The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers to the questions posed by Hon. Nandana Pathmakumara on 06.08.2025 are as follows.

¶ 02 1. Objectives and structure of the national poverty alleviation initiative:

¶ 03 - Establish an inter-agency institutional framework to implement poverty eradication programmes. - Prepare development plans representing people’s needs through active public participation. - Empower the public to identify appropriate development outcomes. - Implement development efficiently and effectively through a coordinated process. - Improve access to basic facilities, infrastructure and services. - Ensure sustainability and protect the environment in all development work. - Minimise social issues through appropriate interventions. - Provide protection for vulnerable and at-risk communities. - Shift to productive, livelihood-based pathways. - Improve living standards of the poor.

¶ 04 National People’s Empowerment Policy Council: - A new body chaired by the President; formulates necessary policies and directives for implementation.

¶ 05 National Operations Committee: - A new body chaired by the Minister of Rural Development; executes operations through the People’s Empowerment Secretariat in line with national policy.

¶ 06 Ministries/Provincial Councils: - Existing structures to implement empowerment projects per rural development plans to eradicate poverty.

¶ 07 District Coordination Committee: - Existing structure to be reorganised to implement priority Government programmes including People’s Empowerment at district level; ensure coordination.

¶ 08 Divisional Coordination Committee: - Existing structure to be reorganised to implement priority Government programmes including People’s Empowerment at divisional level; ensure comprehensive coordination.

¶ 09 Community Development Council: - New structure at Grama Niladhari Division level. Chaired by the Divisional Coordination Committee Chair or nominee; the assigned Community Empowerment Officer serves as Secretary. Main task: prepare a GN Division Development Plan with community participation—identify needs and issues, propose projects, monitor and ensure social audits.

¶ 10 A schematic of the programme structure is produced at the end of the answer.

¶ 11 2. Shortcomings identified in previous approaches: - People’s needs not properly represented; minimal participation. - Fragmented programmes by ministries and by regions. - A culture of dependency rather than empowerment. - No systematic process to target those with real needs; same official teams identify beneficiaries across programmes, leading to overlaps. - Many beneficiaries selected through ad hoc, non-realistic criteria. - Social protection programmes do not cover all eligible persons. - Actions driven by political needs rather than national policy. - Lack of adequately skilled human resources for planning and execution. - Disorganised and insufficient data/information for policy-making.

¶ 12 3. The new approach: - Implemented through an integrated framework with active community participation, uniting public representatives and officials. - Increased public participation. - Protection based on a life-cycle approach rather than mere handouts. - Eradication of poverty through empowerment. - Align programmes across all ministries towards poverty eradication and empowerment, avoiding siloed implementation. - In line with the Government’s “Prosperous Country - Beautiful Life” policy: prosperity encompasses strength not only economically, but also in education, health, quality of life and attitudes, elevating individual dignity and national development.

¶ 13 Sri Lanka’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (based on HIES 2019) is 16 percent. Following HIES 2025, the index will be updated next year. The target is to reduce poverty below 5 percent by 2030.

¶ 14 4. Alignment with SDGs: - Proceed according to the global commitment to eradicate all forms of poverty by 2030 and plan/implement continuously under forthcoming UN SDGs.

¶ 15 Annex: Diagram of the “People’s Empowerment” National Initiative structure is produced at the end of the answer.