Over time, Sri Lanka will need to confront legacy challenges such as the structure of non-contributory pensions, strengthen coordination across agencies, and improve the use of data and digital systems. Most importantly, programmes will need to be evaluated systematically to ensure that they reach the right groups and deliver the outcomes the country expects. Without that discipline, even large allocations will struggle to translate into meaningful progress. 
Over time, Sri Lanka will need to confront legacy challenges such as the structure of non-contributory pensions, strengthen coordination across agencies, and improve the use of data and digital systems. Most importantly, programmes will need to be evaluated systematically to ensure that they reach the right groups and deliver the outcomes the country expects. Without that discipline, even large allocations will struggle to translate into meaningful progress. 
This report on data governance in Sri Lanka is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. This report is also part of a broader comparative effort that includes case studies from India, Indonesia, Nepal, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. The report provides contextual information about Sri Lanka’s constitutional and governance framework and discusses laws and policies that promote openness or access to data, as well as those that facilitate interoperability or cross-border data transfers. It also examines the opposite; laws, policies, and practices that restrict openness or access to data. The report emphasizes the significance of data governance in shaping Sri Lanka’s digital future. 
On 15 October 2025, the Asian Development Bank’s Serendipity Knowledge Program (SKOP) hosted a high-level event on Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity, and Data Protection for Digital Economy Development in Sri Lanka. Professor Rohan Samarajiva, Chair of LIRNEasia, participated as a panelist in the discussion on the need for a security-first and privacy-respecting culture from schools to workplaces, including government institutions. The other panelists were Shariffah Rashidah binti Syed Othman (Commissioner of Personal Data Protection, Department of Personal Data Protection, Ministry of Digital, Malaysia), Rajeeva Bandaranaike (Chairman, Data Protection Agency, Sri Lanka), and Avanthi Colombage (Country Manager, Visa Sri Lanka). The panel, moderated by Antonio Zaballos (Director of the Digital Sector at ADB), explored challenges, opportunities, and priorities in creating a resilient digital economy. The SKOP event provided a platform to share international best practices and innovative solutions, advancing dialogue on a secure and trusted digital economy in Sri Lanka. 
LIRNEasia’s Senior Research Manager, Gayani Hurulle, participated in the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on ‘Eradicating Poverty, Empowering People,’ organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), which took place from 23–25 September 2025. The objective of the EGM was to identify and discuss approaches and good practices for inclusive social development policies aimed at eradicating poverty across Asia and the Pacific. Insights and recommendations from the discussions will contribute to the development of ESCAP’s flagship publication, ‘Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific: Eradicating Poverty, Empowering People’ in 2026. The meeting brought together a diverse group of experts from academia, think tanks, research institutions, UN system entities, and national governments across the region. It provided a valuable platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and shaping the future policy agenda on poverty eradication. 
The Foundational Learning Crisis Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) are the basic skills every child should master by the end of Grade 3: understanding short texts, writing simple sentences, and performing basic arithmetic (UNICEF, 2022). Yet in low- and middle-income countries, about 70 percent of ten-year-olds cannot read and understand a short passage—a figure that rose sharply after COVID-19 (World Bank, 2022). Children who miss these skills early rarely catch up, limiting later learning and increasing the risk of dropout (UNICEF, 2022). Weak FLN ripples through a person’s life and a nation’s economy, constraining skill development, employment, and long-term growth (Obiakor & Newman, 2022). Sri Lanka reflects this pattern. 
Reflections on a panel discussion concerning AI and information disorder Across the globe, digital media platforms have exacerbated the intentional and unintentional spread of misinformation. Misinformation, which can be spread both intentionally and unintentionally, has contributed to increased polarization, hateful rhetoric and the deterioration of democratic systems. The development of AI systems may exacerbate these issues, while also creating opportunities to combat the problem. Seasoned voices from the South Asian and African disinformation landscape came together for a panel discussion, held in Colombo, organized by LIRNEasia, titled “Use of AI to Counter the Information Disorder” on July 3, 2025, united by a single question: Can AI assist in solving the very problems it creates? The session, moderated by Merl Chandana (Research Manager and Team Lead of Data, Algorithms, and Policy), focused on the intersection of AI and information integrity in the context of misinformation, especially during elections. 
In August 2025, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and National Integration issued a public notice calling on all stakeholders to submit observations, comments, recommendations, and suggestions on amending the Online Safety Act, No. 09 of 2024, and the proposed amendments gazetted on July 31, 2024. In response, LIRNEasia submitted following comments, drafted by Professor Rohan Samarajiva, Founder and Chair of LIRNEasia. The comments emphasize that the framers of the Act had failed to grasp the unique and novel characteristics of social media, particularly in relation to the viral dissemination of content, limitations on freedom of expression, the vagueness of several offences defined under the Act, and the importance of aligning with existing laws where possible. 
On September 13th, over 300 business professionals gathered in Ratnapura for the 5th Business and Investment Summit, hosted by Lanka Business TV. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Rohan Samarajiva, Chair of LIRNEasia, who explored the theme “Digitalization: What’s in it for Business.” His presentation offered a compelling look at how digital transformation can reshape business environments, drawing on both global benchmarks and Sri Lanka’s own progress. Professor Samarajiva’s presentation looked at Estonia’s model of digital governance and then turned to Sri Lanka’s evolving digital landscape. He highlighted platforms like GovPay, which enable mobile payments for traffic fines and government services. 
Handshake AI out-earned its parent company’s entire decade of revenue in just two years. The surprise? This came not from Handshake’s core career platform, but from an unexpected pivot to data annotation. Back in 2023, CEO Garret Lord realized their real asset was the deep expertise embedded within its vast network of 1,500+ universities and over a million employers. That same strength, he saw, could power something bigger: the data behind AI. 
