Review of the Southern Transport Development Project (STDP) Grievance Redress Mechanisms
Client: ADB’s Office of the Special Project Facilitator (OSPF)
Duration: September 2008 to March 2009

Building on the knowledge base from the two-year long STDP monitoring experience, this Review required CEPA to provide an assessment of the grievance redress mechanism used in the Southern Transport Development Project (STDP). This study placed the STDP mechanism within existing national systems. It looked at how sucessfully the STDP grievance mechanisms complemented the existing systems as well as addressing the specific needs of this project. It also looked to draw lessons and recommendations to develop a guide for grievance redress mechanisms which can be used for infrastructure projects involving resettlement in the future.

Desk Review of Poverty and Child Malnutrition in Sri Lanka
Client: Save the Children, Sri Lanka (SCiSL)
Duration: September to December 2008

During 2008, CEPA expanded its knowledge base on child poverty by working on an assignment to review literature and undertake an institutional mapping of poverty, malnutrition and social protection for Save the Children, Sri Lanka. The review informed the development of SCiSL’s household economic security programme that was being extended to seven districts including conflict affected regions. It built on the information that was collected and synthesised for the child poverty study done in the previous year for the Christian Child Fund, Sri Lanka that examined child poverty through a multidimensional lens using the Deprivation, Exclusion and Vulnerability (DEV) framework. This learning will be taken forward in 2009 to develop programme work to increase a better understanding of child poverty, and to create a space for communication and discussion on these issues with varied stakeholders.

Emergency Response to Child Labour in Selected Tsunami Affected Areas of Sri Lanka
Client: International Labour Organisation (ILO) International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)
Duration: March to April 2008

The objective of this assignment was to do a brief evaluation, designed to respond to existing and emerging child labour issues while contributing to the country’s overall post-tsunami rehabilitation and development process. It aimed to assess the extent to which the capacity of relevant government, media, international relief and reconstruction organisations and NGOs were strengthened; enabling staff and community members to integrate child labour issues into post-tsunami reconstruction policies and to monitor the child labour situation in post-tsunami environment. It also looked at whether the community centres set up for tsunami affected children and their parents/guardians in the selected areas provided flexible and timely responses and solutions to address their needs.

Indicators on Missing Dimensions of Poverty in Urban, Rural and Estate Communities in Sri Lanka
Supported by the Poverty and Economic Policy (PEP) grant from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford, UK.
Duration: 2008 - ongoing

This grant involves carrying out a survey that would pilot OPHI’s attempt to generate internationally comparable indicators to capture the missing dimensions of poverty in the urban, rural and estate communities in Sri Lanka. The missing dimensions as identified by OPHI are related to employment, empowerment, physical safety, shame and humiliation, and subjective and psychological wellbeing. The objective of this study is to test the validity and relevance of these indicators and the tools that have been developed, to determine if these indicators can be used to capture poverty dimensions. This study will be undertaken in the Badulla District that comprises rural, urban and estate sectors which encapsulates some of the diversity of factors of the Sri Lankan context. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain a better understanding of the issue. CEPA’s aim in linking with OHPI is to bring the discussion of missing dimensions of poverty into the local debate on the subject. The contribution of this survey to the development of alternative poverty measurements in Sri Lanka is particularly important given the divergence between the statistical reduction in consumption poverty and the anecdotal and qualitative evidence that severe poverty persists in the country in many other dimensions. CEPA sees this as a good opportunity to explore and develop a dialogue on the multi-dimensions of poverty.

The Impact of Humanitarian Aid/Development Funding Distribution on Local Community Relations and Horizontal Inequalities: Ensuring Aid Effectiveness.
Supported by the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE)
Duration: September 2008 to November 2009

