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 6 November 2025, the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) at National Law University Delhi hosted a hybrid, day-long event on “Operationalising AI Safety” at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. LIRNEasia’s CEO, Helani Galpaya, was invited as a panellist to the main panel discussion, “Operationalising AI Safety”, which explored the conceptions of AI safety, what it involves, and how it can be operationalised, particularly through AISIs. 
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 is seeking experienced qualitative researchers to collaborate on a new study examining information exposure, belief, and sharing behaviors among Sri Lankan diaspora communities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy. This research builds on LIRNEasia’s ongoing work on information disorder, including nationally representative surveys and experimental studies in Sri Lanka. The diaspora study extends this evidence base to explore how transnational ties, trust, and identity influence how Sri Lankans abroad encounter and respond to misinformation. We are looking for researchers or moderators who can: Lead participant recruitment across diverse Sri Lankan diaspora communities (Sinhala, Sri Lankan Tamil, Indian-Origin Tamil, and Moor). Conduct Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) in participants’ preferred language (Sinhala, Tamil, or English). 
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. 
LIRNEasia is inviting proposals from qualified firms and organizations to develop an interactive voter education game and educational tool aimed at enhancing civic participation among youth, first-time voters, and seasoned voters. These are expected to provide an engaging, interactive platform to learn about electoral processes and build resilience against election-related misinformation. Further details are available in the full RFP. The full RFP can be accessed here. Proposals must be submitted to LIRNEasia by 12:00 PM IST on 3rd November 2025. 
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. 
2025 සැප්තැම්බර් 28 වන දින “ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතට (Online Safety Act) කළ යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?” යන තේමාව යටතේ පැවති කතිකාවකදී, ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ කනිෂ්ඨ පර්යේෂක නීතිඥ සචිනි රණසිංහ ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතේ දුර්වලතා පිළිබඳව අදහස් පළ කළාය. පනතේ ප්රධාන දුර්වලතා ලෙස ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නේ මෙම පනතට අයත් වැරදි අපැහැදිලි, පුළුල් සහ අවිනිශ්චිත ලෙස නිර්වචනය කර ඇති බවත්, රටේ දැනට පවතින දණ්ඩ නීති මගින් මෙම පනත යටතේ ඇති සමහරක් වැරදි දැනටමත් ආවරණය වන බවත් ය. මෙම කතිකාව සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වන ජාතික ව්යාපාරය විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද අතර ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රොහාන් සමරජීව මහතා විසින් මෙහෙයවන ලදී. ඇයගේ කරුණු පැහැදිලි කිරීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන් නරඹන්න. 
AI and digital technology in education is a key research area for LIRNEasia. We are therefore keen to study cutting-edge research and best practices, and to translate these insights into policy and practice in Sri Lanka. In Journal Clubs, we take an in-depth look at a piece of existing literature to inform our research. On the 25th of August 2025, we evaluated the report titled ‘Understanding the Impacts of Generative AI on Children’, published by the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) in 2025. The research consisted of: Quantitative: Surveyed the perceptions and experiences around Gen AI by: a) Children and their parents or carers using a nationally representative survey with a sample size of 780 children aged 8-12. 
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 […]