The Forum on Data Governance in the Philippines was held on Friday, September 12, 2025, at Serenade II, Westin Manila. The event highlighted how data can drive development and serve as an effective policy-making instrument for advancing democratic and inclusive governance in the Philippines. The forum was organized by LIRNEasia in collaboration with Disini Law (Philippines) and Digital Freedom Network (Philippines), with funding support from the International Development Research Centre (a Crown corporation of the Government of Canada). It brought together experts from government agencies, academia, and the private sector to share perspectives and experiences on data policymaking and governance frameworks. Discussions centered on two recent publications under the Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia initiative: the Philippines Country Report and the Regional Synthesis Report. 
On 20th of August 2025, LIRNEasia, together with the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) and the Sri Lanka and Maldives office of the International Labour Organization (ILO) convened a policy roundtable discussion titled “Bridging Policy Pathways for an Inclusive Future of Work”. The roundtable brought together key stakeholders from the public and private sectors including policymakers, trade union and corporate representatives and practitioners, together with regional experts through the FutureWORKS Asia network, an initiative funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Regional experts included Selim Raihan (PhD) of SANEM, Cheryll Soriano (PhD) of the De La Salle University (Philippines), Jayvy Gamboa of Manila Observatory (Philippines), Towfiqul Islam Khan of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (Bangladesh), Balwant Mehta (PhD) of the Institute for Human Development (India), and Reiner Lorenzo Tomayo of Women in Global Health (Philippines), and Gayani Hurulle of LIRNEasia. Opening remarks were delivered by Joni Simpson of the International Labor Organization (Sri Lanka and the Maldives), with sub-themes of the discussion moderated by Helani Galpaya of LIRNEasia, Gayathri Lokuge (PhD) of CEPA, and Sabina Dewan of the JustJobs Network. The objective of the discussion was to explore critical policy themes shaping the future of work in […] 
LIRNEasia began in 2004 as a small telecom policy think tank with five staff members, primarily focused on the economics of regulation within the sector. Over time, our work naturally expanded to explore how digital technology and information can improve lives across Asia, from understanding human behavior and economic sectors through large datasets and algorithms to shaping policies that enable inclusive growth. In recent years, our focus has broadened to global governance, examining how data, platforms, and algorithms should be governed in a world where users, producers, and networks operate across borders. The past four years have been especially challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic crisis forced us to work entirely from home, reduce office space, and cut expenses, while some younger staff sought opportunities abroad. 
The journal club held on the 17th of April 2025 focused on the report ‘Leveraging Digital Public Infrastructure for Building Inclusive Social Protection Systems’ by Priya Vedavalli, Nikita Kwatra, Sharmadha Srinivasan, and Vikram Sinha of Artha Global published in April 2024. Background Portability of social protection, defined as the ease at which beneficiaries can retain access to social protection when they move across geographic lines, is a significant issue in India. This concerns over 400 million Indians (almost a third of the population) who are internal migrants, for whom accessing government services becomes a challenge due to a changing place of residence. The report explores how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), which the authors define as “digital systems that provide identity, enable payments, facilitate the delivery of population-scale services by public and private actors, and other functions that are essential for the public good”, can be used to make social protection more portable, specifically in the context of India. Overview of the Report The authors focus on three federally governed Indian social protection schemes: Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) – India’s largest social protection scheme, which provides subsidized grains through fair price shops. 
On 13th August, a public notice calling for comments on the Online Safety Act No 09 of 2024 (“OSA”) and the proposed amendments published in July 2024 was released. It is a welcome move since the OSA was not open for public consultation in the past. While there are many aspects that warrant a review, here is a short summary of a few clauses that need amendments. Online Safety Commission Section Criticism Recommendation Reason for recommendation / amendment Section 5- Appointment of the members of the Commission The provision states that appointment will be made by President “subject to the approval of the Constitutional Council”. This could lead to confusion and interpretation that the approval is a mere formality. 
The Forum on Data Governance in Thailand, held on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at the Sigma Room (6th floor), Pullman King Power Bangkok, brought together experts from government agencies, academia, and private organizations to exchange their knowledge, perspectives, and experiences on data policymaking and the design of data governance systems in Thailand. The forum was hosted by LIRNEasia (an independent think tank working across the Asia Pacific), in collaboration with the Department of International Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Republic of Korea), Privacy Thailand, and the Institute of Public Policy Studies (IPPS), Thailand. Funding support was provided by the International Development Research Centre (a Crown Corporation of the Government of Canada). The Forum explored the inherent tensions that arise in governing data in light of competing interests and policy objectives – that of collecting, storing, using and sharing data to support development and growth objectives, and of protecting privacy and other human rights that are vital but can be violated through the release of data. LIRNEasia and affiliated researchers explored such tensions as well as the practical ways these tensions are resolved across seven countries – Thailand, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines. 
LIRNEasia’s Senior Research Manager, Gayani Hurulle, was invited to conduct a session on Leveraging Digitalization for Inclusive Growth at a regional workshop on Best Practices for Accelerated Pro-Poor and Inclusive Growth Initiatives, held from 24 to 26 June 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was jointly organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the BIMSTEC Secretariat, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The workshop brought together government officials and experts from BIMSTEC Member States: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, along with representatives from ASEAN countries, think tanks, and development organizations. The goal was to share knowledge and experiences on strategies that have successfully addressed poverty and supported inclusive economic growth. In her session, Gayani shared insights from LIRNEasia’s nationally representative surveys conducted in 2017/2018 (After Access) and 2021, to highlight gaps in access and usage, and insights from two case studies on social protection and labour.