The bilateral development cooperation between Sri Lanka exists since over 40 years. The GTZ works mainly under the commission of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as for other clients.

After two decades of political ethnic conflict the Government of Sri Lanka is confronted with the challenges of reconstruction and social and economic restructuring. The February 2002 ceasefire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ignited new hope. This has not however translated into lasting peace. About a fifth of the population still lives below the poverty line.

The tsunami of December 2004 brought additional misery and destruction. Alongside the thousands of dead and injured, the loss of houses, productive capital and infrastructure determine the priority requirements of reconstruction. Those living in the former war zones were hardest hit by the tsunami.

Poverty reduction was and still is the main motivation behind the GTZ activities in Sri Lanka. Two approaches are applied to achieve this goal as reflected by the Priority Areas

• Sustainable Economic Development 
• Poverty Alleviation and Conflict Transformation

Along these Priority Areas GTZ works with various projects and programmes islandwide. The projects and programmes are supported and their impacts increased by the integration of crosscutting issues like environmental protection, gender equality, conflict transformation and good governance.

The German Development Cooperation with Sri Lanka is geared towards a future oriented, sustainable development of the country. This is why the additional comprehensive tsunami specific projects in the affected regions were integrated in the two focal areas.

Downloads

• Project portfolio in Sri Lanka
  Overview of GTZ's Sri Lankan focal areas and the  programmes and projects concerned.
  de-GTZ-Sri-Lanka-projects.pdf, 0,17 MB (German)
  en-GTZ-Sri-Lanka-projects.pdf, 0,08 MB (English)