Research & Publications of SIHL & Sarvodaya

As Sri Lanka prepares for its ninth presidential election on September 21, 2024, the country stands at a critical juncture, with voters eager to assess the candidates’ visions for addressing pressing socioeconomic issues. Central to this election are the themes of education and social protection, two areas deeply impacted by the economic crisis that triggered mass protests in 2022, known as the Aragalaya (Struggle). The protests, which resulted in the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, reflected widespread dissatisfaction with economic mismanagement and deepening inequality.
Since then, under President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership, Sri Lanka has secured a US$2.9 billion IMF bailout, leading to some economic stabilization, including lower inflation and increased foreign reserves. However, the cost of living remains high, and poverty levels have surged, exacerbating inequalities. In this context, education and social protection have become focal points of political debate, as both are seen as key to rebuilding a more equitable society and restoring public confidence in the government.

The Toolkit aims to help equip faith actors to engage actively in the protection of children from violence in early childhood and the promotion of children’s holistic well-being by supporting parents, caregivers, educators and communities to nurture children’s spiritual development and take an active role in addressing violence in early childhood.

The Toolkit has 3 specific aims:
1. Create spaces for faith actors, parents, caregivers and educators to reflect on the spiritual development of children and identify how it benefits children.
2. Encourage self-examination of religious and spiritual principles, teachings and practices that affirm the dignity of the child and challenge those that can be used to condone violence against children in child upbringing.
3. Provide tools for building caregiving practices and skills for nurturing spiritual development of children.
The Toolkit addresses the importance of the spiritual development of children for their protection from violence and for the promotion of their holistic development and well-being.

This handbook has been developed with the intention of providing a basic outline of key principles of health and essentials of health-related issues prevailing at the grass root level for community facilitators and trainers of the ‘Suvodaya’ health committees. Special emphasis has been given to highlighting the issues prevailing in the country during the current crisis, particularly on health, nutrition, and food security. By understanding these key principles of health and health issues of public concern, facilitators/ trainers will be able to conceptualize, plan, develop, implement, and monitor numerous health interventions tailored to their local context.
Further, this handbook can be used as a guide to train Suvodaya health committee members at the villagers on different aspects of community health service delivery at the grass root level. Facilitators are expected to prepare presentations, role plays and scenarios on their own, with the technical inputs from local public health teams to educate village level Suvodaya committee members.

This report is the outcome of a survey conducted on: “Impact of COVID-19: Rapid Needs Assessment for Religious and Faith Leaders”. The Survey was carried out by Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya in collaboration with UNICEF Sri Lanka and Arigatou Inter- national. The purpose of the survey was to understand the experiences and challenges faced by religious and faith leaders in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 crisis. This report aims to identify the way forward, to meaningfully support religious and faith leaders to engage with their followers and to mobilize religious communities to ensure the well-being of children in the current context.

The objective of this handbook is to develop and enhance the knowledge and skills of grass root level public health workers on preparedness, mitigation and response for multi-hazard scenarios and complex emergencies. Moreover, this could be used as a manual for Training of Trainers (ToT) at the grass root level where trainees of district level programmes could act as trainers at the grass root level.
Primary target audience is Medical Officers of Health (MOH) and their public health teams and first responders at the grassroot level, including Public Health Inspectors (PHI), Public Health Midwives (PHM), Supervising Public Health Inspectors (SPHI) and Public Health Nursing Sisters (PHNS). Furthermore, other supervisory officers of public health staff at the MOH level are targeted for the delivery of the training. District supervisory officers such as Regional Epidemiologists, Medical Officers of Maternal and Child Health, District supervisory officers of PHI and PHMs can be involved either as trainees or observers depending on the local context and objectives of the local training.

This Report showcases community level projects that were initiated by Project Beneficiaries of the AHA : Awarness with Humanitarian Action Project. It is a collection of success stories and innovative approaches to address social challenges.

