Reflections on Sri Lanka’s population issues

In an exclusive interview with the Daily FT, the outgoing Representative for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Sri Lanka Alain Sibenaler reflects on his three-year term as he concludes his posting in Sri Lanka on 20 February 2017.

During his tenure, Sibenaler has spearheaded a number of evidence-based policy initiatives, social change campaigns, and advocacy programs in Sri Lanka that aim to empower women, young people, and the elderly.

He has also held position as the Chair of the National Forum against Gender-based Violence, Chair of the United Nations Gender-theme Group, and Chair of the United Nations Communications Group in Sri Lanka. Sibenaler will take up his new post at the UNFPA Office in Uganda in March 2017. 

Following are excerpts:

By Shanika Sriyananda

Q: What were the main challenges for you when you arrived in Sri Lanka in 2013? How was it different to your previous posting? 

A: I will answer this question in two parts – what I was told and what I have seen. What I was told was that Sri Lanka in 2013 had not reaped the benefits of the peace dividend. There were large parts of the population that didn’t have proper access to social services as opposed to other parts of the country. What I have noticed when I arrived in Sri Lanka, was that there is a proud sense of achievement in some of the social indictors, such as infant and maternal mortality rates and good education and health indicators. 

In my previous posting I was dealing with life-saving services in Cameroon. In Sri Lanka, all those basic services are catered to by the Government. Sri Lanka has a very strong health system. There are only 33 maternal mortality cases per 100,000 live births a year, which is on par with other middle income countries. Also, couples have access to free family planning in Sri Lanka. 

UNFPA Representative Alain Sibenaler

Q: Looking back, what would you say were the main highlights or achievements during your tenure at UNFPA Sri Lanka?

A: First, is that we have successfully re-engineered our office to deliver more with less. We have induced innovation to our work and this has been recognised globally as good practice. 

Secondly, we have focused our efforts in ensuring young people and women are aware of their reproductive rights. We have brought rights to the forefront of the political agenda. Through our work, the issues of Gender Based Violence (GBV), violence against women, and discrimination against women, are now regarded as priority issues in the country. 

Thirdly, there is a strong sense within the Government, to use evidence-based data for informed and effective policy making. This is through our work as the population agency, to bring data to the forefront of decision making. 

Q: UNFPA seems to have a more policy-level approach towards addressing social issues in Sri Lanka. Can you explain this further?

A: We are right at the policy engagement level, meaning that we work closely with the Government, at their request, to improve the quality of existing policies relating to women, young people, and the elderly, with a focus on reproductive health and rights. This is in opposition to the work that I previously did in Cameron, where we provided services and conducted trainings. In Sri Lanka, UNFPA advocates for policy-level changes. We do this by focusing on data that result in two things – 1) better knowledge among the people on policies regarding young people and women, and 2) increased accountability for policy implementers.

Q: UNFPA is the lead agency in population data. How does UNFPA ensure effective use of data?

A: Our idea is that data should inspire decision makers – not only political decision makers, but anyone who is in the position to make decisions. 

We start by analysing the existing data available in the country – typically this is the population and housing census and the number of representative surveys that have been carried out either by the Department of Census and Statistics and/or by line ministries. 

We have supported the delivery of monographs on gender, fertility, labour, and education, and are currently in the process of developing a monograph on ageing. These reports further analyse the findings of the 2012 Census and provide important and useful information to policy-makers. 

We then take it a step further.

We understand that our generation has a say in how they see policy issues. But we also understand the importance of listening to the perspectives and insights that our children and our parents may have on these same policy issues. We carry out these discussions through UNFPA’s inter-generational dialogues which provide a platform for all three generations to discuss policy issues backed by evidence and data. 

Q: In your capacity as UNFPA Representative in Sri Lanka, you have also been the Chair of the National Forum Against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and the UN Gender-Theme Group. Can you elaborate on the work of these groups and the main achievements during the last three years?

A: This is a personal commitment that I wanted to make towards women, specifically, empowering women to be fully aware of their rights. It is both a professional and personal honor to promote awareness that GBV and discrimination against women are not acceptable. Through the National Forum Against GBV, UNFPA brings together over 50 organisations, including UN Agencies, Government, and Civil Society. We look at existing national and subnational policies relating to GBV and then we look at their implementation. One of the main objectives of the Forum is to raise awareness, especially among communities and women’s groups, on their rights. 

The UN Gender-Theme Group, is a collective of all agencies within the UN System that work to address gender issues in the country. Again, the idea is to create a common platform for gender issues, which we cannot address alone as one agency. We developed a national initiative for Women Headed Households in Sri Lanka, noting that one in four households in the country are headed by females. We addressed the issue of policy implications on migrant domestic workers, and we have analysed Sri Lanka’s progress since the International Conference on Women’s Rights and Empowerment, held in Beijing 20 years ago. 

More recently, as the UN Gender-Theme Group, we looked at cyber violence and cyber bullying against women, both in terms of protection and retaliation. 

These are issues that we must address together as a UN Family. 

UNFPA has and will continue to facilitate and lead these platforms of multi-stakeholder discussions and wider engagement. 

Q: UNFPA is also the chair of the UN Communications Group. What is the work carried out by this group?

