Building Climate Resilience and Gender Equality in Sri Lanka

Lessons from the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project

Ms. Shanmuganathan delivering a lecture on Gender Equality

Sri Lanka’s journey toward sustainable development has shown that climate resilience and social inclusion cannot be treated as separate goals. The experience of the World Bank–financed Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) demonstrates how investments in irrigation, agriculture, and climate adaptation can also become powerful platforms for advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, especially in rural and climate-vulnerable communities.  

Climate-Smart Agriculture as a Social Transformation Tool
Implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands, and Irrigation from 2019 to 2025 with World Bank support, CSIAP was designed to enhance agricultural productivity, strengthen climate resilience, and improve water management through approaches such as the Village Tank Cascade System. However, beyond infrastructure and technology, the project recognized a critical reality: climate risks disproportionately affect women, particularly those from marginalized households, women-headed families, and communities facing multidimensional poverty.

By integrating environmental, social, and gender considerations into project design and implementation, CSIAP moved beyond a purely technical intervention. It created space for women to participate in decision-making processes related to water management, farmer organizations, and community institutions—areas traditionally dominated by men.

Addressing Gender Gaps in Rural Livelihoods
Despite Sri Lanka’s strong human development indicators—high literacy rates and a majority female university population—approximately about 35% of women participate in the paid workforce. In rural areas, women’s contributions to agriculture and natural resource management often remain unpaid, invisible, or undervalued.

The CSIAP addressed this gap by:

• Promoting women’s active participation and leadership in farmer organizations, producer societies, social audit committees, producer associations, and cascade management committees.
• Supporting livelihood diversification linked to climate-resilient agriculture
• Recognizing and reducing barriers created by unpaid care work
• Creating safer and more inclusive spaces for women to voice concerns and priorities

These efforts highlighted an important lesson: resilience-building is not only about physical assets, but also about social power, voice, and agency.

 From CSIAP to THRIVE: Scaling Gender-Transformative Approaches
The lessons learned under CSIAP strongly align with and inform broader national initiatives such as Resilience-building, Inclusivity, and Voices for Equality in Sri Lanka. the result frameworks include to economically and socially empower women while addressing harmful social norms that perpetuate gender-based violence and inequality.

The CSIA project operates across 258 Grama Niladhari Divisions in 11 districts and 6 provinces, focusing on women who face intersecting forms of marginalization, including women with disabilities, women-headed households, and plantation-sector workers. Similar to the CSIAP, the program adopts a holistic and gender-transformative approach, tackling root causes such as:

• Discriminatory patriarchal norms and stereotypes
• Limited platforms for civic participation
• Weak understanding of intersectionality
• Gaps in institutional accountability and law enforcement

Importantly, CSIAP also invests in capacity-building for officials at national, provincial, and district levels on gender planning and budgeting—an approach that echoes CSIAP’s emphasis on strengthening systems, not just communities.

Responding to Persistent and Emerging Challenges
Experience from CSIAP confirms that gender inequality is not solely a women’s issue, but a broader societal challenge. High levels of sexual harassment in public spaces, low female labor force participation, and Sri Lanka’s low ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index highlight the urgency of sustained action.
At the same time, new risks are emerging. Digital platforms offer opportunities for learning, entrepreneurship, and connectivity, yet they also expose women to online harassment and exclusion. Integrating digital inclusion and safety into development programs is now essential to ensure that women can fully participate in climate-smart and knowledge-based economies.

Toward Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Futures
The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project demonstrates that development outcomes are strongest when climate resilience, gender equality, and social inclusion are addressed together. Investments in irrigation infrastructure and climate adaptation can—and should—also transform social norms, expand women’s leadership, and strengthen community resilience.

As Sri Lanka moves forward with initiatives like CSIAP and aligns with Outcome 6: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023–2027), the experience of CSIAP offers a clear message: empowering women is not an add-on to development—it is a prerequisite for sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth.
By continuing to invest in women’s voices, leadership, and livelihoods, Sri Lanka can build communities that are not only climate-smart, but also just, inclusive, and capable of thriving in the face of future challenges.
 
By: Sharmila Shanmuganathan, Social Safeguard and Gender Development Officer, Project Management Unit, CSIAP