This research seeks to explore how humanitarian aid or development funding distribution interacts or contributes to the social dynamics of areas where aid projects are being implemented. The study is being carried out in Sri Lanka parallel to a similar study in Indonesia. CEPA is working with CRISE researchers on examining the impact of the Sri Lankan humanitarian aid programmes implemented in regions which have experienced conflict and the tsunami. The 2008 research uses a mixed methodology: a 1000 household quantitative survey (the largest CEPA has attempted to date) and qualitative interviews. The assignment has also provided an opportunity for the PAM team, with its expertise in quantitative analysis, to work together with PAC that is bringing the qualitative field experience and conflict background in this study. The CRISE study has opened up space to increase CEPA’s visibility within wider academic circles.
Data collection has been completed and the initial analysis is being undertaken parallel to the Indonesian study, with constant feedback from the CRISE team. Given the volatile and ever-changing context in the East and the sensitive nature of some of the data that was gathered, this study has increased CEPA’s understanding of appropriate data gathering and analytical tools.
Among the initial impressions from the study, the underlying tensions between the Muslim and Tamil communities in the East, the massive changes and disparities brought on by the tsunami funds, and the delays in resettlement of conflict affected IDPs due to security restrictions are surfacing as reasons for inequalities and rising tensions in the region. The deeper analysis will continue into 2009.

Lessons Learnt on Poverty Alleviation and Conflict Transformation in Sri Lanka
Client: GTZ
Duration: September to December 2008

The study aimed to generate organisational and conceptual lessons about the nexus between poverty reduction and conflict transformation from examining the experience of projects that began with one objective (i.e. poverty reduction) and had the conflict transformation objective thrust upon them. The study looked at some selected GTZ supported projects that were working in conflict and tsunami affected areas. This study brought out clearly that conflict transformation cannot be handled as a separate activity but should be mainstreamed and internalised in project design and delivery.

Making Peace Keeping Peace
Supported by The European Union (EU)
Duration: October 2006 to April 2009

By the end of 2008, CEPA concluded the study titled ‘ Making Peace Keeping Peace’ in the District of Puttalam. The study developed an understanding of how the different ethnic communities in Puttalam manage conflict, what institutions assist communities to do so, and what lessons other communities can learn from these experiences. The area under study had many factors that could lead to conflict but the communities have managed to maintain a relative ‘peace’ using local knowledge and local conflict management mechanisms. The Making Peace, Keeping Peace study is a consequence of CEPA’s earlier work on post-conflict justice. This work showed that conflict affected communities do not think of justice as requiring a formal legal process but consider their issues to be a series of problems that can be addressed through more community based institutions. It was this finding that led CEPA’s Poverty and Conflict team to explore community based mechanisms further in this study. It identified different local conflict resolution mechanisms that have evolved out of the conflict environment in Puttalam. One of the key findings is that strengthening existing mechanisms, rather than creating new institutions or introducing new techniques, has worked out well in this case. As a result of this study CEPA has built strong relationships with grassroots level institutions working in Puttalam district that have been mutually beneficial. The knowledge and experiences acquired in Puttalam can perhaps be shared and applied in the East, particularly in Ampara and Trincomalee, which also have a multi-ethnic composition.

Preparation of the 2009 – 2013 Country Strategic Opportunities Paper (COSOP)
Client: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Duration: September 2008 to August 2009

CEPA won a competitive bid to put together the Country Strategic Opportunities Paper for IFAD, which will provide strategic direction for the organisation’s programming in Sri Lanka for the period of 2009 – 2013. CEPA’s work keep encountering the conundrums in domestic agriculture and this opportunity to study the sector more systematically was very welcome. There was also a strong professional interest from the agriculture-graduates in the CEPA team. CEPA had conceptualised the assignment as a networked research activity with researchers and stakeholders in iterative dialogue with each other in the process of developing the COSOP but limitations in the budget and the formulaic approach to agriculture by many stakeholders somewhat constrained the process. Six background papers were written, four by CEPA staff members and two by external consultants. The papers were titled Rural Economy, Rural Factor Markets, Environment and Climate Change, Rural Institutions, Micro Finance, and Remittances and Migration. The strategic conclusions from these papers were discussed with central government and non-government stakeholders as well as those from the Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Central provinces. This dialogue will continue into 2009 to align IFAD’s intended interventions with the government’s development framework and the changing context in the country. It is hoped that the papers can be published in collaboration with IFAD.

Stakeholder Mapping of Current Climate Change Activities in Sri Lanka
Client: Practical Action - South Asia
Duration: February to April 2008

CEPA undertook an assignment for Practical Action, an international NGO with a long term presence in Sri Lanka, to map the current stakeholder landscape of organisations addressing climate change-related activities in the country. This study was aimed at assisting Practical Action to determine stakeholder interests and identify networks towards taking appropriate 2008 steps to tackle these issues through their spectrum of work. It gave CEPA an opportunity to develop an understanding of how climate change is being perceived and acted upon in a range of organisations in Sri Lanka.