introduction to early recovery

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Guidance note on

Early Recovery

DRAFT

October 2007

Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery

in cooperation with the

UNDG-ECHA Working Group on Transition


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Introduction 3

Contents

List o abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................4

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................5

When to use this Guidance Note ..............................................................................................................5

Background ......................................................................................................................................................6

1 Understanding early recovery ...........................................................................................................9

1.1 Denitions and objectives .................................................................................................................9What is Early Recovery? ...........................................................................................................................................................9

Early Recovery and Transition ...............................................................................................................................................9

1.2 Guiding principles or Early Recovery ............................................................................................11

2 Implementing Early Recovery ...........................................................................................................13

2.1 Coordinating early recovery ...............................................................................................................13Support or national coordination .................................................................................................................................... 13

Support or local coordination mechanisms ................................................................................................................. 14

International Support or Early Recovery Coordination ............................................................................................ 14

Transition to recovery, reconstruction and development ........................................................................................ 16

2.2 Needs assessment ................................................................................................................................16

Guidance ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

2.3 Strategic planning ................................................................................................................................21Guidance ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

The planning process ............................................................................................................................................................. 21

Developing an early recovery ramework and strategy ............................................................................................ 22

Developing an early recovery action plan ...................................................................................................................... 23

2.4 Programming ..........................................................................................................................................24Guidance ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

2.5 Monitoring and evaluation .................................................................................................................32Guidance ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 32

2.6 Resource mobilization ..........................................................................................................................33Guidance ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Reerences.........................................................................................................................................................37

Annexes .............................................................................................................................................................39Annex 1: Further resources

Annex 2: IASC operational guidance on designating sector/cluster leads in major new emergencies .. 41

Annex 3: IASC operational guidance on designating sector/cluster leads in ongoing emergencies ...... 45

Annex 4: Global Level Standard Operating Procedures o an existing situation) ........................................... 49

Annex 5:Analysis o environmental and natural resources issues ......................................................................... 53

Annex 6: Early Recovery in the Consolidated Appeal Process, Somalia, 2007................................................... 54

Annex 7: Local level needs assessments ......................................................................................................................... 58


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4 Early Recovery Guidance Note - Drat

List o abbreviations

AIDS acquired immune deciency syndrome

BCPR Bureau or Crisis Prevention and Recovery (UNDP)

CAP Consolidated Appeal Process

CERF Central Emergency Response Fund

CHAP Common Humanitarian Action PlanCSO civil society organizations

CWGER Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery

EIA environmental impact analysis

ER early recovery

ERC emergency recovery coordinator

ERN early recovery network

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization o the UN

HC humanitarian coordinator

HIV human immunodeciency virus

IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee (UN)

ICRC International Committee o the Red CrossIFRC International Federation o Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

IDP internally displaced persons

IFI international nancial institutions

ILO International Labour Organization

IOM International Organization or Migration

ISDR International Strategy or Disaster Reduction

M & E monitoring and evaluation

MDTF multi-donor trust und

NAF needs analysis ramework

NGO non-governmental organization

OCHA Oce or the Coordination o Humanitarian Aairs

OHCHR Oce o the High Commissioner or Human Rights

PCNA post-confict needs assessment

PDNA post-disaster needs assessment

RBRF results-based recovery ramework

RC resident coordinator

RTE real-time evaluation

SEA strategic environmental assessment

TRM transitional results matrix

UN-HABITAT UN Human Settlements Programme

UNDAF UN Development Assistance FrameworkUNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNDG-ECHA UN Development Group Executive Committee or Humanitarian Aairs

UNDG(O) (Oce o the) United Nations Development Group

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR Oce o the UN High Commissioner or Reugees

UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund

UNOSAT UN Institute or Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme

UNTFHS United Nations Trust Fund or Human Security

UNV United Nations Volunteers

WFP World Food ProgrammeWHO World Health Organization


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Introduction 5

Early recovery is a multidimensional process o recovery that begins in a humanitarian

setting. It is guided by development principles that seek to build on humanitarianprogrammes and to catalyze sustainable development opportunities. It aims to

generate sel sustaining, nationally owned, resilient processes or post crisis recovery.

It encompasses livelihoods, shelter, governance, security and rule o law, environment

and social dimensions, including the reintegration o displaced populations.

During and immediately ater a crisis, national actors and the international community ocus primarilyon meeting immediate lie-saving needs. Human lives are at risk and quick action is required to minimizedamage and restore order. From the very beginning, however, there is a need or more than lie-savingmeasures. The oundations o sustainable recovery and a return to longer-term development should beplanned rom the outset o a humanitarian emergency. The ocus should be restoring national capacitiesto provide a secure environment, provide services, restore livelihoods, coordinate activities, prevent therecurrence o crisis, and create conditions or uture development.

When to use this Guidance Note

In response to calls or greater clarity and guidance on what early recovery means and on how to undertakeearly recovery activities eectively, the Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) has developedthis guidance note with support rom country-level colleagues.

This guidance is designed primarily or UN colleagues and partners working at country level on earlyrecovery in natural disasters and complex emergencies. There are many similarities in the way humanitarian

and early recovery actors have to respond to these types o crises, but there are also distinct and pertinentdierences. Each setting is unique, and the impact o a crisis on it, so it is not possible to recommenda uniorm approach to early recovery. Moreover, all early recovery activities should conorm to nationalpriorities, with national authorities managing the recovery process as soon as they have the capacity todo so. This guidance is not thereore intended to be prescriptive. Nevertheless it is based as ar as possibleon interagency consensus, best practice and evidence, and its use is strongly recommended. Where nodistinction is explicitly made, it may be assumed that the guidance oered here is equally relevant torecovery rom confict and rom a natural disaster.

Specically, the guidance aims to:

help practitioners understand the particular complexities o early recovery environments,

and appreciate the diverse range o actors involved in planning and implementing early

recovery activities;establish some basic guiding principles and minimum standards o intervention or early

recovery;

provide tools and resources or practitioners working on early recovery across a range ounctions; and

set the stage or an eective handover to longer-term recovery processes.

This Guidance Note is a work in progress and will be updated regularly, especially in relation to practicalguidance that is under development.

Introduction


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Background

A recent UN review o the global humanitarian system highlighted a number o gaps in response (UN 2005).It recommended that the humanitarian coordinator system be strengthened; that a central emergencyresponse und be set up to provide timely, adequate and fexible unding; and that UN agencies and partnersadopt a lead organization concept to cover critical gaps in providing protection and assistance to those

aected by confict or natural disasters. In response to this last recommendation, the UNs Inter-AgencyStanding Committee (IASC) established nine clusters in 2005 - groupings o UN agencies, nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs) and other international organizations around a sector or service provided duringa humanitarian crisis. Each o the nine clusters (Protection, Camp coordination and management, Waterand sanitation, Health, Emergency shelter, Nutrition, Emergency telecommunications, Logistics, and Earlyrecovery) is led by a designated agency. Other areas such as agriculture, ood, education and reugees,while considered equally important, did not display gaps in response and so it was not elt necessary toorganize them dierently. IASC has produced operational guidance on designating sector/cluster leads inemergencies (Annexes 2 and 3).

The IASC Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) was ormed at global level in 2005 andcomprises 21 UN and non-UN active global partnersrom the humanitarian and development communities,with UNDP as the designated cluster lead (Box 1).

Box 1 Active Global Partners o the IASC Cluster Working Group on Early

Recovery

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization o the United Nations

ICRC International Committee o the Red Cross

IFRC International Federation o Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

IOM International Organization or Migration

OCHA Oce or the Coordination o Humanitarian Aairs

OHCHR Oce o the High Commissioner or Human Rights

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR Oce o the United Nations High Commissioner or Reugees

UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund

WFP World Food Programme

WHO World Health Organization.

