Achievements in Early Recovery

During or immediately following a crisis, while humanitarian agencies are saving lives, UNDP’s early recovery teams are assessing damages to infrastructure, property, livelihoods and communities. We may be on the ground during the most critical phase of humanitarian relief, but our eyes are on the future.

“Sexual violence was
rampant in the camps,
where some people
lived for more than a
decade, but everyone
should now make
it their responsibility
to jealously guard
the security we have
so that people can
peacefully return home
and lead normal lives.”

- John Komakech Ogwok,
Kitgum district chairman,
Uganda

Early recovery seeks to close the gap between humanitarian relief and long-term recovery, providing a window of opportunity to inject resources and expertise to help countries devastated by crisis build back better. With timely programming and resources, the road to recovery is not only smoother – it is shorter, offering hope to those who have survived natural disasters or violent conflict. Early recovery efforts must begin as soon as possible in order to help stabilize local capacities that will be critical as relief activities end and longer-term recovery begins. They should also not be limited to a particular phase, because affected groups and areas recover at different paces and may need early recovery support at different times.

BCPR provides UNDP country offices with technical assistance for early recovery programmes and leads the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER), which includes 29 members from the humanitarian and development communities.¹ The working group supports country-level implementation, and serves as an important forum for coordination and a source of guidance on early recovery planning and programming.

Country support

UNDP provided early recovery support to 20 countries in 2008, with a focus on supporting and reinforcing national and local governments to manage recovery efforts and provide their citizens with necessary services.² These efforts covered a broad spectrum, including: coordinating early recovery needs assessments with relevant government authorities, UN and international partners (Haiti and Myanmar); generating livelihoods opportunities (Belize, China, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Haiti, Myanmar and Sudan); increasing the delivery of basic services by local government and nongovernmental organizations to communities (Burundi, Uganda, Sudan and Sri Lanka); accelerating the return and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees (Mauritania, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Turkey); restoring critical community infrastructure (Georgia and Myanmar); and strengthening rule of law and community security (the Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Uganda).

Immediate crisis response. Time is truly of the essence when responding to a country hit by crisis. To jumpstart UNDP’s support for early recovery programming and coordination in crisis situations, smart operational rules that maximize effectiveness must guide every response. The mechanism UNDP employs to immediately respond to crises has two key components: an extensive pool of experts available for quick deployment to support planning, programming and coordination; and operational resources to facilitate early recovery work. This mechanism has significantly increased UNDP’s ability to deploy experts to countries as soon as a crisis strikes and to ensure that its support provides the greatest assistance possible to those in need.

In 2008 the pool of available advisers expanded to more than 200 carefully-vetted experts representing a broad range of expertise from within UNDP, UN sister entities and other partners outside the UN system. In 2008, 50 advisers were deployed to over 20 countries. They delivered a wide range of urgent support following emergencies, including Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, a sudden influx of Chadian refugees in Cameroon, a devastating series of hurricanes in Haiti, flooding in India (Bihar) and Yemen, and the destruction of UNDP offices in Chad, Somalia and Sudan (Abyei).

UNDP also completed a set of standard operating procedures for immediate crisis response and began putting those procedures to use in its response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, making further revisions to the procedures based on lessons learned there. UNDP continued to enhance its online toolkit for immediate crisis response, adding resources and incorporating new software that allows for real time collaboration with in-country staff to support them in their crisis response efforts.

These combined efforts produced significant gains in early recovery in response to both natural disasters and man-made conflicts in 2008.

Early Recovery Post-Disaster:

Generating income for affected communities

Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. A staggering 78 percent of Haitians live on less than USD 2 per day and 54 percent on less than USD 1 per day. Recurring natural disasters – hurricanes, floods and mudslides – have wrought unspeakable devastation on the already vulnerable Haitian population. In just three weeks in 2008, three hurricanes and a tropical storm struck the country, killing 500 and affecting more than 800,000 (ten percent of the population), many of whom were left homeless or displaced. The economic destruction was double that of the devastating 2004 floods: all ten regions were hit and the Artibonite region (including the city of Gonaives) was completely submerged, wiping out the 2008 harvest and obliterating houses, roads and buildings.

