Insights on Assessment of the Sustainability of Development Programmes and Projects in Sri Lanka
De Zoysa, D.D.U, Gunawardena, and U.A.D.P., Weligamage, P.
ABSTRACT
Development programmes and projects have a significant impact on the environment as well as society and economy of a country. These impacts can have a spillover effect on other parts of the planet earth affecting the overall sustainability. Countries, including Sri Lanka, have a responsibility to assess their development impacts on themselves and other communities and nations. Sri Lanka had committed to achieving the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and many multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). However, in the absence of a comprehensive assessment framework or mechanism, there is no clarity on how the sustainability of development projects and programmes is assessed in Sri Lanka. The objective of the research was to find insights on the assessment of the sustainability of development programmes and projects in Sri Lanka. Therefore, a survey was conducted on the main research question of how the sustainability of development programmes and projects in Sri Lanka can be assessed. The findings of the survey show that the failure of development projects in Sri Lanka is due to multiple reasons including lack of proper planning for success, monitoring and evaluation, transparency, and negative impacts on the environment, society and economy. Lack of proper governance mechanisms, inability to prevent corruption, short-term nature of planning and political intervention have been obstacles to return on investment. A framework to assess the sustainability of projects must essentially ensure the long-term benefits that address major challenges including climate change, multi-dimensional poverty and help advance the social well-being and prosperity of the nation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a general framework for sustainable development, but Sri Lanka needs a comprehensive framework to assess development projects and programmes with key components of environmental, social, economic and governance dimensions.
KEYWORDS: Sustainable development, International principles, International agreements, Transformation, Assessment framework