Divineguma Programme
Basic Information
Country
Geographic area
Institutions and agencies involved
Sri Lanka - සමාජ සවිබල ගැන්වීම සහ සුබසාධන අමාත්යාංශය, MoSEW (Ministry of Social Empowerment and Welfare)
World Bank. 2016. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR53.7 million (US$75 million equivalent) to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Social Safety Nets Project. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. . accessed 18 May 2018.
Programme type
Population group
Women, Mother, Pregnant, Lactating women
Programme Details
Programme objectives
The programme focuses on the objective of poverty alleviation
Alderman, H., Ugo G., and Ruslan, Y. (editors). 2018. The 1.5 Billion People Question: Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers? Washington, D.C.: World Bank. <https://bit.ly/2PKKIhv>. Accessed 18 May 2018.
Programme components
Unconditional cash transfers, social security/insurance provisions (for the birth of children, marriage, hospitalisation and death), housing assistance, nutritional and microfinance support, as well as a livelihoods component. In addition, the programme also provides a monthly food basket to pregnant women and young mothers (until the child reached 1 year of age).
[1] Arruda, P.; Markhof, Y.; Franciscon, I.; Silva, W. and Bilo, C. 2020. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a child and equity perspective. Research Report No. 46. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. < https://ipcig.org/pub/eng/RR46_Overview_of_non_contributory_social_protection_programmes.pdf>. Accessed 22 February 2021.
Start date
1995
Alderman, H., Ugo G., and Ruslan, Y. (editors). 2018. The 1.5 Billion People Question: Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers? Washington, D.C.: World Bank. <https://bit.ly/2PKKIhv>. Accessed 18 May 2018.
Previous programme name (if any)
Samurdhi Programme
Conditionalities (if any)
No conditionalities.
Coverage
1,400,000 families were envisaged to be covered in 2017
[1] Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage.2017. “Progress Report 2017”. <https://socialemwelfare.gov.lk/web/images/content_image/pdf/progress/progress_17_en.pdf > Accessed 17 January 2019.
[2] Arruda, P.; Markhof, Y.; Franciscon, I.; Silva, W. and Bilo, C. 2020. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a child and equity perspective. Research Report No. 46. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. < https://ipcig.org/pub/eng/RR46_Overview_of_non_contributory_social_protection_programmes.pdf>. Accessed 22 February 2021.
Programme expenditure
Budget in 2017: LKR57.628 billion
[1] Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage.2017. “Progress Report 2017”. <https://socialemwelfare.gov.lk/web/images/content_image/pdf/progress/progress_17_en.pdf > Accessed 17 January 2019.
Targeting and eligiblity
Targeting methods
Means Test
Proxy Means Test
[1] World Bank. 2016. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR53.7 million (US$75 million equivalent) to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Social Safety Nets Project. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. <https://bit.ly/2youjIT>. accessed 18 May 2018.
[2] Personal communication.
[3] Arruda, P.; Markhof, Y.; Franciscon, I.; Silva, W. and Bilo, C. 2020. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a child and equity perspective. Research Report No. 46. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. < https://ipcig.org/pub/eng/RR46_Overview_of_non_contributory_social_protection_programmes.pdf>. Accessed 22 February 2021.
Targeted areas
Nationwide
Target groups
Poor households
Eligibility criteria
Eligible beneficiary households should earn less than LKR1,500 per month.
Alderman, H., Gentilini, U., Yemtsov, R. (Eds) 2018. ‘The 1.5 Billion People Question: Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers?’, World Bank, <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27907/9781464810879.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y> (accessed 18 May 2018).
Coverage and other information
Contribution type and amount
No contributions.
Type of benefits
Unconditional cash transfers, social security/insurance provisions (for the birth of children, marriage, hospitalisation and death), housing assistance, nutritional and microfinance support, as well as a livelihoods component. In addition, the programme also provides a monthly food basket to pregnant women and young mothers (until the child reaches 1 year of age).
[1] Arruda, P.; Markhof, Y.; Franciscon, I.; Silva, W. and Bilo, C. 2020. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a child and equity perspective. Research Report No. 46. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. < https://ipcig.org/pub/eng/RR46_Overview_of_non_contributory_social_protection_programmes.pdf>. Accessed 22 February 2021.
