Empowering low income earners: National poverty alleviation drive By Uditha Kumarasinghe While overcoming poverty has become the major challenge in the world, the UPFA Government has implemented the “Samurdhi” program as the national poverty alleviation drive in Sri Lanka to promote untapped capabilities and organisational and institutional abilities of low income earners and thereby empowering them productively and efficiently in a pro poor and sustainable manner, to redeem them from poverty. Samurdhi which was introduced by then newly elected People’s Alliance Government in 1994 as the national program to alleviate poverty has played a more significant role in the socio-economic fabric of Sri Lanka over the past 16 years to find a more practical solution to the problem of poverty. However, it is not an easy task to alleviate poverty, but the present Government based on the ideals and goals of the Samurdhi program has given priority to activities such as development of rural infrastructure facilities, improving health and nutritional conditions among rural community and create opportunities for them. The UPFA Government has been able to turn the Samurdhi program into a movement which harnesses the people’s potential and channel it to mainstream development. Three major development approaches, namely welfare, rural development and social mobilisation were the basis on which the Samurdhi program was launched to alleviate poverty At present Samurdhi program has been implemented in 316 divisional secretariat divisions in 25 districts. The main thrust of the Samurdhi program is poverty reduction by ensuring participation of the poor in the production process. The responsibility of implementing the Samurdhi program was vested into the new Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry established in 1994. Poverty alleviation In addition, Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority (SLSA) was established by the Government in 1994 as the key State mechanism to launch the Government’s poverty alleviation programs in a productive manner to realise its objectives. In 2004, the Ministry’s name was changed to Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Ministry and again it was converted as the division of Samurdhi under the Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development. At present the UPFA Government under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made a concerted effort to alleviate poverty by bringing the Samurdhi and poverty alleviation programs under the purview of the Economic Development Ministry. Samurdhi The UPFA Government has been able to turn the Samurdhi program into a movement which harnesses the people’s potential and channel it to mainstream development. Three major development approaches, namely welfare, rural development and social mobilisation were the basis on which the Samurdhi program was launched to alleviate poverty. During the past decade, the SLSA through the implementation of Samurdhi program has successfully faced to the challenge of reducing the country’s poverty. The implementation of Samurdhi program has made a direct impact on the reduction of poverty in the country. At the inception of the Samurdhi program, the percentage of the country’s poverty level remained at 28.8 percent. However, this percentage had been reduced to 7.5 percent in 2010 due to the effectiveness of the poverty alleviation mechanism launched by the Samurdhi Movement. Empowered A large number of Samurdhi beneficiary families who have been socio-economically empowered by various livelihood development projects introduced by the SLSA, have returned their Samurdhi beneficiary cards to the Government, which is an evidence of Samurdhi contribution made to ameliorate their living conditions. In a world where poverty is increasing, the beginning of a reverse trend which is quite encouraging and satisfying is observed in Sri Lanka. Therefore the intention of the SLSA is to make further concerted efforts through the Samurdhi program to reduce poverty in Sri Lanka by making its effective contribution towards the Government’s ultimate goal of building up a prosperous Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapaksa as pledged in his “Mahinda Chintana manifesto” directed the authorities to increase the existing Samurdhi subsidy by 50 percent in December 2005. Fulfilled This will go down in the country’s history as the main pledge fulfilled by the Mahinda Chintana manifesto. Therefore as pledged in the Mahinda Chintana, the Government through the Samurdhi Movement has largely alleviated poverty and improved the socio-economic conditions of a large number of the country’s deserving poor. The Government through the Samurdhi Banks established countrywide, has formed an effective network to cater to the needs of the poor. The Samurdhi Bank system was introduced with the sole intention of providing financial assistance to Samurdhi beneficiaries to enable them to stand on their own strength. As a micro finance institution, Samurdhi Banks provide small and large scale credit to Samurdhi beneficiaries on mutual trust to overcome their financial difficulties. A total of 2,769,859 Samurdhi beneficiaries have obtained the membership of Samurdhi Banks.