This paper provides an overview of the issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, including pandemic preparedness and the restrictions imposed in the country in the name of the pandemic. It also analyses the manner in which the pandemic has affected disadvantaged groups and state response in Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program and the status of vaccine equity in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries irrespective of their state of development. In countries with traditional societies, religious leaders have been acknowledged as key stakeholders in community engagement activities, including disease prevention. A community-level prevention model was established in 2020 by the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB), Sri Lanka, which incorporated mobilisation of the clergy to support the prevention and response schemes to COVID-19 with non-governmental stakeholders. This model was part of a more extensive community engagement network established by the HPB in cooperation with the country offices for WHO and UNICEF. Building trust, empowering behavioural traits applicable to minimise risks from COVID-19, leadership and coordination, message dissemination, addressing stigma and discrimination, supporting testing procedures, contact tracing activities and vaccination, building community resilience, spiritual and psychosocial support, and welfare provision are some of the useful factors that were identified in the model. Furthermore, a much broader and holistic approach is needed to focus on health behaviours and social and cultural aspects in a multi-fac- eted nature. This paper highlights a novel COVID-19 prevention model with active involvement of religious leaders that can be implemented in low resource settings. Our experience from Sri Lanka demonstrates the feasibility of implementing this model to mitigate the disastrous situation following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Community Engagement increases the likelihood that communities lead on the issues that affect them, use services, and build resilience. During the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, Community Engagement should be at the center. As Community Leaders and Influencers, the role you play is crucial and significant for Sri Lanka to recover better from COVID-19.
This information and action guide mainly covers four sections; Vaccination for Diseases, COVID-19 Vaccination, COVID-19 preventive behaviours and Community Engagement during COVID-19 vaccine roll out. Guide provides overall recommendations for the community role under the fourth section, and it is expected from Community Leaders and Influencers to use those recommendations as a guide and modify according to the ground realities.

This report lays out the public health initiatives delivered by the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. Aligned by its renewed purpose, Sarvodaya launched a signature initiative coined as Suwodaya i.e., Awakening of Wellbeing particularly focusing on COVID-19 response initiatives. Sarvodaya has given meticulous consideration when launching Suwodaya considering the local realities of the communities they serve. The publication covers the period March 2020 to March 2021 qualifying it to be an annual report. However, the Suwodaya initiative will continue until Sri Lanka achieves satisfactory herd immunity levels and therefore Sarvodaya hopes to expand the programme in the months to come. Aiming at that long term goal, Sarvodaya has shaped Suwodaya to transform into a holistic wellbeing programme with much emphasis on COVID- 19 response.

Social media is at the forefront of digital technology, embedded as a facet of modern-day life. As a digital tool with a wide range of apps and websites, it allows people to easily create content, communicate information and ideas in real-time, and build relationships in the virtual world. In this setting, social media has also been identified as a major contributor to modern-day violence of various forms.
Violent extremism, misinformation, hate speech, trolling and harassment targeting females, ethnic and gender minorities (LGBTQ), and political opponents are on the rise globally as well as in Sri Lanka. Recognising the urgency in addressing this situation, the British Council Sri Lanka and the Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning undertook a study to explore youth perspectives around social media and violence.
The findings of the survey will contribute to the designing and implementation of effective measures to minimise and eradicate violence on social media.

This handbook provides basic health etiquette to be followed in preventing outbreaks in community settings. The handbook has been utilised by Sarvodaya Community Leaders in their respective communities inorder to sustain preventive action in their respective communities. The handbook is available in Sinhala and Tamil Languages.

Content coming soon

The Toolkit aims to help equip faith actors to engage actively in the protection of children from violence in early childhood and the promotion of children’s holistic well-being by supporting parents, caregivers, educators and communities to nurture children’s spiritual development and take an active role in addressing violence in early childhood.

The Toolkit has 3 specific aims:
1. Create spaces for faith actors, parents, caregivers and educators to reflect on the spiritual development of children and identify how it benefits children.
2. Encourage self-examination of religious and spiritual principles, teachings and practices that affirm the dignity of the child and challenge those that can be used to condone violence against children in child upbringing.
3. Provide tools for building caregiving practices and skills for nurturing spiritual development of children.
The Toolkit addresses the importance of the spiritual development of children for their protection from violence and for the promotion of their holistic development and well-being.

This handbook has been developed with the intention of providing a basic outline of key principles of health and essentials of health-related issues prevailing at the grass root level for community facilitators and trainers of the ‘Suvodaya’ health committees. Special emphasis has been given to highlighting the issues prevailing in the country during the current crisis, particularly on health, nutrition, and food security. By understanding these key principles of health and health issues of public concern, facilitators/ trainers will be able to conceptualize, plan, develop, implement, and monitor numerous health interventions tailored to their local context.
Further, this handbook can be used as a guide to train Suvodaya health committee members at the villagers on different aspects of community health service delivery at the grass root level. Facilitators are expected to prepare presentations, role plays and scenarios on their own, with the technical inputs from local public health teams to educate village level Suvodaya committee members.

This report is the outcome of a survey conducted on: “Impact of COVID-19: Rapid Needs Assessment for Religious and Faith Leaders”. The Survey was carried out by Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya in collaboration with UNICEF Sri Lanka and Arigatou Inter- national. The purpose of the survey was to understand the experiences and challenges faced by religious and faith leaders in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 crisis. This report aims to identify the way forward, to meaningfully support religious and faith leaders to engage with their followers and to mobilize religious communities to ensure the well-being of children in the current context.

