Sri Lanka Human Development Report 2012.pdf

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The proportion of employment in the informal sector has remained largely constant over the years. While overall unemployment is relatively low, disparities, both in terms of employment growth and kinds of employment, exist across provinces and sectors. Unemployment is higher among youths, the educated and women. For youth, it was just under 20 percent in 2010 - a worrisomely high rate, since this group could be easily mobilized to stir up unrest for political gain. Part of the reason for unemployed youths and unemployed people with education is that schools have not equipped them with the kinds of skills demanded by the labour market. Another reason is the lack of job creation, especially jobs attractive to an educated workforce. To a large extent, unemployment and education are different sides of the same coin. One cannot be tackled successfully without the other. In expanding demand and creating more and better jobs, especially outside the Western Province, improving access to markets, technology, infrastructure and finance can foster a climate for private investments and help create jobs. It will also be necessary to encourage entrepreneurship, so that individuals see starting a business as an alternative to finding employment. The Government could cultivate creativity and a culture of private investment by incorporating these elements in school curricula and providing incentives for starting business ventures. It could take the lead in improving the overall environment for doing business, which would give even small entrepreneurs a better chance to start and sustain their enterprises. One-third of those employed work in agriculture, where productivity is low and stagnant; a high proportion of the workers are in the informal sector. Even though agriculture is dominated by small private entitites, its problems require the assistance of the Government to raise productivity and move people into more remunerative livelihood opportunities. Unambiguous land rights, adequate irrigation facilities, efficient financial markets, better management of resources such as irrigation water supplies, and increased investment in research and extension services are among the measures that could boost productivity and investment in agriculture. Improved infrastructure to access economic centres, greater connectivity and dissemination of information through better access to and use of information technology, and open doors to finance would create more livelihood opportunities outside agriculture. There is especially strong justification to improve services in conflict-affected regions, given the breakdown of administrative systems and infrastructure. The Government is rightly engaged in making huge investments to restore livelihoods there, but the destruction of family units, land mines and competition for resources are among the factors complicating the task. For Sri Lanka to continue making rapid human development, public and private investment in agriculture and non-agriculture will be essential. The Government could lead the way in investing in irrigation, research and extension services, roads and other public goods. Once these are in place, they could attract private investment. There is little dispute that adequate public infrastructure is an important determinant of private investment. Strengthen governance mechanisms to broaden participation and utilize resources more effectively This report has underscored the need for increased public investments, especially in education, health, agriculture, science and technology, and in provinces besides the Western Province. Governance mechanisms in turn must be strengthened to monitor the use of resources. Governance is the responsibility of the Government, but all stakeholders can, and should, play a role. The private sector, non-governmental organizations, farmers, women, student organizations, ordinary citizens and other groups need to mobilize to demand more adequate and responsive governance. Governance functions best when it is pushed simultaneously from above and below, from the centre and society at large. With stagnating international resources at best, the Government needs to improve revenue collection Chapter 7 Building on Peace, Progress and Security 123
nationally and locally. The decline of total tax revenue as a share of GDP is a cause for alarm: it slipped from 19 percent prior to 1995 to 15 percent between 2003 and 2008, and was a mere 12.4 percent in 2011. Part of the reason for the slippage is the country’s heavy reliance on indirect taxes, which account for over 80 percent of total tax revenue. This shifts the burden of taxation onto the poor. The Government may wish to revisit the balance between direct and indirect taxation for several reasons: to spread the burden of taxation more evenly, to improve revenue collection, to achieve better governance and accountability, and to ensure that revenue is in line with growth. Empirical evidence suggests that governance mechanisms are likely to be more robust in countries where the government relies heavily upon general taxation for its revenues. At the same time, taxation should not distort the business environment and force relocation of enterprises. A study by The Asia Foundation found that economic governance at the local level - essentially the business regulatory environment - varies across provinces, and that the quality of governance affects business performance. Consistently, small- and medium-sized enterprises, which constitute the backbone of the industrial sector across the country, face a range of problems, from poor access to finance, to difficulties in obtaining licences, permits and approvals. A heavy bureaucracy seems to hold back creativity, growth potential and employment prospects. Even though some functions of government have been decentralized to the provinces, provincial governments are highly dependent upon the centre for finances and liquidity, thereby limiting their ability to attend to their local business environment. This hinders independent action. Additionally, coordination between the central and provincial governments is weak, and unclear demarcations of functions have created inefficiencies in public service delivery. There is thus a case for reform of the present structure, such as through better definitions of functions and authority. This issue is being addressed, but change needs to accelerate. Sri Lanka has made great progress in achieving gender equity in health and education, along most indicators. But it can improve in terms of women’s empowerment. From 2004 to 2010, less than 6 percent of the 255 members of Parliament were women; inclusion in governance mechanisms at the sub-national level is even worse. A primary reason for this gap is that political parties nominate considerably more men for positions in political institutions. The introduction and implementation of quotas for women, for parties and for parliament, would be a positive move. Since it is still not entirely clear why women are so poorly represented, it could also be necessary to understand underlying causes before solutions are proposed. Focus on conflict-affected areas, districts with large estate populations and poor rural areas This report demonstrates that the poorest, most deprived parts of the country are the conflict-affected Northern and Eastern provinces, provinces with large estate populations (Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Ratnapura), and remote districts such as Moneragala. The estates have suffered from deep deprivations since the 19th Century; some of their experiences could inform reconstruction in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Poverty, and infant and maternal mortality have come down somewhat, but much remains to be done, and more quickly. Increasing the flow of financial and human resources to deprived areas should be accompanied by improved monitoring and evaluation of resource use, and the achievement of targets. Reconstruction, rebuilding and improved well-being require the assistance of all stakeholders: central and provincial governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, various interest groups and beneficiaries. The fact that many problems are linked, calls for holistic, synergistic solutions that cut across disciplines and ministries, and avoid the proliferation of uncoordinated projects. 124 sri lanka Human Development report 2012
