Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and Planning Mission

May 2009, Namibia Floods

Terms of Reference

I. BACKGROUND

The Disaster Event and Characterization of Impact

During January to April 2009 rainfall was above average over northern Namibia and southern
Angola and in early March 2009 extensive flooding occurred in these areas, affecting hundreds of
thousands of people and causing significant damage. In Namibia, affected areas include the
regions of Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena and Omusati, which lie within the Cuvelai basin, as
well as the regions of Kavango and Caprivi. More than 350,000 people have been affected by
floods, with 92 dead and 54,581 displaced. Of those displaced, 16,394 have been moved to
relocation camps. An estimated 544,114 people are at risk of long-term food insecurity over the
2009/10 period.

Unlike the rapid onset of the 2008 floods, the impact of the 2009 floods has been cumulative,
with more devastation and human suffering due to the prolonged nature of the disaster. This
year’s floods also damaged more public infrastructure, with more than 50% of roads damaged in
the affected areas. Many of these roads and bridges were still under repair due to the 2008 floods.
This had significantly reduced access of the affected population to health facilities, schools and
market places. At least 412 schools have been affected, including 159 closed, disrupting the
education of over 56,106 learners.

National Response
The President of the Republic of Namibia declared an emergency for the north-central and
northeastern part of Namibia on 17 March 2009 and appealed for international assistance. The
Government allocated 109 million Namibian dollars (about US$ 11 million) for the response,
established 21 relocation camps in the affected regions and distributed NFIs, amongst other
activities.

International Response
UN agencies re-programmed some funds to respond to the flood emergency, but required
additional resources to meet immediate and medium-term humanitarian needs. To address the
shortfall, a Flash Appeal for US$ 2.7 million was launched, which included a CERF component
of US$ 1,299,825 that has been fully funded.

The following agencies received CERF funding:

• The World Food Programme (WFP): US$ 15,718 for technical support to Government flood
emergency food distribution scheme;
• UNFPA: US$ 37,450 for strengthening national health emergency response;
• UN-HABITAT: US$ 155,150 for the provision of emergency shelter for displaced persons;
• UNICEF: US$ 214,000 for strengthening national health emergency response, and US$ 320,786
for supporting safe water and sanitation; and
• WHO: US$ 556,72 for strengthening national health emergency response.

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An (UNDAC) mission (completed 8 April 2009) reported humanitarian needs in shelter, water
and sanitation, health and food. A detailed report of needs per affected region has been presented
to Government and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT).

United Nations agencies are working with Government and other national partners to implement
activities in five areas that are still of critical concern: 1) shelter; 2) WASH; 3) health; 4)
food and logistics; and 5) protection. According to a recent assessment by Doctors Without
Borders (MSF), sanitation and shelter remains inadequate at relocation camps, and there is a need
to monitor the risk of malnutrition, as well as sensitize the general population and health workers
on cholera.

A technical assessment mission has been deployed to northern Namibia, in order to follow-up on
the implementation of CERF activities. UNDP has also requested surge capacity for early
recovery for a period of six months, as well as resources for the coordination and development of
early recovery frameworks. Other UN agencies, International Organizations, NGOs and
governments continue to assist in the response, either through funding, the deployment of experts,
or the supply of relief materials.

Request for Assistance

On 8 April, the government of Namibia National Planning Comission sent a written request to the
World Bank for assistance with undertaking a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). Per
agreements between the UN, World Bank and European Commission on post-crisis cooperation,
the World Bank requested UN and EC participation in the assessment. The UN Resident
Coordinator has indicated that the UNCT will participate in the assessment, including UNDP,
WHO, FAO, ILO, UNICEF and Habitat and requested support from BCPR.

The government has indicated that it will lead the assessment and welcomes joint support by the
above parties. An assessment planning mission will begin on May 11 and end with two days of
training for the assessment team. The assessment will start on May 18. The government intends
to present the assessment report on June 8.

II. POST DISASTER NEEDS ASSESSMENT (PDNA)

A PDNA builds the evidence base for and underpins the development and later evolution of the
recovery plan (the Recovery Framework) by identifying the impact of a disaster on individual,
household, community and national assets, coping mechanisms and by prioritizing early,
medium, long term recovery and reconstruction needs in a recovery result framework. To this
end, PDNA integrates two perspectives, i.e. the identification of human impacts and needs to
support recovery programming and the valuation of damages and losses, to support the
mobilization of resources to finance the recovery and reconstruction processes.

