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Background
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs is
providing support to the Government of Sri Lanka to strengthen the
capacity of the country to fight poverty by institutionalizing the use
of Social Assessment (SA) tools and techniques in the formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluations of development policies and
programmes. The Monitoring and Progress Review Division of the Ministry
of Policy Development and Implementation (MPDI) is the focal point for
the SA project. The Ministry has already established a Social Assessment
Advisory Committee to guide the project. The Additional Secretary of the
MPDI, Mr. S. Rahubadda, serves as the National Project Director. A full
time National Project Manager, Mr. M. H. S. Dayarathne, works under the
direct supervision of the Additional Secretary.
Learned from the past negative experience in Sri Lanka, many government
officials and scholars in Sri Lanka now have some understanding of the
needs for social assessment on development policies and programmes.
Through the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals set by
the United Nations and the Re-Gaining Sri Lanka Goals set by the
Government of Sri Lanka, many government officials are keen on learning
tools for impact assessment. One important element of this development
is the establishment of the National Operations Room (NOR) in the
Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation. The NOR is planned as
the focal point to collect, analyze, and present economic and
development information to policy makers; and to monitor the progress of
national and sub-national development work.
To sum, the Sri Lanka is ready for the introduction and
institutionalization of some systematic Social Assessment and is in need
for a lot of assistance.
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