The northern districts of Sri Lanka have been devastated with massive levels of destruction to private property and public infrastructure. While conflict affected civilians have returned or are returning to their ancestral villages, they still have none or very limited resources to cope with the multifold challenges of day to day life. Key humanitarian requirements like reconstruction efforts are being addressed, but other unmet and urgent needs remain on the ground, which need to be addressed through opportunity-driven local initiatives of a limited scope. Community structures need to be reorganised and strengthened, psychosocial needs have to be catered to and issues of an ecological nature have to be addressed. The SDC Small Actions Programme is designed primarily to address such needs.

The Small Actions Programme supports initiatives geared towards human security, economic, social and civic rehabilitation. The programme targets the wellbeing of vulnerable civilian populations displaced by the armed conflict and in need of humanitarian assistance. A majority of the Small Action interventions are locally developed projects which complement and strengthen SDC’s humanitarian programme in Northern Sri Lanka. Local partners are supported throughout the implementation process with the intention of empowering village based organisations, to ensure  the successful and sustainable resettlement of the civilian population.

Projects supported in the past

Some of the Small Actions supported include among others, capacity building of local authorities and community organizations, water and sanitation activities, ecological preservation (waste management), promotion of safer construction methods and rehabilitation of community infrastructure.

Background

Since 2010 SDC has adopted a holistic village approach in the Resettlement Programme for returnee families, initially begun in the Jaffna district and then extended into the Killinochchi District in 2011. The housing programme is flanked with infrastructure support consisting of access to safe water, community buildings, preschools and small economic development projects. SDC also seeks to complement this holistic approach by supporting interventions which are prioritized by communities during participatory village needs assessments.

Partners

SDC works with national and local organizations with a referenced track record in their respective field of intervention, which meet defined selection criteria and minimum standards.

Generally the Small Actions Projects are confined to a short period of time and a limited budget.