In less than a week, UNDP headquarters deployed an immediate crisis response team to help the country office produce a response plan within eight days. UNDP then deployed additional advisers to further strengthen in-country capacity and help the government carry out a national Post-Disaster Needs Assessment. As part of the assessment process – and in collaboration with UN partners, the European Commission and the World Bank – UNDP organized consultations with a broad range of national stakeholders and international partners to identify recovery needs; these included early recovery priorities, which were included in the final report issued in November 2008. To ensure coherence within the UN system early recovery response, UNDP provided additional funding for an early recovery coordination specialist and an early recovery strategic planning adviser to support the UN Resident Coordinator.

UNDP then developed a USD 49.6 million, two-year early recovery plan focusing on the four regions most affected by natural disasters: Gonaives (Artibonite), Les Cayes (South), Port de Paix (North West) and South East. UNDP established sub-offices in these localities to ensure proximity to the communities in need and to strengthen work with local authorities. The plan focuses on four critical areas of support:

Restoring livelihoods to ensure that both men and women have access to funds to re-start businesses, replant fields and engage productively in the Haitian economy
Supporting disaster risk reduction by strengthening the local emergency response mechanisms in the most disaster-prone areas, training local government officers in risk reduction, strengthening community-based early warning systems, and increasing community awareness of hazards
Implementing watershed management to control erosion, protect biodiversity and improve water quality through measures such as reforestation programmes and funding for local efforts to repair damaged watershed areas
Reviving water and sanitation services by funding local projects to repair damage and further improve the quality and availability of these resources going forward

Myanmar

In 2008 Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, leaving an estimated 138,370 dead or missing and 2.4 million affected. It particularly devastated the remote but heavily populated Ayeyarwady Delta region.

UNDP immediately took the lead for early recovery coordination. Within days, UNDP Headquarters dispatched a mission to help its Myanmar country office formulate a crisis response plan to quickly address the needs of those hardest hit. Five additional immediate crisis response advisers were deployed to coordinate early recovery programming. UNDP also allocated staff to help produce the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment that fed into the national Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan. The assessment’s successful integration of early recovery issues also allowed the UN Humanitarian Flash Appeal to put a special emphasis on early recovery needs.

UNDP’s support for survivors in the most severely affected villages in five townships included:

Offering more than 4,000 grants to the most vulnerable populations, including destitute households without other livelihood support, female-headed households, and households with orphans
Establishing cash-for-work programmes in which participants from more than 27,000 households restored drinking ponds and cleared debris from communal places such as footpaths and schools
Providing agricultural tools to small farmers and landless laborers for monsoon paddy planting across approximately 20,000 acres

UNDP helped revive over 600 community groups made up of women heads of households. These groups managed small grants and redistributed the income they generated.

Early Recovery Post-Conflict:

Glimpses of hope

Georgia

In August 2008 a short but intense period of open fighting between Georgia and Russia broke out following the escalation of long-standing conflicts in Georgia’s breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Before the parties reached a ceasefire the targeted enclaves suffered extensive damage, causing entire communities to flee their homes. An estimated 182,000 people were displaced, including 90,000 from the heavily affected Shida Kartli region.

BCPR rapidly provided funding and deployed advisers to jump-start early recovery efforts. As soon as access to the war-affected areas was restored, UNDP experts visited the region to assess the immediate and long-term needs. The UNDP team then worked with the local governor and stakeholders in four key municipalities to prioritize needs and develop an early recovery action plan for the Shida Kartli region. To further support recovery, UNDP and its UN partners opened a joint office in Gori to strengthen coordination of UN efforts.

With specific programming in a range of areas – such as livelihood restoration, infrastructure and access to justice – the project has already had a significant impact. This success not only underscored the value of this approach, but it attracted additional funding and donor interest. By the end of 2008, an estimated 10,000 people had already benefitted from school and municipal building rehabilitation and repairs to water pipes. An estimated 100 people completed a series of short courses established at the Gori University in masonry, painting, plumbing and other construction trades. Additionally, UNDP supported the planting of winter wheat on around 650 hectares of land in November, benefiting 1,100 families and ensuring there would be a winter harvest. With agriculture the dominant source of income in the region, this assistance provided vital support to those who had lost harvests, livestock and equipment.

