Our article opens in a refugee camp near the Ampara District coast in Sri Lanka, where the relief practices of many international non-governmental organizations (INGOS) are encouraging tsunami survivors to give up ownership of their own futures and rely on external bodies to make their decisions and provide them with their daily needs.

The Ampara district is one of the least developed regions in Sri Lanka, and it has received less tsunami aid than nearly any other part of the island. It was also the worst affected of all the nation's coastal districts.   Despite the intensity of the challenges the region faces, reconstruction is unfolding at a painstakingly slow pace that many in Sri Lanka decry as stagnation.

While the policies of some organizations encourage dependency, many local NGOs are using long-term, participatory techniques they developed to help refugees displaced by the 23-year-old civil war--long before the tsunami struck.

Based on extensive field research and interviews, the article takes a hard look at the challenges of offering appropriate and truly beneficial assistance to those in need.