In addition, though not members o IASC, but acknowledging their role in early recovery, the ollowing

organizations were invited to participate in the CWGER:ILO International Labour Organization

ISDR International Strategy or Disaster Reduction

UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme

UNDG(O) (Oce o the) United Nations Development Group

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNOSAT United Nations Institute or Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational SatelliteApplications Programme

UNV United Nations Volunteers

UNESCO United Nations Education, Scientic and Cultural OrganizationMercy Corps


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Introduction 7

The CWGER and the UN Development Group Executive Committee or Humanitarian Aairs (UNDG-ECHA)Working Group on Transition are now working towards a unied approach to post-crisis transition. Theapproach includes tools or strategic planning, assessment and resource mobilization; and integratedcapacity support and technical assistance to resident/humanitarian country coordinators. This note is oneelement o the transition guidance being developed by the UNDG/ECHA Working Group on Transitions andthe IASC Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER). Other elements o this guidance are shown inTable 1 (see also UNDG 2004 and 2007, UNDG/World Bank 2005, UNDG/ECHA 2007).

Table 1 Transition guidance

Early recovery Longer-term recovery

Early Recovery Guidance Note

Framework for DurableSolutions for InternallyDisplaced Persons

The UNCT Transition StrategyGuidance Note

The Operational Guidance Note on

Integrated Recovery Planning usingPost-Conict Needs Assessmentand Transitional ResultsFrameworksThe Inter-Agency Framework forConict AnalysisThe Transitional Appeal GuidanceNoteThe Multi-Donor Trust FundGuidance Note


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Introduction 9

1 Understanding early recovery

1.1 Denitions and objectives

What is Early Recovery?

The overall ocus o the recovery approach, as dened by UNDP, is to restore the capacity o nationalinstitutions and communities to recover rom a confict or a natural disaster, enter transition or build backbetter, and avoid relapses. Early recovery is a multidimensional process guided by development principlesthat begins in a humanitarian setting, and seeks to build on humanitarian programmes and catalysesustainable development opportunities. It aims to generate and/or reinorce nationally owned processesor post-crisis recovery that are resilient and sustainable. It encompasses livelihoods, transitional shelter,governance, security and rule o law, environment and other socio-economic dimensions, including thereintegration o displaced populations. It strengthens human security and aims to begin addressing the

underlying causes o the crisis.

Early Recovery and Transition

Following a crisis, a country undergoes a process o transormation within the overall time rame otransition. The term transition as used in this document reers to the period immediately ater a disasteror confict when pre-existing plans and programmes no longer refect the most pressing priorities; it isapplied to many dierent, oten overlapping processes o transormation. Early recovery is the responseto this transormation process, started immediately ater the onset o a crisis. The priorities are to produceimmediate results or vulnerable populations and to promote opportunities or recovery, a response thatevolves over time into longer-term recovery. The aim o the UN system and its partners in transition isto help national authorities to initiate immediate, high-priority crisis resolution and recovery activities,

and to then move rom a short- or medium-term post-crisis recovery strategy to a longer-term nationaldevelopment ramework.

People aected by crises oten require lie-saving support because their communities, institutions andlivelihoods may be weakened or destroyed. Recovery programming throughout the transition works torestore basic social services, inrastructure, livelihood opportunities and governance capacity. To achievethis, the oundation o recovery must be initiated in the humanitarian or emergency phase. Mostinitial attention will be given to lie-saving interventions, but the sooner work on recovery begins, thesooner the aected areas are stabilized, and the shorter and more eective the recovery process is likely tobe, as national and regional institutions progress with providing basic services and assuming governanceunctions such as security, local administration and justice.

While early recovery is guided by development principles, it begins within the time rame o emergency

intervention and must be integrated within humanitarian mechanisms. In practice, this means that earlyrecovery coordination within the UN system alls under the overall responsibility o the HumanitarianCoordinator (or the Resident Coordinator, depending on the context), and early recovery activities shouldbe integrated into humanitarian resource mobilization tools, such as fash appeals and CAPs. At the sametime, in order to acilitate a smooth transition into longer-term development, early recovery needs to besituated in the context o development actors and processes. Figure 1 suggests how early recovery can beintegrated into relie and development contexts.

The Aims o Early Recovery

Early recovery and humanitarian eorts occur in parallel, but their objectives, mechanisms and expertiseare dierent. Early recovery eorts have three broad aims:

(1) Augment ongoing emergency assistance operations by building on humanitarian programmes, to


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ensure that their inputs become assets or long term development and thereby oster the sel-reliance oaected populations and help rebuild livelihoods, e.g.:

re-establish and acilitate access to essential services such as health, education, water andsanitation, nances, and primary inrastructure (road repair, transport, communication), andrestore environmental assets;

ensure appropriate transitional shelter;

distribute seeds, tools and other goods and services that help to revive socioeconomicactivities among women and men;

provide temporary wage employment or both women and men (e.g. cash-or-workprogrammes);

urgently restore environments needed to allow return to livelihoods;

restore basic levels o collective and human security; and

strengthen the rule o law.

(2) Promote spontaneous recovery initiatives by aected communities and change the risk/confict dynamics, e.g.:

support national/government capacity to lead early recovery planning and programming,providing support based on local knowledge and practices;

strengthen the sel-help eorts and capacities o the aected population, especiallydisplaced people, to contribute actively to rehabilitation and reconstruction;

promote community approaches to restore basic levels o security;

ensure that community recovery and rehabilitation activities do not generate discriminatory

practices or secondary risks by identiying negative coping mechanisms; and

Figure 1 Early recovery in the context o transition


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Part 1: Understanding Early Recovery 11

identiy critical ecosystems (goods and services) that require restoration to support thedevelopment o sustainable livelihoods.

(3) Establish the oundations o longer-term recovery, through e.g.:

early needs assessment, planning and resource mobilization or recovery, taking into

account the dierent needs, resources and vulnerabilities o women and men;

planning that involves all relevant national and international stakeholders and enableswomens organizations to participate ully in all phases o recovery;

create strategic alliances between communities and local authorities;

rebuild/restore/reinorce national and local systems, including identiying personnel and

training or retraining them to restore state capacities to direct and manage the developmentphase;

review and/or develop essential policy to guide recovery eorts that aims to improve andnot replace pre-crisis conditions and vulnerabilities (e.g. through building back better,confict prevention and risk reduction initiatives, promoting gender equity);

identiy and oster an enabling institutional system with clear roles and responsibilities thatacilitates the integration o recovery in the development process;

empower governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders to contribute to the uture

recovery process.

1.2 Guiding principles or Early Recovery

Experience o recovery operations suggests that the process should be guided by principles that have beenidentied as conducive to sustainability and a successul transition. This is extremely challenging in theearly recovery period, and may not always be possible, but the list below provides some guidance:

Achieve national ownership o the early recovery process through the ullest possibleengagement o national and local authorities in the planning, execution, and monitoringo recovery actions.

Promote local and national capacities

by ensuring that external technical assistancecomplements rather than replaces existing capacities, and is seen by national actors assupportive rather than directive.

Use and promote participatory practices to identiy needs, empower communities andcreate the oundations o sustained participation. This lays important groundwork, helpsensure that local initiatives, resources and capacities are ully understood and utilized, andbuilds capacity or comprehensive post-crisis needs assessment led by national partners inthe recovery period.

Build constructive working relationships between civil society organizations and nascentgovernment institutions.

Infuence how humanitarian and early recovery assistance is provided to ensure thatinterventions do no harm and take account o longer-term development considerations.

External assistance is not neutral, but becomes part o the context in which it is delivered,and can unintentionally reinorce actual or latent confict dynamics. Thinking not only aboutwhat interventions plan to achieve, but also on how to achieve such objectives includingthe choice o modalities or implementation, the selection o partners and sta, the timelineor implementation can help to ensure that early recovery eorts do no harm.

