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| Thursday, 24 June 2004 |
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Centre for Poverty Analysis, key institution for poverty studies The Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), one of Sri Lanka's leading institutions providing services on poverty and poverty related issues, will take on fresh challenges after successfully having completed three years, officials for the centre said this week in Colombo, states a press release by CEPA. Poverty has increasingly attracted the attention of governments and international organisations. There is a growing awareness of the need for quality research on the multifaceted dimensions of poverty, as a means of understanding the nature and causes of poverty, said CEPA chairperson Dr. Nimal Sanderatne, in his statement to the Centre's annual report. CEPA is confident that its research and other activities will contribute towards the better understanding of the cause of poverty and in the formulation of effective policies for poverty reduction, he added. Established in May 2001 as an independent and non-profit organisation, CEPA's main objectives are to: provide independent analysis of the causes, characteristics and impacts of poverty in Sri Lanka; capacity building of development organizations and professionals to monitor poverty related impacts; and improve know-how transfer and policy dialogue on poverty. CEPA achieves this by providing services in the areas of applied research, advisory services, training, and dialogue and exchange within its core programme areas. CEPA programmes are presently funded by the Department For International Development (DFID) UK and the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ), through the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). GTZ also provides technical support through the Poverty Impact Monitoring Unit (PIMU), which facilitated the establishment of CEPA. According to CEPA's Deputy Director, Dilkie Fernando, CEPA is today fully recognized as a frontline research centre for poverty related issues and for the provision of professional services aimed at understanding, measuring the ultimately reducing it. Accordingly, CEPA has embarked on a process of publishing the substantial work undertaken by the organisation in its service provision. The aim is to disseminate the results of its research and advisory services in order to transfer lessons learnt on a wide range of issues relating to poverty. The first batch of publications was released in May and comprised a study on Poverty Measurement Methodology, a Review of Literature on Poverty and Conflict and a paper on Household Choices in Sri Lanka's Central Province. In addition CEPA plans to launch a series of Policy Briefs, specifically targeted at policy makers in government, non-government and donor organizations. Influencing policy also involves facilitating processes for dialogue and exchange. In March this year, CEPA coordinated the Regional Conference on Poverty Monitoring in Asia, which saw the pooling of knowledge by ten Asian countries. CEPA also co-hosts the annual symposium on poverty research, which has today become a noteworthy contributor to the country's poverty reduction dialogue. The Board of Directors of CEPA are: Dr. Nimal Sanderatne, Chairperson; Wimal Nanayakkara, Deputy Chairperson and Director-General, Department of Census and Statistics; Ms. Manohari Alles, Banker; Dr. Anila Dias Bandaranaike, Director-Statistics, Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Sunil Bastian, Consultant; Sam Rahubadda, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation; Dr. Roland F. Steurer, Country Director, GTZ, and Tom Beloe, Social Development Advisor, DFID Sri Lanka. |
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