Poverty Reduction Efforts in Sri Lanka: a study Based on Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat in Monaragala District

By Senior Professor R. Lalitha S Fernando and Ms. Oshani Gunesekera, Ms.E.A.I Kularathna and Ms. K.H.D Pathirana

Poverty is a serious issue which affects the whole world for many decades. Similar to the world situation, it is also a major issue in Sri Lanka, but still, the problem has not been properly addressed.

As per Mahatma Gandhi, poverty is the worst form of violence. Around 70 percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture- related activities for their livelihood while 50 percent of hungry stricken people are from farming families (Mc Ginn, 2016). Having identified the seriousness of the issue of poverty, the United Nations ( UN) announced the year 2000 as the year to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger with collective effort through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired in 2015. There is evidence that the MDGs have not achieved targets as the expected level. In 2015, the UN introduced the Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. However, if the problem of poverty is not properly addressed, the issue will become from bad to the worst.

As a developing country, Sri Lanka experience poverty for ages and is putting its effort to overcome the issue. According to the existing data, presently, the country has made significant progress in poverty reduction. In the year 1996 in Sri Lanka, 28.8 percent of the population lived below the poverty line and it was 15.2 percent in 2007 (indexMundi, 2017) and further, it has declined up to 6.7 percent by 2015 ( Asian Development Bank, 2017).

Even though these reports mentioned that the country has made significant progress in poverty reduction over the past years, there are regional disparities across districts and sectors, especially, in war-affected districts, districts with large estate populations, as well as districts in the Uva Province (UNDP, 2012). When analyzing the poverty among rural villages in the country, Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat (DS) in Monaragala District is considered as the poorest Divisional Secretariat in the country due to its highest Poverty Headcount Index which is 51.8 ( in 2002) and Household Population Below Poverty level ( HPBPL) is 23,795 ( in 2002) ( Department of Census and Statistics, 2005). Moreover, the Department of Census and Statistics identified Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat as the poorest Divisional Secretariat in the country (Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat, 2010).

In Sri Lanka, “Samurdhi Programme” is a national level poverty alleviation policy introduced under the Samurdhi Authority Act No. 30 of 1995 aiming to alleviate poverty in the country. The Samurdhi Programme services 1,400,868 beneficiary families by the end of March 2017 ( Department of Samurdhi Development, 2017). The government allocates around 0.2 percent of Gross Domestic Products for safety net transfers by annually ( Kesavarajah, ( n. d.) cited by Damayanthi, 2014) and it is around 01 percent of total government expenditure ( Jayaweera, 2010 cited by Damayanthi, 2014). The government has been allocated approximately 4-5 percent of the national budget for safety net assistance of the Samurdhi programme ( www. med. gov. lk cited by Damayanthi, 2014).

Based on the field data, this study identified that poor people in the selected areas inherited several salient characteristics and they face many issues and difficulties in their day to day lives such as no access to clean water, very limited access to alternative income sources, limited access to credits, improper sanitary facilities, no access to better roads and transport facilities, poor educational facilities, many families were caught to a severe debt trap, peoples’ bargaining power for better prices is very low, poor health facilities, involved in agriculture and limited access to property ownership, a lack of awareness about government services and information, facing natural disasters, lack of nutritious food, inadequate services or limited government intervention, having dependency mentality and less self-motivation for better future and weak family commitment.

It was observed that the Samurdhi programme did not help to uplift poor peoples’ living standards. Many people were not satisfied with the service provided by the programme and some households’ complaint that the selection procedure and distribution of benefits are related to corrupted practices. Officers had obtained bribes from some families for the inclusion of the program. Another important drawback of the programme is even though, many subprogrammes were designed under the Samurdhi, only very limited services were actually reached to people such as monthly allowance, low-interest housing and other loans and compulsory saving. Therefore, as poverty alleviation policy, that has been implemented more than twenty years, the poverty level of the beneficiary families has not been reduced. Even though the policy has several components which have the ability to address the issue of poverty as it has many components in servicing the people, but at the implementation stage, the expected outcome has not been able to achieve.

