TEC Initial Findings v 063 Initial findings from

TEC Initial Findings v 063 Initial findings from the TEC

TEC Initial Findings v 063 A word of caution! – Very much initial, preliminary, provisional, and tentative findings. – Not all the TEC’s 30+ different reports and surveys are yet available, even in draft form. – The main report for the work of the TEC will be the Synthesis Report, due in April 2006 – More information on the Tsunami response is being published every day – More detailed study of the individual TEC and other reports may lead to an alternate interpretation and emphasis in the Synthesis Report

TEC Initial Findings v 063 1. Relief was effective Overall the relief phase was effective, through a mixture of: – local assistance in the immediate aftermath – international assistance in the first weeks after the disaster There seems to have been little or no significant examples of avoidable deaths or suffering.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 2. Response scale unprecedented The disaster was not the biggest but the scale of the generous public response was unprecedented: – In terms of the amount of money • International $13. 8 billion • Affected governments $2 billion • Populations of affected countries – at least $190 million – in the speed with which money was donated – in which it was channelled (NGOs and RC).

TEC Initial Findings v 063 2. Response scale unprecedented The scale of funding: – exceeded the capacity of the humanitarian system – acted as a giant lens, highlighting many of the existing problems in the humanitarian systems Almost all large agencies still have funds at the end of 2005.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 3. Local capacity is a key capacity Most of those that were saved, were saved by their own effort, their families and their neighbours. Although local capacity is key to saving lives, this capacity is: – overlooked by the international media. – underestimated and undervalued by the international aid community.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 3. Local capacity is a key capacity International actors measure local capacity in terms of their own skills base rather than in terms of the skills base appropriate to the local context. International agencies did not engage sufficiently with local actors, particularly in the vital initial phase. The role of national and local government was crucial.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 4. Funding system is deeply flawed A high proportion of Government pledges appear to have been turned into commitments. Funding decisions were made prior to assessment reports being available. Funding decisions are made in response to domestic political pressure rather than to needs assessment. NGOs and the RC were, in this crisis, the pivots of the humanitarian response, but this pivotal role brings new responsibility.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 4. Funding system is deeply flawed Funding for any one crisis is not related to needs.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 4. Funding system limits system capacity Systems develop for their normal level of demand.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 4. Funding system limits system capacity There was not too much money for the tsunami, but there is too little money for most humanitarian responses. This low level of background funding is what limits the surge capacity of the system overall.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 5. Corporatism versus accountability Corporatism puts the interests of the agency first, accountability puts donors or recipients first. Agencies focused too much on their own institutional needs and not enough on the needs of the affected populations. This was apparent in: – The low priority given to coordination in the early stages. – The way in which evaluation reports have been treated. – The lack of information flowing to aid recipients.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 5. Corporatism versus accountability The lack of accountability remains a problem within the sector. The recent spate of the socalled “accountability reports” demonstrates this. – Agencies are still not transparent enough or accountable enough to the people they are trying to assist. – In come cases agencies are also not sufficiently accountable to those providing the funding.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 6. Recovery is harder than relief Aid recipients were happier with the relief phase than with the recovery phase. This decreasing satisfaction may be due to: 1. recovery needs being more complex than relief needs; 2. the longer time scale needed for recovery interventions to bear fruit; 3. increased expectations for the recovery caused by the over-subscribed relief effort; or a mixture of all three.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 6. Recovery is harder than relief While the relief phase was effective, the recovery phase is encountering many problems that may be due to: – the greater complexity of recovery – the demands that such complexity places on the aid agencies. There are broadly agreed standards for relief, but no such standards for recovery. Agencies missed the opportunity to address issues of equity, conflict, gender, and governance in the response.

TEC Initial Findings v 063 7. The response changed over time The nature of the tsunami response changed quite significantly during 2005. What was true of the initial phase of the tsunami response, for example, competition between agencies for “turf”, was not true of the later phases. Some problems have remained throughout the operations, including issues of capacity, accountability, and transparency.