Gamidiriya
rural development a roaring success
Gamini Warushamana
Sunday Observer 2006/08/20 |
Gamidiriya, the community development and livelihood
improvement project would be the most successful story in rural
development in Sri Lanka, said the CEO of the project P. Batuwitage.
One-and-a-half years after the implementation of the project
we can now see the results and they are impressive, he said.
Gamidiriya, a World Bank (WB) funded project covers Badulla,
Moneragala, Hambantota, Matara and the Galle districts. US$
51 million has been allocated for the first phase and the WB
has pledged US$ 181 million for the full 12-year implementation
based on the achievement of targets.
This is totally a community based development approach which
aims to empower, strengthen and formally organise people. Under
the community empowerment, information is made available to
the community and they are supported financially. The most important
feature is the transfer of the decision making authority to
the people. "If you give the reins of the decision making
to the people they will do marvelous things", Batuwitage
said citing a number of successful projects.
The people of Kabillegama in Welimada selected a water supply
project as the first priority in infrastructure development.
There were 224 families who faced severe hardships due to the
lack of drinking water.
For villagers of Alugalge in the Moneragala district the priority
was a causeway across the Mee Ella Oya. People in this area
faced tremendous difficulties during the rainy season in crossing
the waterway to reach the main road, nearby town Siyambalanduwa
or schools. These were burning problems of the people over a
long period of time but it was not recognised by the supply
driven development process, Batuwitage said.
In income generation activities Pathanegedara, Velikele, Pinnagolla
and Vasipatana villages in the Badulla district people cultivate
yams (Kiriala) for export to Pakistan. People's Companies in
the Kahagolla and Alugala villages in the Moneragala district
have entered into forward sales agreements with the National
Livestock Development Board to supply quality maize.
People's companies in Ketiyape and Ketapalakandathe villages
in the Matara district produce dehydrated jak fruits for the
export market. Kabillegama villages produce Coffee Arabica for
a German company. These are done on a small scale but it is
a good start, Batuwitage said.
The project runs through People's Companies that are registered
under the Registrar of Companies. There are active committees
in a company for social auditing, financial auditing, sub project
formulation, procurement, savings and investment.
The company is responsible to the community at the general assembly
with 80% of the community and more than 50% of female participation.
Gamidiriya is a demand driven project and the selection of the
villages is based on poverty statistics and self selection process.
In the past most of the development projects were supply driven
and government involved. It has been proved that the projects
had not achieved the desired results.
There were a lot of leakages of the funds before it reached
the targeted objective. However, in this participatory approach,
the stick is given to the people, Batuwitage said.
Gamidiriya was designed to scale up the Village Self Help Learning
Initiative (VSHLI) project successfully operating in the Polonnaruwa
district. VSHLI has shown very successful results in infrastructure
development and income generating activities. |
