Based on a decision by the Government of Pakistan to end the humanitarian relief phase on January 31, 2011 in the flood affected areas of Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) decided to create a coordination mechanism for the Early Recovery (ER) phase.  The proposed mechanism has been named as Early Recovery Working Group (ERWG) and is being constituted at the federal, provincial and district levels effective March 1, 2011.

Membership

The ERWG is proposed to be an open forum, with representation from the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs), Federal Line Ministries, UN Agencies, National and International NGOs, Private Sector Representatives, Philanthropists, etc. In view of the global mandates and previous successful experience in this country, NDMA and HC have agreed to have UNDP as the co-chair of ERWG.

Sector Working Groups

With a view to build upon the foundations laid by the IASC Cluster System, and to facilitate decision making in technical areas, it has been agreed to constitute Sector Working Groups (SWG) under the ERWG.  Each of these SWGs will be co-chaired by the relevant UN Agency and the concerned Government Ministry or NDMA itself.  The sectors to be covered include: Livelihood, Food and Agriculture, Public Health, Health and Nutrition, Education, Community Infrastructure, Housing, Environment and Governance.  Disaster Risk Reduction, Protection, Age, Gender and HIV/AIDS will be treated as cross cutting themes.

Co-Chairs for SWGs

Goals of ERWG

• To establish an overarching ER coordination mechanism;
• To bring all the Early Recovery stakeholders on a platform to map the activities, resource needs, and gaps with a view to foster inclusive and integrated decision making and reporting;
• To make a strategic link between Residual Relief, Early Recovery and Longer Term Reconstruction;
• To offer strategic advice to key decision makers on the best options for ER.

Specific Objectives of ERWG

• Stakeholders Mapping (Location, Sector, Capacity, Budget, Reporting etc.,)
• Strategic Gap Analysis
• Economic Analysis
• Information Management for Decision Making

Regional ERWGs

The structure of the federal ERWG, as mentioned above, will be mirrored at the provincial as well as at the level of 29 most affected districts.  While the federal ERWG will be co-chaired by NDMA and UNDP, the government will be represented by the PDMAs and the District Coordination Officers at the provincial and district levels, respectively.  The following diagramme aims at illustrating the arrangement at various levels.

Responsibilities of ERWGs at various levels

The following table illustrates division of tasks of ERWG at federal, provincial and district levels: