Date of Publication :8th September 2024

Abstract: The sustainable development agenda identified no poverty as one of its seventeen goals. In Sri Lanka, the poverty level was reduced from 46.8% in 2002 to 14.3% in 2019 through activities focusing on financial and material support. However, the strategy was unable to withstand proceeding economic crises, pandemic and resulting social unrest and the poverty level was raised to 27.9% in 2022. Therefore, the foremost requirement to succeed in the goal and to resolve the deep-seated longstanding chronic issue is to identify the real root causes of poverty. Accordingly, this research aimed to investigate the root cause of poverty in Sri Lanka. The research was conducted based on five Divisional Secretariat Divisions Geographically varied, within five Administrative Districts. A mixed method was applied for data collection and analysis. Participatory observations and secondary data were analyzed to ascertain the root cause. The study revealed that misbehavior, social injustice, gender disparity and malpractice of strategies are the major causes of poverty. Further, the paternalistic approach which resulted in cultural transformation and dependency syndrome rooted in colonization manifested the present phenomenon underlay the poverty. Analyzing the potential solution, it is evident that the restoration of previous culture is not possible as society has undergone rapid evolutionary change with globalization. Then the solutions lay on treatment of the Dependency Syndrome as it is required to treat the cause and not the symptoms. Appropriate formal education is the sustainable solution for the issue. It can be concluded that reaching the state of no poverty is possible through education reforms targeting independent, and self-esteem mindsets among school children.

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