He said this when UNDP Resident Representative Azusa Kubota called on him at the Temple Trees today (Aug 31) together with the members of the UNDP experts team Dr Sabina Alkire, Director, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford and Prof Siri Hettige, Professor in Sociology to hand over the UNDP MVI MPI Reports.

The Prime Minister thanked the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, the UNDP SURGE Data Hub, and the Citra Social Innovation Lab, which is anchored within the Prime Minister’s Office in Sri Lanka for the preparation of the data base which will be of extremely useful to effectively design national policies for these vulnerable groups.

Ms Kubota explained that the data for the report was collected from a national level survey capturing insights from 25,000 households covering the issues related to nutrition, education, household debt or risks of disasters.

Dr Alkire said the MVI MPI offer a robust evidence base to better understand the challenges faced by vulnerable groups and to assist policymakers in formulating targeted and effective policies.

Prof Hettige said the data base on poverty and vulnerability will be useful for the government to effectively plan its policy programmes to bring Sri Lanka back on track and onto a more sustainable development pathway.

Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake, Advisor (Media) Sugeeswara Senadhira and UNDP Team Leader Fadhil Bakeer Markar were also present on this occasion.

Prime Minister’s Media Division