Housing - Early Recovery Working Group (HERWG)
Minutes of the Fourth General Meeting
Islamabad, 28 April 2011
Co-Chairs:
NDMA and UN-HABITAT
Participants: IOM, SCD, Cordaid, CRWRC, I-LAP, SOLIDAR Switzerland, TKF, HHRD,
DKH, IMMAP, UN-WOMEN, CWS-P/A, SPO, NRC, UNHCR and HWA International
1. NDMA gave the background information of the coordination at District level that
should take place in the early recovery phase. UN-HABITAT has the responsibility to
organize HERWG at national, provincial and district level.
2. NDMA informed that all 28 severely affected districts need District Focal Points
(DFPs) for liaison and coordination at district level.
3. The decision of having District Focal Points was already taken by the Shelter Cluster.
For this reasons, IOM had funds to contract DFPs in all 28 districts, for a period of 2
months, April and May 2011. The contracts were processed from mid April onward,
covering all Districts in Sindh, 2 Districts in KP and 5 in Punjab (2 Districts missing).
4. HERWG coordinator during the week from 18 to 23 April organized meetings with the
contracted DFPs in Sindh and Punjab but the coordination activities at District level
are at the beginning, in view of the fact that contracts were just signed. All DFPs in
Punjab had been identified except Bakkar and Mianwali. Activities of DFPs did not
started in Jashmoro, Jacobabad, Sikharpur and Gotchi. IOM is in contact with local
organizations to resolve the issue. Two DFPs of an agency (SPO) are starting
coordination in KP and they are in coordination with provincial team. Baluchistan is
still far behind.
5. Organizations working in districts without DFPs e.g. Mianwali, Bakkar etc. were
requested to designate DFPs in the particular sector of shelter for effective
coordination.
6. UN-HABITAT will circulate the list of all DFPs of HERWG with TORs through website
and email for nomination of DFPs in those districts where still there is no DFP so that
interesting partners working in these districts can come up. Contact details of DFPs
will also be shared so that everyone can contact them. NDMA suggested that the big
agencies (e.g. UNHCR, IOM, UN-HABITAT) shall contribute in the districts they are
active and which are not covered by those contracts signed by IOM.
7. DFPs have to gain information on 3W matrix and they will be proactive in information
search. Information has to be gathered by DFPs / compiled by provincial HERWGs
and subsequently forwarded to federal HERWG. Maps to be shared at provincial
level.
8. If there are no DFPs in some districts then organizations will report to provincial
HERWG.
9. 3 W matrix presentation was delivered by UN-HABITAT. It was decided that UNHABITAT will share 3W excel sheets with all HERWG members through email.
10. UN-HABITAT stressed that the reported information must be shared by either
executing agency of by donor to avoid duplication. Use of GPS to identify exact
location of sub-villages will be highly appreciated. Number of final beneficiaries
should also be reported. DFPs to report fortnightly at Provincial level.
11. Coordination of HEWG at provincial level is going on in Kyber Pasthoonkwa, where 3
meetings were organized, in Punjab, with 2 meetings organized, and in Sindh, with
one meeting organized. In Balochistan Housing ERWG meetings were not organized
yet.
12. It was reiterated that the designs of houses and shelters have to be presented to
HERWG and NDMA.
13. Transitional shelters: as per estimates, 10% transitional shelters shall be required in
early recovery period where there are land issues or other genuine problems but as
per policy, the option of transitional shelters will not be applied anymore.
14. Some organizations reported that they are facing technical problems in
communicating with HERWG. UN-HABITAT informed that the organizations were
contacted through Google group contact list (which was earlier used by IOM for
coordination of shelter cluster) and asked to confirm the address and the
organization. The response had been very low. To overcome the issues of emails, it
was decided that the focal persons of all the organizations will have to reply to IM UN-HABITAT mail.
15. NDMA requested the shelter partners to continuously report on SRF. SRF ERWG
representative invited all concerned to attend SRF meeting on 29th April for clarity on
reporting. She invited group members to contact for SRF issues at
hadya@ndma.gov.pk and telephone: 051-9216009. NDMA affirmed that the
orientation of every working group by the SRF ERWG is necessitated and much
needed, SRF ERWG representative was asked to take lead for orientation of sectoral
and thematic early recovery working groups.
16. NDMA clarified that the Watan Card Scheme has no linkage with shelter support by
International Organizations. Regarding second tranche of the Watan Card Scheme, it
was informed that if the authorities decided to disburse the grant then it will be given
to all those who have obtained first tranche. The change in criterion is not expected at
this moment.
17. UNHCR informed that they have plan of construction of 10,000 one room shelters in
Sindh and for this purpose, a pilot for 175 shelters has already been done in three
villages.
18. Communication Officer of UN-HABITAT presented the salient features of
communications strategy. The planned activities for information dissemination are
posters, radio spots, radio talk shows, mobile float, hoarding boards, planners and TV
messages for public awareness. NDMA advised to avoid dissemination of mixed
messages.
19. Mass Communication Officer of IOM delivered presentation on Mass Communication.
IOM assured full cooperation for UN-HABITAT and authorities for successful
implementation of information campaign. IOM announced helpline (0800-44422) of
call centres for flood affected communities.
20. Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) will deliver presentation in the next
meeting.
21. NDMA informed that OCHA has been tasked for contingency planning of coming
monsoon but it does not mean that OCHA will roll out the clusters for this purpose.
One off activity for gathering of information is allowed but no multi-cluster meetings
for contingency planning are to ge held by OCHA.
22. UN-HABITAT requested all members to update list of material prices which was
shared with the minutes of third HERWG general meeting.
23. Next meeting will be held after two weeks. HERWG meetings will be convened in two
weeks. The exact date will be announced via email.