To overcome the main issues and reduce poverty, the following policy measures are proposed; Improve the coordination of the implementation of public policies-Government policies need better coordination among ministries who implement various programs aiming at a similar outcome. If all ministries work cooperatively with a proper coordination, benefits of the programs will go directly to the people, if all government organizations buildup strong communication mechanism with each other, the government does not need a separate

poverty reduction program.

with the assistance of the private sector and the non-government sector, the government should facilitate at least following services:

Financial facilities such microcredit programs and knowledge on financial management especially, for the needy poor families.

Market facilities such as Market opportunities, export opportunities and commercial facilities and consultancy program for developing small and medium scale enterprises.

Educational and training programs

for unemployed youth

Empowering especially, women and

developing their entrepreneurship. The government could invite the private sector to involve in poverty alleviation as a social responsibility - There are some private sector companies who implement Cooperate Social Responsibilities ( CSR) projects. The government could introduce tax relief programs in motivating the private sector towards this end.

Introduce continued training and capacity development programs for the government officers who engage in poverty reduction programs - Various government officers involve in delivering the public services. They are Samurdhi Officer, Grama Niladhari Officer, Health Officer, and Agricultural Officers. For an example, the Samurdhi Officers could take initial steps to develop peoples’ capability and identify the needs of the families. They should visit frequently to the vulnerable people who suffer from lack of food, education, sanitary facilities. The government has already provided facilities for them to reach the rural areas.

Discourage corruption by practicing good governance - The principle of good governance has salient characteristics. Those are Participatory, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follow the rules of law. Both the government and officers should practice these principles in servicing the people. Evaluating the existing program could also lead to enhance the governance practices.

Reunion of the Civil Society - Civil Social groups also could initiate poverty reduction programs. Build up a Social discussion about people, who suffer f rom pove r ty, Social service Organizations could join with government poverty deduction programs and implement community base public work.

The above policy recommendations will help to understand the issue of poverty in the selected area and that will be a viable solution for rural poverty as it is a burning issue of the country facing over the years. They will also help to improve the effectiveness of the government intervention in addressing the poverty.

Even though these reports mentioned that the country has made significant progress in poverty reduction over the past years, there are regional disparities across districts and sectors, especially, in war-affected districts, districts with large estate populations, as well as districts in the Uva Province (UNDP, 2012). When analyzing the poverty among rural villages in the country, Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat (DS) in Monaragala District is considered as the poorest Divisional Secretariat in the country due to its highest Poverty Headcount Index which is 51.8 ( in 2002) and Household Population Below Poverty level (HPBPL) is 23,795 ( in 2002) (Department of Census and Statistics, 2005). Moreover, the Department of Census and Statistics identified Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat as the poorest Divisional Secretariat in the country (Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat, 2010)

References

Asian Development Bank, ( 2017). Poverty in Sri Lanka. Retrieved May 08, 2017 from the Asian Development Bank website: www.adb.org Da maya nthi,M.K.N .(2014). Good governance and poverty alleviation programmes in Sri Lanka: special reference on Sam u rd hi programme. AfricanAsian Journal of Rural Development, Volume 47, No. 1, pp. 43- 64. Retrieved June 04, 2017 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268152677

Department of Census and Statistics, (2005). Headcount index and population below the poverty line by DS division – Sri Lanka: 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from www.statistics.gov.lk: http:// www. statistics. gov.lk/ poverty/ small %20 area %20 report NEW. pdf

Department of Samurdhi Development, (2017). Retrieved June 03, 2017 from the Department of Samurdhi Development website www.samurdhi.gov.lk

Hanna McGinn, (2016). World hunger & amp; Poverty. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from https://prezi.com/ca2n7amc4qui/world-hunger-amp-poverty/. Si ya mb alanduwa Divisional Secretariat, ( 2010). Ministry of Public Administration & Home Affairs. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from http:// siyambalanduwa. ds. gov. lk/ index. p hp? option= com_ content& view= article& id =4& Item id =43& lang= si

UNDP, (2012). Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty: Where we are? Retrieved November 08, 2016 from http:// www. lk. undp. org/ content/ srilanka/ en/ home/ post- 2015/ mdgoverview/ overview/mdg1.html.

www.indexmundi.com, ( 2017). Country facts, Sri Lanka Population below the poverty line, retrievedon May 08, 2017 from http://www.indexmundi.com/sri_lanka/population_ below_ poverty_ line. html.