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SriLankaHumanDevelopmentReport 2012
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Sri Lanka Human Development Report
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Acknowledgements This report would
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sri lanka Human Development report
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Access to water 89 Accessibility to
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Figure 1.1: Share of GDP by Provinc
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Table 2.1 Table 2.2: Table 2.3: Tab
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CHAPTER 1 Why Revisit Regional Dime
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spreading its fruits more equitably
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Negotiations are still ongoing to f
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Box 1.1 A Selected Summary of Damag
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Other Vulnerable Groups A number of
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education financing and the distrib
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CHAPTER 2 Patterns of Human Develop
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population. It accounts for inequal
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Regional Variations in the Human De
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Map 2.1: Human Development Index 20
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Gender Inequality Index Among distr
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Comparing Districts Across Indices
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14.5 percent in 2009-2010. As seen
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Economic Growth and Inequality Alth
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The poverty gap index, which measur
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half the headcount index. For the e
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What are the factors that push peop
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lowest incidence of both income and
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CHAPTER 3 Bridging Human Developmen
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disability of the heads of poor hou
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Infant Mortality and Under-five Mor
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and given three doses each of polio
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as the absence of illness, but also
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Box 3.2: Gender-based Violence The
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Figure 3.7: Distribution of Governm
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Figure 3.10: Medical Officers per 1
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While access to public health care
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Data on access in the Northern and
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People in Conflict-affected Areas F
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CHAPTER 4 Bridging Human Developmen
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Levels)—mark the end of the senio
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Funding Education Public investment
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Figure 4.2: Distribution of Out-of-
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Male children are generally less li
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Deficits in information technology
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supports displaced children who ret
Page 87 and 88: Educational Performance: Senior Sec
Page 89 and 90: Building a Knowledge Economy Sri La
Page 91 and 92: Figure 4.10: Distribution of Univer
Page 93 and 94: offered by private institutions. 18
Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER 5 Bridging Human Developmen
Page 97 and 98: twice the rate for the economy as a
Page 99 and 100: across geographic locations and by
Page 101 and 102: Box 5.1 Programmes to Improve Infra
Page 103 and 104: Figure 5.5: Extent (Ac) of Agricult
Page 105 and 106: towards constructing multipurpose r
Page 107 and 108: The length of national, provincial
Page 109 and 110: performs better in terms of mobile
Page 111 and 112: Technological advancements and tran
Page 113 and 114: Figure 5.12: Number of Fishers and
Page 115 and 116: CHAPTER 6 Bridging Governance Gaps:
Page 117 and 118: Figure 6.1: Sri Lanka’s Tax Reven
Page 119 and 120: When taxation becomes more visible,
Page 121 and 122: Table 6.2: The CPI: Comparing Count
Page 123 and 124: While the objective is laudable, it
Page 125 and 126: There has been progress on some ind
Page 127 and 128: to collect their own revenue throug
Page 129 and 130: the public sector in policy reform
Page 131 and 132: Table 6.6: Women in Elected Politic
Page 133 and 134: CHAPTER 7 Building on Peace, Progre
Page 135 and 136: This is a considerable task, but it
Page 137: The Ministry of Health in associati
Page 141 and 142: Notes sri lanka Human Development r
Page 143 and 144: 54 World Health Organization 2001.
Page 145 and 146: amount equivalent to 8 percent of G
Page 147 and 148: Bibliography sri lanka Human Develo
Page 149 and 150: ———. 2009e. Statistics databa
Page 151 and 152: Draft-13%2006%202010.pdf]. Last acc
Page 153 and 154: ———. 2008c. Land Reforms in S
Page 155 and 156: Table A2: Human Development Index a
Page 157 and 158: Table A4: Income Poverty, Multidime
Page 159 and 160: Table A6: Income Poverty and Measur
Page 161 and 162: Table A8: Demography, Land and Hous
Page 163 and 164: Table A10: Infant Mortality, Under-
Page 165 and 166: Table A12: Maternal Nutrition, Tota
Page 167 and 168: Table A14: Health Awareness Percent
Page 169 and 170: Table A16: Primary Gross Enrolment
Page 171 and 172: Table A18: Government Schools and S
Page 173 and 174: Table A20: Labour Force Labour forc
Page 175 and 176: Table A22: Unemployed Population Un
Page 177 and 178: Table A24: Household Possessions Co
Page 179 and 180: Table A26: Average Distance and Tim
Page 181 and 182: Technical Note sri lanka Human Deve
Page 183 and 184: HDI= (I Life Expectancy ) 1 / 3 ×
Page 185 and 186: where MMR=maternal mortality rate;
Page 187 and 188: Multidimensional poverty headcount(
Page 189 and 190:
Figure T.2: Intensity of Poverty an
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of the total deprivations of poor p
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178 sri lanka Human Development rep
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