Case Studies UNDP: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, Sri Lanka

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, Sri Lanka

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions or people, nature, and resilient communities

Sri Lanka

COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe

Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,

Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Pa

Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Sri Lanka Community Development Centre, and in particular the guidance a

inputs o Ms. Damayanthi Godamulla (Executive Director, CDC) and Nimal Hewanile. All photo credits courtesy o Sri Lanka Commun

Development Centre. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Community Development Centre, Sri Lanka. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New Yo

NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdf


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PROJECT SUMMARYSri Lankas Community Development Centre (CDC) has

worked to improve rural livelihoods through conservation

o indigenous tuber varieties using seed banks managed by

women-led sel-help groups. Local technologies are used

or seed production, with training on in-situ conservation o

native varieties on individual land parcels. These sel-help

cooperatives are organized into ederations o around ve

or six groups, each o which maintains a revolving credit

und to stimulate livelihoods diversication.

CDC has provided more than 300 amilies with an alternativeincome source and a viable ood security solution. Monthly

net prots rom yam sales are roughly 5,000 Sri Lankan

rupees per amily, an improvement rom 3,000 Sri Lankan

rupees beore the project began. Many armers have also

expanded into value-added secondary processing, and the

production and sale o yam chips, yam sweets, and roti.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2008

FOUNDED: 1994

LOCATION: Sabaragamuwa province

BENEFICIARIES: Direct beneft or over 300 amilies

BIODIVERSITY: 60 indigenous varieties o roots and tuber

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRESri Lanka

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 5

Biodiversity Impacts 6

Socioeconomic Impacts 6

Policy Impacts 7

Sustainability 8

Replication 8

Partners 9


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An endogenously evolved community-based organization, CDC

maintains a ocus on improving and diversiying local livelihoods,

with an emphasis on seed banks as a ulcrum o knowledge

xchange. The underlying vision o the organization is ood security

nd biodiversity conservation through the reintroduction o

raditional knowledge. Indigenous varieties o yam are promoted as

cornerstone crop o household-level organic arms.

Project catalysts

he region in which CDC operates is among the poorest and most

conomically marginalized in the country. It has also witnessed a

rastic decline in biodiversity over recent decades. The initiative wasormed in 1994 in response to the interrelated challenges o ood

nsecurity and rural poverty, as well as the steady erosion o genetic

rop diversity and traditional knowledge systems. Local architects o

he project also observed a steady decline in soil ertility and in crop

ields, which was putting a strain on local armers. The latter were

ttributed to the modern agricultural preerence o using chemical

ertilizers, which exhaust soil productivity and pollute watersheds,

which in turn aect local access to clean water. The initiative was

qually a response to the observed trend in Sri Lanka development

pending o ocusing on urban problems and channeling unds to

rban centres. This let economically marginalized populations in

ural areas on the short end o the wealth distribution equation, and

he CDC with a rural development assistance vacuum to ll.

Food security and livelihoods through yam farming

ndigenous root and tuber seeds are the basis o CDC activities

nd programming. Recognition o their wide application and

he multiple benets or ood security, income diversication,

nd genetic diversity is credited to the women who started the

rogram, and who remain the creative engine and energy behind

he CDC today. Early in the programs development, one village

armer introduced the idea o ocusing on traditional yam arming.

The idea was picked up by a small but ar-sighted group o wo

who then undertook to identiy the potential biodiversity ben

o traditional yam arming. What they ound were benets

included soil conservation and nutrient cycling, an avenu

diversiy genetic resources, a platorm to introduce and popul

organic arming, and a species o crop with exceptional dext

and adaptive capacity to a variety o landscapes and soil types.

The Sri Lanka Community Development Centre has ushere

a household-level response to address ood security challen

Historically, the main ood staples o the region have been

and bread, both o which are prohibitively expensive or the population. Yams have provided a nutritious and healthy

alternative, which can be cultivated at a raction o the cost

which are not subject to the price uctuations o external mar

The promotion o household yam arming has given the

population a commercially viable product that has multiple va

in local and regional markets, thereby contributing to inc

generation. The initiative has also been a platorm or comm

empowerment and, more specically, emale empowerm

Women have been at the oreront o reintroducing knowledge

is proving environmentally and economically valuable.

