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Introduction
On 26 December 2004, South Asia, South East Asia and Somalia were hit by a series of tsunamis. Over two hundred and thirty thousand people lost their lives and millions saw their livelihoods and homes wiped out. The DEC launched an immediate appeal to respond to this devastating natural disaster across 7 countries. A total of over £395.2 million was raised and shared between the 13 Member Agencies in addition to substantial sums received from their alliances and supporters.
The DEC Trustees consider that given the scale of the disaster and the remarkable amount of money donated to the DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal, the DEC should mark the close of the appeal with a special report. This report will review the impact of Tsunami programmes on strengthening affected populations including their resilience to future environmental shocks. Essentially the study will review programmes through the lens of the objective at the outset to ‘Build Back Better’.
Aim
To offer the DEC Members guidance and illustrative examples for improved disaster risk reduction and the strengthening of sustainable communities from the Tsunami experience
Objective
To review the impact of programmes undertaken by DEC member Agencies in Tsunami affected areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India and deliver a report that focuses on lessons learnt to inform future disaster response planning both generally and in those specific countries.
Scope
The study will cover member agencies’ programmes in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India as these countries received the greatest proportions of funds with 42%, 31% and 17% respectively.
As construction in Indonesia has been covered already by the work of Arup on behalf of the DEC, housing is excluded from this study. Rather, the focus will be on how far communities and institutions have been strengthened by the interventions of the Member Agencies and the case studies may include investments in health, education, livelihoods and infrastructure as well as direct support to civil society organisations and local community groups.
Conceptual framework
Whilst it will be for the consultant to develop this in greater detail, the framework should consider achievements against the Hyogo framework and the Characteristics of a Disaster-resilient Community
The final report
The focus of the report should be on lessons learnt, (illustrating where appropriate in case study form) the impact achieved and the processes used from a technical and methodological perspective. It should strongly reflect the views and opinions of the beneficiaries and community leaders and how the needs of the most vulnerable groups have been addressed.
The reader should be able to conclude whether and how far member agencies have strengthened communities and institutions and achieved the goal to ‘Build back better’ in a sustainable way. Although the programmes to be reviewed were designed following the Tsunami the report should include relevant lessons learnt for better preparedness and mitigation.
The report should include an executive summary with a synopsis of major lessons and recommendations for future programmes design, across the whole continuum of disaster planning.
The primary audience will be senior managers, decision makers and programme advisors, although there should be scope to draw on the report to tell the story to the wider public. In view of this, the use of sector jargon should be minimal with any use supported by a glossary.
The DEC may decide to publish some or all of the report so that the findings are available to a wider audience in time for the 5th Anniversary of the Tsunami.
Review process
1. Desk study:
The initial part of the work will include a meta-analysis of Member Agency evaluations and substantial lesson learning reports, with a view to identifying the key lessons learnt with regard to sustainability, community strengthening and disaster risk reduction.
2. Case studies to identify field work
The Member agencies will provide outlines of 2 programmes which demonstrate how the community or institution has been strengthened in a sustainable way through technical input or via the method in which the programme was implemented. In addition they will provide 2 examples of where objectives proved difficult to meet and modifications had to be made along the way, as key lessons are frequently learned from challenging situations. Examples will be drawn from programmes in the 3 countries and may include interventions from 2005 – 2009. The consultant will use these case studies to identify and plan projects to visit, in order to undertake an assessment in the field.
3. Inception report
Following the review of all the documentation (evaluations, case studies etc.) the consultants will submit an inception report of 10 pages (max). This will set out key findings and issues to be explored on the mission with a final methodology for the field work, logistics, timeframe and budget which will be agreed with the DEC.
Timing
The desk study should start early October with field visits from late October to late November and a final report delivered by early December.
Support from DEC Secretariat
The DEC Humanitarian Advisor will act as key liaison officer and will, by the start date:
1. Request and collate case studies from the 13 member agencies, ensuring that all 3 countries are represented.
2. Make available on request programme reports, progress, final and financial
3. Gather and collate Member Agency evaluations covering the 3 countries
4. Provide a file of named contacts within each agency
5. Identify one agency per country to facilitate the field based part of the study
6. At the start of the consultancy, facilitate a meeting in the UK of key agency personnel and the consultant in order to finalise and clarify any aspects of the Terms of Reference
7. Once the report has been circulated but before finalised, facilitate a workshop in the UK of key agency personnel and the consultant
Team
The Consultants are request to outline the composition of the team needed to do both the desk work and field work setting out the skills and persons needed.