September 2015, Colombo. The South Asia Urban Forum, entitled “Urban Quest South Asia”, was held from 21st – 22nd September 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka to discuss key urbanization challenges in the South Asia region. The two day conference brought together urban researchers, practitioners and interest groups from South Asian nations including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan ...

September 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka: With funding from the Government of Japan, UN-Habitat has supported 180,000 people in 120 villages in Sri Lanka’s Northern districts to construct community infrastructure facilities. Commencing in March 2013, the “Project for Rehabilitation of Community Infrastructure and Facilities in the Conflict Affected Areas in the Northern Province” was implemented by ...

August 2015, Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka: Showing resilience and determination following years of hardship and displacement, 52 year old Ms. Sellaiya Sivasothi from Mullaitivu district recently constructed a permanent house for her elderly parents with funding from the Government of India. Her new home is particularly special, as Sivasothi contributed much of her own labour towards ...

Ms. Yasotharan Karthiyayini, a school teacher from Kilinochchi district, recently constructed her permanent house with funding from the project “Improving Living Conditions in Returnee Areas Through Housing”. Her new house has been built using environmentally-friendly, cost effective techniques as a “demonstration house”. Funded by the European Union, Government of Australia and the Swiss Agency for ...

The “Improving Living Conditions in Returnee Areas of Sri Lanka through Housing” Project is a housing recovery initiative providing support to returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Funded primarily through a grant of € 11.8 million by the European Union (EU), donor partners include the Australian Government (DFAT) ...

  June 2015, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka: Three decades of conflict caused significant negative impacts to the environment in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. With the end of the conflict in 2009, reconstruction efforts in the North have further exacerbated the pressures on the environment leading to the rapid depletion of forest cover. With the aim of ...

Community centres are an important element of village life in Sri Lanka. They are used for events, village level administration, to disseminate public information and to conduct public meetings and regular health clinics for residents. The lack of such an indoor space in a village can cause serious inconveniences to communities.  In 2014, with funding ...

Well maintained internal gravel roads are vital for the efficient functioning of village life as they are used regularly by residents to travel to workplaces, agricultural lands and children’s schools as well as to access towns and marketplaces. Badly maintained roads can severely inconvenience people, particularly during the monsoon rains. To improve accessibility in Eralakulam ...

The Indian Housing Project (IHP) is a housing reconstruction project funded by the Government of India and implemented through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Sri Lanka. UN-Habitat is implementing this project in the Northern districts of Killinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna. Through a homeowner driven process, UN-Habitat will support 18,000 families to construct ...

Mr.Vellupillai Sivarasa is a farmer and toddy tapper from Jaffna district. In February 2014, he moved into his new house, constructed with funding from the Indian Housing Project. Using the grant of LKR. 550,000 provided by the Government of India, Sivarasa managed to complete the house construction within seven months. His family is now enjoying ...

Well maintained internal access roads are vital for the smooth functioning of villages in rural Sri Lanka. Internal roads are used daily by residents to travel to their workplaces, agricultural lands and children’s schools as well as to access towns and marketplaces to buy and sell produce. When internal roads are in a state of ...