Maximize synergies among dierent actors through ecient coordination o stakeholdersin the early recovery process. This can be achieved by sharing inormation and promotingintegration to avoid duplication and gaps, optimizing the resources available or sustainablerecovery. A multiplicity o actors - local, national and international - is oten present ater amajor disaster or confict, and their recovery activities need to be well coordinated.

Include risk reduction and confict prevention measures in the early recovery processby ensuring that key decisions are based on risk assessment. Assessments o hazard,

vulnerability, and capacity will inorm eorts to reduce risk.


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Ground early recovery interventions on a thorough understanding o the context in whichthey take place, including in terms o confict dynamics that may be unintentionally bereinorced by such interventions (see box 5 on using confict analysis on page 18).

Ensure integration o gender and other cross-cutting issues such as environment,protection and HIV/AIDS in assessment, planning and implementation through the use oappropriate expertise and tools.

Promote gender equality by assessing particular needs and vulnerabilities in gender

analysis. Womens roles in transition and development are prooundly aected by howar early recovery eorts include them and their needs in assessment, planning andprogramming.

Conduct eective assessments o need and capacity to determine objectives and prioritiesor early recovery.

Monitor, evaluate and learn through appropriate participatory techniquesand mechanismsthat allow timely identication o corrective measures, and capture the experiences andvoices o the target population.

Build on and/or reorient ongoing development initiatives to ensure they contribute tobuilding resilience and capacity in aected communities. As a minimum, review ongoinginitiatives to ensure they do not contribute to the urther accumulation o vulnerability.


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Part 2: Implementing Early Recovery 13

The challenges o implementing early recovery are numerous. Most stakeholders pay little attention toearly recovery in the rst stages o an emergency. No procedures exist or immediate planning o earlyrecovery, and agencies may tend to develop ad-hoc, quick impact, highly visible activities. There is littletime or updating or conducting comprehensive needs assessments at national and local level, nor orengaging with all relevant stakeholders. Various approaches are used to ensure that data collected ondamage and losses inorms early recovery planning and the economic impact assessments necessaryto secure reconstruction nancing, but there is no uniying ramework. There are limited or no humanor other resources available or early recovery, despite the consensus on its importance. Finally, securityrestrictions on UN personnel, particularly in confict situations, oten give priority to humanitarian ratherthan developmental deployments.

This section o the Guidance Note seeks to address some o these challenges and provides detailed step-by-step guidance on how to approach early recovery through coordination; needs assessment; creation oa strategic ramework; design and implementation o specic early recovery programmes; monitoring and

evaluation; and resource mobilization.

2.1 Coordinating early recovery

Support or early recovery rom governments, international agencies, NGOs and others is oten a combinationo isolated and uncoordinated interventions, leading to a duplication o eort in some areas, a waste olives and resources in others, a ailure to consider risk reduction and confict prevention, and a ailure toput in place the conditions or sustainable longer-term recovery. The challenge is to bring together a broadrange o organizations to support national actors in a coordinated and cohesive way. This section sets outkey principles to ollow when setting up coordination mechanisms or early recovery, and recommends a

process or establishing an early recovery network in the eld.

The UN system oten has a strong coordination role in the humanitarian assistance phase. In recovery,however, its role is to support and build government capacity to lead and coordinate, rather than tosubstitute or that capacity. This is likely to be possible much earlier in the case o a natural disaster thana confict. While there are a number o mechanisms to support humanitarian coordination, recoverycoordination is strengthened only on a case by case basis through support rom UNDGO and UNDP-BCPR,and occasionally rom specialized sectoral agencies. RC oces receive ad hocdonor-supported initiativesbut no systematic capacity support during transition. Furthermore, a number o member agencies in theearly recovery cluster have no country-level presence, making it more dicult or them to engage eectivelyin cluster activities rom the outset.

Support or national coordinationGovernment structures should lead coordination or early recovery. However the deaths o civil servantsand damage to public buildings and inrastructure during crises can reduce the capacity o national andlocal authorities to assess, plan, and implement early recovery processes.

In a post-confict setting, the added question o legitimacy and the appropriateness o current governmentstructures arises. It can be dicult to embed the peace and recovery process in local society without atthe same time reinorcing the structure that led to confict in the rst place. On the one hand, local actors,mechanisms and institutions should be strengthened. On the other, these same actors, mechanisms andinstitutions might lack legitimacy, or be seen as part o the problem that led to confict in the rst place.Here, confict analysis can help identiy with whom to engage and how to include measures to addresscapacity gaps and build institutions. (See box 5 page 18)

2 Implementing Early Recovery


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Not withstanding the above, early recovery should be nationally owned and led, and every eort shouldbe made to encourage and support governments to increase the level o ownership and lead their ownearly recovery. This will help to orge and maintain an early link between recovery and later longer-term reconstruction and development, and avoid duplication o eort, and build condence betweengovernments and the aected population.

Experience has shown that where new government entities to coordinate relie and recovery were ormed,these institutions took time to establish themselves. The creation o new and distinct coordinationmechanisms within governments can isolate the task o early recovery rom the work o existing governmentdepartments, and create unnecessary conusion about responsibility and accountability or early recovery.It is thereore preerable to work within existing structures i possible.

Support or local coordination mechanisms

Where transitional institutions exist but state administration does not unction locally, recovery programmescan work with local leaders and institutions through an agreed mechanism (e.g. district developmentcommittees) to dene priorities. The direct result o the programme may be the rehabilitation o a specicinrastructure, and the possible creation o short-term employment to build it. Yet, crucially, the process alsoprovides the space or local administration to build its own capacity in recovery planning and coordination,and re-establish its legitimacy. This local engagement is oten critical to post-confict peace consolidation.

International Support or Early Recovery Coordination

Within the UN system, the HC/RC has the lead responsibility or coordinating the early recovery eortso international organizations in cooperation with national actors. The IASC, within the context o thecluster approach, has given UNDP the mandate to lead on early recovery. UNDP is accountable to the HC/RC to provide expertise and support in early recovery coordination, strategic planning and monitoring,preparedness and advocacy and is the provider o last resort in this regard. However, early recovery isa multi-dimensional process (as opposed to a sector) and needs to be organized dierently rom the wayother sector-based groupings unction. As a common concern it cannot be limited to the work o onecluster.

It is recommended, thereore, to establish an Early Recovery Network, rather than creating a separate,independent cluster or early recovery. To support the HC/RC, UNDP deploys Early Recovery Advisors/Coordinators to the HC/RCs oce to acilitate the Early Recovery Network. An overall early recovery plan or

Figure 2 Early Recovery Network


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strategy is developed by the HC/RC, with the support o the Early Recovery Advisor/Coordinator. Under thisumbrella strategy, designated early recovery ocal points in each cluster work with the coordinator o theEarly Recovery Network towards the integration, mainstreaming and coordination o early recovery issueswithin their specic areas o work. The responsibility to ensure that this happens lies with each country-level cluster or sector lead. Figure 2 provides a diagram o an Early Recovery Network and its interactionwith other clusters.

However, it is becoming clear rom actual experiences o implementing the cluster approach that othermodels or early recovery coordination are emerging and proving to be eective. For example, in Uganda,where there is no ormalized Early Recovery Cluster or Early Recovery Network in place, an additionalcluster is being created to look specically at the gaps in early recovery not covered by other clusters. Inthe case o Uganda, those gaps have been identied as governance, inrastructure and non-agriculturallivelihoods. In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, ollowing the earthquake in May 2006, an Early Recovery Cluster wascreated and split into two distinct sub-clusters covering shelter and livelihoods. Later, as the transition wastaking place rom early recovery to longer-term recovery, the Cluster was enriched by two additional sub-Clusters covering governance and disaster risk reduction issues. The CWGER is looking at these experiences,as well as others, to compare experiences and draw out concrete recommendations that can be appliedelsewhere.

