A journey towards prosperity for all

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Overcoming poverty has become a major challenge. Programs focused on the eradication of poverty have been in the agenda of successive Governments in Sri Lanka, but it was the PA Government which introduced the new concept of Samurdhi to alleviate poverty.

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. The Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority (SLSA) established by the PA Government in 1994 as a key mechanism has launched its poverty alleviation programs in a productive manner to realise its objectives.

Poverty alleviation should essentially be a movement which should harness the peoples' potential and channel it to the mainstream development process. 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 Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority has successfully faced this challenge in reducing the country's poverty. The implementation of Samurdhi has made a direct impact on the reduction of poverty in the country. At the inception of the Samurdhi movement, the poverty level remained at 28.8 percent in 1995 and 1996.

According to the Central Bank report, this percentage has been reduced to 15 percent by the end of December last year due to the effectiveness of the poverty alleviation mechanism launched by the Samurdhi movement.

A large number of Samurdhi beneficiary families who have been socio-economically empowered by the various livelihood development projects introduced by the SLSA have returned their Samurdhi beneficiary cards to the Government. In a world where poverty is increasing, the beginning of a reverse trend which is quite encouraging and satisfying, is observed in Sri Lanka.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as pledged in his Mahinda Chinthana manifesto, directed the authorities to increase the existing Samurdhi subsidy by 50 percent in December 2005. This was the maiden pledge fulfilled by this manifesto. The Samurdhi Commissioner General's Department has implemented a scheme to provide scholarships to the children of Samurdhi beneficiary families to continue their studies uninterrupted. The UPFA Government increased the amount of financial assistance to the children under the scholarship scheme by twofold in accordance with the Mahinda Chinthana .

As pledged in the Mahinda Chinthana, the Government, through the Samurdhi movement, has largely alleviated poverty and improved the socio-economic conditions of the poor. The Government, through 1,042 Samurdhi Banks established throughout the country, has formed an effective network to cater to the needs of the poor.

Financial assistance

However, 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 feet. As a micro-finance institution, Samurdhi Banks provide small-scale and large-scale credit to Samurdhi beneficiaries on mutual trust to overcome their financial difficulties. Nearly 70 percent of the country's population live in rural areas and a Samurdhi Bank Society has been established to cover nearly 10-15 Grama Niladhari divisions.

Samurdhi Banks have granted credit facilities to a large number of Samurdhi beneficiaries to overcome their socio-economic hardships and launch various income generation projects.

This has helped reduce poverty to a great extent. No Government in the world has established a key network of this nature to deal with poverty. The mechanism created by the Samurdhi movement to alleviate poverty is a practical example to the entire world.

Unlike other banks, Samurdhi Banks provide loans to the poor purely on mutual trust for economic empowerment. On a directive by the President, Samurdhi Banks have also reduced the interest rates on loans to Samurdhi beneficiaries.

Samurdhi Banks scattered in rural areas have been identified as the main financial provider in the livelihood development program launched under the Gama Neguma program. A total of 3,971,843 Samurdhi loans worth over Rs. 54,410 million has been granted to the needy. In addition, 9,361,762 Samurdhi beneficiaries have saved Rs. 31,623 million in Samurdhi Banks under various accounts. Another significant feature is that the Samurdhi Banks have maintained a 94 percent high rate loan repayments.

Today the Samurdhi program has transformed into a movement uniting the poor and organising them to develop their skills and potential to ensure sustainable living standards.

The Samurdhi program has achieved steady progress during the past few years. Nearly 1.6 million low income families are given the Samurdhi subsidy. The Samurdhi subsidy is based on the economic condition and the number of members of a beneficiary family. Through various income generation programs and credit facilities granted by Samurdhi Banks, the Samurdhi movement has provided assistance to Samurdhi beneficiaries towards alleviating poverty. The Samurdhi program has enabled the poor to stand on their own feet by ensuring close coordination among them. Within a short period, the Samurdhi program has graduated to a movement that has won the hearts of the poor all over the country.

Employment opportunities

Under the Samurdhi program, a large number of rural youth had been provided employment in 1,042 Samurdhi Bank Societies set up throughout the country. They are performing their duties as Samurdhi Development Officers and Samurdhi Managers attached to Samurdhi Banks with the sole purpose of helping the poor to liberate themselves from poverty. In this situation, Samurdhi has made a direct impact to minimise unemployment particularly among rural youth. The SLSA has provided employment opportunities for nearly 5,000 Samurdhi beneficiaries in the State and private sector. The SLSA, through its self-employment projects, has provided employment opportunities to 2,500 rural women. It has also given 160 scholarships and an allowance of Rs. 30,000 to each beneficiary.

In addition to the responsibility of alleviating poverty, the SLSA has been entrusted with the task of developing 3,060 Grama Niladhari divisions. Under this program, adequate financial provision has been made to develop the infrastructure facilities in identified villages throughout the country. The SLSA has decided to introduce 100,000 livelihood development projects to empower the low income families in selected Grama Niladhari divisions. A landmark victory achieved by SLSA in its poverty alleviation program is the construction of "Kiramanagal Kadura" tank for the Wanniyela Aththo community and providing them blocks of land for cultivation. The SLSA has also assisted them to engage in fresh water fishing as well.

Meanwhile, the Samurdhi movement has taken immediate steps to provide a lasting solution to the problem of sheltering low income families who are homeless.

The SLSA has implemented a special housing project named 'Diriya Piyasa' to overcome the housing problem of the poor families. So far 21,127 houses have been constructed under this housing project.

Since its inception, SLSA provided capital to develop the infrastructure facilities which would directly help people satisfy their basic requirements.

The SLSA has introduced a series of infrastructure development projects such as "Gama Pubudu" , community project, "Gemi Isura" , "Gemi Suwasetha" , livelihood development and special projects and "Saubaghaya Gammana" program. The Rural Development Section of the SLSA has spent Rs. 10,000 million to implement 311,689 projects. All these projects have since been completed with public participation.