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Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, USAID focuses on relief and rehabilitation; the transition from camps to communities, rebuilding infrastructure; providing technical assistance for good governance and reconciliation; and mitigating damage for future disasters.
Relief and rehabilitation
USAID's work in this area includes providing food, water and sanitation, shelter, health care, livelihoods recover, psychological and social support, assistance with clean-up and repair, and anti-trafficking programs.
Transition from camps to communities
USAID helps to ensure a seamless transition from camps to communities by stimulating local economies and by providing cash-for-work programs, vocational training and community-based psychological and social support.
Rebuilding infrastructure better
Projects include bridges and roads, fisheries, harbors, water treatment plants, vocational and technical schools and smaller local infrastructure.
Technical assistance, good governance and reconciliation
USAID works with the government to plan and carry out reconstruction projects and improve service delivery. Throughout, USAID encourages citizen participation and promotes the peaceful resolution of community disputes.
Mitigating damage for future disasters
These programs assist the national Sri Lankan government as well as provincial and local governments to develop an improved communications system to alert communities of impending dangers.
Following are some examples of USAID's work in Sri Lanka.
08/17/05
Promoting rural enterprise in Matara District
USAID’s post-tsunami livelihoods restoration program is promoting five small rural enterprises in
Matara District. A total of $163,579 will provide more than 1,200 small entrepreneurs, farmers, and
fishermen with technical assistance, working capital, materials, and equipment. Enterprises will center
on coir spinning, yam cultivation, pillow lace weaving, fish processing, and other cottage industries. The
program will also establish producer groups to encourage sustainability. Group members will pool
funds to purchase raw materials at discount rates. The program will run through February 2006.
New equipment for jewelers in Galle
Y. R. S. Kumar is a jeweler in Galle whose business was
badly damaged by the tsunami. His small shop was
partially destroyed, and most of his tools and small stock
of gold and gems were swept away. He is struggling to
find enough work for the six craftsmen he employs.
USAID is helping Kumar to re-start his trade under a new
$107,700 livelihoods restoration grant to the Sri Lanka
Gem and Jewelers Association. The Association will
provide 763 jewelers with new tools, stock, and display
cases to help them recover more quickly.
07/20/05
USAID re-trains unemployed
graduates for IT work in post-tsunami
economy
Tsunami-affected university graduates
are among those for whom USAID
developed a 5-month “conversion”
program to teach unemployed
graduates information technology, an
industry with plenty of opportunity
according to a recent survey. Sri Lanka
has long had thousands more graduates
in fields such as civil service and
accounting than jobs to employ them, a
problem exacerbated by the tsunami’s
disruption of the economy.
Administered in collaboration with the University of Moratuwa, the program is designed to convert
motivated yet unemployed graduates into IT-savvy individuals with the blend of technical competence,
“soft” skills and IT work experience that will make them strong candidates for employment in the IT
sector. The program started with 25 students and includes scholarships for needy students. The
private sector has shown a keen interest in this program by helping design the program’s curriculum.
Representatives of several prominent IT firms participated in interview panels to select students, and
business mentors will orient students to career opportunities.
06/22/05 USAID’s partnership with Geneva Global expected to reach 216,000 beneficiaries
USAID recently kicked off a partnership with the Geneva
Global Foundation to provide matching contributions
totaling $3 million for at least 65 social and development
projects. The projects will focus on aid to vulnerable
families, youth, and children, improving health, and
combating human trafficking and domestic abuse, and
are expected to benefit up to 216,000 individuals. Some
200 representatives from leading NGOs operating in the
country attended a conference to learn how to apply for
grants.
USAID also launched another public private partnership,
signing an agreement this week with Prudential Insurance for a $500,000 donation. The funds donated
by Prudential are earmarked for vocational education programs in tsunami-affected areas in an effort to
boost post-tsunami economic recovery. Several other partnership agreements for Sri Lanka have
already been signed, and more are in the pipeline. Including partnerships still in discussion, the
present potential is for $4.6 million in cash, commodities, and services from private sector partners, with
cash contributions of $1.68 million from USAID for tsunami-related reconstruction activities.on
psycho-social care to better support effective disaster relief and rehabilitation.
