Annual Report 2008

Strengthening capacity to surmount vulnerability : crisis prevention and recovery

More than 40 countries have been scarred by violent conflict since 2000. According to the latest available figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 32.9 million refugees, internally displaced persons and others are now directly impacted. More than 1.5 million people have been killed by natural disasters over the past two decades, and the annual economic losses associated with these disasters are rising.

While many developing countries have made significant progress in human development with millions of people being lifted out of poverty every year, violent conflict, lack of resources, insufficient coordination and weak policies continue to slow down development. UNDP supports national development strategies to prevent and recover from armed conflicts and natural disasters through conflict-sensitive development tools, promoting gender equality, knowledge networking, strategic planning and programming, and policy and standard setting.

The link between security and development has prompted UNDP to support efforts to address the issue of armed violence. Civilians own approximately 650 million of the known 875 million firearms in the world today. The proliferation of cheap weapons leads to an increased risk of civil unrest, and the more effective a country’s regulatory capacity, the higher weapons prices will be. For example, in some African countries, the price of an assault rifle is around $200 lower than the global average, highlighting the ease with which arms cross porous borders.

In Guatemala, there is widespread acceptance of firearms among the civilian population, with 85 percent of the killings in the capital city being committed with small firearms. A UNDP-sponsored initiative in 2007 aimed to raise awareness of the dangers posed by small arms and to help implement a National Disarmament Programme. The project included a study of the costs of violence to the national economy, which generated public discussions of the broader socio-economic impact of armed violence. In Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, a mid-size town with a high level of violence, strong political will led the municipality to design and implement initiatives to reduce violence and improve security. The project helped train municipal staff on surveys and analysis, and to develop a security plan. UNDP also helped create Guatemala’s first municipal public policy on citizens’ security. Since the start of these programmes, violence levels, as measured in terms of homicides committed and other violent events reported, have decreased. Santa Lucía’s experience is being seen as a model by other municipalities.

Whether as a result of armed violence or natural disaster, crises disproportionately affect women, exacerbating the discrimination that often exists even under peaceful conditions. Women and men, girls and boys are vulnerable in different ways in times of crisis and are often treated differently by perpetrators of violence and by state actors. Gender difference is one of the most significant determinants of an individual’s capacity to cope safely during a crisis, and gender profoundly affects whether, how, and when individuals gain access to support in the aftermath. While women and men collectively experience the insecurity of crisis situations and must contend with the economic and social consequences, women – globally the poorest of the poor – bear the additional insecurity of sexual and gender-based violence.

A recent initiative, the UNDP Eight Point Agenda for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality in Crisis Prevention and Recovery, is a comprehensive effort to prioritize and respond to the needs of women and girls in crisis and amplify their voice in the recovery process. The eight points bring women to the forefront of the crisis agenda: stop violence against women; provide justice and security for women; advance women as decision-makers; involve women in all peace processes; support women and men to build back better; promote women as leaders of recovery; include women’s issues on the national agenda; and work together to transform society.

Examples of initiatives under the Eight Point Agenda include: a programme to strengthen women’s security and access to justice in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo; a post-conflict support centre in western Côte d’Ivoire run by a local women’s non-governmental organization that provides psychological, health and economic services to women and girls affected by the conflict; support to the national justice system in Timor Leste, which led to 11 judges, seven public defenders and nine prosecutors being appointed to replace international professionals that had held these positions since independence; and in Somalia, a rule of law programme that helped ensure that an estimated 10 percent of the graduates of the police academy were women. In addition, the first Women Lawyers’ Association was established, providing legal assistance to victims of rape and domestic violence.

