Gamidiriya rural development a roaring success

by Gamini Warushamana

Gamidiriya, the community development and livelihood improvement project would be the most successful story in rural development in Sri Lanka, said the CEO of the project P. Batuwitage. One-and-a-half years after the implementation of the project we can now see the results and they are impressive, he said.

Gamidiriya, a World Bank (WB) funded project covers Badulla, Moneragala, Hambantota, Matara and the Galle districts. US$ 51 million has been allocated for the first phase and the WB has pledged US$ 181 million for the full 12-year implementation based on the achievement of targets.

This is totally a community based development approach which aims to empower, strengthen and formally organise people. Under the community empowerment, information is made available to the community and they are supported financially. The most important feature is the transfer of the decision making authority to the people. "If you give the reins of the decision making to the people they will do marvellous things", Batuwitage said citing a number of successful projects.

The people of Kabillegama in Welimada selected a water supply project as the first priority in infrastructure development. There were 224 families who faced severe hardships due to the lack of drinking water.

For villagers of Alugalge in the Moneragala district the priority was a causeway across the Mee Ella Oya. People in this area faced tremendous difficulties during the rainy season in crossing the waterway to reach the main road, nearby town Siyambalanduwa or schools. These were burning problems of the people over a long period of time but it was not recognised by the supply driven development process, Batuwitage said.

In income generation activities Pathanegedara, Velikele, Pinnagolla and Vasipatana villages in the Badulla district people cultivate yams (Kiriala) for export to Pakistan. People's Companies in the Kahagolla and Alugala villages in the Moneragala district have entered into forward sales agreements with the National Livestock Development Board to supply quality maize.

People's companies in Ketiyape and Ketapalakandathe villages in the Matara district produce dehydrated jak fruits for the export market. Kabillegama villages produce Coffee Arabica for a German company. These are done on a small scale but it is a good start, Batuwitage said.

The project runs through People's Companies that are registered under the Registrar of Companies. There are active committees in a company for social auditing, financial auditing, sub project formulation, procurement, savings and investment.

The company is responsible to the community at the general assembly with 80% of the community and more than 50% of female participation.

Gamidiriya is a demand driven project and the selection of the villages is based on poverty statistics and self selection process. In the past most of the development projects were supply driven and government involved. It has been proved that the projects had not achieved the desired results.

There were a lot of leakages of the funds before it reached the targeted objective. However, in this participatory approach, the stick is given to the people, Batuwitage said.

Gamidiriya was designed to scale up the Village Self Help Learning Initiative (VSHLI) project successfully operating in the Polonnaruwa district. VSHLI has shown very successful results in infrastructure development and income generating activities.