Annex 4 outlines Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or the deployment o recovery support; and box 2

below sets out the main objectives and activities o an Early Recovery Coordination Mechanism.

Box 2 Objectives and Activities o an Early Recovery Coordination Mechanism

The key objective is to ensure coordination and ocus on areas where early recovery interventions canhelp build the basis or longer-term recovery. It is intended to serve the ollowing purposes:

ensure accountability, leadership, and clearly dened roles and responsibilities;

lead eective early recovery planning;

strengthen the coordination ramework and response capacity by mobilizing response in certainareas o activity;

ll identied recovery gaps in the humanitarian phase (possibly through the establishment o adhocgroups);

strengthen the involvement o national and local institutions; and

ensure that humanitarian responses consider recovery issues and do no harm to longer-termrecovery opportunities.

To ulll these aims, the ollowing practical tasks should be carried out:

assess and analyze sectoral needs;

develop an early recovery response plan to address priority needs;

identiy capacities o cluster participants and other relevant actors and strengthen them wherenecessary;

ensure appropriate delegation and ollow-up on commitments rom cluster participants;

as ar as possible, act as provider o last resort;

interact with other cluster leaders to ensure integration o cross-cutting issues;

sustain mechanisms or assessment o cluster perormance; and

derive lessons learned rom review o activities, and revise strategies and action plans accordingly.


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Transition to recovery, reconstruction and development

Early on, it is important to plan when and how early recovery will be shited rom the emergency phaseto longer-term recovery, reconstruction and development. The coordination mechanism should denecriteria or when and under what circumstances it will close down and hand over to another institution. Thisplanning should be done as part o the strategic planning when the mechanism is set up, and the groupshould monitor throughout whether the criteria are being met. The global CWGER liaises with the UNDG-ECHA Working Group on the policy dimensions o this handover, and they work together to ensure the UNcountry team has the capacity to undertake this planning process and handover. The ollowing questionscan help inorm the criteria or handover:

Has the coordination mechanism achieved its objectives according to its terms o reerence?

When the coordination mechanism disbands, are there signicant issues or activities that still requireattention?

Is there sucient capacity in the RCs oce to ensure a coordinated approach to recovery when the earlyrecovery coordination mechanism disbands? Is there a continued need or early recovery coordinationthrough the cluster approach?

Is there an appropriate national authority to which the coordination role can be transerred? What is its

capacity to undertake this, and what support do national authorities need in the handover phase, e.g. oncross-cutting issues?

Box 3 Experience rom the eld: Phasing out o relie coordination in Pakistan

Following the immediate relie eort ater the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, the Pakistangovernment set a date o 31 March 2006 as the end o relie and the beginning o a shit intorecovery and development. While criticized at the time or setting an arbitrary date in this way,it was later seen as a useul way o helping to switch mindsets rom short-term to longer-termthinking. In terms o coordination, whilst there was continued coordination o residual relie todisplaced populations, the ocus or overall coordination o planning and implementation wasshited to a Transition Relie Cell, with a ocus on coordinating early recovery, longer-term recovery

and development.

2.2 Needs assessment

During and ater a crisis, strategic and operational decision-makers need reliable inormation to helpthem set priorities, identiy gaps, and plan early recovery responses, as well as to analyse impact, mobilizeresources and engage in advocacy. The requirement o dierent actors or inormation oten results in thedevelopment o sectoral approaches to needs assessment and inormation management. While this isnecessary or planning in each sector, compatible and comprehensive sets o data are also essential orsystem-wide planning.

There are major challenges associated with carrying out early recovery needs assessments. During orollowing conficts and disasters, inormation may be neither available nor accessible. National databasesmay have never existed or ceased to unction; census data may be outdated or lost; and the capacity orelevant state institutions may be weakened. Existing data may be unreliable and politically sensitive.Lack o security and problems with transport and communications may also constrain access to primarydata. Needs assessments usually require time as well as additional human and nancial resources, but inemergencies, measures to ensure the compatibility and comprehensiveness o inormation across sectorscan be overlooked, and the quality o sectoral inormation may also suer.

Various tools can help assess longer-term recovery needs and build a recovery ramework, or example theNeeds Analysis Framework (IASC 2005; see Box 4), the Post-Confict Needs Assessment (UNDG 2004), andlocal level needs assessments (annex 7). A ramework or post-disaster needs assessment is currently being

developed by UNDP on behal o the CWGER. Tools and methods or assessing and analysing lie-saving


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needs and broader recovery needs should be used, adapted and, where there are gaps, devised or nationaland local use. Early recovery needs assessments may be carried out ad hoc while this work is under way.

There is currently no predictable surge capacity to support country teams to assess needs (tools, or humanand nancial resources). The CWGER and the UNDG-ECHA Working Group on Transition, which are workingto develop surge capacity to meet demand rom country teams or timely technical support, aim to addressthis challenge.

Box 4 The Needs Analysis Framework

The Needs Analysis Framework, produced by the IASC CAP Sub-Working Group (2005), is a tool tohelp humanitarian coordinators and country teams to organize and present existing inormation onhumanitarian needs coherently and consistently. Coordinators and teams should use it to consolidateexisting needs assessments and analyse them beore developing a Common Humanitarian ActionPlan (CHAP). To this end, a series o steps need to be taken involving country teams including NGOsand the Red Cross Movement, host authorities and donors.

The ramework provides a fexible but systematic structure to document ndings and conclusions. Itsuggests headings, indicators and descriptors related to each area o concern. This acilitates trendanalysis, and comparison between populations and areas in a crisis context. Country teams may adapt

the ramework, remove headings that are not useul, and add new ones. The ramework does notinclude specic assessment methods, the choice o which rests with individual agencies. It should beadapted to the inormation needs specic to various sectors.

Inormation gaps may trigger additional or new assessments. The process in itsel can stimulatesynchronization sector-specic assessments, and the links between humanitarian and recoverystrategies in the ormulation o the CHAP. It may also identiy opportunities where joint assessmentsbetween sectors would improve analysis and understanding.

Guidance

The operating principles o early recovery outlined in Part 1.2 should be used to underpin the goals,objectives, and process o early recovery assessments. This will ensure ownership and participation onational and local actors, including civil society; minimize the risk o overlaps through coordination; andensure that assessments take place at the level required by the situation. However, compliance with theseprinciples is dicult, given that early recovery strategies are oten based on a very rapid assessment oneeds, and guide programming or a short period (3-18 months).

The minimum standard o an early recovery assessment is to provide inormation to help develop both astrategic plan and policies or early recovery, and a portolio o integrated projects to be implemented inthis period.

The specic objectives o an early recovery assessment are to identiy:

the impact o a crisis on the aected population, the most urgent needs, and entry pointsto address them;

existing local capacities and capacity-building priorities;

ongoing development initiatives that can be built on or reoriented to contribute to earlyrecovery;

underlying causes that generated or exacerbated the crisis (by including assessments o riskand/or confict analysis see box 5 below on using confict analysis);

negative coping mechanisms resulting rom a crisis that may perpetuate its detrimentaleects or create new risks, and spontaneous initiatives that may be strengthened to rebuildlivelihoods and improve security;

an understanding o specic vulnerabilities related to gender, and the capacities o women

and girls to engage in recovery;


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reliable baseline data disaggregated by sex and age, to eed into a comprehensive monitoringand evaluation system; and

potential secondary threats.

Box 5 Using Confict Analysis or Early Recovery Planning

Confict analysis is the systematic study o the causes, actors, and dynamics o confict. It helpsdevelopment and humanitarian actors to gain a better understanding o the context in which theyoperate and their role in that context, so that their interventions do not unintentionally reinorceconfict dynamics and, to the extent possible, address causes o confict and reinorce capacities orpeace.

