What is early recovery? How can early recovery activities be best coordinated with humanitarian and development activities in post-crisis situations? This United Nations Development Programme guidance note outlines how to implement early recovery in areas affected by natural disaster or conflict. It argues that early recovery coordination can be an interface between the humanitarian and development communities, bridging the gap between crisis response and longer-term recovery.
The focus of early recovery is to restore the capacity of national institutions and communities to recover from a conflict or a natural disaster. Early recovery starts immediately after the crisis and encompasses the restoration of basic services, livelihoods, transitional shelter, governance, security and the rule of law, amongst other public goods. Within the UN system, early recovery coordination falls within the overall responsibility of the Humanitarian Coordinator.
Early recovery efforts have three broad aims: to augment humanitarian operations and ensure they foster long-term development, to support spontaneous recovery initiatives by affected communities and to establish the foundations for longer-term recovery. There are fifteen guiding principles for early recovery. These include:
- Ensure national ownership of the early recovery process through the fullest possible engagement of national and local authorities in the planning, execution and monitoring of recovery actions.
- Promote local and national capacities by ensuring that external technical assistance complements rather than replaces existing capacities.
- Use and promote participatory practices to identify needs, build capacities for empowering communities and create the foundations for sustained participation.
- Develop capacities for building constructive and inclusive working relationships between civil society organisations and government institutions.
There are numerous challenges to implementing early recovery. No procedures currently exist for planning early recovery immediately after a crisis and agencies tend to develop ad hoc, quick-impact, highly visible activities. Early recovery involves the following:
- Coordination: It is preferable to work within existing structures. Where government structures are weak, every effort should be made to support increasingly strong national engagement through capacity development. Recovery programmes can also work with local level transitional institutions.
- Needs assessment: During and after a crisis, decision-makers need reliable information to help them work effectively. The note outlines a seven-step plan for conducting a successful assessment.
- Strategic planning: A strategic framework should be adapted to the country context, and will map out gaps, objectives, response strategies, activities, and actors.
- Programming: Key features of early recovery programmes include addressing the underlying causes of a crisis and strengthening the existing capacities of local authorities to manage crises.
- Monitoring and evaluation: Monitoring is necessary to inform management decisions, guide adaptation to changing circumstances and facilitate more effective communication with stakeholders.
- Resource mobilisation: Early recovery does not sit comfortably within either humanitarian or development funding. The note highlights some of the main resource mobilisation mechanisms available.
