Aceh Emergency Response and Transitional Recovery ... - UNDP

Lessons Learned
M
ajor disasters such as the 26 December 2004 tsunami seriously test the
ability and capacity of the international humanitarian and development
community to respond rapidly and effectively, as well as to ensure
proper approaches and mechanisms towards smoothening the transition
from emergency relief to recovery and longer term reconstruction. Challenges
experienced and methods to address them create an important opportunity to learn
lessons, and to institutionalize means of ensuring these lessons are incorporated
into future efforts.
UNDP has participated in and supported a number of lessons learned events undertaken
by the UN system throughout 2005. UNDP will also undertake a formal
process early in the New Year to document lessons learned in response to the tsunami
disaster. However, the following provide an early indication of lessons
learned thus far in UNDP's tsunami response efforts.
Table 11 -- Lessons Learned Matrix
Area Success Factors Challenges
• Immediate employment efforts
provide a good basis for
early engagement of affected
communities to generate lost
income to meet basic needs,
ameliorate trauma, and most
especially to serve as an entry
point for medium- and longerterm
sustainable livelihoods interventions.
• Early agreement on standards
for "cash for work" helped to
provide level benefits to beneficiaries
and prevent competition
between organizations.
• Early investment in waste
management created significant
opportunities for linking
clean-up efforts into longerterm
waste management improvements
and recycling initiatives.
(1) Immediate
Employment
and Labour
(2) Recovery of
Livelihoods
• Early support for "cash for
work" activities allowed part-
• Gender must be a focus from
the beginning in order to ensure
better targeting of employment
schemes.
• Standard methods and formats
for managing "cash for work"
should be developed and
shared to reduce formulation
periods in the early aftermath
of disasters.
• UNDP requires more flexible
partnership modalities to rapidly
engage NGOs undertaking
emergency operations.
• Lack of reliable available information
in the initial aftermath
of a disaster on this scale
makes planning and formulation
difficult, so modalities are
required to link assessment directly
into delivery.
• Appropriateness of temporary
employment schemes needs to
be closely monitored at local
levels since the transition to
livelihoods support can happen
earlier in some areas than
others (considering local resource
bases, income opportunities,
etc.).
• Procurement capacity and
procedural issues delayed con-
38