The Poverty and Social Welfare Unit of IPS seeks to improve knowledge on poverty dynamics of vulnerable groups in order to emphasize the need to balance economic and social issues in policy making and implementation, which would eventually lead to improved status of the poor. Despite continued efforts by the state to reduce poverty through a dual approach of growth generating policy reforms and continued assistance to the deprived via social welfare programmes and poverty alleviating initiatives, poverty reduction in Sri Lanka has been much less than anticipated. Given the continued dominance of the macro-adjustment based development strategy in Sri Lanka, there is a strong need to understand the mechanisms and processes that translate macroeconomic policy reform to increased welfare, and also the reasons why certain population segments remain deprived. The Poverty and Social Welfare Unit of IPS recognizes the need to furnish policy makers with up-to-date evaluations on poverty alleviation efforts and provide medium-term analysis of the relevant issues. The research programme focuses on monitoring poverty, understanding the links between macro policy and poverty, and evaluating and re-thinking the welfare policies in Sri Lanka so that the poor are differentially benefited.