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Stitching Up an Industry ›

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Economic Development

Over the last three months, Mercy Corps and Singer have repaired over 500 sewing machines, helping Sri Lankan seamstresses begin again.

A Few Words Go a Long Way ›

Topics: Education, Children

Young students of Sri Lanka's Komari School, still displaced from the tsunami, recently received words of encouragement and friendship from students at a school in Scotland.

Lights of Hope ›

Topics: Economic Development

December's tsunami decimated the bustling tourist town of Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. With help from Mercy Corps. townspeople recently celebrated rebuilding - and a return to unlimited potential.

Clearing a Beachfront Village Provides Financial, Psychological Benefits ›

Sri Lanka's Society for Socio Economic Development organizes a cash-for-work cleanup of a beachfront village turned to rubble by last December's tsunami.

The Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation: Redefining the Three-Day Weekend ›

Topics: Peaceful Change, Education

The Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation sponsors health screenings, children's art activities and village clean-up as part of a comprehensive disaster response.

Team of Youth for Development, Understanding, and Progress (TYDUP): The Play’s the Thing ›

Topics: Education, Children

Amidst signs of devastation, children learn and frolic thanks to an interactive learning curriculum by a local nonprofit funded by Mercy Corps.

Putting Fish Back on Bicycles ›

Topics: Economic Development

Residents of Kinniya rejoice as 75 fishmongers return to their jobs with new bicycles, knives and fish boxes.

Sweetening Kuchchaveli’s Wells ›

Topics: Water/Sanitation

Staff from Mercy Corps and its local partner organization Arumbugal is helping restore freshwater wells that provide clean, safe water to more than 7,000 households.

Community Trust Fund: Caring for Confined Widows ›

Topics: Women's Empowerment

Following religious custom, women made widows by the tsunami segregate themselves at a tent camp, but stay within reach of much-needed relief aid.

Chasing Away the Spirits ›

Topics: Economic Development

Mercy Corps lights the way for villagers living in Arugam Bay to return to their darkened home.

Sri Lanka Facts

  • Population (2008): 21.1 million
  • Size: slightly larger than West Virginia
  • Human Development Index rank: 104 (out of 179)
  • Primary work: Recovering lost tsunami jobs in agriculture, tourism, and small-scale industry; helping small rice farmers increase yields; building interethnic ties in war-scarred Eastern Province.
  • Ethnicities: Sinhala, Tamil, Moor/Muslim, Burgher
  • Per capita rice consumption: 100 kilograms/year
  • Families involved in paddy cultivation: 1.8 million
  • Mercy Corps has worked here since 2005

Program Details

Currently, Mercy Corps’ work in Sri Lanka centers on creating public and private partnerships to promote peaceful coexistence, economic opportunities and access to services for vulnerable communities.

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