“SANASA” is the Sinhala acronym for the Movement of Thrift and Credit Co-Operative Societies in Sri Lanka. SANASA is the only Micro cooperative Cooperative Network in Sri Lanka covering all provinces with 8424 primary societies. The membership of the movement consists of persons belonging to all races and religions, numbering 805,000. The total population coverage is over 3,100,000, making SANASA the most representative Co-operative organization in Sri Lanka. The fundamental strength of the movement has helped it to thrive and grow in spite of the devastating ethnic conflict fueled by multiple sociocultural, political and economic issues. The primary societies function autonomously within an area designated for them.

The Primary societies serving a membership population in designated areas are also referred as “Primary SANASA Society” in the village. The federation referred to heretofore, represent the largest People Oriented organization based on a cooperative philosophy.

majority,Thus, the Sinhala the language spoken by the majority uses a concise wording for savings and credit “SANASA” which was the name given to this peoples’ movement and hence the federation is also referred as SANASA Federation, and the peoples movement that it stands for is referred as the “SANASA Movement”.