Multiple tools and approaches or confict analysis have been developed by international agencies.While these tools may dier in terms o ocus, target audience, or process, most o them are builtaround similar elements. Tools can also be adapted, and possibly combined, to respond to specicneeds and enhance eectiveness. Confict analysis is integrated in a number o needs assessmenttools that are used by the UN and other actors in post-crisis environments. For instance, the PostConfict Needs Assessment (PCNA) ramework includes confict analysis as an integral part o needs

assessment

The Inter-agency Framework or Conict Analysis in Transition Situations was developed in 2004by the UNDG/ECHA Working Group on Transition. It provides a common analytical ramework orunderstanding the underlying causes and consequences o violent confict, as well as the dynamicssupporting or undermining peace eorts in a transition situation.

Like many confict analysis, the Inter-Agency Framework is articulated in three key stages:

Analysis o the conict. This stage seeks to arrive at a common understanding o the causes andconsequences o violent conict. It looks at confict actors (both proximate and structural); confictactors; and capacities or peace. It also assesses the relative importance o the various issues, and

the way in which they interact with each other, to identiy a set o dynamics that are core to theconfict.

Analysis o Ongoing Responses. This stage ocuses on the assessment o ongoing responsesrom a wide range o actors, including the UN, in terms o their impact on the confict dynamicsidentied in the previous stage.

Strategic & Programmatic Conclusions or Transition Planning. On the basis o the confictanalysis and the assessment o ongoing responses, the objective o this stage is to draw sharedstrategic and programmatic recommendations or the development o UN transition strategy andprogramming.

The Inter-Agency Framework, like all confict analysis tools, can provide overall guidance, but is not

a one-size-ts-all approach. Rather, it should be fexibly tailored to the specicities o each dierentcontext.

In early recovery contexts, there is oten a widely elt perception that there is no time to do a confictanalysis. However, interventions that are not inormed by an understanding o the context may endup harming the very people that the activities are trying to help. For this reason, it is important thatagencies incorporate confict analysis as an integral part o their regular programming, and, that, asa minimum, in an early recovery context, that a quick confict analysis is undertaken by the UN toinorm its interventions.


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Important guidance and tools or national level assessment are listed in Annex 1. The ollowing steps arerecommended, based on the principles o early recovery and lessons learned rom previous assessments:

Step 1: Mobilizing support and resources

Support should be generated at the highest level by the RC/HC. There is initially strong pressure or rapid,essential lie-saving interventions. Country decision-makers should also be committed to early recoveryneeds assessment, and support the exercise with the time, resources (human & nancial), and accessneeded.

Step 2: Coordination and oversight mechanism

A coordinated approach minimizes overlaps with and between ongoing or planned sectoral needsassessments, and maximizes opportunities or sharing inormation and streamlining eldwork, research,and reporting. As the cluster lead, UNDP is typically responsible or overall coordination and oversighto early recovery assessment. This involves ensuring that the process and content adheres to the earlyrecovery principles, clariying the methodology to be used, overseeing links and overlaps with otherongoing assessments, providing technical contributions as a participating agency, and providing supportand resources in-country and rom the global CWGER as necessary.

The assessment process should be a consultation convened by the RC/HC or national counterparts, andacilitated/led by the Early Recovery Network Coordinator (or equivalent) or national government. It shouldinvolve key decision-makers including main national counterparts, IASC cluster leads and key technicaladvisors, the NGO and CSO community, and donor representatives.

The aim o the rst consultation is to:

dene the scope, level and expected outputs o the assessment;

identiy country capacity or participating in the assessment, and identiy gaps andrequirements or support;

secure agreement on roles, responsibilities and the implementation mechanism or

assessment, including obtaining additional resources such as global-level CWGER orconsultants.

Step 3: Choosing the method

The appointed assessment lead or coordinator is responsible or dening the objectives (what) and method(how) o the assessment. This should be done through a technical consultation involving relevant sector/cluster members and technical ocal points/advisors in national institutions.

When setting the objectives, it is important to ask what depth o inormation is needed rom the assessment;what indicators describe the baseline situation; and what national standards exist or relevant sectors suchas social services, protection, and production standards.

Key considerations or choosing the assessment method include:

the quality and type o inormation already available (existing secondary sources), and what

resh primary data remains to be collected;

the context (access conditions, seasonal timing, security);

the capacity (existence o databases, size and technical prole o the assessment team,ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative data).

These actors will infuence not only quality but also how data are reported, whether in numbers,percentages, qualitative reports and so on.


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Step 4: Participation

Local actors should, to the greatest extent possible, lead the needs assessment process. Local authoritiesand institutions, and civil society organizations including womens organizations, should be invited tocontribute and share their inormation.

Step 5: Carrying out the needs assessment

The ollowing actors, overseen by an eective needs assessment coordinator/lead, will help contribute toa successul needs assessment:

maintaining harmony amongst actors: acilitating interagency coordination within theassessment team, in-country, and in the context o the CWGER; liaising with the authorities,and troubleshooting;

saeguarding the integrity o the assessment ramework, by observing agreed protocolsand using clear and direct methodology; and

pre-allocating resources or document and inormation management capacities.

Step 6: Making sense o the ndings

Once the inormation rom the needs assessment has been gathered, the data needs to be careully

synthesized and analyzed. A process o cross-checking and validation should take place. Presenting thendings to an assessment oversight committee, ideally made up o national and local level, multi-sectoralstakeholders, and providing an opportunity or eedback, will help to validate conclusions. These can beurther cross-checked and validated against parallel cluster/sector-specic assessments, ideally through anearly recovery network.

Step 7: Translating ndings into action

Gaps in early recovery (between baselines/benchmarks and the realities on the ground), that have beenidentied through the needs assessment process, should now be translated into recommendations andtargets within an early recovery strategic ramework. See Part 2.3 below or guidance on developingstrategic rameworks and action plans.

Box 6 Experience rom the eld: needs assessment in Uganda

Two rounds o interagency rapid needs assessment have been conducted in jointly identied areasin northern Uganda. Led by UNDP Uganda, the assessment involved UN agencies, NGOs and localgovernment. Spontaneous returns o reugees and IDPs are expected to increase signicantly assecurity improves. To boost country capacity to carry out early recovery needs assessments in newlyaccessible areas, UNDP and the International Organization or Migration are working with the UgandaBureau o Statistics. They also work closely with OCHA to support the assessment with geographicinormation system maps. Assessments in areas o return are conducted in parallel with mine actioneld surveys.

The ndings are ed into a results-based recovery ramework, a tool or planning recoverymeasures across sectors in the early phase o resettlement and return. It highlights the results to beachieved during the rst 6-18 months in dened locations, ollowing humanitarian assistance eortsin camps or internally displaced persons and in areas to which they have returned.

The ramework presents baseline indicators, related standards, targets, proposed responseobjectives and time rame. The response objectives are based on preliminary sector-specic andcross-cutting recommendations, made by the assessment team or early recovery interventions andvalidated by specialist agencies such as FAO, OHCHR, WFP and WHO.


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2.3 Strategic planning

A strategic plan or ramework or early recovery, ormulated in the early stages o a post-crisis, adaptedto the scope and particularities o the countrys needs and requirements, will map out gaps, objectives,response strategies, activities, and actors.

In very simple terms, the strategic ramework represents what to do and howto do it. A sound strategic

ramework should:

Set out a straightorward and actionable early recovery response to a crisis;

Explain to others who will do what and how actors will work together to achieve an overallearly recovery objective;

Serve as a vehicle or advocacy, decision-making, and or securing support rom donors andnational authorities;

Assist with benchmarking and perormance monitoring o early recovery interventions;

and

Stimulate change and policy development to build back better.

