The Republic of Korea through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) provided a grant worth 6 million USD to Sri Lanka to implement the Strengthening Socioeconomic Resilience of Communities Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Central and Uva Provinces of Sri Lanka’ Project.
The project agreements were signed in September 2022 and the initial scoping work has been carried out in the project locations during the proceeding months by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat), the implementing organization for the project.
Dignitaries including the Country Director of the KOICA Sri Lanka Office Ms. Kim Myung Jin, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Mr.Rohitha Uduwawala, Additional Director General, Department of External Resources Mr. Sampath Manthreenayake and Human Settlements Officer, UN-Habitat Mr.Laxman Perera gathered at the UN Compound, Colombo to officially launch the project activities on 30th January 2023.
This project’s primary locations are Nuwara Eliya and Badulla Districts. The project will be providing interventions across water, sanitation, hygiene, primary health care, and agriculture. Targeting to generate over 64,975 direct and around 920,000 indirect beneficiaries mainly from the agriculture-dependent communities.
Under the project, the selected communities will have increased access to sustainable, safe water and adequate sanitation, reduced prevalence of WASH-related diseases through the promotion of personal hygiene as well as learnings on advanced environmental practices and infrastructure. Further, they will also have improved water and sanitation services at preventive and curative primary health care facilities. To ensure the well-rounded integrated approach, the project will also support the improvement of agricultural practices and extension services to enhance productivity for upliftment of rural and estate communities because the identified communities generally generate their income based on agricultural work.
Another intervention area under this project will be to ensure that the post-harvest losses are reduced and that households in target areas have increased food security and household income.
It was acknowledged by the Sri Lankan Government that interventions like this is timely and much needed.
About KOICA
KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) contributes to the advancement of international cooperation through various projects that build friendly and collaborative relationships and mutual exchanges between Korea and developing countries and support the economic and social development in developing countries, under the mission of ‘Leave no one behind with People- scenter Peace and Prosperity.’ For more information about KOICA,
visit www.koica.go.kr About KOICA
About UN-Habitat
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency responsible for human settlements. UN-Habitat is mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable settlements and contributes to the overall objective of the United Nations system to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. UN-Habitat assists Sri Lanka through a range of interventions focused in on the operational thematic areas of environment and climate change, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, land and housing, disaster risk management, urban planning and governance, pro-poor settlements upgrading, water and sanitation, community infrastructure and social inclusion. Disaster Recovery & Reconstruction. For more information about UN-Habitat, visit www.unhabitat.lk