06/08/05 Psychological and social programs for 11,000 displaced persons in eastern camps
With post-tsunami housing reconstruction
moving slowly, psychological and social
programs have become extremely important
for communities still living in tents and
transitional shelters. More than 11,000
affected children, teens, and adults have
benefited to date from such programs
supported by USAID.
In 50 tsunami-displaced communities on the
east coast, from Trincomalee to Kalmunai,
child well-being committees have been
formed. These committees are composed of four volunteers who administer specially-designated “child
centered spaces” in the camps to provide psychological and social support primarily to children. Two
hundred volunteers have been trained on problem identification, communication, stress, and working
with children. Another 200 volunteers have been trained to serve as assistants. The volunteers
subsequently recruit teachers from the community to teach specific activities such as music, dance, and
drawing.
06/01/05 Tsunami-displaced chicken farmers
get second chance through USAID
 Before the tsunami wiped out their
business, poultry farmers Abdullah
and his wife Fatima made a decent
living in the east coast town of Pottuvil
earning $3.50 per kilo selling chicken
from a flock of 500 birds. A USAID
livelihood restoration grant provided
the couple with cash for 100 chicks to
restart their enterprise. Working
through a local poultry association,
Abdullah received the chicks on the
condition that he gives ten adult birds
to another displaced association
member once the chicks have reached
maturity. They also helped him rebuild
his coop and provided him and other
farmers with training in poultry care and marketing, and veterinary services. Abdullah says he
anticipates a profit of $2 per bird, and hopes to be back to 500 birds within a year’s time.
06/01/05 Disability project addresses tsunami reconstruction
Hundreds of Sri Lankans survived the tsunami but were left with disabling injuries such as paralysis or
amputations, adding to the inordinate number of disabled resulting from two decades of war. A new
$250,000 grant will assist builders in the cost of making new construction of public buildings accessible
through features such as wider doors, bathroom railings, and textured crosswalks.
05/25/05 USAID to rehabilitate or construct 100 play parks
USAID kicked off the planning phase of a new play park initiative that aims to rehabilitate or construct as many as 100 play parks, helping children to cope with stress and trauma in tsunami-affected areas. A team assembled by the U.S. National Recreation and Park Association recently spent a week in Sri Lanka to analyze quality of materials, safety, park layout, and evaluate activities on a scale of "play value." The team pointed out that site selection should encourage community cohesion and ownership of the facilities, as well
as access for the disabled. The project is
funded by matching $500,000 contributions
from USAID and funding partner American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. An equal pledge from the private sector Bush-Clinton fund expanded the scope of the project, which is expected be completed in 18 months.
05/25/05 USAID helps displaced craftsmen build new life
USAID mobilized skilled workers by supplying nearly 1,000 tsunami displaced Tamil and Muslim carpenters, masons and welders necessary tools to help with reconstruction along the eastern coast. Working with the local Zahira College, more than 180 of these craftsmen worked on a $37,000 cash-for-work for a water sanitation rehabilitation project building water
tanks and latrines at six damaged
schools. They also worked on a
$95,000 cash-for-work project to repair
school furniture at 40 affected schools.
05/25/05 Contractors "marry up" to bid for signature infrastructure
Potential bidders toured project sites for the signature infrastructure package to be funded by the supplemental appropriation. Some of the teams showed interest in bidding for the contract, while others are seeking to "marry up" with larger firms, as one pre-bid conference participant put it, to work as subcontractors for a larger firm. Three Sri Lankan teams were in attendance. The group sent representatives to inspect fishing harbors and vocational training centers in the south and the Arugam Bay Bridge in the east. The final RFP will
be released May 31.
05/18/05 Chevron fuels vocational training for Sri Lanka
Chevron Texaco donated $100,000 to USAID/Sri Lanka for vocational education in marine engine, motorcycle, three-wheeler, and automobile repair. With a matching contribution from USAID, the training will benefit 570 trainees in tsunami-affected areas. Local affiliate Caltex Lubricants Lanka will also make its engineers and technical staff available to USAID and the Vocational Training Authority to assist with vocational teacher training. The company plans to assist in placing graduating students in skills-appropriate jobs.
