Fiji Floods:
Early Recovery Experiences 
and Lessons Learned

Regional Pacific Humanitarian Team Workshop, 2-4 Dec 2009

Moortaza Jiwanji

UNDP Pacific Centre

DRM Programme Specialist

Early Recovery Activities

1.

Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (Nadi 
and Ba) with SOPAC and Fiji Red Cross

2.

Disaster Risk Management: Support to 
Ministry of Primary Industries – Department 
of Agriculture, on DRR

3.

Early Recovery Framework

Budget of $100,000 (from BCPR)

Lessons Learned (1)

Socio-Economic Assessment:

Method: socio-economic assessment was a 
comprehensive and detailed process

Timing: designed more for advocacy purposes for future 
programming rather than for Early Recovery

Agriculture: 

Focus on building capacity for preparedness and 
response

Scope could have been broader to include livelihoods of 
farming community

Lessons Learned (2)

ER Framework:

‘Report’ Fatigue and lack of understanding of 
ER and ER Framework

Consolidated Report: formed similar functions

Could have benefitted from formal adoption 
of Early Recovery phase and Cluster for ER

Livelihoods: missing link

Way Forward

Timing: Relief AND Early Recovery

Benefits of ERF: more dialogue and 
awareness raising with Government / 
Partners on ER

ER Assessment: guidance / templates for 
ER needs assessment; timing

ER Mainstreaming across clusters

UNDP’s role: enhancing our own capacity

Recent Tsunami was an opportunity to move 
forward on some of these lessons learned

Thank you

Moortaza Jiwanji

DRM Programme Specialist

moortaza.jiwanji@undp.org