Recovery, International

Recovery Based on Agreed Principles

Recovery is best conceived as not a return to the status quo, but focuses on recovery as a developmental and capacity-building process of assisting individuals, communities, agencies, and governments to manage the re-establishment of their lives and activities to attain an adequate level of functioning. This is done through the provision of knowledge services, resources, and access services necessary for secure, sustainable, healthy, and rewarding functioning. Recovery activities should lead directly into and be informed by agreed-upon priorities for social, economic, political, and environmental development, and should be aimed not just at restoring losses, but also at reducing future risks (i.e., “building back better”). The recovery process should be built upon agreed principles, which include the following:

• Recovery arrangements should be planned, tested, and reviewed with the full participation of at-risk communities, community-based organizations and faith groups, local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), local government, the private sector, national government, and where necessary, the international community. The international community as it applies to disaster recovery includes: The United Nations (UN) system, notably the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian [Page 547]Affairs (UNOCHA); UN Development Programme (UNDP); UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR); UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); and Children's Fund (UNICEF); and other entities, including the World Health Organization (WHO); the World Bank, including the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR); donor governments; the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRCRC); international NGOs; and private companies.
• An understanding of the context in which recovery plans and arrangements take full account of the risk context of local communities and governments.
• Communities and the risks they face are complex and dynamic, and that disasters affect all parts of individual and community life and have effects that may last for years or even generations.
• Successful recovery is responsive and flexible, engaging communities and supporting them to progress with a sustainable development framework; and builds capacity to enhance daily life, livelihoods, and risk reduction.
• Successful recovery requires a planned, coordinated, and adaptive approach based on continuing assessment of impacts and needs that engages all stakeholders, both laterally and vertically.
• Effective recovery occurs as part of a broader development context and seeks to reduce future risk and ensure that the lives of disaster-affected people are enhanced and enriched by the recovery process.
• Effective recovery is based on agreed partnerships between communities, agencies, and governments, where entry and exit are negotiated between equal partners.

Community-based approaches to disaster management have gained increasing credibility as they draw upon local knowledge, local priorities, and resources in developing plans and arrangements. However, after any large disaster, local resources may be inadequate to the task of repair and restoration, and may have to be supplemented by personnel, resources, and funding from other tiers of government, most notably the national level. The private sector, as well as managing its own losses, may also be able to provide special skills, in particular, engineering and construction services, logistics and transport services, storage and warehousing, information and communications technology, and systems and insurance services. However, too often the private sector is not fully integrated into recovery planning and management processes. Local resources may also be supplemented by those from NGOs, particularly in the form of medical aid, cash grants, temporary shelter, rebuilding of homes, restoration of livelihoods, and personal support and psychological counseling.

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