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Village committee to pick Samurdhi beneficiaries

16 Feb 2021

The Department of Samurdhi Development has changed the selection methodology for beneficiaries of the Samurdhi fund, where a village-level committee would henceforth be allowed to recommend the beneficiaries, The Morning learnt. The department’s Media Division told The Morning yesterday (15) that village-level committees would be in charge of recommending Samurdhi beneficiaries from 1 March, as decided by the State Ministry of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Microfinance, Self Employment, Business Development, and Underutilised State Resources Development. These beneficiaries would be recommended in place of families who are withdrawing from the Samurdhi fund for their own personal reasons. The department further confirmed that this is done through village-level committees to eliminate political influence from the selection method. It is alleged that political influence when selecting Samurdhi beneficiaries had been an issue during the United National Front-led Government’s tenure. Each such committee would be headed by the area’s Samurdhi development officer while a local religious leader, the local grama niladhari officer, a public representative from the relevant local government (LG) body, a family planning officer, and a community organisation leader would make up the rest of the body. While potential beneficiaries must apply for the fund, the committee and the Samurdhi development officer would have to present a compiled list to the relevant Divisional Secretariat’s office by the 15th of every month. The Samurdhi programme was launched in 1994 with the objective of eliminating poverty in Sri Lanka by providing livelihood funds to low-income families.  


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