Equity and well-being in Sri Lanka

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) jointly hosted the launch of a book by Hyun Hwa Son of the ADB and published by Routledge, New York, titled ‘Equity and Well-Being: Measurement and Policy Practice’ on 13 March at the IPS Auditorium.

Following is the address delivered by Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Gitanjana Gunawardena at the event

Prof. W.D. Lakshman, Chairman, IPS, Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, IPS, Rita O’Sullivan, Resident Representative, ADB, Dr. Hyun H. Son, Senior Economist, ADB, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen, the Government aims to reposition Sri Lanka in the global arena as a knowledge-based strong middle income country with better and improved living standards.

Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Gitanjana Gunawardena speaking at the book launch

The ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Vision for the Future’ envisages Sri Lanka aspiring to be a society with a high quality of life for all of its people having access to decent living, electricity, water, schooling and health facilities. The Government development policy framework also stresses on inclusive growth, to share the benefits of growth across all segments of the population and also to prevent inequities as well as social exclusion.

Early achiever

Sri Lanka has long been recognised for its achievements in human development. Sri Lanka is an early achiever of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of universal primary education (97.5%), gender equity in primary education (girls to boys ratio in primary education 99%) and also in respect of better health outcomes such as reduced infant (per 1000 live births, 19.8 in 1990 to 8.5 in 2007) and maternal mortality rates (per 100,000 live births, 92 in 1990 to 39.3 in 2006).

Over the years, several policy interventions in the areas of education, health and social welfare have been carried out with the intention of upgrading the human development of the country. In the latest Human Development Report, released by the UNDP, Sri Lanka is categorised in the ‘Medium Human Development’ group. Sri Lanka has the highest level of human development in the South Asian region. In HDI, Sri Lanka is ranked 97 out of 187 countries; all the other SAARC countries are lagging behind Maldives 109, India 134, Pakistan 145, etc.

Development strategy

The creation of prosperity for the majority of the people requires connectivity through roads, electricity, telecommunications, information technology and education and ensured quality in the fields of sanitation, health services and in water supply.

Hence, the development strategy relies not only on promoting investments on infrastructure based on commercial and economic returns, but also on the creation of equitable access to such infrastructure development to enable people to engage in gainful economic activities.

Providing quality services and improving service delivery, which cater to the changing demands of the rapid economic growth and social development of the country, has been a central concern of the country. Various policy measures such as ‘Gama Neguma,’ ‘Divi Neguma’ and ‘Maga Neguma’ have been taken to improve living conditions of people, in particular with respect to access to roads, electricity, safe water and sanitation facilities.

During the last five years, more than 100,000 houses were constructed all over the country under different schemes such as ‘Gama Neguma,’ estate housing, ‘Jathika Saviya,’ fisheries community housing, roofing sheet assistance and other upgrading programmes.

Maintaining and upgrading the existing social services while the restoration, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the services in conflict-affected areas are the foremost concerns in the post-conflict era. These are more challenging when we consider them in the perspective of inclusive growth.

Commendable performance

The country’s economy has been growing at an impressive rate of 8% during 2009-2011 in follow-up of establishment of peace and stability. The Government envisage continuing the momentum of development to achieve the targets of its vision. All key sectors of the economy demonstrated a commendable performance in last two years, underpinned by the peaceful domestic environment, and improved investor confidence, favourable macroeconomic conditions and gradual recovery of the global economy from one of the deepest recessions in history.

Despite the conflict, the Government’s policy ensuring basic infrastructure has improved; this allows benefits to trickle down to low income households. The incidence of poverty in Sri Lanka has significantly reduced from 26.1% in 1990/91 to 8.9% in 2009/10. All the sectors have experienced a fall in poverty levels significantly during the period 2006-2009.

Particularly in the estate sector, the percentage of poor has almost reduced to one third of the level that existed in 2006/07. Sri Lanka has achieved the MDG goal of ‘halving the incidence of poverty’ even before the target. Poverty alleviation programmes of the Government and improved infrastructure facilities, industrial and commercial activities have largely contributed to this progress.

Education

Education is part and parcel of economic and social development of the country. We have been providing free education access to education for over six decades. Sri Lanka takes pride in supporting its free education system throughout primary and secondary school levels as well at university level and in adhering to ethics and standards as proclaimed by provisions in international conventions.1

The free public education system remains the predominant education service provider of general education in the country. The present schools system comprises 10,492 schools, of which 92% are Government schools.