A PDNA is also a joint effort of various stakeholders namely two or more of the UN country
team, or as appropriate the IASC Humanitarian Clusters, and development actors including the
World Bank and the donors. As provided in the Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessment and
Recovery Planning, signed by the European Commission, the UN Development Group, and the
World Bank in September 2008, the joint undertaking seeks to strengthen international
coordination in support of national capacities and generation of widespread ownership of the
assessment findings. The PDNA therefore contributes to:

 Credibility of the request for assistance from the government.

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  Accelerated mobilization of resources through the inclusion of early recovery
requirements in humanitarian appeals and the establishment of funding mechanisms
such as multi-donor trust-funds, e.g. the SRFF of the GFDRR
 Effective and efficient investment through a coordinated approach in the allocation of
resources for recovery. The assessment will ascertain that its recommendations will be
congruent with the government development framework, priorities and plans.

The assessment takes account of and builds on disaster risk reduction projects underway in the
country/affected area. In no way will the PDNA hinder the on-going nor preclude on-going
assessment processes by individual agencies nor the forthcoming delivery emergency relief and
humanitarian assistance.

Objectives
The key objective of the PDNA is to assist the government to:

 determine the socio-economic impact of the disaster including the cost of damages and
losses on physical structures, disruption of essential public services, and alteration of
community processes;
 establish the costing of the identified needs in all key sectors to formulate a recovery
result framework for early, medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction
 review and as appropriate revise strategies to reduce risk and build back better including
the identification of new emerging activities associated with the recovery and
reconstruction efforts proposed after the current disaster; and,
 organize the mobilization and coordination mechanism of resources including those with
the international donors, UN system and IFIs to implement the recovery result framework
including the inclusion of early recovery needs in a revision of the Flash Appeal as well
as the establishment, as appropriate, of a Recovery and Resilience Fund under the
Callable Fund mechanism of the GFDRR with local management arrangements.

Deliverables
The PDNA processes will result in a government-owned report outlining the following sections:
 Impact of the disaster in terms of human impacts, cost of damages and losses of
infrastructure and disruption of public services;
 Responses to the disaster both from national and international sides;
 Recovery Result Framework presenting the early, medium, long term recovery and
reconstruction needs in the order of priority, cost, timeline and the actors most likely
involved in such recovery activities; and
 Lessons-learnt outlining the assessment processes and their salient results. The lessons
will provide critical input to the ongoing global effort to continuously improving the
PDNA practice.

Methodology
The PDNA integrates the UN ECLAC methodology for assessment of damages and losses
(DaLA) with sectoral methodology for the assessment of impacts on the affected population and
community level recovery needs based on assessment methodologies of the IASC Humanitarian
Clusters (country humanitarian team), leading to a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the
disaster from the community level to the national level, combining social, economic and financial
aspects of the effects of the disasters.

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The assessment takes into consideration early recovery requirements as well as longer-term
rehabilitation and reconstruction needs. The assessment includes the identification of disaster risk
management measures designed to mitigate the occurrence of future disasters.

The PDNA will make extensive use of data from the existing secondary sources on damages,
losses from reports and records provided by the government, relevant agencies, and information
gleaned from maps, records and media reports; as well as primary sources on community needs
generated from surveys, focused group discussions and other data gathering methods.

Specific training on the methodology will be provided following the PDNA planning mission (see
activities and work plan).

Recovery Sectors
The PDNA will be structured along sectoral lines. Sectors need to be congruent with the
government planning structure to ensure effective implementation. Therefore, they will be
determined by the government in consultation with PDNA partners – drawing also on taxonomy
from the ECLAC DaLA methodology as well as the IASC Humanitarian Clusters.

Ideally, the recovery sectors have been determined before the disaster as part of pre-disaster
recovery planning. If this is not the case, sectors will be agreed in connection with the PDNA
planning mission. All sectors should be sensitive to and integrate cross-cutting issues such as
gender, protection, environment, land-use and risk reduction.

The following table represents a typical alignment of DaLA sectors with IASC Clusters:

Category DaLA Sector IASC Cluster

Social Sectors/Basic Needs: Health Health
Nutrition
Education and Culture Education
Housing and Human Settlements Shelter
Food
Protection
Productive Sectors/Livelihoods: Agriculture Agriculture
Industry
Commerce
Tourism

Infrastructure: Community Infrastructure*

Energy
Water and Sanitation WASH
Transport and Communications
Others: Environment Environment*
Non-agricultural livelihoods*
Disaster risk reduction*

* While early recovery would typically be mainstreamed under each humanitarian cluster, the Early
Recovery Cluster will identify and address potential gap areas such as those represented in the table.

