Susrutha Goonasekera Email & Phone Number

Beijing City, China

Responsible for supporting the integration of social development dimensions into the operational work of AIIB, recognizing the importance of this issue in development of sustainable infrastructure.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Social Development Specialist in the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice of the World Bank. His work on social development and social safeguards aims at improving the operational dimensions of social sustainability and helps task teams to enhance social opportunities and mitigate social risks associated with development projects and programs. He also contributes to the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the development discourse, and to promote cohesion and accountability of development projects and programs, which are key ingredients of empowering people to overcome poverty. Specific achievements include:Conducted a review of donor approaches to social safeguards management systems in Sri Lanka (June, 2014).Team member for undertaking a safeguards performance review of the Sri Lanka portfolio (April, 2014).Country focal point and team member for a study on ‘Improving women’s labour force participation in Sri Lanka’ (May, 2013).Country focal point for advocating social accountability mechanisms, namely independent / third party monitoring of Bank funded projects.Provide social development and social safeguards support to WB funded projects in Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh

Colombo, Sri Lanka

A member of the Social Protection Unit of the Human Development Network that supports the World Bank and client countries to assist individuals, households and communities to manage income and welfare risks of vulnerable groups. The Unit is also charged with developing concepts and strategies for social protection policies and supporting operational work mainly in the areas of disability, labour markets, pensions, safety nets and social funds. Specific achievements include:Strengthened Sri Lanka’s largest safety net program by improving its targeting methodology, and helping to develop and pilot an automated MISAssisted the Government of Sri Lanka to design a comprehensive project to test a livelihood support program (named “Dirisaviya”) for the disabled and to improve management and monitoring systems of welfare activitiesSupported the design and implementation of the largest cash-for-work program for IDPs in Sri Lanka. This was co-financed by AUSAID under the Emergency Northern Recovery Project (ENReP)Assisted the Government of Maldives to design and implement an appropriate system for targeting the poor, while also building capacity within the counterpart agenciesFacilitated an independent, third party benefit monitoring of a World Bank financed infrastructure project. This was conducted as a pilot initiative to educate and influence the client and Bank teams on the merits of external monitoring.

South Asia

• More than twelve years of experience in development work, incl. ten years of operational work as a World Bank Social Specialist involved in delivering large national programs. Strong focus on ‘social development’, ‘social safeguards’ including involuntary resettlement, indigenous peoples’ issues, social protection, gender and labor issues, community development, social inclusion, land rights, minorities’ rights and citizen engagement. • Trained and accredited in the new Environmental and Social Framework.• Strong understanding of client needs, policy issues, SAR political economy and cultural context, in addition to years of engagement in donor coordination and civil society collaboration.• Broad cross-sector experiences ranging from community level to various levels of Government.• Considerable human resource management and experience from both a research and donor context, and solid experience in capacity building incl. delivery of training. • Clear operational focus, strong team leadership, inter-personal skills from multi-sector programs. • Significant experience in needs assessments and response, incl. post-conflict project preparation.• Strong analytical background incl. work on gender and labor.• Substantial experience in monitoring and evaluation incl. third party monitoring.• Considerable experience in project formulation.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Developed and tested innovative methodological approaches to the assessment of the impact of development projects on poverty reduction. Generated qualitative methodologies for applied research and provided advisory services, training on poverty analysis and impact monitoring. Specific achievements include: Field coordinator and team member of the study team on “An independent external monitoring of resettlement activities of the Sri Lanka Southern Highway Project” – ADB, 2006/7Coordinated a workshop of Private Sector and Development experts to debate issues relating to Corporate Social Responsibility in Sri Lanka. The discussion took place under the general theme of “Pro-profit or Pro-poor: The role of CSR in development”Contributed to the Sri Lanka chapter of a global study on “Moving out of poverty: Understanding growth and freedom from the bottom up” / Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment 2006 – World Bank, 2005/6Task managed an “assessment of rural access pilot interventions” – SIDA, 2005.

Master Of Science (Msc), Development Studies

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Economics