The objective of this handbook is to develop and enhance the knowledge and skills of grass root level public health workers on preparedness, mitigation and response for multi-hazard scenarios and complex emergencies. Moreover, this could be used as a manual for Training of Trainers (ToT) at the grass root level where trainees of district level programmes could act as trainers at the grass root level.
Primary target audience is Medical Officers of Health (MOH) and their public health teams and first responders at the grassroot level, including Public Health Inspectors (PHI), Public Health Midwives (PHM), Supervising Public Health Inspectors (SPHI) and Public Health Nursing Sisters (PHNS). Furthermore, other supervisory officers of public health staff at the MOH level are targeted for the delivery of the training. District supervisory officers such as Regional Epidemiologists, Medical Officers of Maternal and Child Health, District supervisory officers of PHI and PHMs can be involved either as trainees or observers depending on the local context and objectives of the local training.

This Report showcases community level projects that were initiated by Project Beneficiaries of the AHA : Awarness with Humanitarian Action Project. It is a collection of success stories and innovative approaches to address social challenges.

This paper provides an overview of the issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, including pandemic preparedness and the restrictions imposed in the country in the name of the pandemic. It also analyses the manner in which the pandemic has affected disadvantaged groups and state response in Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program and the status of vaccine equity in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries irrespective of their state of development. In countries with traditional societies, religious leaders have been acknowledged as key stakeholders in community engagement activities, including disease prevention. A community-level prevention model was established in 2020 by the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB), Sri Lanka, which incorporated mobilisation of the clergy to support the prevention and response schemes to COVID-19 with non-governmental stakeholders. This model was part of a more extensive community engagement network established by the HPB in cooperation with the country offices for WHO and UNICEF. Building trust, empowering behavioural traits applicable to minimise risks from COVID-19, leadership and coordination, message dissemination, addressing stigma and discrimination, supporting testing procedures, contact tracing activities and vaccination, building community resilience, spiritual and psychosocial support, and welfare provision are some of the useful factors that were identified in the model. Furthermore, a much broader and holistic approach is needed to focus on health behaviours and social and cultural aspects in a multi-fac- eted nature. This paper highlights a novel COVID-19 prevention model with active involvement of religious leaders that can be implemented in low resource settings. Our experience from Sri Lanka demonstrates the feasibility of implementing this model to mitigate the disastrous situation following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Community Engagement increases the likelihood that communities lead on the issues that affect them, use services, and build resilience. During the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, Community Engagement should be at the center. As Community Leaders and Influencers, the role you play is crucial and significant for Sri Lanka to recover better from COVID-19.
This information and action guide mainly covers four sections; Vaccination for Diseases, COVID-19 Vaccination, COVID-19 preventive behaviours and Community Engagement during COVID-19 vaccine roll out. Guide provides overall recommendations for the community role under the fourth section, and it is expected from Community Leaders and Influencers to use those recommendations as a guide and modify according to the ground realities.

This report lays out the public health initiatives delivered by the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. Aligned by its renewed purpose, Sarvodaya launched a signature initiative coined as Suwodaya i.e., Awakening of Wellbeing particularly focusing on COVID-19 response initiatives. Sarvodaya has given meticulous consideration when launching Suwodaya considering the local realities of the communities they serve. The publication covers the period March 2020 to March 2021 qualifying it to be an annual report. However, the Suwodaya initiative will continue until Sri Lanka achieves satisfactory herd immunity levels and therefore Sarvodaya hopes to expand the programme in the months to come. Aiming at that long term goal, Sarvodaya has shaped Suwodaya to transform into a holistic wellbeing programme with much emphasis on COVID- 19 response.

Social media is at the forefront of digital technology, embedded as a facet of modern-day life. As a digital tool with a wide range of apps and websites, it allows people to easily create content, communicate information and ideas in real-time, and build relationships in the virtual world. In this setting, social media has also been identified as a major contributor to modern-day violence of various forms.
Violent extremism, misinformation, hate speech, trolling and harassment targeting females, ethnic and gender minorities (LGBTQ), and political opponents are on the rise globally as well as in Sri Lanka. Recognising the urgency in addressing this situation, the British Council Sri Lanka and the Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning undertook a study to explore youth perspectives around social media and violence.
The findings of the survey will contribute to the designing and implementation of effective measures to minimise and eradicate violence on social media.

This handbook provides basic health etiquette to be followed in preventing outbreaks in community settings. The handbook has been utilised by Sarvodaya Community Leaders in their respective communities inorder to sustain preventive action in their respective communities. The handbook is available in Sinhala and Tamil Languages.