Mobilization of Resources for Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness and Response A Special Case!

Why a Special Case? Sources of financing are different

Why a Special Case? Procedures are also different

Different Sources of Financing Ministries of Foreign Affairs Offices of humanitarian assistance or other specialized channels

Different Sources of Financing Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA/USAID) –Used to be the single source for emergency assistance and support for prevention/Mitigation/Preparedness (PMP) –A core donor for PAHO: Member of the PHP United States

USA Now the US Southern Command (SouthCom) has become a major source of funding and support for preparedness and relief. Coordination with OFDA ?

Canada IHA: International Humanitarian Assistance Different Sources of Financing: – Part of CIDA’s multilateral branch … it cannot give funds bilaterally to countries! – Covers disaster prevention to response – A core donor for PAHO: Member of the PHP

UK: DFID/CHAD CHAD is a specialized branch for refugees, IDP and emergencies of the Department for International Development A core donor of PAHO: Member of the PHP

European Union ECHO: European Community Humanitarian Office Different Sources of Financing: – A budget of US$ 0.8 billion! – Requires the signature of a formal “Partnership Agreement” with ECHO – Preference given to European NGOs

Managing ECHO’s funds at country level requires an efficient organization- wide financial monitoring system. ECHO E U ECU

Other examples –A Secretariat for Humanitarian Affairs –A humanitarian office in Foreign Affairs –The Department of Cooperation for projects on mitigation and preparedness Different Sources of Financing: France:

Other Examples –Ministry of Foreign Affairs for response and preparedness –“Normal” NORAD mechanisms for prevention or mitigation projects: hospital mitigation Norway:

What is the relevance of having different sources of financing? These funds are not available for other health priorities

Different Procedures Different Procedures Fortunately, procedures for obtaining funds from these sources are much easier! – In most cases, there is a free format (ECHO used to be the only exception) –Increasingly, LFA is required for preparedness projects, but rarely for emergency assistance projects.

Different Procedures: The Emergency procedure is informal (a 2 page fax can bring a commitment of half a million dollars) In cases of emergency: – immediate request (within 24 hours!) – speedy execution (average: 3 months)

How can funds be mobilized in times of emergency? International appeals Bilateral requests

Channels for International Appeals Appeals by OCHA The Situation Reports of OCHA offer the most convenient, speedy and complete approach; The Situation Reports of OCHA offer the most convenient, speedy and complete approach; PAHO/WHO is responsible for the health content in OCHA situation reports.PAHO/WHO is responsible for the health content in OCHA situation reports.

enjoys high credibility abroad; reaches a smaller but selective number of donors; requires rapid and coordinated action at all levels Channels for International Appeals: Appeals by PAHO:

WHO submits the request through the missions in Geneva. Channels for International Appeals Appeals by WHO (EHA or EMC):

International Appeals The U.N. “consolidated appeal”: A trend encouraged by the donors

Direct Bilateral Request Requires more work initially, but reduces inappropriate or duplicative assistance –separate requests to each of the donors are preferred –a common diagnosis on the health situation (Ministry, PAHO, NGOs) is helpful...

Embassies are coordinating within the country: The embassy and the humanitarian office in the donor country’s capital city also talk together: Donors trust is built by: –pre-disaster technical collaboration with Foreign Affairs –Convening donors meetings

Lessons Learned The international community did not fully participate in its evaluation Official reports did not differentiate between damages and emergency requirements Cuba (Hurricane Lily)

Lessons Learned Lessons Learned Donors did not wait Requests sent one week after the impact arrived too late ! Nicaragua ( Hurricane )

Factors of success The nature of the disaster and the # of deaths the coverage of Mass Media The political status of the bilateral relation The occurrence of other disaster worldwide

The main ingredients SPEED

Conclusions: More administrative flexibility is required from PAHO and the Countries. It is essential to maintain or strengthen our dexterity and speed in the search for “humanitarian” funds. Turbo-PAHO

SPEEDY REQUEST BUT NOT TOO MUCH! THE CASE OF NICARAGUA

Conclusions Decentralization by the donors imposes a closer coordination between MoH, Foreign Affairs and PAHO/WHO

Conclusions: Speed AND Coordination are the keywords in the mobilization of humanitarian funds