Looking at rural poverty and aid effectiveness through gender: a case of rural Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is a middle income country with a gross domestic production of about $ 50 billion. The human development index places Sri Lanka at the 97th position. Gender Inequality Index (GII) rank Sri Lanka at 74. The Gini index has reduced from 46 in 1995 to 40.3 in 2007; however, the economic inequalities are severe among rural areas. There is a significant discrepancy between the gender in terms of economic opportunities and economic status. The majority of Sri Lanka‟s workforce resides in rural areas and is engaged in agricultural activities. A significant share of the agricultural production is still used for self-sufficiency. Economic performance and poverty are not evenly spread across the nine provinces in Sri Lanka and serious regional disparities exist. Despite the many interventions by donor community and the government, there is a growing debate on the effectiveness of these aids on reducing the poverty of the rural Sri Lanka and the disparities among male and female headed households. This study looked at Uva and North Central provinces where the poverty rates are extremely high while donor interventions on poverty reduction are high as well. Results have suggested that while the short term livelihood interventions have been successful the long term interventions have not created significant impacts in reducing the poverty. There are disparities among the women headed households in receiving the livelihood supports both short and long term. While male headed households are more successful in utilizing long term livelihood support to come out of poverty, female headed households have failed to do so.