Livelihoods, basic services and social protection in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has just witnessed the end of a protracted war that lasted for about three decades. This paper explores how the war affected livelihoods in the north and east of Sri Lanka, and assesses the current state of basic services and social protection in these regions.

The paper indicates that despite three decades of war, the state has maintained a presence in the areas of conflict, providing a modicum of services. However, it highlights the lack of reliable quantitative data on the north and east, pointing that the strong military may prove to be an ongoing constraint to data gathering and research (though it could have an impact on livelihoods and vulnerability).

Conclusions are as follows:

• the government’s post-war response has been to rebuild economic infrastructure, but the impact of this approach has yet to be assessed
• in this sense, the body of evidence on livelihoods, basic services and social protection in Sri Lanka is growing at a relatively slow pace
• notably, it is difficult to find research on the role of the private sector and NGOs in the public domain
• another area where there is no easily accessible evidence is in traditional forms of social protection and service provision
• nevertheless, there are opportunities to generate qualitative longitudinal information through follow-up studies in villages that were studied during the war or during the ceasefire period
• furthermore, monitoring the continuing interaction between the government and the people in the north and east would contribute to understandings of reconstruction, reintegration and rehabilitation in Sri Lanka as a whole