CEPA InSight – Volume 2

November 2020 | Vol. 2

The negative effects of mounting indebtedness due to multiple borrowings through micro-credit lending has garnered attention from the general public and the government of Sri Lanka. CEPA’s research provides insight into microcredit practices and their impact on vulnerable members of the community.

CEPA in Sight 

Vantage Point

A Newsletter by The Centre for Poverty Analysis 

by Avanthi Kalansooriya (CEPA Blog)

Sunday Observer

30 June, 2019

News First (Documentary) 

12 September, 2020 

Sirasa News 

16 July, 2020 

Sunday Times

13 September, 2020 

Hello! This volume of CEPA’s newsletter focuses on the implications of indebtedness as a consequence of micro-credit lending in Sri Lanka. Connect with us at insight@cepa.lk with your thoughts, suggestions and ideas for collaborations.

Image Credits Nazly Ahmed

Debt at My Doorstep

CEPAs research has highlighted rising debt and its impact on female borrowers and their households. This study, 'Debt At My Doorstep: Microfinance Practices and Effects on Women in Sri Lanka'  aims to better understand the processes that underlie micro-lending and how these practices then affect the largely female client-base.

IN THE NEWS

Stemming from CEPA's publication on micro credit, here are instances that CEPA was cited in the news and other media outputs. 

News story on issues faced by women due to micro-credit

Who is Romeshun?

For the third consecutive year, CEPA will conduct the Short Course

on Migration titled 'Framings

and Discourses on Mobility

and Crisis: Blessing or

Curse? The course will be

conducted online from

the 4th of November

to the 5th of December. 

Short Course on Migration 2020 

CEPA: IN CONVERSATION

Natasha Palansuriya introduces the Diaspora and Development Thematic at CEPA and explains the basic concepts.

Contact us at insight@cepa.lk 

MEET A CEPA 

RESEARCHER

What are the more memorable research activities you have done at CEPA ?

The first assignment that I did for CEPA was on micro finance and then in 2013 I got an opportunity to do a study on debt. CEPA’s focus on social aspects coupled with my interest in financial economics made for some interesting research outputs and publications.

What are the key take away points from micro finance related research that you have done at CEPA ?

A starting point would be that people don’t take a loan just for the sake of getting into debt; they take it for a particular reason/need. Subsequently we examined the reasons people were unable to repay their loans. Our research on micro finance initially focused on the plantation sector or the North and East. Individuals directly affected by the war were found to take additional loans as the economy was not providing them opportunities to earn sufficiently. Our message therefore was that there were multiple factors social and economic, contributing to the microcredit issues in the country.

We see that the findings from our research and publications have been useful and contributed towards conversations on improving outcomes from the microfinance industry. Now we have to get our message across to a larger audience.

What are your future plans as a researcher?

I want to do more work on the subject of social protection. Sri Lanka started off with universal social protection schemes and over the years we have moved on to targeted social protection systems. I would like to examine whether Sri Lanka is better off with a universal social protection scheme rather than a targeted approach.

I started off studying mathematics,

then got into computer science and

ended up in Economics after learning

of the interesting work done by the Indian Planning Commission. I was initially a part of the Planning Ministry where I gained experience in sectors such as water, education, and health; promotion of private sector investment in infrastructure, and monitoring and evaluation. Then I got the opportunity to work with a development partner which was quite good, and from there I came to CEPA which was a drastic change from implementation to research.

Registrations are now closed.

City and Risk: Achievements and Opportunities

CEPA as a member of Duryog Nivaran, supported with their ongoing webinar series on disasters and covid-19. Three webinars were held:

Women and Work in Pandemics: Resilience and Recovery

Green Conversations - Coexisting with Wildlife

Karin Fernando was panelist at the event hosted by Environmental Foundation Limited on September 29th.

Disproportionate Effects of COVID-19 on Urban Poor

Mohamed Munas delivered this guest lecture for masters students at Radboud University, Netherlands, focusing on the experiences from Sri Lanka on September 16th. 

Mainstreaming Gender in Agriculture Policy Formulation

Dr. Wijaya Jayathilaka attended a discussion on reviewing a research report  on the topic on July 29th.

July 28th. Watch webinar.

When Disasters Collide: Managing Disasters in the context of Covid-19 in South Asia

June 30th. Watch webinar.

August 21st.