Priyanka Jayawardena

Priyanka Jayawardena is a Research Economist with research interests in skills and education, demographics, health, and labour markets. Priyanka has around 15 years of research experience at IPS. She has worked as a consultant to international organisations including World Bank, ADB and UNICEF. She has conducted numerous research studies relating to the human resource development in Sri Lanka for a variety of development partners and various government ministries. Her research has been published in peer reviewed national and international journals and book chapters. She holds a BSc (Hons) specialised in Statistics and an MA in Economics, both from the University of Colombo.

Areas of expertise prepared to comment on: Econometrics and Economic Modeling, Economics of Education, Health, Economics and Policy, Labour & Migration

She has around 15 years of experience in conducting economic policy-related research on the economics of health, education and labour. She is experienced in quantitative data analysis with applying econometric evaluation techniques -- distributional analysis, quasi-experimental methods, wealth index, equity in opportunity indices. She has authored/co-authored a number of studies on health equity. Member of the Southern Voice network.

Advisory Work:

Served in the Committee on ‘Labor Market Study’ at National Human Resources Development Council (NHRDC).

Served in the committee on prioritising issues for increasing the allocation for secondary education

Served in the National Steering Committee for Employable Disables, Department of Labour.

Media:

Interview with Inter Press Service reporter for news item on Sri Lanka’s Tea Estates, Maternal Health Leaves a Lot to Be Desired, September 23, 2014.

Selected publications

Jayawardena, P. (2020), A Proactive Path to Combat Malnutrition in Sri Lanka, Health and Education Research Series – No 16, Colombo: Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

World Bank (2020), Public Expenditure Review (PER) for Nutrition in Sri Lanka: Assessing Public Financing for Nutrition (2014–2018) Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Thibbotuwawa, M., Jayawardena, P., Arunatilake, N. and Gunasekera, N. (2019), Living Wage Estimation for the Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka, report prepared for Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC), ISEAL Alliance, London, UK.

Jayawardena, P. and Miller, R. (2017), ‘Bridging Skills for Employment in Sri Lanka’ in Fostering Skilled Workforce for a Competitive Economy: Sri Lanka, Manila: Asian Development Bank and International Labour Organization.

Baseline Survey on Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition (2018)

M. Thibbotuwawa, P. Jayawardena, N. Arunatilake, and N. Gunasekera, (forthcoming), Living Wage Report: Sri Lanka Estate Sector, Global Living Wage Coalition