to school, increased trade and increased land value. In village Pitakanda, the construction of a village access road allowed for a five-fold increase of trading vehicles entering the village.
- Youth and women have been primary beneficiaries. Their role in decision making, employment and income generation has increased from about 20 percent to 50 percent.
- Community infrastructure and services are now delivered through a mechanism that is cost-effective, as investments of equal or better quality than those executed through traditional programs cost about 30 to 40 percent less.
- Through skills development trainings and off-farm employment, poor women and unemployed youth are contributing substantially to the welfare of the household. About 22,000 people have benefited from skills development activities. Their services, as Community Professionals, are being demanded by other village communities and programs, and have led to setting up of 4 district and one national Community Professional Learning and Training Centers, that are self-sustaining.
- The project households have been weaned away from dependency on subsistence agriculture and wage labor. As the project intentionally targets both young and old, households now benefit from a diversified stream of income, both from on-farm and off-farm livelihood opportunities.
- The participatory nature of the decision making process has led to better targeting of the poor and improved governance, transparency and accountability at the village level.
- Total project cost is US$69.8 million; out of which IDA grant contribution is US$51.0 million; the government of Sri Lanka contribution is $11.0 million. The communities are themselves contributing about 30 percent of the capital cost of infrastructure investments.
- IDA has introduced a new approach that has led government of Sri Lanka to revise its own policies, shifting from a welfare-oriented to an empowerment-oriented approach to poverty reduction.
- Evidence from the field shows that this is an effective mechanism to make poverty reduction efforts more demand responsive, equal and sustainable, complementing market and government agencies by achieving immediate and lasting results at grassroots level.
- The field experience has also shown that this approach can improve cost-effectiveness and efficiency of services like physical and social infrastructure and microfinance, and improve significantly local governance and accountability.
- IDA contribution has been instrumental in testing of this innovative approach, disseminating its lessons of cost-effectiveness, inclusion, accountability and sustainability among key policy makers and local level officials. As a result, this approach is now being scaled up nationally through the government’s own programs.
The project is expected to benefit some 1,000 villages including 1 million people by end 2007. The second phase of APL, starting in 2008, will expand the geographical coverage to additional 2,000 villages in the poorest divisions while also focusing on institutional change of local governments and on linkages with other governmental programs. The project will continue monitoring sustainability and viability of investments and ensuring that graduating communities are managing and operating their village activities after they exit from the program. However, scaling up quickly and linking the Gemi Diriya project to a national program known as Gama Neguma, without building necessary capacity and understanding at the local level, may pose a challenge in the future.
RSS