Major crises have a negative eect on the capacity o national and local authorities. The loss o civil servants

lives, and damage to and inaccessibility o public buildings and inrastructure, reduces a governmentsability to assess, plan, and implement ER interventions in a proactive and timely manner. This may delay thestart o the recovery process. Nevertheless early recovery planning should be driven by or at the very leastengage national/local partners and institutions representing all segments o the population.

The IASC Country Team should agree the principles and operational ramework o an integrated approachto early recovery. These must be established as early as possible to acilitate coherent UN action in politicaland operational spheres. Failure to do so makes the task o achieving coherence later on more dicult, andrequires subsequent modication o any parallel, rather than joint, processes and practices established byindividual partners.

Guidance

The early recovery strategic ramework is ormulated ollowing a participatory assessment, involving allrelevant stakeholders. Early recovery involves a broad mix o actors and partnerships including government/national authorities (who may need to be strengthened and encouraged to take the lead at the earlieststages); humanitarian actors and NGOs; development agencies; international nancial institutions;donors; and mandated UN peacekeeping operations. Planning must also anticipate a progressively largerrole or government, in a post-confict situation in particular, international nancial institutions; and acorrespondingly diminishing role or the UN and NGOs. Nonetheless, the continuous presence o someo the UN operational agencies and NGOs with combined humanitarian and development strengths andmandates is critical beore, during, and ater the crisis.

The World Bank should be engaged immediately as a strategic partner in joint discussions on the wayorward. The international nancial institutions play a major role in recovery and are a vital partner or the

UN in promoting successul transition. Common understanding o the relative and mutually reinorcingstrengths o UN-IFI collaboration is growing. They should be kept inormed o the UNs early recoveryactivities, especially where they have had a prior local presence.

The planning process

Planning must give early priority, where needed, to increasing government capacity or aid coordination,policy-making and programme delivery. This may involve deployment o experts to work in governmentministries, and identiying which coordination unctions perormed by the UN can be transerred togovernment/national authorities as part o the national ownership and capacity-building process. Theseunctions may continue to be nanced, staed and advised by the UN or an interim period.


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The strategic planning exercise should address the tyranny o rush, whereby societies aected by a majorcrisis tend to seek rapid and visible solutions to restore normality, oten at the cost o more sustainable anddurable solutions that address the causes o the crisis. This rush can work against opportunities or change,risk reduction/confict prevention, and sustainable development. Eective sequencing o activities is animportant success actor in countries where institutional capacities are low and priorities are numerousand competing.

Planning must be strategic, eld-driven and guided by a common understanding and analysis o theunderlying causes o the crisis. It should build on the accumulated experiences o humanitarian actors,identiy the results expected under dierent contingencies, establish mechanisms to determine progress,and be fexible enough to enable a quick response to changing situations. Cross-cutting issues such asgender, human rights and HIV/AIDS should be part o early recovery assessment and planning, and allocatedsucient resources and capacities during the implementation phase.

Planning the UNs response in recovery contexts should ideally be linked to national development plans andbudgets or to their preparation. Planning must give priority to supporting the development o governmentcapacity or aid coordination, policy-making and programme delivery. Early recovery activities and strategiesdo not have ormal status and need be agreed only by the participating UN and NGO partners, but a highdegree o government ownership is necessary to ensure legitimacy and political commitment. The EarlyRecovery Network Coordinator should maintain regular dialogue with the relevant ministries throughout

the planning phase and, i possible, conduct joint assessments or planning workshops.

Developing an early recovery ramework and strategy

A strategic plan or ramework should not be conused with a programme plan. The ormer is a shortsummary document, whereas the latter is a more substantive and detailed piece o work. The strategicramework provides the oundation and ramework or the UNCT programme response. Hence, thestrategic ramework should ocus on setting out the ollowing:

An analytical summary o ndings rom the rapid needs assessment process that was as ully participatoryas could be arranged within time constraints;

The context (background, socio-economic setting, political systems, geographical

implications) that may infuence or impact upon the early recovery response, both positivelyand negatively;

Overall response to date (not programme detail) inormed by comparative advantages o

actors (skills, mandates and resources);

Identication o the early recovery gaps (unding, access/outreach, human resources andlogistical support);

An outline o the sequencing o priorities and demarcation o responsibilities linked tothose priorities this should include the integration and interdependency o responses bydierent actors (what can be done at the same time and what needs to wait until certainconditions are in place);

Coordination mechanisms or early recovery, and how they will help to acilitate the planningand implementation o early recovery initiatives;

General (overarching or the UN system as a whole) and particular (related to sector and

agency mandates) results the ramework aims to realize (the goals and objectives).

Links with development goals and processes. Anchoring an early recovery strategy to UNobjectives, such as the MDGs or human rights norms, or to longer-term national recoveryand development plans, helps to ocus on the causes o a crisis rather than the symptoms,and sets common and recognizable benchmarks or the programme design phase.

Finally, in the case where the Security Council has deployed a UN mission to the post-crisiscountry, the UNCT is bound directly within its strategic planning ocus to the UN SecurityCouncil Resolution underpinning the particular UN mission mandate and thereore needsto be reerred to in the strategic ramework.


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The IASC Country Team should present the initial strategic plan/ramework to key partners (governmentand donors noting that broader national participation took place in the assessment process e.g. directaccess to the populations aected) to discuss the proposed IASC Country Team response. This initialdiscussion with partners or endorsement (not approval) o an early recovery strategic ramework, linked tothe governments overall priority plan is important to a) manage expectations; and b) ensure accountabilityor agreed objectives is shared by all stakeholders (state and non-state actors).

The timing o the move rom the early recovery strategy to a transition recovery strategy is determined bycountry circumstances. Suggestions o when, how, and under what conditions to move to longer-termrecovery, should be included in the early recovery strategy. Detailed guidance on transition strategies hasrecently been produced (UNDG/ECHA 2007).

Box 7 Experience rom the eld: developing an early recovery strategic ramework

or Uganda

An inter-agency CWGER team visited Uganda to work with the IASC Country Team to help developa Strategic Framework or Early Recovery in confict aected areas o the country. The StrategicFramework draws together all ongoing and planned early recovery activities rom September 2007 toDecember 2008. As such, it overlaps considerably with the CAP or Uganda, and relates closely to thegovernment-led Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP).

In the context o Uganda, the strategic ramework or early recovery addresses a change o ocus romsaving lives to restoring livelihoods, thereby eectively preventing the recurrence o confict andharnessing conditions or human development. Under an overall objective to restore and strengthenthe capacities o communities and authorities or sustained reintegration, development and peace,the strategic ramework outlines a straightorward approach to early recovery divided into sevenprogrammatic categories:

Promoting access to education;

Promoting access to health, nutrition & HIV/AIDs services;

Rehabilitating inrastructure and housing;

Promoting access to sae drinking water & sanitation;

Improving protection, human rights & rule o law;

Revitalizing & diversiying livelihoods; and

Enabling good governance.

Each category within the ramework includes a description o emerging early recovery needs in thatarea, a specic thematic objective, a list o priority activities, and a ull list o contributing partners.Finally, the strategic ramework outlines the early recovery coordination mechanism that will acilitatethe planning and implementation o early recovery initiatives.

Developing an early recovery action planAn early recovery action plan should be ormulated in collaboration with the government to implementthe early recovery strategy. Overall coherence is the aim, as the plan may subsume sectoral plans thathave emerged rom dierent needs assessments. It should enable the IASC Country Team to work as one,ocusing on a ew things that must be done rather than on agency mandates. It should present the earlyrecovery objectives and strategic results clearly and systematically. These should be phased and prioritized,identiy the agency or unit responsible or implementation, and provide targets and monitoring indicatorsor ollow-up.


