News

Providing Fresh Water to Weligahakandiya Residents in Batticaloa District

Water is a precious resource in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. As most rural areas are not linked to pipe borne water, families usually obtain water from available sources including wells, rivers and irrigation tanks. The village of Weligahakandiya in Batticaloa district is no exception. The community in this conflict affected village depend mainly on small ...

read more »

Building Environmentally Friendly Community Infrastructure: Multi-Purpose Community Centre, Batticaloa District

The Project for Rehabilitation of Community Infrastructure, Improvement of Livelihoods and Empowerment of Women in the Northern and Eastern Provinces (RCI) is a community infrastructure development project, contributing towards the sustainable rehabilitation and reconstruction of the conflict affected Northern and Eastern Provinces. Funded by the Government of Japan and implemented by UN-Habitat, it is assisting ...

read more »

Government of Japan Provides US$ 4.2 Mn to Improve the Learning Environment in Sri Lanka’s Mannar District

The Government of Japan is providing funding of US$ 4,201,541 (Japanese Yen 507,000,000) through the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for the sustainable resettlement of conflict affected people through community-driven improvement of the learning environment in Mannar District. Over the next 30 months, this project will support fifteen schools to construct and improve infrastructure ...

read more »

UN-Habitat Meets New Housing Minister

20th February 2015, Colombo: Hon. Sajith Premadasa, the Minister of Housing and Samurdhi met with a delegation of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) officials lead by Mr. Tim McNair, Chief Technical Advisor, at the Ministry premises in Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla recently. The officials discussed the status of the housing sector, planned interventions and opportunities ...

read more »

Stories from the field : Building Environmentally-Friendly Houses in the North of Sri Lanka Mr. Shahul Hameed Anees, Puthuweli Village, Mannar District

February 2015, Mannar, Sri Lanka. The “Improving Living Conditions in Returnee Areas of Sri Lanka through Housing” project is a housing recovery initiative supporting returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Funded primarily through a Grant of € 11.8 million by the European Union (EU), it is built on the ...

read more »

UN-Habitat Promotes Eco-Friendly, Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks for Construction

February 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka. UN-Habitat, promoting environmentally friendly construction practices through its post-conflict recovery programme, has loaned two block making machines for women’s community groups to manufacture Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. This activity will support environmentally friendly and cost-effective housing and infrastructure construction in the conflict affected districts ...

read more »

Self-lighting Solar Lamp for Thiruvaiyaru Community Centre in Kilinochchi District.

December 2014, Killinochchi District:The Thiruvaiyaru community centre in Kilinochchi District was reconstructed in early 2014 with funding from the Government of Japan. To facilitate the smooth functioning of this important community building, two companies, SEIWA Electric Mfg of Japan and Tos Lanka Co. (Pvt) Ltd have gifted a self-lighting solar lamp to light the exterior ...

read more »

Introducing environmentally friendly construction techniques for post-conflict housing and community infrastructure

October 2014, Killinochchi, Sri Lanka: The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) celebrated United Nations day in Killinochchi with a training programme on mud concrete technology, a new, environmentally friendly construction method introduced by a team from University of Moratuwa. The training programme was aimed at UN-Habitat technical staff and local masons to introduce this ...

read more »

Workshop on Incremental Housing

October 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Government officials from national institutions in disaster management, housing and construction, representatives of finance institutions, donors and development practitioners participated in a two day workshop entitled ‘Designing & Financing Incremental Housing’ held in Colombo. Organized by UN-Habitat at the request of the European Union Delegation in Sri Lanka, the forum ...

read more »

President of Sri Lanka Launches the National Housing Policy on World Habitat Day

6 October 2014,  Colombo, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s first National Housing Policy was launched by the President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse, at the World Habitat Day celebrations in Colombo. Over 5,000 people from the city’s underserved settlements including school children participated at the celebrations. This event marked the culmination of a series ...

read more »