High-level Coordination Meeting on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance to Tsunami-Affected Countries
ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines: 18 March 2005
Overview | Purpose
| Objectives | Outputs
| Participants | News
Releases | Meeting Format | ADB's Tsunami site
The development community’s response to the tsunami disaster is now shifting from the relief phase to the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. Jointly prepared needs assessments have been largely completed and the preparation of projects has begun. The international community must carry the significant momentum of the initial relief effort into a longer-term program of rehabilitation and reconstruction – to restore livelihoods, rehabilitate communities, re-establish social services, and rebuild infrastructure.
The meeting will help to ensure that the world’s attention remains focused on tsunami support and that donor support for and confidence in the affected countries remains high. The meeting in Manila is intended to complement ongoing country-level meetings by providing a regional perspective.
Read the agenda.
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The meeting’s purpose is to provide a forum for regional coordination and information sharing to ensure that recovery efforts are effective and to avoid wasteful duplication and overlap during the medium term.
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Participants at the meeting will:
- take stock of the status of recovery efforts. It will be the first regional overview of the rehabilitation and reconstruction effort, and thereby provide a comprehensive understanding of the overall situation.
- identify the types of information that could be exchanged among tsunami-affected countries and their development partners over the medium term and how that information could be organized and regularly updated.
- explore possible areas of joint work, partnership, coordination, and harmonization.
- offer opportunities to explore ways in which post-tsunami
rehabilitation and reconstruction can be firmly integrated
into the respective countries’ medium-term development programs.
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A. A Comprehensive View of Recovery Efforts in the Region
A rehabilitation and reconstruction tracking matrix is being produced that provides salient information on the overall recovery effort. The matrix brings together information from the tsunami-affected countries on
- what work is being done and what is being planned
- who is doing the work
- what measurable results are expected
- where the work is being done
- when the work is expected to begin and end, and its current status
- the source, amount and status of financing.
The matrix is at three levels of resolution – a regional overview, sector-level status by region and country, and project-level status by country.
The matrix is to be filled in by the tsunami-affected countries. It should serve as the basis for meeting discussions on the current status of rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts at the regional and national levels, and it would be updated as necessary during the meeting and thereafter.
By the end of the meeting, the rehabilitation and reconstruction tracking matrix would provide a comprehensive view of recovery efforts in the region.
B. A Coordination Mechanism
Realizing that various forums for coordination have been developed for various purposes and timeframes (e.g., coordination during the needs assessments), and that other coordination mechanisms are being considered to cover the rehabilitation and reconstruction stage, possible directions or frameworks to support efficient coordination and harmonization of processes and procedures would be discussed and identified.
They would be structured by taking into account the significant coordination issues, overlaps, and gaps identified by the tsunami-affected countries as well as the views of their development partners.
The rehabilitation and reconstruction tracking matrix could serve as the platform for coordination. However, the actual coordination mechanism would be decided during the meeting, taking into account country-level coordination mechanisms that may already be in place or planned. It could include, for instance, identification of a party to maintain the tracking matrix and provide regular status reports to the countries and their development partners, or the establishment of a steering committee that would represent the interests of all major groups, or the creation of ‘virtual coordination groups’ using the Internet.
Regardless of the eventual nature of the coordination mechanism, it must be built on country ownership and operate in a public and transparent manner so that the countries and their partners maintain confidence in the overall progress of recovery efforts.
In addition, discussions at the meeting could lead to the formation of smaller, purpose-specific partnerships.
C. Lessons Learned
- Produce a compilation of lessons learned when moving from relief efforts into longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction
- Invited speakers from Gujarat and Kobe will describe how they faced the challenges of managing recovery efforts after a major natural disaster. It is expected that other meeting participants also would have similar experiences and would share them during discussion periods.
- The meeting organizers will compile the lessons learned
and make them available to participants within a week
of the meeting.
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View the list of Participants.
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Morning
Country presentations would be made in the morning. They would be approximately 20 minutes in length and may be supported by PowerPoint presentations.
The presentations would begin with a brief overview of the findings of needs assessments, current conditions and activities, and rehabilitation and reconstruction plans.
The overview presentation would be supported by the rehabilitation and reconstruction tracking matrix distributed to participants prior to the start of the meeting. The remainder of the presentations would focus on issues of primary concern to the countries as they move forward with their recovery efforts.
These issues may include, for example,
- coordination of recovery efforts at various levels
- coordination and tracking of financial supports
- major gaps in financial or technical support, and others.
Wherever possible, the identification of an issue would be accompanied by a suggested solution to the issue.
By the end of the presentations, participants should have a good understanding of the major issues facing the countries in their recovery efforts and how these issues may vary or converge across the region.
Approximately 15 minutes may be available at the end of the session to allow time to recapitulate the main messages emerging from the presentations.
Afternoon
Interventions by development partners would come in the afternoon. They would respond to the major issues raised by the countries.
The interventions would be made under the five afternoon themes. Discussion on each of the five themes would be led by a development partner organization with active participation from the affected countries amplifying on their morning presentations.
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