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Box 8 Experience rom the eld: rural reconstruction in the Philippines

Ater a series o devastating typhoons in late 2006, the government o the Philippines requestedFAO support to assess needs and prepare a rehabilitation plan, using a livelihoods approach. Amultidisciplinary team o 15 proessionals was assembled, comprising national specialists andgovernment sta and led by an FAO specialist. The team used rapid livelihoods assessment guidelines

or sudden-onset crises (FAO and ILO 2007) to develop municipal and community livelihood impactproles and related rehabilitation plans.

By using a livelihoods approach the team was able to go beyond looking at damage and lossesto develop a comprehensive picture o the typhoons impact on how people made a living theirassets, coping strategies and activities, and the infuence o institutions and prospects or meaningulrecovery. The method provided a rm basis or a comprehensive rehabilitation plan, comprising adescription o main proposed interventions, the identication o priorities or implementation atmunicipal level, a orecast o expected beneciaries (types and numbers), and estimated costs.

2.4 ProgrammingProgramming covers a wide range o sectors and potential interventions. This section highlights some keyprinciples and provides generic guidance.

Early recovery programmes require a sustained sta presence in the geographic area o implementation todesign, run and monitor programmes, and are best not implemented rom a distance. However, securityconstraints, limited access (or security or logistical reasons) and the absence o state authority in somesituations may hinder access and prevent sta rom working alongside stakeholders and programmebeneciaries. Programming procedures, particularly those o agencies more used to operating indevelopment circumstances, may be slow and cumbersome in early recovery situations. This can aectthe timely sourcing and hiring o appropriate expertise, procurement, and disbursement o programmeunds.

Tight timescales and the pressure to spend money quickly on highly visible initiatives may inhibit eorts toplan, design and implement programmes in a participatory way. Resolving dicult issues and negotiatingwith communities and authorities so that programmes may acilitate social development and communityempowerment requires time, eort, and specic skills.

Guidance

Typically, early recovery programmes start in the emergency phase, are the key element in the stabilization/consolidation phase (in post-confict settings), and wind down as national institutions direct and guide ullrecovery and development programming.

Programme characteristicsAn early recovery programme should display some or all o the ollowing eatures:

It builds on emergency assistance programmes to ensure that their inputs become assets

or longer-term recovery and development.

It addresses the underlying causes o the crisis.

It builds the necessary oundation required or managing the recovery eort, or example,by rapid restoration o lost capacity at the local government level in the crisis aected area.

It strengthens existing capacities o local authorities to manage/coordinate crises, or

example, through training programmes on local governance responsibilities.

It strengthens the immediate or basic capacities o communities to cope with the crisis, or

example, through training o aected populations on construction techniques that allowthem to reduce the risk o urther loss rom disasters.


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It ocuses on activities that prepare or the return o displaced communities, or example,repair o minor inrastructure such as small eeder roads and bridges to permit access tomarkets and access to abandoned housing or arming plots.

It ocuses on providing services or returning communities, such as water & sanitation,education, health, etc.

It supports local initiatives to revive livelihoods, through or example agricultural

restoration.

It provides security, or example through mine action interventions, and condence buildingor communities, such as policy dialogue with police, civil authorities, etc.

It pays attention to sustainability and equality, and includes communities in shaping andimplementing activities, thus building capacity.

It mainstreams peace-building and reconciliation activities, through or example, acilitation

o dialogue among communities and reintegrating populations.

It links into local-level early recovery coordination mechanisms, which are supported by astrong inter-agency coordination mechanism or agencies supporting service provision atthe local level, with a clear allocation o roles and responsibilities.

Cross-cutting issues

These are areas o concern that or institutional or societal reasons need to be tackled across sectorsin a coherent and integrated way. Key cross-cutting issues to be considered during the design andimplementation o programmes include gender equality, HIV/AIDS, environment, camp management andcoordination, human rights, confict sensitivity, the rule o law, and security. There are a number o reasonswhy it is important to consider cross-cutting issues in this way:

Early recovery situations are oten multidimensional, complex, and involve a range o

specialized actors. Eectively addressing cross-cutting issues helps to orge links with otherprogrammes and with the work o other agencies.

Early recovery should ocus on promoting and strengthening equity and equality or all, andshould avoid (urther) marginalization o certain groups or creation o new sources o risk.Identiying and incorporating cross-cutting issues right rom the start helps to ensure they

are given the required consideration during the planning and execution o early recoveryactivities.

Early recovery provides a unique opportunity to shape the agenda o the subsequentdevelopment phase. Eectively addressing cross-cutting issues rom the start, such asintegrating gender equality concerns in all early recovery programmes and activities, willresult in benecial interventions.

Early recovery provides the opportunity to redress inequalities in opportunities andtreatment that may have existed beore the crisis.

Much useul material exists on how to tackle these cross-cutting issues: some key sources are listed in Annex1; and annex 5 provides a list o key issues related to an analysis o environmental and natural resourceissues. A specic example rom the eld is provided in Box 9.


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Box 9: Cross-cutting issues in Darur

During the crisis in Darur, Sudan, UNDP established an early recovery programme in the rule olaw sector, based on development principles such as empowerment, capacity-building, inclusionand participation, combined with a strong protection element. The programme was initiated withextensive awareness-raising and condence-building among communities and local authorities, and

gradually moved towards capacity-building. To this end, it empowered IDPs in paralegal schemes;supported local lawyers to build up legal aid services; and trained the judiciary to recognize andaddress sexual/gender-based violence while also oering legal inormation services. The approachbegan to yield results late in the second year o confict, when victims were increasingly beingacquitted rom adultery and perpetrators were aced with convictions. Although the needs arexceed the capacities, and the depth o the confict goes beyond UN programming, the programmeraised awareness and addressed individual cases through the existing judiciary system. In doingso, small but signicant steps were made to respond to immediate needs while also laying theoundation or ull-fedged recovery when peace comes.

Local approaches

Most early recovery needs are met at local rather than national level. Local approaches have beendeveloped in post-confict contexts to help countries address the needs o aected populations, primarilyreturning reugees, displaced people and demobilized combatants, by enabling or reinorcing communitiescapacities. The local approach reconciles long- and short-term objectives: responding to immediate needs,alleviating crisis-induced economic devastation, and promoting social reconciliation at local level in acontext o respect or human rights. Area-based approaches target well-dened geographical areas to servethe entire population in need, engage local institutions and actors, and are managed through systems odecentralized responsibility and accountability.

The CWGER is developing an integrated local level programming ramework or early recovery. It is alsoreviewing experiences o local-level approaches to build on lessons learned. This encompasses productivelivelihoods, rule o law, security and eective governance, and access to basic services and inrastructure.It will draw on the sustainable livelihoods ramework originally developed by the UK Department or

International Development as a guide to local early recovery. It places assets and vulnerability at the centreo its analysis, and promotes integrated and comprehensive approaches in support o local capacities. Asustainable local governance approach to early recovery simultaneously revitalizes the local economy andreconstructs local governance, by putting emerging local authorities at the centre o the early recoveryeort (including reintegration o IDP and reugees), thus enhancing their responsibility, responsiveness andlocal accountability.

Sequencing and transition to longer-term recovery and

development programmes

Putting early recovery programmes in the context o wider recovery and development rameworks,such as UNDAF common country assessments (UN 2007), should highlight opportunities or transition.

Eective sequencing o early recovery activities is important i they are to show results. Early protection,stabilization and rehabilitation measures that will generate quick successes, while building condence ormore politically or technically dicult programmes and reorms later, are typically the ocus o an earlyrecovery strategy. Possible criteria or sequencing actions include:

early actions that generate rapid, visible results or crisis-aected populations or that arenecessary enablers o planned ollow-on activities;

early interventions to stabilize critical public administration unctions, such as paying civilservants salaries;

pre-positioning o UN assets to ensure geographical reach outside the capital; reintegration

and re-establishment o basic social services.

From the beginning, it is also essential to dene clear criteria or exit strategies or each early recovery

programme, and collectively or portolios o programmes.


