Poverty in Sri Lanka

[2][incomplete short citation] While all these indicate that Sri Lanka should be experiencing a high standard of living, until recently it has only ranked in the medium category of the Human Development Index (HDI).

[1] This highlights a link between isolation from social and economic infrastructure, cities and markets, and higher levels of poverty incidence.

In 2008, it was reported that tens of thousands of men from impoverished villages were joining the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and Sri Lanka Police Service to escape rural poverty, as the wages offered by the security services significantly raise the standard of living for soldiers and their families.

Sarvodaya is Sri Lanka's largest NGO, which includes many other divisional units dedicated to different development projects.

Sarvodaya Economic Empowerment Development Services (SEEDS) began its operation as a separate division in 1986 and now reaches 18 of Sri Lanka's 25 districts.

Its aim is to stimulate an attitude of entrepreneurship, innovation, thrift and sustainable development in the rural areas.

Village banking treats the whole community as one unit and establishes semi-formal or formal institutions through which micro-finance is dispensed.

The banks are run by their own people: they choose their members, elect their own officers, establish their own by-laws, distribute loans to individuals, and collect payments and savings.

Secondly, they have guaranteed and sure access to capital thus removing uncertainty and permitting a confidential basis to stay in business and even expand.

Other than financial services, SEEDS has been able to integrate spiritual revival, social change and economic development.