 response
• Impact of the tsunami response on local and national capacities (see recommendations below)
• Links between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) in the tsunami response
• The funding response to the tsunami. populations.
The synthesis report highlights problems in the rebuilding process which led to greater inequities, gender- and conflict-insensitive programming, indignities, cultural offence and waste e.g .(my headings):
Marginalising the poor
The concentration on distribution of assets, especially boats, demonstrated a failure to understand and support diversified and sustainable livelihoods and communities. Affected people have frequently complained that NGOs deal only with village officials and that poorer people are marginalised. At best, the international response restored the ‘status quo ante'. At worst, it strengthened those who were better off and/or more articulate, such as fishermen who possessed boats, while marginalising those who had few assets, notably women and the poor.
Weakening local capacity
Weak information flows
Access to high quality information enables affected people to define and demand accountability, based on their own expectations and standards. It also allows them to plan their own recovery. Yet international organisations frequently failed in the modest objective of informing affected people in an accurate, timely, and comprehensive manner. The TEC LRRD Report (2006) notes: ‘A tragic combination of arrogance and ignorance has characterised how much of the aid community… misled people[.]' (p83); ‘Poor information flow is undoubtedly the biggest source of dissatisfaction, anger and frustration among affected people' (p73); ‘[S]ome… interventions may actually undermine future development[.] A lack of information to affected populations about reconstruction plans greatly limits their capacity to proceed with their own LRRD projects' (p10).
Other identified weaknesses include rarely coordinated or shared assessments, ‘supply-driven',
Impact on Local and National Capacities
6.2.1 Overarching recommendation
Sector-wide discussions at the global level should be initiated to address the need
for a fundamental re-orientation of the humanitarian sector based on the principle
that the ownership of humanitarian assistance should rest with claim-holders.
This implies a shift of emphasis from delivery to support and facilitation. Such
discussions are expected to facilitate the implementation of the following
6.2.2 Recommendation 1: Engagement with local and
• International agencies should prepare in advance for the problems of scaling
up not simply by identifying resources but also by making their systems and
practices suitable for maximum participation by local people.
• They should also make plans to shift into more collective ways of working
during ‘mega-disasters' in order to ensure that they do not extend beyond their
competence but instead link with others and share roles.
• They should have clear partnership strategies and develop local partnerships
from the start in order to avoid glitches during the transition to recovery.
• They should institute procedures for making grants for longer time periods
even from the outset of an intervention, and should critically examine reporting
• Specific agreements and protocols should be made to limit ‘poaching' of staff
particularly to ensure that local capacity is not undermined.
6.2.3 Recommendation 2: Attention to social
inequalities, exclusion and hierarchies
• Planning should be based on the assumption that aid is likely to reinforce
inequalities within the community unless corrective action is taken.
• Planning should also take account of the complexity of community structures
and the need, therefore, for knowledgeable local intermediaries with power to
• Inclusion of the most marginalised should be treated as a fundamental
principle or right, regardless of costs.
• Aid should be given according to need rather than limited to a particular
disaster – in the case of the tsunami response, people affected by conflict
should be included 