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Entry points

Early recovery priorities vary in dierent contexts, as do the entry points or programming support. Table2 provides a menu o indicative early recovery programming ater crises. Compiling this list o activitiesis a work in progress or the CWGER and it will continue to be added to and updated. Broadly, the listincludes:

early recovery activities within each cluster s response plans;

build-up o country capacities or disaster management and/or confict prevention,transition and recovery;

sustainable resettlement;

area-based and community-driven social and economic recovery;

small-scale recovery o inrastructure; and

early recovery coordination.


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Table 2: Menu of Indicative Early Recovery Activities

Area o activity Early recovery activities

Livelihoods andincome recovery

Rapid impact, needs and capacity assessments ocused on local economicresources and livelihood opportunities

Labour market surveys and analysis

Establishment o and capacity building to Emergency EmploymentServices centres

Design and implementation o emergency employment schemes (e.g.rubble clearance, rehabilitation o community inrastructure)

Cash grants and emergency social protection schemes or those who

cannot work and or the most vulnerable groups

Local economic recovery strategies

Micro and small enterprise recovery through short-cycle business-management training, cash grants, access to micronance schemes andcoaching

Labour intensive reconstruction works, technical assistance and training

in labour-based rehabilitation and reconstruction o inrastructures

Rapid skills training and capacity building in key sectors o the labourmarket with a high potential o job creation in the short term

Training, technical assistance and tools on micro-nance (including micro-credit, micro-leasing and micro-insurance)

Rapid restoration o damaged crops

Protection and rehabilitation o productive assets (odder production,animal health, management o natural resources)

Promotion o improved land management techniques, to prevent soilerosion and exhaustion

Agro-livelihoods diversication o ood crops to improve nutrition, and

cash crops to increase bio diversity and incomes

Agro orestry or host communities sustainable uel sources, linked tointroduction o uel ecient stoves

Rapid restoration and reinstating o remittance acilities

Social Services Quick access to rehabilitation o primary social services, such as health careacilities, schools, community centres, water and sanitation networks

Assessing ways to reduce cost (and thereby increase access) o educationand health care

Capacity assessment, basic capacity development and technical support

Nutrition stabilization and ood security at household and communitylevels

Psychosocial and post-trauma counseling, including or victims o sexualviolence

Access to comprehensive, integrated reproductive health services,

including contraceptives, or all persons o reproductive age

Prevention o gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence, andprovision o appropriate assistance to victims

HIV/AIDS prevention activities in the light o increased vulnerabilities andrisk actors to HIV/AIDS transmission

Hygiene promotion

First aid training


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Introduction 29


Displacement, returnand reintegration

Support or the planning o government authorities to enhance theprocess o return and reintegration o displaced populations

Support or IDP proling/population-based surveys (and census) o

population (or sections o population)

Enabling displaced communities to assess conditions in their home areasand assist in the return and reintegration process

Assessment o the environmental dimensions o return and resettlementoperations

Support to the recovery and revitalization o areas o return

Basic transitional shelter planning and management, linked to landmanagement and property rights

Return and resettlement o IDPs and reugees

Shelter Shelter damage, capacity and needs assessmentsIdentiying alternative/aordable building technologies or

reconstruction

Identiying aordable, environmentally sustainable, building materials

Identiying networks o implementing partners

Identiying capacities o local building material producers and markets

Strategic programming or shelter recovery and reconstruction

Identication o national building regulations in recovery shelter

Improving building and planning standards or shelter in recovery

Support or the development o housing policy that integrates riskreduction

Training o local artisans in hurricane, earthquake and food resistantbuilding techniques

Land & Property Recording IDP property claims

Implementing ad-hoc community-based (customary) property disputeresolution activities

Dening reerral options rom customary law to ormal statutory courts

Capacity building or ad-hoc restitution mechanisms

Legal assistance to IDPs and documentation o rights

Identiying the need or ad-hoc property dispute resolution mechanisms

Identication o key laws and regulations on land and property

Identiying discriminatory housing and property laws and acts

Identiying discriminatory arbitration and application o legal ramework

Saeguard land and property registers in emergency situations

Land and property situation analysis

Basic copingmechanisms

Assessment o the use o natural resources as coping mechanism in

post-crisis situations to supplement normal orms o income, andrecommending measures to decrease reliance and rehabilitate impactedareas

Helping communities to begin addressing recovery needs

Support to non-state actors, community organizations, CSOs and NGOsin aected areas

Coordination Strengthening national capacity to coordinate and respond to immediateneeds

Establishing eective and participative early recovery coordination

mechanism (eg. an Early Recovery Network) to support national eortsSupport to local authority coordination and advocacy or early recovery,with an emphasis on basic service delivery


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Cross-cutting issues Mainstreaming o cross-cutting issues (e.g. gender, HIV/AIDS, environment,protection) in all aspects and stages o early recovery programming,particularly in assessments, programme planning, implementation, andevaluation o early recovery programmes

Supporting the active participation o women and womens organizationsin all aspects o early recovery planning and implementation

Building the capacity o women and womens organizations to ensuretheir active and equal participation in all aspects and sectors o earlyrecovery and longer-term recovery and development

Environmental clean-up and rehabilitation, and capacity building onational environmental authorities on environmental recovery

Inrastructure Access to and rehabilitation o small inrastructures to enable a sustainedcirculation o people and goods, access to means o production andstrengthen resettlement, e.g. road repairs and mine clearance or accessto markets

Restoration o damaged environments and support to urther protection

Rehabilitation o water and sanitation inrastructure

Support or environmental clean-up and rehabilitation

Impact assessments o major inrastructure projects

Security Reducing insecurity through early mine action interventionsIn the context o Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)programmes, conduct beneciary proling surveys, and mapping oreintegration opportunities

Conducting saety surveys based on representative samples o thepopulation

Supporting eorts to address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV),social reintegration, and economic empowerment o SGBV victims

Governance Capacity assessment o government

Facilitation o early recovery prioritization workshops at national and

local levels

Rehabilitation o essential government acilities and provision o assets(eg. oce equipment and vehicles)

Training and development o civil servants on local governanceresponsibilities

Strengthening local governance capacity to manage the recovery eort

Strengthening o natural disaster institutions

Disaster risk assessments

Support to civil society to enable and acilitate their participation indecision-making processes

Training o communities on preparedness and early warning

Feasibility planning or early economic recovery, and policy advice tonational governments and local authorities on emergency employmentplans and social nance

Support to national inormation management systems, includinggeographic inormation systems

Support or coordinated early recovery needs assessment, andadvocating or early recovery issues to be taken into account in otherneeds assessments by national and international humanitarian anddevelopment actors

Support or the development o nationally-led Early Recovery StrategicFrameworks and Action Plans, linked to the conceptualization and dratingo longer-term strategic development rameworks that are risk sensitive

Support or the establishment o monitoring and evaluation systems or

early recovery activities

Support or early recovery resource mobilization eorts and or thetracking o donor assistance


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Rule o Law Legal Aid/Representation to SGBV victims, including capacity buildingo Lawyers Networks, judges, prosecutors and police to identiy andpromptly address SGBV through the existing law-enorcement and court-system.

Condence building measures, including awareness raising and policy

dialogue with local government ocials, including police, civil authorities,army, militia and rebel groups

Training o international and regional peacekeepers/police to address

the need or protection o civilians and build the capacity o their local/national counterparts in the Security Sector and o non-state armedactors

Minor rehabilitation o inrastructure, such as traditional courts, police

stations, police training centres, and correction acilities

Awareness raising, inormal training, and condence-building workshopsor rule o law proessionals, traditional leaders, civil society, etc

Needs assessment and identication o early priorities or support toaccess to justice (e.g. empowerment o IDP communities as paralegalsand managers o Legal Aid Centres; capacity building support to lawyersnetworks

introduction to early recovery

Documents