Sri Lanka

Website of the SDC in Sri Lanka: www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/srilanka

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Since the end of the armed conflict in northern Sri Lanka, a majority of the more than 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been able to return to their regions of origin in the northern and eastern parts of the country. In addition to the ongoing requirement for humanitarian aid, the SDC has now begun to increase its activities in the domain of reconstruction and income promotion. The SDC provides financial and personnel support to the programmes of the UN, i.e., to the UNHCR, the WFP, and UNICEF, while also supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as international and local relief organizations. In addition, it is engaged in medium and long-term programmes for income promotion, reconstruction, and peace promotion.
Since 2000, the SDC has been active in Sri Lanka with reconstruction and development-cooperation projects. In mid-2008, it successfully terminated a wide-ranging post-tsunami programme, within the scope of which over ten thousand homes were either restored or entirely built anew, while four schools were reconstructed.

The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment	2009 Mio. CHF	2010 Mio. CHF	2011* Mio. CHF

SDC
Bilateral development cooperation	0.80	1.10	0.45
Humanitarian aid	7.33	7.77	7.05
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
Economic Cooperation and Development	–	–	–
Total SDC/SECO commitment	8.13	8.87	7.50

Other Federal Offices
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA (Political Affairs Division IV and other)	0.70	0.85	0.66
State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER)	0.03	0.05	0.05
Total other Federal Offices	0.73	0.90	0.71

Total	8.86	9.77	8.21

* planned; total based on available data
Bilateral development cooperation excluding program contributions to NGOs
– = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF

Development Cooperation: Priorities

The SDC’s development cooperation focuses on projects within the domain of media and income promotion, that flank the conflict resolution. A new priority for the SDC is the programme it recently launched in the domain of migration.

Concrete projects:

Media and pluralistic opinion building: Since the beginning of 2003, the SDC has been supporting a television programme aimed at informing spectators more comprehensively and contributing to the conflict resolution by providing well-balanced information. (The project will be terminated in the summer of 2010.)
Fostering income: Commissioned by the SDC, since 2000 Helvetas and Swisscontact have been implementing a project to foster the income in the eastern part of Sri Lanka that was severely affected by the war, i.e., the so-called Development and Peace Sri Lanka (DPSL) project. In the currently on-going and final phase (2008 through December 2010), young people are being given training and the income of small farmers is being improved thanks to organic farming. Furthermore, village committees are being taught how they can better resolve conflicts without reverting to violent means.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) Care has begun, with the support of the SDC, to implement a project to foster the income of persons returning home and those who had been formerly displaced because of the conflict. During the current phase (2010-2012), the focus is particularly to be placed on unemployment among single mothers with children and the lack of income opportunities in the agricultural sector.
Migration: Since early 2010, the SDC’s Global Cooperation Department has been developing a two-pronged programme. For one thing, sustainable solutions are being sought for internally displaced persons in the former conflict regions in the north and, for another, the rights of the economic migrants leaving for jobs in the Golf States are to be strengthened and the social costs to Sri Lanka arising from migration are to be reduced.
Governance and human rights: Support to the Swiss Embassy in responding to pertinent requests for assistance in these domains.

The SDC’s partners in development cooperation are:

Various local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Various Swiss and international relief agencies such as Helvetas, Swisscontact and CARE

Humanitarian Aid: Priorities

The armed conflict claimed numerous civilian lives from the moment that the peace agreement was terminated by the Sri Lankan Government in January 2008 up until the end of the war with the military offensive in northern Sri Lanka in May 2009. Against this backdrop, the focus of the SDC’s humanitarian aid is on providing emergency supplies and return assistance for displaced persons from the former conflict area, i.e., the so-called Vanni Region. The SDC attaches maximum importance to the need for protecting the displaced civilian population. It makes a crucial contribution in the areas of medical assistance, foodstuffs, clean water and sanitation facilities by providing support to its time-proven multilateral partners, above all to the ICRC, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Food Programme (WFP).

On the Jaffna Peninsula in the north of Sri Lanka, the SDC works in concert with its local partners to assist low-income women with children in managing to make a living. It is also in Jaffna that the SDC is engaged in the rebuilding of two schools that were partly destroyed by the conflict. The project is located in a high-security military zone newly open to the civilian population since the beginning of 2010. The construction of such schools makes it easier for families with school-aged children to return and to re-integrate themselves in their former hometown.

Still another priority project being managed by the SDC on its own is the reconstruction of a village with over 300 families in Chavakachcheri, a village that was totally destroyed by bombing attacks. In addition to providing support to the families in the reconstruction of their homes by using a so-called “owner-driven” approach, the restoration of the village infrastructure (primary school and kindergarten, medical dispensaries, and water-provision facilities) constitutes an integral element of the project. Furthermore, the village commune is provided with advice and support in issues concerning the organization of the community, e.g., agricultural cooperatives, connection to the national road network, establishment of community fora, etc.

Areas of Swiss Humanitarian Aid intervention:

Support for the humanitarian relief efforts provided by multilateral and international organizations, in particular food aid, medical assistance, protection of displaced persons, and de-mining
Support to families in the rebuilding of their homes in villages damaged by the conflict
New construction and support for the reconstruction of schools damaged during the fighting and by the tsunami
Fostering of income for underprivileged groups of the population

The SDC’s Partners in these programmes and projects are:

Cooperation with multilateral partners such as the ICRC, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF
Cooperation with NGOs (Swiss, international, national)
Sri Lankan Government (Ministry of Health – Procurement of vital medicines)
Other FDFA units such as Political Affairs Division IV, and other SDC departments (Regional and Global Cooperation)

The "Swiss Cooperation Office" is in charge of monitoring and supervising all Switzerland’s humanitarian activities in Sri Lanka.

Background information Sri Lanka

Facts and figures

	Surface area
	Population
	Annual population growth rate (since 1990)
	Life expectancy at birth women / men
	Adult illiteracy rate: women / men
	Gross Domestic Product GDP per capita
	Percentage of population with less than 2 USD per day

65'610

20.2

0.7

78 / 70

89 / 8

2'013

km2

mill.

years

USD

Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2010

Background information provided by the BBC

Local SDC contact address:

Sri Lanka (Colombo)
Swiss Cooperation Office Sri Lanka 138 4/5 Kynsey Road Colombo 8 - Sri Lanka
Phone	+941 126 88347
Fax	+941 126 88348
Email	colombo@sdc.net
Website	www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/srilanka

Additional Information and Documents

Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country.