Tsunami Evaluation Coalition Impact of the tsunami response on local and national capacities Maldives country report April 2006 Tsunami Evaluation Coalition IMPACT OF THE TSUNAMI RESPONSE ON LOCAL AND NATIONAL CAPACITIES Maldives Country Report Smruti Patel with contributions from Janey Lawry White April 2006 TEC Capacities Evaluation: Maldives ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The team is grateful to all the individuals and organisations that provided information and made practical arrangements. Particular thanks are due to the United Nations Development Programme Country Office in the Maldives for logistical support and for setting up appointments with key stakeholders. Thanks also to the Care Society and its local partners who facilitated the island and atoll level visits. Many dedicated and committed staff members gave their time and the benefit of their knowledge and experience. All of them have our warm appreciation. A special word of gratitude is due to Babar Sobhan, Stephanie Knell, Fathmath Afiya, Ijazulla Abdulla Ali and Aishath Zamra. Our gratitude is also expressed to the peer reviewers and Maldives-based interlocutors who patiently read drafts, took the time to correct facts, and challenged assumptions. Tony Vaux, independent consultant, edited the resulting manuscript for substance and provided quality- assurance inputs. Policy communications firm Suazion, Inc., copy-edited the final texts. We hope that the report will contribute to good practices that bring improvement to the response in recovery and reconstruction phase and ultimately to the lives of affected people in the Maldives. 1 TEC Capacities Evaluation: Maldives ACRONYMS ADB Asian Development Bank BRCS British Red Cross CBO Community-Based Organisations CCC Core Commitment for Children DFID Department for International Development, government of the United Kingdom FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GDP Gross Domestic Product IDC Island Development Committee IDP Internally Displaced Person IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies INGO International Non-Governmental Organisation NDMC National Disaster Management Centre NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NHRC National Human Rights Commission OCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs MGFSS Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services SHE Society for Health Education TEC Tsunami Evaluation Coalition UN United Nations UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNV United Nations Volunteers WDC Women's Development Committee WFP United Nations World Food Programme WHO World Health Organization 2 TEC Capacities Evaluation: Maldives TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................... 1 ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................... 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 12 1.1. Framework of the Overall Evaluation.......................................................................................... 12 1.2. The Maldives Review.................................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER TWO: NATIONAL AND LOCAL CAPACITIES ...................................................................... 16 2.1. Context ........................................................................................................................................ 16 2.2. Pre-Tsunami Capacities ............................................................................................................... 18 2.3. Impact of the Tsunami ................................................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS IN RELATION TO ACTOR GROUPS..................................................... 22 3.1. Engagement with Affected People............................................................................................... 22 3.2. Engagement with Local Civil Society.......................................................................................... 23 3.3. National and Local Institutions.................................................................................................... 26 3.4. International Agencies ................................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER FOUR: CROSS-CUTTING THEMES...................................................................................... 34 4.1. Income and Livelihoods............................................................................................................... 34 4.2. Shelter.......................................................................................................................................... 36 4.3. Internally Displaced Persons........................................................................................................ 37 4.4. Women ........................................................................................................................................ 39 4.5. Psychosocial Issues...................................................................................................................... 39 4.6. Disaster Preparedness .................................................................................................................. 40 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................ 43 5.1. From Relief to Transition and Recovery...................................................................................... 43 5.2. International Standards, Guidelines and Learning ....................................................................... 45 5.3. Strengthening Capacities ............................................................................................................. 45 5.5. Recommendations to International Agencies............................................................................... 47 5.6. Implications for International Agencies....................................................................................... 49 3 TEC Capacities Evaluation: Maldives ANNEX 1: CASE STUDIES...................................................................................................................... 55 Case Study 1: Tamiyyathul Saif -a Community Organisation on Ungufaroo Island........................... 55 Case study 2: Club Youth Star – Ungufaroo Island ............................................................................ 56 Case study 3: UNICEF's Contribution to all Children Returning to School Within One Month of Tsunami........................................................................................................... 58 Case Study 4: UNDP – Issues of Participation and Capacity.............................................................. 60 ANNEX 2: CONDITIONS FOR IDPs ........................................................................................................ 63 ANNEX 3: LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED ......................................................................................... 67 LIST OF BOXES Box 3.1: Tamiyyathul Saif: A community organisation on Ungufaroo Island.................................... 25 Box 3.2: A Good Example of Partnerships – ActionAid International, the Care Society and CBOs........................................................................................................ 30 Box 3.3: The Pressure to Spend.......................................................................................................... 33 4 TEC Capacities Evaluation: Maldives EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose of the Review The overall purpose of the evaluation is to determine the impact of the tsunami response, notably the response of international actors, on local and national capacities for relief, recovery and risk reduction. Specifically, the purpose is to: • Assess how local and national capacities changed as a result of the tsunami response; • Assess how well international actors engaged with local and national capacities in providing relief and recovery assistance; • Assess the intended and unintended changes to local and national capacities as a result of the tsunami response by international actors; • Assess the extent to which transition/recovery/risk reduction programming, planned and implemented, is likely to influence local and national capacities • Distil lessons learned for efforts to strengthen local and national capacities for future crisis response and recovery; • Retain a gender perspective throughout and highlight the varied experiences and perspectives of women and men. The Maldives Review Within the Capacities evaluation, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have been studied in more depth than Thailand and the Maldives. Because of wider Tsunami Evaluation Coalition deadlines, the Maldives field study was limited to ten days from 4 to 14 November 2004. This short time was all