Charity, Philanthropy and Development in Colombo, Sri Lanka

• Start date: 12 December 2011
• End date: 11 June 2014

This project investigates charity and charitable organisations in Colombo, Sri Lanka.    Here, long standing ideologies of giving intermingle, interact and coexist with global ideas about the nature of charity and the relationship between charity and development.

Surveys of givers and receivers will generate an overall picture of the landscape of charity in Colombo. The second qualitative element of the research project will focus on interviewing a smaller sample of donors, charitable institutions and receivers.    The third element of the project will examine how political and economic change has affected the historical transformations of charity in Sri Lanka. Finally, there is an element in the project which looks at the role of the Sri Lankan diaspora not only in supporting charitable activity in Sri Lanka but also in changing it.

The project itself will utilise a 'Stakeholder Response Group' to ensure that the research process is mindful of the needs of the development community. An Inception workshop and End of Project conference will focus on the lessons learnt from the project as to how indigenous charity can be encouraged to support development activities. The project will produce policy briefs as well as making presentations to major development players.