Management

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The PDNA process is government-led with technical support and facilitation provided by the
United Nations, the World Bank and the European Commission. The management structure of
the PDNA includes the following:

High Level Management Team

The High Level Management Team oversees and provides strategic guidance for the PDNA;
takes key decisions; and, ensures that the necessary resources are made available for its
completion. It is led by a senior representative of the ministry responsible for recovery and
includes the United Nations Resident Coordinator, the World Bank Country Director and the
European Commission Representative as well as other key government, national and international
partners. The Team should meet regularly during the course of the PDNA process.

Assessment Coordination Team

The Assessment Coordination Team manages the day-to-day planning and implementation of the
assessment as well as the development of the assessment report/recovery framework. The team
works under government leadership and consists of representatives of key ministries, the United
Nations and the World Bank with other partners, as appropriate. The Team is established at the
initiation of the PDNA and remains fully operational throughout the PDNA process.

Sector Teams
Sector teams are responsible for collecting and integrating data on damages, losses and needs
from national and local sources. They are also responsible for analyzing the data and for
proposing recommendations from the assessment report that can be used when elaborating the
recovery framework. The Teams will consist of subject-matter experts from the appropriate line-
ministries, the United Nations, the World Bank and other participants in the PDNA.

Technical Support Cell

The Assessment Coordination Team is supported by a Technical Support Cell. The Support Cell
provides technical expertise and resources, e.g. in the areas of ITC, information management,
mapping, logistics and interpretation/translation. The Support Cell is co-located with the
Assessment Coordination Team. It is resourced in consultation amongst the PDNA partners.

Report Secretariat
Early in the process, the Assessment Coordination Team will appoint a Report Secretariat to
oversee the production of the assessment report/recovery framework. The Report Secretariat will
consist of the following functions:

a) Lead Writers: a lead writer will be appointed by each of the major parties to ensure the
integration of reports from sector teams and perspectives of all concerned parties in the
report/recovery framework.

b) Translators: the translators will ensure that contributions submitted in other languages
than the main language of the report can be integrated.

c) Copy-Editor(s): copy-editors will ensure that the text of the assessment report/recovery
framework is clear, coherent and grammatically correct.

d) Data-Manager: the data manger produces data displays for the report/recovery framework
that are accurate and comprehendible by non-technical readers.

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Activities and Work Plan
The PDNA process consists of five key activities:

1) Planning Mission (dates: May 11-15)

The purpose of the planning mission is to determine the appropriateness of and scope for
the PDNA as well as to initiate relationships with key stakeholders and other potential
participants in the PDNA. The planning mission refines the terms of reference for the
PDNA, especially the determination of recovery sectors and geographical area to be
assessed. It identifies logistical constraints, resource requirements and timeline for the
PDNA. The planning mission activates the High Level Level Management Team and the
Assessment Coordination Team for the PDNA.

2) Training (dates: May 16-17 TBC)

A PDNA initiation workshop will be organized in order to familiarize all participants
with the scope, methodology and timeline of the PDNA.

3) Data Collection (dates: May 18-24)

The collection of data is made from primary sources (e.g. affected individuals,
households; community leaders, local officials and other key informants as well as visual
inspection) and from secondary sources such as government ministries, other national
stakeholders, partners agencies and media. Depending on the context of the disaster,
availability of information and resources, these data collection activities may occur
sequentially or simultaneously. During this phase, sector teams begin initial analysis of
data to identify duplicative, conflicting or missing information and, to the extent possible,
reconcile these.

4) Analysis and recommendations (dates: May 25-29)

During this phase, the sector teams will analyze data collected in order to determine key
findings, i.e. damages, losses and needs. Based on this understanding of the disaster
impact and the resulting needs, sector teams generate costed response options for early
recovery as well as longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction.

5) Reporting (dates: May 30-June 2)

Sector reports are harmonized and integrated in the final PDNA report by the Reports
Secretariat. If need be, conflicts within and/or between the sector reports are referred to
the High Level Management Team for resolution. Preliminary findings may be presented
ahead of the finalization of the report should this be requested by the government.

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