Background and Context


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Key Activities and Innovations

he Sri Lanka Community Development Centre organizes rural

women into sel-help groups, where they are given training in

organic yam arming. Local technologies and knowledge are used

s the basis o seed production and the development o seed

banks. Training ocuses on in-situ conservation, where individual

armers maintain seed banks on their own parcels o land. Peer-

o-peer knowledge sharing and exchange is, however, an essential

omponent o the project. CDC provides platorms or armers to

xchange seeds, and to exchange knowledge on which tuber and

am seeds are successul under which conditions. As such, CDC

provides a successul model o community-based research and

daptation.

he sel-help groups or village cooperatives usually are comprised

o between ve and teen members. These groups are organized

nto ederations o between ve and six groups. CDC connects

hese ederations through a knowledge sharing network, which has

branches both locally and nationally. In addition to the sel-help

roups, the knowledge-sharing network includes cooperatives in

other sectors, government ministries, and schools to ampliy and

isseminate lessons learned.

Training, seed banks and womens leadership

raining is usually provided at the ederation level and is, wherever

possible, tailored to the needs and capabilities o individual groupso armers. CDC has constructed a training centre, which is the

unctional nucleus o the training and knowledge sharing activities.

he organization also provides training at the household level,

iving on-site demonstrations and oering new armers a hands-

on experience. Training modules attempt to balance theory

practice, to give both an environmental bearing or the work as

as practical guidance on the cultivation, preparation and mark

o yam-based products. Guidelines are provided to new ar

that include a basic introduction to ood security, the ounda

o eective soil conservation, identiying dierent varieties o

and their dierent values, directions on how to make compost

guidance on how to mobilize and establish a small cooperative

CDC has created space or women armers to share and develop

knowledge o tuber and yam cultivation and seed collection.

start to nish, CDC training and the process o reclaiming tradit

knowledge has been done through active community participand consultation. Local armers have been engaged in identi

traditional yam varieties, giving guidance on in situ conserva

and providing peer-to-peer training or local women on produ

yam-based products or sale in markets.

Governance and organizational structure

CDC is governed by a seven-member Board o Directors, v

whom are directly involved and active in village cooperatives.

Board o Directors, which meets on a monthly basis and ultima

holds responsibility or nancial decisions, consists o a chairpe

secretary, treasurer and our other members. Annual ge

meetings are held to discuss the strategic direction o the CDCto select new board members on a three year rotational basis.

Board o Directors oversees our dierent committees: youth

child development; environmental development; production

marketing; and women, gender and development.

Respect traditional knowledge and protect traditional seed varieties

it is the basis of food security.

Ms.Damayanthi Godamulla, Executive Director


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Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS

There have been a range o important biodiversity impacts and

benets rom the work o the Sri Lanka Community Development

Centre. Since it began, the organization has identied over sixty

ndigenous varieties o roots and tubers, which have subsequently

been cultivated over 2,000 acres o land. Yam cultivation does not

equire the clearing or conversion o land, and oers an instructive

model o ecoagriculture and integrated land management. Seed

banks have contributed to genetic diversity and allowed or the

eintroduction o traditional crops that are ecologically adapted

o the region, but which had gradually been disappearing. Farmer

networks have been critical in this regard, as they have provided platorm or the local mapping and recording o plant varieties

cross the region. As o now, the process o seed monitoring and

egistration is entirely community-based. (CDC has expressed some

oncern about a recent bill passed in Sri Lankan parliament that makes

mandatory the registration o seed banks with the governments

gricultural authority, a potentially limiting development that would

emove an element o community ownership and control).

Beore the project began, the local water supply was unreliable

nd oten polluted. Chemical ertilizers were overused by many

armers, particularly in rubber plantations, a regional cash crop.

This resulted in chemical run-o, damaging the delicate ecological

balance in the region and contaminating watersheds. As a result ohe initiative, more small-hold armers (over 200) have converted to

organic arming and handle pests through organic ertilizers and

omposting. Individual armers have reported increased numbers

o endemic birds, greater diversity in owers and herbal plants, and

he revitalization o buttery, squirrel, and parrot populations.

The project has also been a vehicle or environmental education

nd awareness-raising on the centrality o biodiversity and genetic

diversity to local wellbeing, health, ood security and livelihoods.

Environmental education activities have included publishing books

on the environmental benets o traditional yams, participatio

national exhibitions on ecological arming, organizing exch

visits between armers, and partnering with local univer

to conduct biodiversity research. Emphasis has been place

instilling a conservation ethic amongst children and yout

providing trainings and demonstrations at local schools.

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

Through sel-help groups, CDC has provided over 300 amilies

an alternative income source and a viable ood security solu

Monthly net prots rom yam sales are roughly 5,000 Sri La

rupees per amily, an improvement rom 3,000 Sri Lankan rubeore the project began. Many armers have also expanded

value-added secondary processing, and the production and sa

yam chips, yam sweets, and roti. The project has resulted in a ho

secondary benets, including investments in education and sc

ees, noted improvements in the quality and availability o w

improved ood security, reduced rates o malnutrition, and the

oundation o a sel-sufcient economy that is less dependen

external markets.

