UNDP began operations in Sri Lanka in 1967. UNDP’s overarching goal is to support the country in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the reduction of poverty. UNDP pursues this goal by working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka and supporting its agenda and objectives as captured within the framework of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and in line with the government national development strategy, set out in the 'Mahinda Chinthana: Vision for a New Sri Lanka. UNDP works through the following programmatic areas:

UNDP Practice Areas

• Poverty Reduction and the MDGs
• Energy, Environment and Disaster Risk Management
• Governance
• Peace and Recovery

In its over 40 years of work in the country, UNDP has provided support in the form of grants, expert advice and equipment to the country’s main development sectors such as economic planning and finance, trade and tourism, agriculture and rural development, health, education, as well as the legislature and the judiciary. UNDP has assisted the Open University of Sri Lanka, the Urban Development Authority, and the National Institute of Health Services. In the late sixties, UNDP was instrumental in developing a blue print with FAO, for the Mahaweli Development Project, the country’s largest modern hydro-electric and irrigation scheme. UNDP has supported the Government in developing strategies to provide access to primary education and basic health services for all. UNDP provided significant recovery support to the country after the tsunami of December 2004. UNDP’s network of Field Offices in the country have a comparative advantage with regard to capacity development, as well as providing support for the delivery of key services, particularly at the local level. At the policy level, support was provided to mainstream disaster management in development and planning with the help of Ministries, private sector and NGOs. UNDP also supported the establishment of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) as a focal point for Disaster Management in Sri Lanka. In November 2005, the Ministry for Disaster Management and Human Rights was established with UNDP assistance.

UNDP’s partnership with the Government has resulted in the successful implementation of hundreds of projects leading to sharing of knowledge and resources, strengthening of capacities and empowerment of local and national institutions.

Today, national institutions are encouraged to execute most of the projects themselves. Projects in three of the four UNDP programmatic areas are executed by national institutions, involving various Government Ministries, NGOs and CBOs. Direct implementation by UNDP remains the prevailing implementation modality in the conflict-affected North and East of the country. This is due to three reasons: operating in a volatile security environment, the presence of a directly implemented United Nations support project facilitates acceptance by all key stakeholders across the spectrum; donors have repeatedly indicated their undisputed preference for co-financing contributions to interventions in the North and East to be administered and managed directly by UNDP; and the workload of administrating the funding and activity intensive project initiatives would put a heavy burden on the limited capacities of local authorities in the districts of the East and North. However, UNDP works closely with Government Authorities in these districts to promote national ownership and capacity development.

UNDP receives funding from various sources for its development efforts in the country. The resources include UNDP core funding, donor assistance, funding from thematic trust funds like the Montreal Protocol and the Global Environment Facility, the private sector and the Sri Lankan Government. Of the total allocation of 70,084,000 USD for the current Country Programme Cycle (2008-2012), UNDP mobilized more than 15 million USD in 2011.