Affected populations also benefitted from the extended services of the Public Defender’s office, the Gender Equality Council, and the Legal Aid service (now operating under a newly established Ministry of Penitentiary, Probation and Legal Aid Issues). In addition to providing training for local authorities and non-governmental organizations, by the end of 2008 the Gori regional office of the Public Defender had looked into more than 50 property rights cases raised by internally displaced people. More than 35 women had benefitted from consultations with the Gender Resource Centre. The centre had taken up two cases of gender-based violence and established good working relationships with more than 25 organizations in the region working on women’s issues. One of the priorities of the overall project is to create an enabling environment for women’s participation in the recovery process. Women constitute at least 25 percent of those involved in the preparation of the medium and long-term recovery plans for the region, and needs of female beneficiaries are also carefully considered when selecting sub-projects for infrastructure rehabilitation.

Kenya

After decades of relative stability in Kenya, the announcement of the results of the December 2007 elections triggered widespread violence that left 1,200 dead, displaced 350,000 and decimated many communities. Rioters destroyed or damaged an estimated 50,000 houses and caused USD 1.17 billion in losses and damages to small enterprises and USD 14.46 million to the livestock and fisheries industries. The violence also heightened ethnic tensions, created insecurity and fear, and traumatized many communities that had previously lived in harmony.

Following the outbreak of the violence, UNDP immediately launched a series of measures to mitigate the impact and begin the recovery process. It quickly deployed three advisers to conduct a rapid needs assessment and identify priority areas of action. It also took the lead of the Early Recovery Cluster that brought together UN agencies, government officials and community organizations to coordinate response efforts.

Key early recovery accomplishments included:

Supporting inter-community civic dialogue for reconciliation including youth and women’s groups, particularly in the worst affected districts
Assisting over 500 farmers through the provision of equipment and other tools to speed agricultural recovery and restore food security in conflict-affected areas
Training of over 400 provincial administrators and security agents in conflict prevention and peacebuilding
Establishing district peace committees in heavily affected areas of the Rift Valley, the western provinces, Nyanza and parts of Nairobi

South Central Somalia

UNDP is a driving force behind the Employment Generation for Early Recovery Project, which addresses the urgent need for income generation and job creation among internally displaced people and communities in crisis-ridden South Central Somalia.

In 2008, UNDP and local NGO partners created job opportunities for 16,600 people. This initiative generated more than 440,000 days of work, of which 35 percent were for women. The employment activities helped rehabilitate social and basic infrastructure in South Central Somalia, including construction of the marketplace in Afgoye, rehabilitation of Banadir Hospital’s mother and child care unit in Mogadishu, building of rural access roads and water and irrigation gates, and expansion of arable land.

Major policy developments

The global debate on early recovery accelerated dramatically in 2008, as several key actors prioritized the issue. For example, the UK-commissioned study “Recovering from War: Gaps in Early Action,” identified three fundamental gaps for early recovery: strategy, capacity and financing. The issue was also the focus of a UN Security Council debate, with a follow-up UN Secretary-General report released in June 2009. UNDP was not only actively involved in the preparation of that report, but we were also engaged in the preparation of consolidated guidelines for UN in-country operations on developing incremental recovery strategies. This is a standard package of support for UN Resident Coordinator Offices covering everything from early recovery stages to full-fledged recovery, and advocacy for the resources necessary to meet critical needs at the country and system-wide levels.

On 1-3 October 2008, UNDP and the Danish government co-hosted a forum in Copenhagen on early recovery in the context of both natural disasters and man-made conflicts. With over 250 senior representatives from developing countries, donors, nongovernmental organizations, regional organizations, the UN and international financial institutions, the forum produced a final statement on joint action to strengthen international support for early recovery. Its 24 action points include a donor commitment to review obstacles to using development funding for early recovery activities and broad agreement on the importance of using and strengthening national and local capacities to lead and engage in this critical period. Through the CWGER, UNDP is actively involved in follow-up work to ensure that the action points are implemented.

In addition, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/DAC) established a Financing Working Group on “Improving Delivery of International Assistance in Situations of Fragility and Conflict”; UNDP plays an active role in this group.