Each cooperative and ederation maintains a revolving credit

These savings and credit systems are governed by a three-pe

committee secretary, treasurer and chairperson. Cooper

members may apply to village-level credit unds or small land to the ederation-level credit unds or larger loans. Int

on the loans is saved and annually distributed amongst eder

members. Village-level loans are most requently provided or y

and child development, school ees, ood security projects,

general social welare needs.

Several indigenous yam varieties are known to hold commerc

valuable medicinal properties. Research is currently unde

with local partners on the commercial potential o such yam-b

medicine products.


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POLICY IMPACTS

CDC has received a signicant amount o attention rom the

government or its holistic projects, and has been able to leverage this

attention to inuence policy. The group is currently advocating or a

national policy on the conservation o indigenous tuber crops and

yams, with particular emphasis on the conservation o biodiversity.

CDC has also reached an agreement with the government to train

over 500 ederal agricultural extension ofcers in organic armingechniques and practices.

A partnership has been orged with the Food Technology Rese

Unit, a state-level institution in Gannoruwa, to acilitate seed

knowledge exchange. This group has also been enlisted to mai

a gene bank or CDC crops, to supervise CDC projects, and to me

negotiations with the local government on land acquisition.

CDC has been a mouthpiece or making the argument at va

levels o government (state, district and national) that commu

based groups can manage land and resources sustainably, government policies need to be responsive to local needs,

that the decentralization o decision-making is a viable option

multiple environmental benets.

7

We are mobilizing people to combat climate change through rainwater harvesting, ya

production, and agricultural adaptation. We believe in traditional knowledge, understandin

and respecting accumulated experience, and reflecting on what this can teach us about how

address challenges like climate change.



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Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYhe two key components that make CDC institutionally sustainable

re community participation (local ownership over decision-making

rocesses) and a multi-stakeholder partnership that includes

overnment, universities, armer networks, and local communities.

articipatory processes that actively engage all segments o the

ocal population were cited by CDC as being essential or long-term

uccess.

Monitoring and evaluation is done through monthly and yearly

eports, publications and books, a small cooperative weekly

ublication, a monthly ederation newsletter, and a local developmentorum (chaired by a member o the government). Peer-to-peer

nowledge networks ensure sustainability by connecting network

members in an ongoing process o inormation dissemination and

essons learned uptake.

he CDC training centre in addition to serving as a platorm or

apacity building and skills training charges a ee or courses,

which contributes to the organizations nancial sustainability. The

raining centre is also a source o cultural sustainability, as trainings

re based on indigenous knowledge systems.

REPLICATIONThe initiative has overseen signicant growth in the numb

armers applying organic arming techniques. The project b

with 200 individuals in 11 grama niladhari divisions and has s

expanded to include 300 amilies in 15 grama niladhari division

Through network meetings, learning exchanges, seed excha

public exhibitions, and training programs, the CDC has share

model with more than 20 non-governmental organizations

more than 2,000 individual armers. Its success with replicatio

been bolstered by support rom state institutes and various leve

government who have demonstrated a commitment to transethe project model to other regions o the country.

PARTNERS

CDC is based on a collaborative partnership model. The g

remains interested in expanding its partnership to streng

marketing and scientic data on traditional yam varieties.

UNDP-implemented GEF Small Grants Programme (unding

The Sri Lanka Nature Forum (knowledge exchange)

The Network o Organic Farmers (knowledge exchange)

The Friends o Lanka (monitoring and evaluation)

The Green Movement o Sri Lanka (material inormation) The Food Technology Research Unit in Gannoruwa (networ

Community-based organizations (practical work with arm

Water resources are disappearing. There

are floods in some areas and droughts in

others. In some villages, food varieties are

disappearing. We must make decisions that

consider future generations.



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Click the thumbnails below to read more case studies like this:

Equator Initiative

Environment and Energy GroupUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Tel: +1 212 906-6691

Fax: +1 212 906-6642

www.equatorinitiative.org

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UNs global development network, advocating or change

onnecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2012 by Equator Initiative

All rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Community Development Centre Photo Story (Vimeo) https://vimeo.com/15990847

Article on CDCs participation at the Tenth Conerence o the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Nag

Japan, October 2010. http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-or-our-local-ala-bathala/
http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-for-our-local-ala-bathala/http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-for-our-local-ala-bathala/http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-for-our-local-ala-bathala/http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-for-our-local-ala-bathala/http://window2nature.net/2010/10/19/back-to-roots-quest-for-our-local-ala-bathala/http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348160821.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348261060.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348261464.pdf

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Case Studies UNDP: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, Sri Lanka