his paper is an application of multidimensional poverty data to the policy need to
improve the effectiveness of the national social protection programme, Samurdhi, in
Sri Lanka. This paper argues that any programme aiming to promote people out of
poverty, needs to be based on a good understanding of the nature of poverty among
the target group. To this end, data from a pilot survey in the Badulla District, Sri
Lanka, is used to compare Samurdhi households with non Samurdhi households in
relation to deprivation in multiple dimensions. The analysis finds that Samurdhi
households are deprived in the dimensions of quality of employment, dignity and
psychological and subjective wellbeing, which have practical implications for the
design and delivery of Samurdhi.