This study examines the dimensions and dynamics of urban poverty in Sri Lanka to design a monitoring system for the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Participatory Improvement of Underserved Settlements (PRIMUSS) programme. It analyses poverty as a multidimensional, dynamic phenomenon at the settlement and household level. Recipients overwhelmingly defined poverty in terms of income and earning capacity, but focus rather on the mix of income sources than on the magnitude of income.

With regard to the dynamics of poverty the study discusses:

• the use of multiple sources of income to achieve a stable flow of income
• the importance of foreign employment and self-employment
• lack of space as a major constraint on well-being and main push factor for migration
• other housing issues
• land tenure rights and their positive impact on security, households' asset base and access to services
• enumeration cards as a viable alternative in the perception of residents
• availability of services and infrastructure, access to facilities
• Community Bases Organisations (CBOs)as a contributing factor to an improved standard of living
• the role of social, political and institutional networks as well as livelihood networks and networks based on illegal activities
• substance abuse and illegal activities as creating both costs and income
  

The study proposes new areas of CMC involvement:

• giving priority contracts to skilled and semi-skilled trainees and encouraging underserved settlement residents also to draw from this labour pool
• designing pro-poor financing schemes for the provision of services and infrastructure
• developing and enforcing health related building standards, particularly for toilets
• developing community-based maintenance systems
• replacing the word “pura” in the settlement name with Mawatha, Patumaga, etc to increase the possibility of accessing better quality schools
• capacity building for CDCs
• encouraging engineering / technical staff to form close links to specific settlements
  

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