Background

Since the December 26, 2004 Tsunami, there have been ongoing extensive rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the Tsunami affected regions of Sri Lanka. Both the Central Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and international and local Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) have been involved in carrying out these efforts.

Pradesiya Sabha Divisions (commonly referred to as PSs), particularly those in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, suffer from lack of managerial, financial and technical capacities to carry out their delegated roles. This is a result of the limited responsibility bestowed upon them and the lack of autonomy to make decisions.

According to the governance assessment included in a nationwide assessment of the Tsunami recovery efforts: “despite a desire to take on more responsibility at the district and divisional levels for directing the recovery effort, there are clear gaps or weaknesses in the capacity of these local structures to do so effectively, notably in the areas of planning and monitoring, human resource management, financial management, inclusive urban development and community consultation/mobilization. They will thus need urgent and substantive support if they are to effectively carry out such responsibilities (Rebuilding Sri Lanka: Assessment of Tsunami Recovery Implementation)”.

In response to this, RIWASH aimed to build capacity of the Provincial Council (PC), PSs, and CBOs as well as other Partner Organizations (PO) in 9 PS areas in the Batticaloa and Ampara districts. Most of the PSs lack any formal long-term development plans for water and sanitation. They entirely rely on adhoc planning on annual basis which are mostly limited to small-scale geographical and demographic coverage.

Thus, RIWASH decided to formulate Grama Niladhari Division (GND) Master Plans to guide various stakeholders (including the Government of Sri Lanka) for the implementation of water, sanitation, waste and hygiene issues and needs assessed, at the GND level. This exercise is expected to help PS/s to plan and submit annual priorities according to GoSL budget and planning cycle. This is also expected to ensure annual funds to be available on time to implement prioritized GND Master Plans.