Appendix 2: Description of Ambalantota, Sri Lanka

The examples in this paper come from structured interviews with social entrepreneurs based in and around Ambalantota.

Ambalantota is a small town, close to the sea, in the South East of Sri Lanka. It is in the district of Hambantota, an area which is towards the bottom of most measures of welfare in Sri Lanka. It is also one of the few areas in Sri Lanka where poverty increased from 1996 to 2002 (see chart). Hambantota also falls lowest on other measures of poverty. For example, while the national average for underweight children (under 5 year old) is 29% in Sri Lanka, in Hambantota it is around 40%.

The situation became considerably worse following the Tsunami of December 2004, which killed 30,000 people and destroyed houses, infrastructure and markets along the south and eastern coast of Sri Lanka.  Ambalantota was in one of the most directly impacted areas of the country, facing directly the direction of the water. For example, 92% of the fishing fleet was destroyed, in some villages 40% of the houses were destroyed or damaged. Houses have now been re-built in most of the town. There is still, however, considerable disruption to the market. Relationships need to be re-established, businesses that were destroyed need to be re-built, etc

 

Next page