Mission
"Initiation of Policies pertaining to Poverty reduction, supervision, and Co-ordination with relevant Institutes for Implementation of those Policies, including Research, Capacity development & Training, leading for Empowerment, while arresting further deterioration of the present status of the poor and to improve their living standard."
Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksha, His Excellency the President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Hon. Minister of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development
"Samurdhi" Movement in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka being a beautiful island known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean is one of the smallest of the South Asian Nations. As a developing country, it also faces the problems of poverty. It is estimated that around 15.2% of the population being poor but, around 45% out of total families are being covered under the safety net programmes funded by the government of Sri Lanka in terms of income transfer (food and income subsidy), nutrition package for pregnant and lactating mothers and milk feeding subsidy for children between two and five. There fore, the main responsibility of the government of Sri Lanka is to eradicate poverty from our mother land. Percentage of approximately four to five of the national budget are being allocated annually to provide safety net assistance to the poor.
Compared to other countries in the developing world, Sri Lanka has higher rate of literacy, higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality ratios. However the country is currently confronted with serious socio-economic problems with rising unemployment and high incidence of poverty.
"Samurdhi" is the National Program introduced by the Government in 1994 to alleviate poverty. The objective of this program is to find a solution for the poverty. It is not an easy task, but through the Samurdhi Program priority has been given to activities such as development of rural infrastructure facilities, improving health and nutritional conditions among rural community and create opportunities.
The Ministry of Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports was established in 1994 to launch the above Program. In 2004 , the Ministry's name was changed to Ministry of Samurdhi & Poverty Alleviation and again it was converted as the Division of Samurdhi under the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infra Structure Development.
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This page last modified 03 Dec 2009