Community Formation Model for a Diverse Community: Case of Sayurupura Housing Flats, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This case study explains an innovative community group formation model that was introduced by the SEVANATHA Urban Resource Center (SURC) to form a community group in the Sayurupura Housing Flats (SHF) at the Moratuwa Municipal Council (MMC), Sri Lanka. This activity’s scope was planned for a period of six months (August 2022 to January 2023). The main objective of the activity is to bring together relevant Stakeholders (SHs) and residents of the community to develop a Sustainable Waste Management (SWM) system in the SHF. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Desk Reviews (DRs) were used to develop this case study. SHF is a diverse community. Hence, there are several socio-economic issues being generated by this complexity. Besides these issues, Improper Waste Dumping (IWD) has been a critical problem in this community. For minimizing the IWD in Sayurupura, SURC, MMC, the Urban Settlement Development Authority, Sri Lanka (USDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have initiated a project to introduce an appropriate SWM system for this community. Forming a community group is an important initiative of this project. Hence, the SURC introduced an innovative model to form a community group in SHF.