Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka

IPS Research Themes__Poverty & Social Welfareand the Inter-Regional Inequality Facility, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2005. This paper can beaccessed at: http://www.odi.org.uk/inter-regional_inequalityCommunity Based Poverty MonitoringThe IPS in collaboration with the Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre (SPARC) of the University ofColombo was involved in setting up Community Based Poverty Monitoring Systems (CBMS) in four selectedlocations covering rural (Hambantota), urban (Badowita area in Colombo), estate (Nuwara Eliya), and conflictaffected (Batticaloa) areas. This was carried out under the ‘Micro Impact of Macroeconomic and AdjustmentPolicies’ (MIMAP) - Sri Lanka project funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC),Canada. The study aimed at developing a low-cost and easy-to-sustain information system on poverty inselected locations, capacity-building of local government units and community members in monitoring povertyand help them identifying community specific poverty related problems. In addition, a special one day sessionwas organized at the PEP workshop in June, to share the CBMS experience with a wider audience includingresearchers from a number of developing countries.Trade Liberalization and Poverty in Sri LankaThis study, funded by the North-South Institute (NSI), Canada looked at the impact of trade liberalization onpoverty and household welfare, with a special focus on the rice and potato sectors of Sri Lanka. The studyanalyses various trade policy reforms in rice and potato sectors during last decade and their implications. Thefindings showed an overall welfare improvement to the country (in the short run) from a tariff reduction onrice. The study stresses the need to eliminate ad hoc trade policies and move towards a low uniform advaloremtariff rate for rice and potato. It also highlights the importance of having both the compensatory andthe complementary policies to minimize the adverse effects of trade liberalization on households, particularlythe effects on the poor.Research PersonnelGanga Tilakaratna, Ruwan Jayathilaka, Thusitha Kumara andAyodya Galappattige27__________ Annual Report 2005