A: The UN Communications Group brings the UN system closer to the public. Often, UN agencies communicate their work in silos. Through the Communications Group, we ensure cohesive messaging of the UN system, so that the public is given a wider overview of the UN’s collective work in Sri Lanka. 

For example, in 2015, we marked Sri Lanka’s 60th year since becoming a member to the UN, along with the UN’s 70th year since establishment. Through the 70-60 celebrations, we highlighted Sri Lanka’s commendable and valuable contributions to the UN system over the last 60 years. We did this by visiting universities around the island and speaking directly with students. We also developed a travelling exhibition which has been displayed at different cities around the country. We are now continuing these interactions, by increasing awareness on the Sustainable Development Goals, and what they really mean for Sri Lanka.

Another example of the UN Communications Group work is when the former Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, and Mrs. Ban, visited Sri Lanka. The UN recognised the importance of what Sri Lanka is doing in terms of peace and reconciliation, and for instance, towards the role that women play in a post-conflict context.

Q: What has the UNFPA done to strengthen the reproductive health and rights of people in Sri Lanka?

A: We have worked closely with the Ministry of Health to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted and that every child birth is safe. 

UNFPA assisted the National STD/AIDS Control Programme to carry out Sri Lanka’s first-ever comprehensive situation assessment on condom programming, and we also assisted in the development of the National Condom Strategy 2016-2020. 

We have also supported in the development of the national guidelines on emergency obstetric care and behaviour change and communication guidelines for practitioners in the field with regard to six important areas, including young people’s health, well-women clinics, and family planning. 

Another important aspect is the need to strengthen the health sector response to GBV, which we have been supporting for many years.

Currently, through the Ministry’s request, we are reviewing and revising the National Family Planning Policy, which is a process that started under my leadership and will be completed by my successor later this year.

In addition to policy development, UNFPA has also capitalised on the digital dividend to ensure we reach out to more and more young people. We developed a mobile app ‘UNFPA Able’, which provides young people with easy access to reproductive health and rights information. We also developed ‘Road to Adulthood’, which is a self-learning tool for young people on their reproductive health and rights, which has been introduced by the University Grants Commission to all students as a mandatory course to be taken during orientation. 

Q: Can you comment on UNFPA’s contribution to ensure young people fulfil their potential?

A: Young people are a central part of everything we do in order to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted and that every childbirth is safe. We cannot deliver our mandate without empowering young people to be aware of their rights, choices, and important decisions that they make in life. 

The Social Change Entrepreneurs programme is an example of how UNFPA empowers young people. Through the programme, young individuals advise us on our work at UNFPA, and on how we should deliver our work to make it more meaningful to a larger population of the country. This is what we mean by social change. The programme resulted in a number of initiatives that we have been able to carry out through social change campaigns. One example is the survey that we have conducted, both qualitative and quantitative, on sexual harassment in public transport. 

We also work with Provincial Councils on comprehensive youth policy formulation, that take into account the different issues young people face in different regions around the country. We have conducted multi-stakeholder consultations at provincial-level in the North, East, South and the Sabaragamuwa provinces. We ensure young people are leading these discussions, at which we facilitate the process of Provincial-level youth policy formulation by literarily bringing young people and policy-makers to the same table. 

Q: What has the UNFPA done to assist Sri Lanka in becoming an HIV/AIDS free country by 2030?

A: While Sri Lanka has a low HIV/AIDS prevalence of less than 0.01% of the population, there is potential for a concentrated epidemic to take place, in the event that the virus is not contained. 

One of the first steps in ending AIDS-related deaths is to counter social stigma and to increase public awareness of the fact that people living with HIV can live a normal life with the right medication and treatment, which is freely available in Sri Lanka. 

We have and will continue to work closely with the National STD/AIDS Control Programme in implementation of the National Condom Strategy, and in supporting initiatives that pave the way for Sri Lanka to end AIDS by 2030. 

Q: How has the UNFPA supported Sri Lanka’s relief efforts during the aftermath of the May 2016 floods and landslides?

A: When disasters strike, pregnant women are the most vulnerable. They need basic assistance to help them and their babies. In the aftermath of the May 2016 floods, through the Central Emergency Response Fund, UNFPA was quick to ensure women were equipped with hygiene kits that provided the materials they needed to ensure personal hygiene during the weeks and months that they were displaced. 

Q: Sri Lanka records 1.7 million of ageing population. What are the features of the country population dynamics and what are the challenges that you foresee with the ageing population in Sri Lanka?

A: Firstly, yes, the population which is above 60 years will double by 2025 in Sri Lanka. An interesting point is that the portion which we refer to as the ‘older old’ – above 80 years – will increase by five times. This means that Sri Lanka needs to be prepared with comprehensive social security systems and social safety nets to ensure healthy ageing. 

On the other hand, the proportion of Sri Lankans in the productive age, which is the later stage of adolescence, is shrinking gradually, because the population pyramid is becoming more vertical. 

This means that the country must continue to invest in young people to ensure they contribute to the work force through competitive jobs. This enables young people to be able to look after both the older and children, thereby reducing the dependency ratio. This is the demographic dividend that every country experiences. Sri Lanka is currently in a window of opportunity that must be seized by seriously focusing investments in the wellbeing of the young population to make them educated, healthy and fully productive. I see this as a great opportunity for Sri Lanka, rather than a challenge.