Browsing by Author "Nanayakkara, Wimal"

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    Child poverty in Sri Lanka: issues related to their education and access to safe water and sanitation
    (Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, 2018-06) Nanayakkara, Wimal
    The aim of this study is to have a closer look at poor and vulnerable children in Sri Lanka, who are faced with various deprivations, related to access to education, safe water and sanitation. Out of the estimated population of 21.2 million in Sri Lanka in 2015, almost one third are children under the age of 19 years.1 It is important to know as to how many of these children are deprived and vulnerable, who are the children most affected and where are they located. Most of the socioeconomic indicators at national level indicate that Sri Lanka has made considerable progress during the last two to three decades, including reduction of poverty. However, eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere and to reduce poverty in all its dimensions, as envisaged in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) - 1 (SDG- 1), is a difficult task unless suitable strategies are developed and implemented to minimise regional variations and variations between various Socio-economic Groups (SEGs). To achieve this goal, one of the main requirement would be to ensure that no child is in extreme poverty in Sri Lanka, as extreme poverty in children would lead to an intergenerational poverty cycle,2 which needs to be broken.
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    National level implications of SDG implementation: the case of Sri Lanka
    (Southern Voice on post-MDG international Development Goals, 2017-03) Tilakaratna, Ganga; Nanayakkara, Wimal; Madurawala, Sunimalee; Jayaratne, Suwendrani; Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Sri Lanka is one of the signatories of the UN mandate on Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprise 17 goals and 169 targets, ranging from poverty, inequality, health, education and environment. This paper examines the implications of SDG implementation in Sri Lanka, in particular how the SDGs are embedded in the national context, and issues related to coordination, monitoring, partnerships and stakeholder participation. It reveals that most of the SDGs and their targets are relevant to Sri Lanka, and are in line with the priority areas. The study stresses the need of a designated national-level body to coordinate activities carried out by different stakeholders and to drive implementation and monitoring of the SDGs in Sri Lanka. Participation of a range of stakeholders, including the government, international organisations, private sector and civil society organisations, academia and general public, is crucial for the successful implementation of SDGs. Inadequacy of awareness of the SDGs among many stakeholders and the general public is a key constraint to the effective implementation of the SDGs. Partnership and stakeholder participation can play an important role in raising awareness and monitoring of SDGs, sharing knowledge/expertise, as well as in mobilising financial and technical resources. Monitoring the progress of SDGs will also require strengthening the capacity of the national statistics office and other relevant agencies involved in the data compilation.