UNDP also finalized its internal policy on early recovery, establishing early recovery as part of UNDP’s core business and committing the organization to boosting its relevant operational and programmatic capacities. UNDP developed a related action plan for 2009-2011 and established a senior steering group with participation from all parts of UNDP to ensure organization-wide implementation. In addition to the work on implementing the policy at headquarters, six countries were selected as priorities for early recovery programming in 2009: Honduras, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan and Uganda.

GLOBAL partnerships AND INITIATIVES

UNDP leads the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER). Established in 2005, the CWGER works to strengthen early recovery capacity on a predictable basis, promoting national and local ownership and engagement, and linking early recovery efforts to longer-term recovery and development planning. UNDP support led to greater participation by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with five more NGOs joining in 2008 – bringing the total number of NGO members to nine.

By end of 2008, early recovery coordination mechanisms were up and running in 28 countries where the cluster approach was rolled out. UNDP is responsible for deploying Early Recovery Advisers, who support the UN system’s in-country Humanitarian/Resident Coordinator and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Country Teams. These advisers help set up early recovery coordination mechanisms with national authorities and facilitate early recovery assessment and planning efforts. Additional information on the deployment of early recovery expertise is available under the “country support” section of this chapter.

The CWGER “Guidance Note on Early Recovery” was published in April 2008 after extensive consultations with a wide range of partners. It directly responds to country-level demand for clarity and guidance on how to effectively plan and implement early recovery activities. The document, designed for colleagues working in natural disasters and complex emergencies, describes what should shape the coordination of early recovery activities, including a comprehensive list of typical early recovery initiatives. Translations into French, Spanish and Arabic are underway. The CWGER finalized several other tools to support early recovery programming, including an integrated livelihoods assessment toolkit, an environmental guide for disaster assessments, a local early recovery programming guide, and a stand-alone guide on gender mainstreaming in post-disaster needs assessments.

The CWGER also produced a study, “Financing for Early Recovery: Highlighting the Gaps”, that provides empirical evidence of the extent to which early recovery projects are under-funded across the main UN humanitarian funding mechanisms (Consolidated Annual Appeals, Flash Appeals, the Central Emergency Response Fund and pooled funds). It demonstrates, for example, that while strictly humanitarian projects in Flash Appeals receive on average 53 percent of the requested funds, early recovery activities in Flash Appeals receive on average only 17 percent of the requested funding. The study was used as a basis for discussion at the early recovery forum in Copenhagen and the ongoing work of the OECD/DAC Financing Working Group.

In addition, UNDP and the International Labour Organization worked together to put into operation the new UN policy on “post-conflict employment creation, income generation and reintegration”, adopted by the UN Secretary-General in May 2008. Both organizations identified three priority programming areas: (1) stabilizing income generation and emergency employment (such as emergency temporary jobs); (2) local economic recovery for employment opportunities and reintegration (investing in local socioeconomic infrastructure, restoration of the natural resource base, and local government capacity building); and (3) sustainable employment creation and decent work.

In 2009, the CWGER will further increase its support for country-level activities. Efforts will include the roll-out of early recovery training for country teams in at least five countries and further expansion of the pool of trained Early Recovery Advisers.

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¹The members of the Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery are: ActionAid, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Groupe urgence réhabilitation développement (Groupe URD), HelpAge International, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), Mercy Corps, ProAct Network, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Shelter Centre, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Operations Coordination Office (UNDOCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), UNDP, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Volunteers (UNV), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Women’s Refugee Commission, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). The following organizations are observers of the Working Group: InterAction and Caritas Internationalis.

² UNDP plays three major roles to support early recovery efforts at the country level. First, UNDP deploys experts for quick assistance in crisis situations or where added capacity is needed on an immediate basis. These experts are drawn from within UNDP, from other UN agencies, from outside partners and from rosters of external consultants developed for this purpose. Second, UNDP plays a central role in the coordination of early recovery efforts, including needs assessments conducted jointly with other UN agencies and international organizations operating in the country. Third, based on the findings of the needs assessments, UNDP helps relevant national and local authorities develop and execute programmes to respond to those needs in an effective and timely manner.