Road Map
Understanding the Problem
At the core of failed policy interventions, is the lack of understanding of the problem that we’re attempting to fix. Municipalities like ours have always operated on ad-hoc decisions that are not data-driven or informed by on-ground realities or the needs of the citizens.
First, we need to understand what needs fixing. We have identified 6 key problem spaces:
- Impacts of a migrant city: At present we have 140,000 citizens in the city, with 20,000 of them on migrant temporary residence due to employment.
- Soaring poverty: Our community is broken with 30% living in poverty without access to the right public services, nutrition, healthcare, and mental well-being.
- Untapped revenue streams: Even though the city has a rich national heritage there has not been any focus to preserve or utilize the significance of the Kotte Kingdom for tourism.
- Our biodiversity is at risk: The heart of the Ramza wetland is dying as we speak which can be a threat to the whole of Colombo.
- Mismanagement of resources and public services: Citizens are subjected to daily frustration due to the lack of access to timely, well-managed public services. The city has an annual income of 1.7 Billion (LKR) and 1000+ employees; resources if managed well could provide exceptional services to our citizens.
- Absence of participatory decision-making: we do not see the involvement of us as citizens in the decision-making process, especially to identify the priority needs.
Our vision for Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is a city that has eradicated poverty and provided a high-quality standard of living for every citizen.
Our mission is to create an urban council that:
- Values human relationships
- Embraces the rich arts, culture, and heritage of the city
- Effectively manages a well-planned waste management system, efficient roads, and a citizen-focused suite of public services
- Preserves the invaluable biodiversity the city possess
- Achieves an efficient and transparent municipality through digitization.
Let’s build the metropolis of hope that leads to a future of modern sustainable development.
Your suggesion for the plan
We have 30% of the city’s population in poverty and close to 50% who are finding difficult to fulfill basic human needs due to current economic situation (2023)
Our target is to cut this by 1/3 within five years through.
- Outcomes driven vocational training to re-skilli and up-skill the Urban Youth by leveraging the untapped resources within local youth Centers.
- Connections to stable avenues for income generation: Digital job banks, career counselling services and self-employment opportunities.
- Creating a city-focused SME ecosystem (Small, Medium Scaled Enterprises) by connecting entrepreneurs with avenues to finance, incubate new businesses, access new market opportunities to accelerate growth.
- Public health services: Targeted public health interventions focused on prevalent local issues such as drug additions and mental health.
Time you spend in obtaining common service and time spend on roads
- Building an efficient, citizen-centric public service: by setting a new standard for citizen satisfaction, improving the job scopes of under-utilized human resources (i.e: youth, child protection and education officers) and creating easy to access resources around accessing local government services
- Focus on employee satisfaction and motivation and building a system of performance based, KPI driven work culture within the city council
- Improved public transport: improving issues around accessibility, cleanliness and route coverage of existing public transport modes.
- Improvement in traffic
- Setting up a Petition Committee to listen to citizens unresolved concerns and Re structured the permeant standing Committees based on priority
Our local government authorities are yet to tap into the efficiencies brough about well-designed technology
- One stop trilingual information source for all city council services (related details, time durations and main contact points) and programs
- Digital reporting and feedback mechanism for citizens: leveraging existing local innovations to provide an easy to access communication line between the city council and each citizen to report community issues, utility breakdowns, service improvements and requirements to enable fast and effective responses.
- Preservation and improvement of the Wet lands through well-planned interventions that engage local environmental experts.
- Improved waste management system: that focuses on upgrading the current waste collection and management practices and infrastructure and a city-wide protocol for citizens on correctly reduce segregating and disposing their waste.
Happy and fulfilled citizens are the cornerstone of a thriving city.
- Building a holistic set of cultural, sports and recreation activities and spaces to enhance a sense of community and the well-being of families.
- Targeted reduction NCDs
- Improving maternal health services and tackling child malnutrition by upgrading existing services delivered through MOH initiatives and upgrading community health programs (i.e: Resourcing midwifes with new tools and skills, health camps in at-risk communities)
- Focus on mental health and well-being: post-COVID we’re experiencing a mental health crisis among our young people. Create a city wide intervention that targets schools, hospitals and youth centers to increase awareness and access to mental health support services.
- Focus on employee satisfaction and motivation
- Performance bases KPI driven work culture
- Establishing a valuation function
- Integrating the MOH areas
- Digital Transformation for identified areas
- Petition Committee to listen to citizens
- Re Structured the permeant Standing Committees based
