Only one in five people in the world have adequate social security coverage; yet social security is a basic need and a basic human right. Its fulfillment would contribute to the promotion of decent work and to the reduction of poverty. The Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) formally launched the Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All at the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2003. The overall objective of the campaign was to extend social security to the excluded through the mobilization of key actors at the national and international levels. Financial support was secured from the Government of the Netherlands for a technical cooperation project to be executed from early 2002 in three developing countries – Sri Lanka, Honduras and Mali. This report is concerned with assessing the effectiveness of the special contributory scheme which seeks to provide social security for farmers and fishermen in Sri Lanka.