Draft: Open for Comments Social protection is a critical tool for promoting economic and social inclusion, reducing inequality and poverty, addressing vulnerabilities, and investing in human development. Social protection is viewed as nationally owned policies and instruments that provide income or in-kind support, protect from deprivations and exclusion, and empower individuals and households by increasing productivity and capabilities. Responsive and accountable governance plays a vital role in removing barriers and ensuring effective checks and balances, enabling citizens to fully benefit from social protection (UNDP, 2022). The objective of this research is to understand the challenges to achieving responsive and accountable governance in social protection, which hinder citizens from fully benefiting from social protection in Sri Lanka. This paper will draw on one of the key thematic areas identified in UNDP’s Social Protection Offer 2.
(Note: This was originally published in the Daily FT) The Director General of the Department of Samurdhi released a circular on 29 August stating that monthly cash transfers to senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and kidney patients must be administered through Samurdhi banks from September 2022. In practice, this will occur from October. This disbursement mechanism deviates significantly from that used earlier, where each of these schemes had different collection points. Samurdhi banks were used exclusively as distribution points for the Samurdhi monthly cash transfers. Senior citizens’ allowances, PWD benefits and kidney patients’ allowances were disbursed via post offices, State banks and divisional secretariats, respectively (Table 1).