Addressing Voters’ Priorities

Sri Lanka’s economic growth has accelerated since the end of the war, but investment, and employment are still concentrated around the country’s capital Colombo. Sri Lankan government, private sector, and civil society all acknowledge the need for lagging regions to catch up if future conflict is to be avoided. Although the end of the conflict ushered in opportunities for reviving economic growth, peace may be threatened if economic disparities are not addressed. To help these regions evolve as robust economic centers and identify and promote new business ideas at the local level, we facilitated a more participatory mechanism for citizen input on budget allocations to support these new projects. We then piloted an Online Budget Management tool that helped local governments prioritize the citizens’ priorities, and as a result, nine local governments were able to jumpstart practical revenue-generating projects citizens really wanted, including a large supermarket complex in Jaffna and a Pilgrim Resting Center in Katargama for travelers to the sacred city.