The Great Generation

 

The Missing Link

The Missing Link

The Great Generation Interview with Hela Sarana by Steph Booth

Community projects in Sri Lanka

Hela Sarana has been an expert partner of The Great Generation since 2005. Our first project together was in October 2005. The Tsunami radically changed soil structures and it became possible to grow new and different plants. Volunteers worked alongside community members in the village of Peraliya sharing their own knowledge and creating a model home garden, enabling villagers to then develop their own home gardens. Ten gardens have since been created.  We have a new project coming up with Hela Sarana in February 2008 (http://www.thegreatgeneration.org/current-projects/).
Hela Sarana is a small organisation run by a committee in the UK. They employ two full time staff in Sri Lanka who oversee their projects and manage the finances. The administration costs of Hela Sarana are low as committee members fund their own air fares and their accommodation in Sri Lanka is provided by family and friends.
Leslie Dep and Mala Polpitiye have been involved with Hela Sarana from the beginning and they agreed to talk to us about the organisation.

The Great Generation Journal: Would you talk a little about why Hela Sarana was set up and who were the people behind the project?

Hela Sarana: In 1996, fourteen friends came together, all Sri Lankans living in London. The aim was to give financial and practical support to rural communities in Sri Lanka. Hela Sarana means, hope for Sri Lanka. We started as a small organisation focusing particularly on housing and education, but childcare, agriculture and health are, obviously, also areas of interest to us.
We felt there was a particular need to support the north and central provinces of the country where political unrest was adding pressure to existing problems of poverty. Our first venture was a low cost housing project in the village of Thanthirimale, Anuradhapura District. Fifty nine houses were completed by 1998 at a cost of £300 each with villagers helping in the construction of their homes.

The Great Generation Journal: The Tsunami in 2004 was clearly a catastrophic event. How did it impact on your operations?

Hela Sarana: Almost 40,000 people died in Sri Lanka as a result of the Tsunami. More than one million people were displaced with half a million homes destroyed. By an extraordinary act of fate, four members of our committee were in Sri Lanka on home visits when the Tsunami struck. They were able to organise aid – including food, medicine and water – within twenty four hours.
The Tsunami did not influence the focus of Hela Sarana. Our Tsunami relief work was carried out alongside our other, continuing projects. A crucial contribution we were able to make to the global response to the Tsunami was our experience of house building. We had the teams – builders, co-ordinators – on the ground and our response was consequently both swift and positive.

The Great Generation Journal: Would you describe some of your projects?

Hela Sarana: We believe funding and supporting educational programmes are paramount in helping to liberate people from poverty. Effective giving is about raising standards of living and raising expectations. Education has been free in Sri Lanka since independence in 1948. The literacy rate is 92% so we do not need to provide education per se. What Hela Sarana does is fund those things that help to make education more accessible such as, paying for school buildings, books equipment and even shoes. Educated children go on to become educated adults. In the rural areas this means they are able to learn the latest methods in agriculture and feed not only themselves more efficiently, but produce a surplus, generating an income. Educated children are also able to teach their families and the older generations about basic health and hygiene. Something as simple as, knowing about washing hands before cooking or eating can make a significant difference to infection levels.
We are now looking into providing funding and systems for IT training which will be crucial for the continuing development of rural communities.

The Great Generation Journal: How effective do you think microfinance is in the campaign to eradicate poverty?

Hela Sarana: Microfinance is a new idea in Sri Lanka. Previously, the rural poor only had access to loans through banks that charged high rates of interest and demanded their land as security. Microfinance enables the cycle of poverty to be broken.
However, there is no point in us simply dishing out money – there has to be a proven need. Ideas for projects that come to us originate in the communities and reflect their real requirements. We have found, as have other organisations, it is women who are most interested in the opportunities provided by microfinance. Women focus on the needs of their families.
It would be silly to claim microfinance is the only or, magical solution to global poverty, but it has proved to be a very effective system providing incremental and secure development. Microfinance does have a substantial and positive role in eradicating poverty.

The Great Generation Journal: Why do you think the major aid organisations have not made a greater impact on global poverty?

Hela Sarana: Three main reasons. Their administration costs are too high. A key factor in this is that the big charities are not geared to do long term construction work. Another problem is the perceived lack of accountability within the organisations. Both the people who donate the money and the local agencies on the ground need to know and understand where and how the money is being spent. This situation is in complete contrast to the smaller charities which are required to account for every penny spent.
Finally, the large organisations are not geared for long term construction. For example, after the Tsunami it was September 2005 before a major NGO completed the construction of their first house. In that time, Hela Sarana built twenty nine homes.
Millions of pounds were donated by the public to the Tsunami relief fund. That money was ring fenced for the thirteen big charities. To be able to access that money Hela Sarana would have to join DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee). For that we need an annual income of £1,000,000 or £300,000 a month. We are simply not in that league.
There is still money left in the Tsunami fund, but no mechanism for giving it to smaller charities with their local knowledge, grass roots experience and ability to deliver on long term projects. Neither is there any other strategy for using those remaining funds effectively.

The Great Generation Journal: So what, do you believe, is the way forward?

Hela Sarana: The big charities need to accept there is a pressing issue. We are talking about the missing link. What we should be doing is pooling our collective understanding and expertise and working together.
There is clearly frustration and concern from the small charities, but increasingly the public are becoming more cynical. The DEC charities are running the risk of losing trust as people become disillusioned and start to ask what was done with their cash. We believe money raised for the earthquake disaster in Pakistan was substantially less than that donated for the Tsunami relief fund.
The large charities are brilliant at supplying aid in the immediate aftermath of disaster. Once the most urgent challenges have been satisfied, smaller, grassroots organisations have positive and effective strategies for long term programmes providing essential continuity of support. They need and should have access to the same funds as the DEC charities.

The Great Generation Journal: Thank you.

(For further details about Hela Sarana: http://www.helasarana.org.uk)

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