To improve access to general education, the Government has adopted a variety of demand and supply-side policies that include the development of 1,000 fully fledged Secondary Schools in a programme towards ensuring quality education for rural children, school mid day meal programme, subsidised transport, free uniforms and textbooks, etc.

The Government policy document, the ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Vision for the Future,’ aims for a knowledge hub within an education system which contributes to the rapid economic and social development of the country. It has recognised the need for promoting equity and enhancing the quality and relevance of general education.

The key policy priorities for the sector as identified by the Government are: a) ensure that all students complete primary and secondary education successfully, b) ensure that education services are designed around the needs of each child, c) improve the quality and relevance of general education, and d) ensure that children achieve trilingual competence and competence in mathematics.

Health and nutrition

Health services are crucial for enhancing human development, promoting equity and contributing to the wealth and well being of a nation. Sri Lanka is regarded as a success story in achieving most of the vital health indicators much earlier than its regional counterparts. Most of the key health indicators for Sri Lanka are almost at the same level as that of developed economies. (IMR- SL 8.5, Korea 5, Malaysia 6, Thailand 12; MMR - SL 39, Korea 18, Malaysia 31, Thailand 48)2

Improving equitable access to quality services are key concerns in present Government policies. A rapid demographic transition and ageing population, and emerging health risks such as NCDs are major health sector challenges. Further, being a country which has experienced a 30-year civil war is another major challenge of realigning the country’s economy and regaining its lost opportunities for development.

The Government’s development policy framework has developed a strategy to stimulate economic growth and ensure it trickles down equitably. The strategy focuses on more equitable growth and augers for a more prominent role for the state in economic development by improving service delivery.

At the same time the new strategy proposes to promote private sector development, and expand the role of public-private partnerships, especially in lagging regions, and focus on infrastructure development to accelerate growth and to narrow regional disparities (IPS/UNDP, 2010, Millennium Development Goals: Sri Lanka Country Report 2008/2009).

Sri Lanka has taken several initiatives to increase food consumption and ensure adequate nutrition intake among households and individuals. The main intervention has been the ‘Thriposha’ (a pre-cooked cereal based food) national programme, made available to pregnant and lactating women during the first six months and infants between six to 11 months of age. It is estimated to cater to nearly 580,000 beneficiaries.3

A school-feeding programme under which poor children are given a hot meal in school, and provision of a food package for expected mothers (‘poshana malle’) are some other interventions. In addition, a ‘National Nutrition Surveillance System’ was launched in 2008 to obtain timely data at provincial and central level.

The Government has already launched a ‘National Nutrition Policy’ for the period 2008-18. The Government has also identified the gravity of NCD-related health challenges and taken several policy initiatives.

A ‘National Policy and Strategic Framework for Prevention and Control of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases’ was approved by the Cabinet in 2010. In the Budget 2011, an additional allocation of Rs. 900 million was allocated for a three-year action plan targeting the control of NCDs, to be implemented from 2011 through improvements in the primary healthcare system.

Development of NE

The Government has given high priority to the development of the conflict-affected Northern and Eastern Provinces. Investments allocations for such life, livelihood, social and service infrastructure programs alone under the ‘Negenahira Navodaya’ and ‘Uthuru Wasnathaya’ programs in the north and east amount to Rs. 6,916 million and Rs. 19,770 million respectively since 2009.

In as much as equity and well-being needs to be looked as with consideration towards specific situations and circumstances in different settings, it is necessary to keep in mind the cultural and historical background.

Sri Lanka is home to almost 2,500 years of civilisation when Arahant Mahinda, son of the benevolent and Buddhist Emperor Asoka, brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka which has since then been practiced for centuries by dynasties of kings and generations of population – impacting the building up of centuries-old traditions, values and practices. Bhutan for example is a country which depends on the ‘Gross National Happiness Index’ to assess progress in development, a practice which has evoked interest elsewhere to emulate.

I congratulate Dr. Hyun H. Son on the publication ‘Equity and Well-Being: Measurement & Policy Practice’ and the IPS researchers on their contribution to the publication. I am thankful to the IPS for inviting me to this book launch and providing me the opportunity to highlight some of the initiatives of the Government of Sri Lanka which have a strong equity component as well as share some of my thoughts.

May the Noble Triple Gem bless you all!

Footnotes

1 Regulations for compulsory education for 5-14 age group was implemented by Parliament in 1997 and came into force in January 1998.

2 Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) per 1000 live births, and Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) per 100,000 live births

3 Ministry of Health, Annual Health Bulletin 2007