IDS was recently honoured to welcome the Hon. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Dr Harini Amarasuriya to mark the 60th anniversary of IDS. In this special episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast we present the Prime Minister’s speech and her discussion with IDS Director Anuradha Joshi.
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The Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya joined students, researchers, and members of the local community for a conversation reflecting on her journey from academia and being an activist to becoming Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister in 2024.
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In the talk, the Prime Minister talked about many issues including how moving from academia/activism to running a government required compromises between ideals and political realities, especially in crisis contexts.
She also talked on how politics have long been sidelined in development practice and that today there is greater recognition that power, institutions, and political relationships shape development, but practical engagement remains difficult and uncomfortable.
The Prime Minister noted the issues facing the Sri-Lanka Government which include; Balancing economic recovery with social justice and equity; Promoting growth while protecting workers’ rights, especially women; Reforming weak or corrupt institutions without destabilising governance; Managing donor relations, protecting national priorities.
A key focus of her speech noted the central focus on care and women’s labour, particularly how economic systems ignore unpaid care work, mostly done by women. This invisible labour subsidises the economy and deepens inequality. She noted:
- Global care economy exploits women (e.g. migrant domestic workers), while creating social costs at home
- Spending cuts shift burdens to households, disproportionately onto women; government aims to protect social safety nets while maintaining fiscal stability.
Responding to the Prime Minister
In the podcast we hear from two respondents, IDS Alum, Dr. Sepali Kottegoda and current master’s student Renushi Ubeyratna.
They valued the Prime Minister’s political honesty and critical analysis, especially on the politics of aid and unequal power relations affecting Global South countries like Sri Lanka.
They also reflected on the growing advocacy for policies that recognise the economic and social value of care work and how The Prime Minister has consistently stressed the importance of valuing care work and strengthening the care economy, including training caregivers and enabling women’s participation in paid work.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Prime Minister said that engagement with international actors involves power struggles, competing agendas, and sovereignty issues and that development and governance are messy, political, and full of trade-offs.
Real change requires constant negotiation, compromise, and attention to lived realities, not just technical solutions.
About the speakers
The Hon. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Dr Harini Amarasuriya was sworn in as the 17th Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on 18 November 2024. Her multifaceted career spans academia, social activism and grassroots politics, with a focus on youth issues, human rights and social development. She spent a decade as an academic at the Open University of Sri Lanka, where she served as a Senior Lecturer in Sociology. As a researcher, she has published treatises on elite politics, dissent, social justice, discrimination and youth, female-headed families, child labour, institutionalized childcare, early marriage, well-being, educational research and intellectual property.
Professor Anuradha Joshi is Director at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). She is also a social scientist with a PhD in Public Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA with extensive experience in policy processes and institutional analysis.
Dr. Sepali Kottegoda is a founder member of the Women and Media Collective. She is currently Director Programmes, Gender and Political Economy, and Media. She received her BA (Hons) (1980) in English Literature from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, her M.Phil (1984) and D.Phil (1990) in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.
Renushi Ubeyratna is a Sri Lankan development practitioner and Commonwealth Scholar pursuing her MA in Power, Participation and Social Change at the Institute of Development Studies. Her work focuses on gender justice, youth engagement and social development in Sri Lanka, grounded in an interdisciplinary academic background spanning International Relations, English and Sociology. A 2022 Community Solutions Fellow, Renushi also brings a deep interest in the political economy of inequality to her work.
About the Between the Lines podcast
This podcast series explores ground-breaking ideas in development for positive social and environmental change. Each month we feature an interview with an expert in international development who will talk about their latest research and ideas.
Episodes content could feature authors of new books, IDS research or interviews with special guest stars.
The discussions give an insight on the themes covered, exploring the challenges and discoveries, and why the issues matter for progressive and sustainable development globally.
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