Human Development (HD)
- The Education Sector Development Project supports activities promoting social cohesion between different communities. Completion rates through Grade 9 has increased from 80% to over 90% with over 300,000 additional students finishing the cycle, with gender parity.
- The Higher Education for the 21st Century project supports the quality and relevance of tertiary education such as improving practical literacy in English and IT along with increasing accountability. The project aims to benefit 1,000,000 students and 20,000 academic staff. It follows up on a previous project that benefited over 100,000 students and 5,000 staff.
- The Health Sector Development Project has contributed to improving the quality, efficiency, and equity of health services in Sri Lanka through greater access to emergency treatment, and better utilisation of services. Between 2004 and 2009, it helped double screening for non- communicable diseases for women over 35.
Finance, Private Sector Development (PSD) and Public Sector Management (PSM)
- The E-Sri Lanka Development Project has established over 600 centres throughout the country, including in remote areas, linking over 70,000 monthly users. The programme has supported 180 ICT innovations and 1000 software creations to date and has improved Government transparency and efficiency while supporting Sri Lankan business and SME competitiveness through training 35,000 private sector participants to incorporate ICT into their business.
- The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Facility Project is improving access to finance for SMEs affected by the global financial crisis leading to higher incomes and increasing employment opportunities for a larger segment of the population in the country.
- The Sustainable Tourism Development Project is assisting the tourism sector to facilitate environmentally and socially sound investments, particularly in the Eastern part of the country.
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.
- The IFC’s committed portfolio is over $144 million in Sri Lanka supporting projects that span a range of sectors including infrastructure, tourism and renewable energy, banking, and health care.
- The IFC’s strategic focus on promoting inclusive growth, addressing climate change impacts, and facilitating regional integration through enhanced trade.
- Through its Advisory Services, IFC promotes sustainable growth among small and medium enterprises by facilitating access to finance and offering capacity building and training opportunities.
- The Dialog Distributor Retailer Community Network Development project has benefited 5,000 small businesses inclusive of small retail shops, grocery stores, pharmacies, and telecommunications outlets. Average sales have increased by 32% and the programme has created 3,600 new jobs
Sustainable Development (SD)
- The North East Irrigated Agriculture Project has supported the irrigation of 35,000 hectares of land now being cultivated benefiting more than 55,000 farming households.
- The Community Development and Livelihood Improvement ‘Gemi Diriya’ Project has supported some 191,600 households (about 862,000 people) in the poorest districts of Sri Lanka benefiting from access to infrastructure, drinking water, roads and bridges, ICT centres, credit, markets, skills and income generation.
- The North East Housing Reconstruction Programme is facilitating the home-owner-driven reconstruction of 50,091 houses in the North and East through cash grants given to those affected by conflict. 70% of these houses have already been completed.
- The Community Livelihoods in Conflict Affected Areas (Reawakening Project) has supported 832 villages (200,000 families) in the north, east and adjoining areas to restore normalcy to their lives, generate income opportunities, and encourage social and economic integration.
- The Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project II has improved the access of rural communities to safe water supplies and enhanced sanitation; 178,000 households now receive water on tap and 55,000 latrines have been constructed.
- The Dam Safety and Water Resources Planning Project supports the safe operations and maintenance of large dams while improving water resource planning and development through a state of the art hydro-meteorological information system.
- The Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development project has helped provide off-grid electricity to over 100,000 households. An additional 4,700 households are using electricity generated by village hydro and biomass projects.
- The Road Sector Assistance project rehabilitated 620km of national roads between 2006 and 2009, reducing average vehicle operating costs on National Highways from Rs. 23.9/km (US$ 0.21km) to Rs. 15.37/km (US$ 0.13/km). Rehabilitation of rural roads has also reduced travel times by 30%, promoting greater access and efficiency of transporting goods to markets.
- The North East Local Services Improvement Project (NELSIP) is improving the delivery of local infrastructure services by local authorities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka in an accountable and responsive manner.
- The Emergency Northern Recovery Project (ENREP) is supporting the return of 100,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their places of origin in the Northern Province and is rebuilding livelihoods through restoring village level infrastructure and providing temporary employment opportunities.
