Fifty years into the life of Sri Lanka after independence, poverty reduction has become an ongoing agenda and remains unrealized for around 80% of the rural population. This study attempts to demonstrate robust benefit evaluation of a rural village development programme on household livelihoodsand social wellbeing. The evaluation methodology is based on standard "before and after" technique on 100 rural villages surveyed in 13 districts in Sri Lanka. The results clearly demonstrate that the rural village road network is an integral part of its economy that works as a transmission mechanism stimulating and sustaining the poor people's livelihoods. Analysis showed that internal mobility and outward connectivity improved the villager's income/consumption levels making their life style easy and convenient. Amongst all, poor households are the real beneficiaries than the rich. Road infrastructure has generated many other complementary opportunities and income sources including the transport services. Improved rural road network keeps the village open and resilient for enhanced livelihoods. The findings of this study provide inputs for policy makers in designing and implementing policies for rural poverty reduction in developing countries like Sri Lanka. If comprehensive econometric procedure is adopted, it is likely to find more empirical support than it has heretofore. For the coveringabstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract