Our Ongoing Projects - Connect To Care

1. IDAT Project

Connect To Care has played an instrumental role in facilitating the project and ensuring it remains on track to meet its objectives. The IDAT project has faced implementation challenges, including changes in government and at ministries, which have made securing the necessary data and agreements to build such a complex tool difficult. Coordinating a vast number of stakeholders public, private, civil society organizations (CSOs), and implementing and development partners has also proved challenging.

C2C has worked relentlessly to manage these challenges by securing relevant permissions, facilitating meetings, and going beyond mere facilitation to create key project structures, such as steering and executive committees, while also locating project champions for IDAT at the highest levels of government.

Delivering Project Leadership

Tasked with facilitating and driving forward the IDAT project, C2C identified a lack of leadership and project ownership on the government side as key obstacles. Although the project ministries were responsible, there was no clear lead. C2C arranged for the responsibility to be housed within the Presidential Secretariat, which sits near the apex of Sri Lankan government decision-making. After securing the support of the President and arranging for monthly meetings to review IDAT progress, C2C was able to restructure key project committees to ensure deliverables and timelines were met.

Key achievements by C2C include:

1. Monthly Meetings with the President’s Chief of Staff: Regular updates on project progress and challenges, ensuring buy-in and support from the government at the highest level.

2. Formation of the IDAT Technical Committee: Addressing coordination and development challenges. C2C worked to establish a strong technical committee that includes both international and local partners to resolve core development and deployment challenges.

3. Re-initiation of Steering Committee Meetings: Ensuring ongoing stakeholder engagement.

4. Executive Committee Formation: Leading project oversight and strategic direction. 5. Ministry Collaboration: Arranged meetings with key ministers, including the Ministers for Irrigation and Agriculture, to secure the relevant permissions for the project. C2C drafted letters to key ministries and secretaries to regularize access to data and secure ministry buy-in.

6. Hosting Arrangements: Coordinated with the Government of Sri Lanka and secured project data hosting solutions. Hosting had previously been a project blocker, as responsibility for project hosting lay with the government, but no formal agreements had been reached regarding where and under which organization project data would be housed.

7. Workshops: Organized key conference workshops to bring together public and private sector stakeholders for collaboration and discussion on IDAT’s applications. The workshops have proven extremely valuable, clearly demonstrating the project’s potential to a range of stakeholders and securing additional support.

8. Facilitated Communication: Established a focal point for inquiries across ministries through a centralized email system. C2C also worked to communicate project milestones via press outreach, ensuring stakeholders and the public are aware of the project and its aims.

Fundamentally, C2C has played an instrumental role in steering and guiding this crucial project towards completion and implementation. The organization will continue to support the project as it nears launch, facilitating outreach to local and global stakeholders and collaboration among the numerous agencies involved.

2. Nutrition Project

One of the most effective, scalable, affordable, and sustainable ways to address micronutrient deficiencies is the fortification of staple foods (rice, wheat flour, oil, milk, and salt). Food Fortification is a scientifically proven, cost-effective, intervention. Fortification involves adding minute quantities of vital nutrients deficient in the diets of a population such as iron, folic acid, vitamin D, and vitamin A to commonly consumed foods like rice, wheat flour, oil, and milk. Micronutrient fortification of widely consumed staple foods is also considered to be a sustainable solution for improving the health of entire communities as it prevents deficiencies from occurring while minimizing the need for behavior change.

Rice is a staple food in Sri Lanka, an estimated 17 percent of the 22 million population is food-insecure according to the FAO-WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission Report 2023. The 2024 school meal program, themed ‘Healthy Active Generation,’ strives to address nutritional issues among students, enhance daily school attendance, cultivate healthy eating habits, elevate educational achievement, and promote local food culture. This year, the program extends its benefits to 1.6 million students, encompassing primary students from 9,134 government schools and smaller schools with fewer than 100 students.

Need for this

The Government of Sri Lanka is committed to locally producing fortified rice kernels as a cost-effective way of providing fortified rice for the ongoing School Meals Programs. Improving the technical capacity requires extensive technology solutions, and the right information through proper training and demonstration at the nearest localized resource centers to ensure sustainability. PATH is providing Technical Assistance (TA) support to build the capacity of the government departments, industry, and ecosystem actors. However, a more robust mechanism is needed to make the solutions sustainable in the country. The vision is that in the coming years, this support can be provided by leading technology institutions in the country. It is proposed that the institutions will function as TSUs for rice fortification to provide sustainable TA to the government and the industry for successful rice fortification scale-up. Our goal is to unify voices by bringing together Government stakeholders, institutions, and Technical Support Units (TSUs) that collaborate on scaling up identified rice fortification best practices across the country. The establishment of forums, alliances, and multistakeholder rice fortification platforms will help public and private sector partners to collaborate and contribute significant shared resources to identify, diffuse, and scale up proven high-impact interventions. The collaboration will be a one-of-a-kind approach toward boosting the technical integration among government, institutions, premix manufacturers, FRK manufacturers, rice millers, indigenous blender manufacturers, suppliers, and consumers.

For sustainability and support to the program, academic institutions/ universities will be identified to function as Centre of Excellence (COE) as a vital axis point for future capacity building, Quality assurance and Quality Control, research, and developing innovation, generating evidence, and to provide technical support to stakeholders for rice fortification.

PATH IN RICE FORTIFICATION

PATH has been a global leader in rice fortification for over two decades, working on technology advancement, evidence-building, and implementation in multiple countries, and has played a leading global role in making this innovation ready for large-scale adoption. For more than 20 years, we have worked towards developing the best methods for fortifying rice with vitamins and minerals not only in India but also in Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, West African countries, Bhutan and Myanmar. We established the first fortified rice kernel producer (Swagat Foods) in India in 2008. In 2008-2010, PATH demonstrated the operational feasibility of cost-effective programming for supplying fortified rice through school meal programs in AP, Rajasthan, and Rice kernel sachets at the Telemedicine Centre in UP. The first evidence of the beneficial effect of rice fortification was demonstrated on residential school children in Andhra Pradesh by PATH in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and National Institute of Nutrition in 2011 and subsequently in Karnataka in 2016-2018 and Gujarat in 2018-2019. PATH India has been a lead technical partner to the India Regulator: Food Safety Standards Authority of India and policymakers and has played an imperative role in guiding FSSAI on the regulations for staple foods and supported the development of a logo identity to connote the goodness of fortified foods. Rice fortification standards were operationalized in 2016 and gazette in 2018. PATH has played an instrumental role in supporting FSSAI in developing its ‘Food Fortification Resource Centre’s’ Institutional structure and operating framework. FFRC’s aim is to support the expansion of large-scale food fortification programming in the country. We are working closely with the Department of Food & Public Distribution, the Food Corporation of India, FSSAI, and along with the State government in 12 states for the scale-up of rice fortification in India

3. DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is key to driving economic growth, improving service delivery, and fostering social inclusion. It serves as the backbone for various digital services, including payments, identification, and data exchange systems. Sri Lanka is committed to strengthening its DPI as part of its National Digital Economic Strategy 2030 to modernize its digital ecosystem and build a comprehensive policy framework. The country is also participating in the global “50-in-5” initiative to implement DPI for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key activities include:

DPI Workshop (January 2024): A stakeholder workshop to discuss best practices and challenges in implementing DPI.
Donor Workshop (May 2024, Paris): An event to explore funding opportunities for inclusive DPI systems.
Donor Engagement Dialogue (June 2024, Colombo): A forum to align stakeholders and donors on DPI priorities and initiatives.

For successful DPI implementation, Sri Lanka will appoint a leadership team, form a convergence committee for collaboration, and organize workshops on policy frameworks, technical support, and infrastructure improvements. The government also plans to upgrade outdated digital infrastructure and secure donor support for these efforts.

4. CLIMATE INITIATIVES

Sri Lanka’s biodiversity conservation strategy, supported by Connect to Care, has identified nine key biodiversity projects, focusing on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, habitat restoration, species conservation, and sustainable management of protected areas. These projects aim to align with the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30×30 pledge, which targets protecting 30% of the country’s land and marine ecosystems by 2030.

Key initiatives include:

Donor and Partner Engagement: Connect to Care organized a Donor and Partner Engagement Day, successfully raising awareness and securing financial support for biodiversity conservation.
Coordination and Implementation: The organization coordinates with McKinsey and the Sri Lankan government to ensure these projects align with national priorities and international targets through regular consultations and technical workshops.
Climate Change University Project: Connect to Care advanced the development of the International Climate Change University, supporting climate research and education.
Environmental Projects: These include the implementation of the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METTS) for protected areas, Climate Smart Finance for sustainable agriculture, and watershed management in the Knuckles region.

Additional Climate and Environmental Initiatives:

Global Biodiversity Framework Initiative: Connect to Care facilitated collaboration between government bodies and conservation organizations to advance Sri Lanka’s commitment to halt biodiversity loss and protect ecosystems by 2030.

International Climate Change Forum (ICCF): Held in November 2023, this forum identified strategic climate priorities and the need for a tracking system for climate adaptation projects.

SL EMETS Workshop: A multi-stakeholder consultation to design a national environmental tracking system, focused on air, water, soil, and biodiversity monitoring.

5. LIVESTOCK AND DAIRY

Between January and August 2024, Connect to Care (CTC), in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), conducted preparatory work for a Dairy Program to support the Sri Lankan government’s objectives. This involved understanding the goals of the government and the political and economic context of the dairy industry, which currently relies heavily on imports—approximately $400 million worth annually—while producing only 38% of its needs.

Key activities included a significant seminar in March 2024, hosted by the Presidential Secretariat, which brought together stakeholders from various sectors to:

Identify necessary policy reforms to enhance dairy production and improve smallholder livelihoods.
Discuss barriers preventing private sector investment.
Explore support available from international organizations and learn from successful interventions in other countries.

The proposed Dairy Program aims to increase domestic dairy production, reduce reliance on imports, and enhance the efficiency and resilience of smallholder farmers. It seeks to achieve these objectives through two main approaches: engaging smallholder farmers and collaborating with large processing companies, financial institutions, and technology providers.

High-Level Objectives:

Increase dairy production.
Reduce dairy imports.
Enhance smallholder farmer resilience and productivity.
Collaborate with processing companies and financial institutions.

Expected Outcomes and Innovations:

Engagement with Farmers and Processors: Provide capacity building and infrastructure improvements for smallholders and collaborate with large processors on sustainable practices.

Livestock Feed Supply: Optimize land management and explore alternative feed sources.

Proven Model Scaling: Expand successful practices from regions like the Northern Province.

Sustainable Financing: Develop public-private partnerships and improve access to credit.

Advanced Monitoring: Implement real-time dashboards to track performance indicators.

Policy Support and Incentives: Advocate for reforms to encourage innovation and sustainability.