Last Month in Impact - June 2025

Dear reader,

We’ve been thinking a lot recently about local-international collaboration and what it means for Sri Lanka’s future. On one hand, we know it’s a necessity if we are going to make big leaps in digital public infrastructure, public health, nutrition, and agricultural modernisation. On the other, collaboration doesn’t just happen magically. It requires vision, commitment, and most importantly, leadership. If we can bring these two sides together, the country will be much better off for it.

We Sri Lankans are already acutely aware of the positives that can come out of collaboration. To pick but two examples:

The first is the Mannar Island Wind Power Project, Sri Lanka’s first large-scale, grid-connected wind energy development. Led by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project was envisioned not only as a clean energy solution but also as a model for integrating climate resilience and local capacity-building into national infrastructure planning.

Since 2021, it has provided electricity to over 100,000 households and contributed to a reduction of approximately 288,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually, thanks to the combination of strong government ownership and international technical expertise. Importantly, the project has also facilitated valuable technology and knowledge transfer and laid the foundation for future renewable energy investments in Sri Lanka.

The second is the Transitional Shelter Program (TSP) that emerged as a critical recovery initiative in Sri Lanka in the wake of the 2004 tsunami. Local NGOs, such as Sarvodaya and Sewalanka Foundation, and international partners including UN-Habitat, IFRC, and CARE International partnered to provide immediate, safe, and dignified shelter to displaced families while laying the groundwork for long-term reconstruction.

All told, more than 50,000 transitional shelters were built using local materials and labour. This success was rooted in the complementary strengths of local (trust and context) and international organisations (funding and logistics). At the same time, the owner-driven reconstruction model that was employed has since been adopted in disaster recovery efforts around the world, and the program remains a model of how inclusive, well-coordinated humanitarian responses can accelerate recovery and strengthen local resilience.

The list goes on, but there is always a common, collaborative thread: a shared vision, commitment to sustainable solutions, and government leadership. This needs to continue if we’re going to tackle the next set of issues effectively.

As we look forward, we see four key outcomes where local-international collaboration will be a critical success factor:

• Digital public infrastructure (DPI) implementation

• Agricultural sector modernisation

• Health system improvement

• Positive nutrition outcomes

Sri Lanka is by no means the first country to confront these issues, so there is no sense going it alone when there is wealth of expertise held by organisations and countries who have traversed this path before us. This is exactly why collaboration is so important. We’re not expanding DPI, upgrading our healthcare system, incubating the next generation of AgriTech startups, or improving student learning outcomes without it.

But like most things that are great in theory, collaboration is a hard needle to thread in practice. What we see on the ground currently is a fragmentation of development efforts and an underutilisation of grant funding. People are working separately towards the same ends; utilising financial resources for the same efforts. This is particularly detrimental given the renewed interest from multiple development agencies and philanthropic donors seeking to support Sri Lanka’s recovery and long-term development.

This is where the government can play a key role. First, it needs to establish a clear vision and invite development organisations to figure out in which areas they can collaborate. Then it needs to map these contributions in alignment with national priorities to ensure resources are optimised and everyone is working towards a common goal. A unified platform, in other words, that can serve as a common entry point for development partners and reduce the country’s reliance on loans (in favour of grants).

Such a platform would:

• Ensure grant alignment with priority reform areas and avoid duplication

• Promote co-investment by blending donor grants with private capital and technical expertise

• Reduce dependency on loans by fully leveraging available concessional and grant financing

• Enable sustainable development through programmatic coordination, shared outcomes, and scalable models

• Support local stakeholder knowledge transfer and capacity building by working alongside global development partners

• Create a pipeline of innovative thinking and establishes a expectation of transparent monitoring.

Ultimately, this is what’s possible when collaboration is made a government priority. Whether organised through a separate coordination unit or joint secretariat, it will not only optimise the value of incoming grants but also build trust, improve accountability, and unlock investment opportunities that can accelerate Sri Lanka’s pathway to inclusive and resilient growth.

Our goal is to facilitate this process and work proactively to bridge any gaps, starting in Sri Lanka through Connect to Care Sri Lanka and extending across the Global South through Connect to Care Global.

Sincerely,

Emaali Gunasekara
CEO

For more information about our work, visit connecttocare.co or our LinkedIn.

Header image courtesy of Third Generation Environmentalism Ltd (E3G).