UNDP has also been codifying country experiences with youth-related programming to develop practical guidance on youth and conflict. Interventions at the country level include supporting governments and national counterparts in developing and implementing National Youth Policies in Liberia, promoting employment generation for youth in Kosovo, using sports and other socio-cultural activities in Lebanon, and promoting youth volunteerism in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Responding to natural disasters, UNDP works with national partners to strengthen early warning and early recovery systems. The past few years have witnessed an increased frequency of hurricanes, heavy rains and drought in the Caribbean. UNDP recently worked with the Government of Cuba and a range of partners including the Government of Canada, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Oxfam, and the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity to support the strengthening of a national prevention and risk management strategy. The project has created 24 Centres for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction and 51 Early Warning Systems in four provinces and 20 municipalities across Cuba, benefiting more than 1.2 million people. The centres conduct vulnerability studies and prepare response plans, using geographical information systems that help boost the response capacity of the institutions that must respond to crisis. The risk management approach has also been integrated into the housing sector with an emphasis on local production of construction materials, the use of sustainable technologies and the improvement of local management mechanisms and technical advisory services. So far, 39 local centres for the production of construction materials have improved their facilities, and 34 municipal entities providing housing services have benefited an estimated 1,500 families.

UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis on 17 December comforts a survivor of the bombing attacks in Algeria 2007 that claimed the lives of 17 UN workers (Photo credit: Zohra Bensenra/Reuters).

A relatively new concept, early recovery addresses a critical gap in the coverage between humanitarian relief and long-term recovery. While working within a humanitarian setting, early recovery team workers have their eyes on the future – assessing damages to infrastructure, property, livelihoods and societies. Their goal is to enable a smoother transition to long-term recovery – to restore livelihoods, government capacities, and shelter – and to offer hope to those who have survived the crisis.

Supporting capacities to remain responsive to development needs in the midst of crisis is a mainstay of UNDP’s work. In Iraq, over $40 million has been delivered in activities related to water and sanitation rehabilitation, hospital reconstruction and building community markets. More than 160 generators have been installed to provide emergency power to hospitals, schools and water pumping stations. UNDP continues to administer the Iraq Trust Fund on behalf of the UNDG, which consists of more than $1 billion in funds from over 20 sources for large-scale recovery efforts.

Through the UNDG Iraq Trust Fund, the Government of Japan partnered with UNDP in Iraq to support a project to rehabilitate two units of the Hartha power station on the Iraqi energy grid. Six site engineers were trained in Japan in industry best practices to guarantee the sustainable operation of the plant, as well as an additional four in international practices for equipment inspection. Since the last major shipment of equipment to Iraq, both units of the plant have been running smoothly without unscheduled interruption, and are now capable of producing up to 350 megawatts with fewer interruptions and reduced outage times. As a result, approximately three million Iraqis now receive regular power from the station.

In addition to its work during a crisis, UNDP helps people to transition in the aftermath of conflict. Through the European Commission-funded Sudan Post-conflict Community-based Recovery and Rehabilitation Programme, 300 recovery projects benefiting 800,000 people were implemented throughout the country, with 22 health care centres rehabilitated, 207 water systems refurbished, and 4,520 women receiving microfinance support for small businesses. In Eastern Sudan, 1,700 members of the Eastern Front were demobilized, and provided with cash and reinsertion support, counselling and HIV awareness. In Southern Sudan, UNDP recently commenced the construction of the first stages of two prison training centres. Thus far, a prison service training programme has trained 1,100 former soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, who were transferred from the army to join the prison service. In addition to re-orienting and training former combatants in a three-month orientation course, the training centres will be used as the site for specialist training courses for the prison service. Courses offered will include training for trainers, welfare officers, medical officers, and management training.

At the global level, a new UNDP initiative is focusing on scaling up capacity to manage disaster risk. The Global Risk Identification Programme is a five-year programme to support national partners in high-risk countries to identify the factors that cause natural disasters. The initiative has supported seismic risk assessments in the vulnerable region of Baja California, Mexico, and helped create disaster loss observatories in six Asian countries. Another initiative known as the SURGE Project, begun in 2006, aims to enhance UNDP’s capacities to respond quickly and effectively to recovery demands immediately after a crisis, whether conflict or natural disaster. In 2007, SURGE identified 63 staff with experience in crisis situations and expertise in at least one of 12 areas, including early recovery, coordination, operational support, resource mobilization, and communications. As of April 2008, 43 of the 63 staff identified have undergone training in preparation for their role in providing advisory support services to Country Offices facing crisis. In 2007, Standard Operating Procedures for crisis situations were developed – including an online SURGE Toolkit – and are to be tested in 2008.