“Life and Debt”: Assessing the Impacts of Participatory Housing Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka

Vagisha Gunasekara,Kulsabanathan Romeshun,Mira Philips,Mohammed Munas

doi:10.5334/sta.434

Abstract

The Owner Driven Housing Assistance (ODHA) scheme is a donor and government supported initiative to help construct housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their original areas of residence after the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. While ODHA is a commendable initiative for rebuilding the lives of those displaced by war, available evidence indicates an increase in household debt among the beneficiaries of such housing schemes and their vulnerability to livelihood insecurities after resettlement. Based on an analysis of the socio-economic status of ODHA beneficiaries in the northern Sri Lankan districts of Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Jaffna, this paper concludes that the financing modality of the housing programme has had a catalytic effect on indebtedness among beneficiaries. An inadequate understanding of the social, economic and cultural contexts that define the lives of beneficiaries on the part of donors and implementers appears to be contributing to unintended and negative repercussions of housing assistance. This paper illustrates how post-war participatory development projects such as the ODHA scheme can further exacerbate the vulnerability of war-affected populations, unless donors and policy makers have a holistic understanding of the varying contexts that define the experiences of those receiving development assistance.

Highlights

At the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, roughly 150,000 houses in the Northern Province – a region heavily affected by fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – needed to be repaired or reconstructed (IFRC 2013)
Recommendations This study set out to examine the impacts of Owner-Driven Housing Assistance (ODHA) on increasing indebtedness in three districts in northern Sri Lanka
The research found that participation in the owner-driven housing project has played a catalytic role in driving a significant proportion of households into a quagmire of debt

Summary

Introduction

At the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, roughly 150,000 houses in the Northern Province – a region heavily affected by fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – needed to be repaired or reconstructed (IFRC 2013). A key operational modality of ODHA, common to many international NGOs, is to physically involve the household members in building the house and financially contributing to the construction process. The following study stems from widespread curiosity and concern among state officials, international and local NGOs and civil society actors regarding the negative impacts of participatory development projects such as ODHA on war-affected regions. A mid-term evaluation of the housing programme found that, while beneficiary satisfaction is high in ODHA projects, there is chronic indebtedness among these households (AETS 2012). The evaluation revealed that vulnerable, waraffected families are struggling to repay loans taken to reconstruct their houses, and recommended an assessment of indebtedness among beneficiaries of ODHA projects (ibid.)

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Conclusion