05/18/05 Women's NGO to administer training for construction and tourism industries
A new USAID initiative will identify, promote and offer a training program in critically needed skills in tsunami-affected Matara and Amapara districts. Targeted to school-dropouts and other young adults, the initiative promises to jump start the vocational-technical training program. USAID expects the $125,000 grant to the local women's NGO Ruhunu Sisila Social Services Organization to train 350 beneficiaries in construction and tourism-related skills, including direct services for hotels and ancillary tourism related services such as craft making.
05/18/05 'Shelter Shop' makes creative use of transitional housing
Sumady has always been a business woman. A resident of the eastern village of Marudamunai, she operated a small shop selling dry goods and vegetables to the local fishing families. Grieving over the death of her 13-year old son in the tsunami, she was determined to get back into business. Provided transitional shelter by USAID, she gradually economized enough to buy some dry goods and other stock and turn her shelter into a place of business as well as for eating and sleeping. The displaced community of about 100 people give her a steady, if poor, market for her goods. She is slowly expanding her inventory to better serve her customers and the memory of her lost son, whose portrait hangs in her shop.
05/18/05 Satellite imagery for reconstruction
USAID provided the Urban Development Authority $54,000 worth of Global Information System satellite images of a 150-mile stretch of eastern Sri Lanka. These images will provide current information on conditions along the tsunami-affected coastline from Trincomalee to Panama. The information will be used by government authorities as well as local communities, donors, and NGOs to guide their efforts to accelerate the tsunami recovery process. The images, taken by the private sector firm Ikonos, were delivered on 35 CD-ROM discs, and are sub-meter accurate, meaning rooftops and vehicles can be made out clearly. The images will help planners decide where to locate new towns, housing settlements, and industrial development projects.
05/11/05 Pre-bid conference lays groundwork for
quick start of projects
Nearly 100 potential bidders and interested
parties from all over the world arrived in
Colombo to attend the pre-bid conference for
USAID's Signature Infrastructure portfolio set
for May 10. The projects include construction
of a 573-meter bridge, rehabilitation of three
fishing ports, and construction or rehabilitation
of up to 14 vocational training centers. The
projects are expected to have a larger
development impact by involving local
communities in decision making.
05/04/05 Radio news broadcasts fill post-tsunami “information void”
Nightly radio broadcasts of tsunami-related news, information and human interest stories, compiled and
produced by two USAID-funded mobile radio units traveling in the South and the East, began Monday
on the Sri Lankan National Broadcasting Corporation’s Sinhala and Tamil national services. The
broadcasts will continue on weeknights for two months under the pilot phase of the $182,000 project.
The project aims to build capacity of Sri Lankan radio journalists, as well as fill an information void
between affected communities and the officials responsible for providing them with relief and other
services.
Signature Infrastructure advances with education design team surveys
A vocational education design team arrived in Sri Lanka to design a signature infrastructure project.
The team visited prospective sites for up to14 vocational schools to evaluate the anticipated cost and
design of facilities to be built or rehabilitated. The team will also meet with key government engineers
and communities on the design of the projects.
05/04/05 Small business blossoms with USAID grant-loan
combinations
Forty-five year old Mallika, a mother of two from the southern
coastal town of Hikkaduwa, faced a common predicament in
business. After the tsunami, she and her out-of-work husband
wanted to start producing and selling curd, a popular dessert
made from water buffalo milk. With no current business in
operation, she was not eligible for a loan; without money, she
could not get started. A USAID funded project broke that cycle by
providing her cooking pots and other materials, and a $150 loan
for sundries and ingredients. The business now produces 40 liters
of curd a day. She and her husband are paying off the loan and
saving for a motorbike, to cut down his travel time to and from
the market. To date, USAID has assisted more than 1,500 small
entrepreneurs and expects to reach 6,000 more by July 2006
through $250,000 in similar commodities grants and microfinance loans.
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