A three-year project (July 2023-June 2026) supported by the Templeton Religion Trust focuses on four different, distinctively plural countries: Ghana, Philippines, Senegal, and Sri Lanka. Working with the four countries will allow a comparative approach and offer examples of religious pluralism at play. The aim is to strengthen strategic religious engagement and practical operational models.

This brief serves as an overview of the current economic, political, and social state of affairs in Sri Lanka in relation to social protection. Prepared by the WFDD team with inputs from Sarvodaya, as part of the TRT supported Strategic Religious Engagement Project, it focuses on current and past anti-poverty programs, and the context of major events that have affected the country recently.

The COVID-19 pandemic caught global institutions and health systems off guard, despite repeated warnings that pandemics were inevitable, and notwithstanding significant efforts after prior health emergencies to recommend specific, crucially-needed preparations. Sri Lanka exemplifies the compounding crises, at a national level. This paper poses many questions for dialogue and reflection.

This document aims to serve as a prelude and backdrop to explorations of how deeper engagement with the spectrum of religious and non-religious perspectives might support actions to strengthen community and social solidarity and citizen welfare in Ghana.

Sri Lanka evokes sharply contrasting pictures: an international development model, mired today in deep crisis, a rich multicultural tradition, today riven by deep divides, an educated, creative population, that today faces sharp increases in poverty and insecurity. This document explores these questions, with a view to enriching understandings of development and peacebuilding challenges.

This report shines a light on a distinctive category of women peacebuilders: Catholic sisters. It is set in the broader context of understanding what we mean by peacebuilding and the complex partnerships that are indispensable to it in today’s world.