Janashakthi Foundation partners with CEPA and YUMA Foundation to produce trilingual inequality research report

Janashakthi Foundation, the Philanthropic arm of Janashakthi Group, partnered with the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) and YUMA Foundation, to jointly sponsor Sri Lanka’s first Inequality Report. An agreement was signed recently, between the partners by signatories Ramesh Schaffter, Managing Director / Group CEO of Janashakthi Group, Karin Fernando, Acting Executive Director of CEPA and Christoph Feyen, Director of YUMA Foundation.

The research of the pilot phase of the project launched in July 2022 will be conducted over a 3-year period. The data of this study will be compiled and published as ‘The Inequality Report (TIER).’ The project intends to deepen the understanding of inequality, bringing together research, policy and dialogue. The first report to be launched in 2023 will specifically focus on the topics of income inequality, education inequality and inequalities in social protection. The report will be published in English, Sinhala, and Tamil and will capture the various dimensions of socio-economic inequalities and their implications. Prevalence, severity, changes, distribution of inequalities and implications will also be addressed in this research along with appropriate recommendations to reduce inequalities and associated problems. The project hopes to evolve over the next three years to become the flagship reference literature on inequality for Sri Lanka.

“Since its inception, Janashakthi has been a long-term supporter of nation building initiatives and we have always recognized our responsibility to support the nation. We have partnered with CEPA and YUMA Foundation to produce Sri Lanka’s first Inequality Research Report as a first step to identify the problem areas and take necessary actions to curb inequality in these turbulent times. The inequality challenge is global and is identified as one of the key areas that hinders development and economic growth. Together, we must take action to tackle deep-seated as well as emerging inequalities. We firmly believe that the research findings of this report will guide Janashakthi Foundation and other organizations as well as the government to strategically identify specific areas of concern and communities that are in need of help, to bridge the inequality gap,” commented Ramesh Schaffter, Managing Director / Group CEO of Janashakthi Group.