Supporting the Resettling Communities

Sewalanka played a major role in providing emergency assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Northern region of Sri Lanka. Now, Sewalanka is moving forward from the relief phase to support the Sri Lankan Government with the next phase of resettlement and rehabilitation. As of August 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka has been resettling and helping conflictaffected internally-displaced families return to their native villages in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya and some divisions of the Eastern part of the country. To date, around 190,000 IDPs have been resettled. Sewalanka is working with the Government and several stakeholders throughout the resettlement process.

Currently, Sewalanka is running three projects in 16 villages in the Velanai Divisional Secretariat, Jaffna, with the funding of UNICEF, Oxfam and Welthungerhilfe (WHH). Around 495 host and hosted families are benefiting from these projects. Rapid restoration of the IDP returnees’ place of residence, sanitation facilities, early recovery initiatives and securing new livelihoods are the focus of these projects. In addition, Sewalanka is mobilizing funds from various donors to support the needs of these returnees.

Parallel to the IDP returnees’ projects, Sewalanka is continuing to provide cooked meals for the remaining Menik Farm IDPs who are still in transition, waiting to be settled in their homes. Welthungerhilfe supported 15,000 IDPs with complementary food parcels and Sewalanka fed 55,000 IDPs in Andiyapuliyankulam and Menik Farm school transitional shelter sites. Basic dry rations have been provided by World Food Program (WFP) since the IDP camps were established. With the funding from ECHO/WHH and German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Sewalanka is providing complementary dry food rations for 2250 families. These dry ration complement packages fulfill minimum standards recommended by SPHERE for humanitarian response.

In addition, Sewalanka is working with UNICEF to identify at-risk populations and carrying out emergency Mine Risk Education Programmes to create awareness and is supporting other risk-reduction activities. Furthermore, Sewalanka is working with UNICEF to build the capacity of staff, seeking to ensure that initial mine-action responses and lifesaving assistance is moving rapidly towards medium and long-term solutions. This is being carried out with emphasis on community participation.

District government agents are hopeful that full resettlement and the closing down of welfare centers will be achieved within the year 2010.