Oxfam's work in Sri Lanka in depth

In Sri Lanka, Oxfam’s focus is on women’s economic and political leadership, livelihoods and economic development, and humanitarian assistance and protection.

The context

In the 2006 Human Development Index ranking, Sri Lanka was placed 93rd out of 177 countries. While this is higher than any other country in the South Asian region, the relative gap between Sri Lanka and the countries have been decreasing with a marked slow down in Sri Lanka’s development during the past ten years.

Inevitably, the on-going 26-year-old war in the northern and eastern parts of the country, between the Sri Lankan government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has been a major factor in hindering Sri Lanka's social and economic development.

Following the effective collapseof the 2002 ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE in 2006, Sri Lanka slid back into open conflict. After a year of intense fighting, which displaced thousands, the government regained control of the eastern districts in 2007. Since then the government has begun developing plans to re-develop the east coast.

Fighting in the north intensified after January 2008, when the government formally withdrew from the ceasefire agreement. These developments resulted in large scale displacement throughout the Wanni region. Close to 300,000 people have been displaced in to Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee.

In May 2009, the government recaptured all of the territory once held by the LTTE and declared a military victory over the LTTE. At this time, the need for humanitarian assistance has never been greater. Currently the biggest challenge lies with ensuring that those who have fled from the conflict zone receive services that are in accordance with their fundamental human rights.

How is Oxfam helping?

In 1986, Oxfam established a country office in Colombo focusing on the extreme poverty suffered by those who are internally displaced and others directly affected by the ethnic conflict. Projects ensured that basic water and sanitation needs were fulfilled, access was given to sustainable livelihoods, rights of the women were protected and different ethnic communities were mobilised for peaceful coexistence and development.

In 2008, Oxfam decided to focus on the following three areas:

Women’s economic and political leadership
Livelihoods and economic development
Humanitarian assistance and protection in conflict and other humanitarian disasters

Women's economic leadership programme

We are adopting a programme that promotes and supports women as managers of assets and resources, and in the processes of community development. An example of this is the work we are doing with the women from the coir industry in the southern district of Matara.

Secondly, Oxfam is integrating the ‘We Can’ campaign into our entire programme to buid an enabling environment that supports women’s rights and promotes violence free relationships. We challenge attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate inequality and carry out awareness raising to help women and men adapt to change in their gendered roles.

One side effect of more than two decades of conflict and displacement is the absence of financial services in many Sri Lankan villages. Without access to such institutions for loans and funding, many entrepreneurs face a struggle to improve their livelihoods. We are helping small entrepreneurs gain access to loans to help them develop their businesses and find new ways of making a living.

Our work seeks to leverage resources from the private sector, and engage them in the capacity building of small and medium scale entrepreneurs.

Conflict assistance programme

Recurrent violence has seen hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans forced to leave their homes. They have now been placed in internment camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee. These families are living in camps with very basic facilities. Oxfam is providing water, sanitation facilities, and basic supplies to people living in camps.

Oxfam has set up a water treatment plant in Zone III of Menic farm. The plant produces approxiamtely 250,000m3 of water each day. This water is provided to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, for distribution within the camps.