Beginning in just one village (1958) and extending the movement to service a total of more than 15,000 villages over the past six decades has been a fascinating adventure. Initially it involved an education program that aimed at enabling students and teachers to live and work with the most remote village communities in Sri Lanka, lending a hand and developing self-help initiatives. Within nine years the “service learning programme” had expanded into a full-fledged development movement in hundreds of villages, with the goal of a comprehensive and nonviolent social transformation. During its first 15 years, Sarvodaya grew with hardly any foreign aid or state support, relying on volunteer labour, mostly from the beneficiaries themselves.
Our mission is multifold
Our Mission:
Create a no poverty, no affluence, and a conflict-free society.
Uplift and empower the most disadvantaged people in Sri Lanka.
Total Awakening and Well-being of All (individuals, family, village, nation, and the world) on every plane (spiritual, moral, cultural, social, economic and political).
The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement has now become stronger than ever before. A new administrative management at national level is supporting a motivated group of emerging leaders at the village and district levels. Although almost one-third of the districts supported by Sarvodaya are not financed by outside partners, they are nevertheless surviving in the knowledge that in the long term, progress for them will result from partnership and self-sustaining development activities rather than from charity. Our important role in peacemaking, community building, and securing a certain quality of life in Sri Lanka is undiminished, and our will to achieve innovation in the social, ethical, cultural, spiritual and economic fields is constantly nourished by partners who have the confidence that our years of experience including times of hardship have timeless value.