Amount of benefits
Benefits range from LKR420 to LKR3,500 per month per household:
LKR420 to ‘empowered households/low income households
LKR1,500 to households with 1 to 2 members
LKR2,500 to households with 3 to 5 members
LKR3,500 to households with 6 members or more [1]
Compulsory savings, social security and housing fund contributions are deducted from these values; these values can only be withdrawn when the beneficiary reaches 60 years of age or needs the money due to severe illness or to make an investment [2]
[1] Alderman, H., Gentilini, U., Yemtsov, R. (Eds) 2018. ‘The 1.5 Billion People Question: Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers?’, World Bank, <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27907/9781464810879.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y> (accessed 18 May 2018).
[2] Ministry of Social Empowerment and Welfare. 2016. “Progress Report 2016”. <https://socialemwelfare.gov.lk/web/images/content_image/pdf/progress/prog_1q_2016.pdf> Accessed 18 January 2019.
Payment/delivery frequency
Monthly
World Bank 2016. ‘Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR53.7 million (US$75 million equivalent) to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Social Safety Nets Project’, World Bank, <http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/285991480906853560/pdf/Project-Appraisal-Document-Final-submitted-to-SECPO-11112016.pdf> (accessed 18 May 2018).
Benefit delivery mechanism
Money is deposited into the beneficiaries' bank accounts in Samurdhi banks.
Alderman, H., Gentilini, U., Yemtsov, R. (Eds) 2018. ‘The 1.5 Billion People Question: Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers?’, World Bank, <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27907/9781464810879.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y> (accessed 18 May 2018).
World Bank 2016. ‘Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR53.7 million (US$75 million equivalent) to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Social Safety Nets Project’, World Bank, <http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/285991480906853560/pdf/Project-Appraisal-Document-Final-submitted-to-SECPO-11112016.pdf> (accessed 18 May 2018).
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and frequency
The country’s system still relies on a paper-based record-keeping system. Divineguma banks also generate various reports which are shared with the Ministry of Empowerment and Welfare and other relevant stakeholders on a regular basis for monitoring. A new system of monitoring and evaluation is currently being conceived under the World Bank-funded Social Safety Nets Project, which should rely on reports and research to increase programmes’ accountability and feed into the national social protection policy. The plan is to establish a social registry with centralized data for the country’s main programmes [1] [2]. Annual Achievements and Progress Report are available on the website of the Ministry of Empowerment and Social Welfare [3].
[1] World Bank. 2016. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Credit in the Amount of SDR53.7 million (US$75 million equivalent) to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Social Safety Nets Project. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. <https://bit.ly/2youjIT>. accessed 18 May 2018.
[2] Personal communication.
[3] Ministry of Social Empowerment and Welfare. 2018.”Progress Reports” <https://socialemwelfare.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&Itemid=158&lang=en> Accessed 17 January 2019.
Legal Framework
Samhurdhi Authority Act No.30 (1995) [1]
Divineguma Act No 01 (2013) [2]
[1] Department of Divineguma Development. 2015. “Performance Report 2015”. <http://www.samurdhi.gov.lk/web/images/cercular/divineguma%20performace%20report%202015%20english.pdf> Accessed 17 January 2019.
[2] Ministry of Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage.2017. “Progress Report 2017”. <https://socialemwelfare.gov.lk/web/images/content_image/pdf/progress/progress_17_en.pdf > Accessed 17 January 2019.
MIS
MIS and central social registry under construction on the intitiave of the National Policies & Economic Affairs Ministry in 2015 and administrated by the Department of Project management and Monitoring (DPMM), supported by the Wolrd Bank funded Social Safety Nets Project (SSNP) and the Ministry of Finance. In April 2018 the system integrated already information on beneficiaries from 24 welfare programmes
Lanka Business Online (LBO). 24 April 2018.“New Social Registry MIS to reduce welfare cost in Sri Lanka” <http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/new-social-registry-mis-to-reduce-welfare-cost-in-sri-lanka/> Accessed 17 January 2019.
