The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic and social challenges for the entire world, the impacts of which are still reverberating through the current post-pandemic era.

UNDP commissioned Marga Institute to carry out a telephone-based survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka to understand and document the landscape for these businesses in the context of COVID-19 and the extent to which they have adopted responsible business practices (RBPs) and human rights, and to then identify incentives that encourage them to adhere to or barriers that prevent them from adhering to, RBPs aligned to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The survey was conducted in September 2021 with the participation of 128 employers and 347 employees. It focused on SMEs in the agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and other sectors, and primarily on SMEs led by women and on youth-led civil society.