Category: Finance and Planning
Client: Department of Census and Statistics, UNDP SURGE Data Hub, Nielsons IQ
In recent years, Sri Lanka experienced a series of unprecedented socio-economic crises. The economic set-back following the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019 was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe socio-economic crisis that followed. In the face of a rapidly shifting context, Citra tabled the idea of a National Citizen Survey (NCS) in April 2022, in order to better understand how these polycrises have impacted the socio-economic realities of Sri Lankan households.
This exercise was a response to the dearth of data in Sri Lanka between 2019-2022, from government as well as UN and other non-government sources.
To this end, Citra collaborated with the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), the UNDP SURGE Data Hub, and Nielsons IQ to collectively develop a representative and robust survey tool and population-based sampling methodologies for this survey.
Based on an initial exploration, the following thematic areas were selected, on the basis of providing a reasonable snapshot of both the socio-economic and governance impacts felt at the household level during this time:
In designing the survey and sample methodology, Citra collaborated with officials from the DCS to ensure that the methodology was rigorous, ensuring that data could be disaggregated to the GN level. Citra also worked closely with UNDP’s SURGE Data Hub, who came on board to support survey design and coding, data analysis, and visualization. We also worked with Nielsons IQ to leverage their experience in survey administration to conduct the survey, data cleaning, and translations.
A pilot survey was run with 50 households across the Colombo, Kurunegala, Jaffna, Kandy, and Batticaloa districts, following which the full survey was rolled out. Data collection for the NCS commenced in November 2022, and concluded in March 2023. This process resulted in a rich dataset with a nationally representative sample of 25,042 households across all 25 districts. We also made efforts to ensure that both urban and rural populations were proportionately represented in the sample. To supplement this analysis, a series of focus group discussions were conducted across the nine provinces, supported by Nielsons IQ.
As a first for UNDP Sri Lanka, and with technical support from the team at UNDP’s SURGE Data Hub, this data can be accessed both via an interactive dashboard, in addition to the dataset being freely available for download. In addition to serving UNDP’s internal programing, the data from the NCS is useful tool to the wider UN system, policymakers, research organizations, universities, think-tanks, and other partners working within the developing sector.
The survey formed the basis for developing the first Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) for Sri Lanka, which looked at the intersecting and overlapping vulnerabilities faced by households.
