Promoting Social Protection Through Human-Centred Design is a practical workshop guide that helps communities understand social protection as a right. Using methods rooted in Human-Centred Design (HCD), it supports citizens to connect policy to lived experience, identify barriers, and formulate recommendations. Originally developed for urban working-class communities in Colombo, the guide can be adapted for diverse sectors and contexts across Sri Lanka.

A new Policy Brief by CSF warns that Sri Lanka’s renewed push to lease large tracts of land for tourism risks repeating past failures unless land allocation is grounded in ecological limits, infrastructure readiness, and community realities. The findings are especially timely as Sri Lanka positions the tourism sector as a key pillar of post-crisis recovery. While streamlined land leasing may appear efficient, CSF cautions that speed without preparedness risks eroding community trust and undermines long-term economic value.

Colombo Urban Lab launched its latest report, “Social Protection and Urban Infrastructures of Care in Colombo” on the 19th of January 2026. The presentation of the report’s findings was followed by a panel discussion on recommendations for improving care infrastructure and social protection and what opportunities and roadblocks lay ahead in catalysing change. The panel consisted of Vraie Cally Balthazaar, Mayor of Colombo, Dr. Farzana Haniffa, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Emma Brigham, UNICEF representative for Sri Lanka and Iromi Perera, Director of the Colombo Urban Lab.

This report documents public expenditure, user perception, financial feasibility and building design, charting the decline of Arcade Independence Square and Floating Market in Colombo, and examines why they failed to achieve their own objectives. It builds on Colombo Urban Lab’s research and advocacy on Sri Lanka’s debt, specifically looking at national debt incurred for public infrastructure or large scale infrastructure projects.

There is a paradox at the heart of Colombo’s development crisis: a city that sells wetlands as sought-after amenities, even as they are drained and buried beneath concrete foundations. In this op-ed marking World Wetlands Day 2026, we are reminded that Colombo needs integrated planning that treats wetlands not as vacant lots awaiting development, but as essential infrastructure.