Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning

Since 2008, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank have worked together to assist countries recovering from conflict-related or natural crises. They provide support in understanding the root causes of crises, assessing the level of damages and losses, and defining recovery activities to address the resulting needs. 

This cooperation is an example of multilateral cooperation based on a Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning signed between the three parties. 

The Joint Declaration sets out to: Mobilise our institutions and resources to support affected governments to harmonise and coordinate post-crisis recovery to enhance country resilience to crises, by answering recovery needs of vulnerable populations and strengthening the capacity of national institutions for effective prevention, response and recovery.

The intention is to avoid multiple assessments and recovery planning processes, and to provide cohesion between the national response to a crisis and the international support. 

The work is based on agreed methodologies: Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments, Post-Disaster Needs Assessments, and Pandemic Recovery Needs Assessment.

Since 2008, over 100 assessments have been undertaken. They have supported governments at a national and sub-national level with various types of crises, including those caused by earthquakes, tropical storms, drought, conflict and fragility, and pandemics. Recent assessments include;

• A Rapid Crisis Impact Assessment in Haiti
• An Interim Damage Needs Assessment for Gaza and the West Bank
• A Post-Disaster Needs Assessment in Grenada responding to Hurricane Beryl
• A Multi-sector Assessment in Vietnam responding to Typhoon Yagi

Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments (RPBAs)

Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments have three primary purposes:

• to help governments identify, prioritise and sequence recovery and peacebuilding activities,
• to provide an inclusive process to support political dialogue and participation of stakeholders,
• to coordinate international support through a joint assessment and a joint recovery and peacebuilding plan as well as a monitoring system.

The Joint Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments (RPBAs): A Practical Note to Assessment and Planning serves as a reference for carrying out RPBA The RPBA process is tailored to the particular context, recognising that no conflict or transition is the same, and that governance, management and coordination arrangements need to reflect the scope and the context of the country. The methodological note is accompanied by a short RPBA Fast Facts document.

The RPBA process consists of three phases: (1) a pre-assessment phase where the relationship with government is established, the need for an assessment identified, and the appropriate methodology and team is put in place; (2) the assessment phase that results in a costed and prioritised recovery plan; (3) a validation phase that ensures the recovery plan is agreed across key stakeholders, and that a plan for implementation and financing is in place.
 

Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA)

The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) assists governments in analysing the full extent of a disaster’s impact. It supports country-led assessments and initiates recovery planning processes through a coordinated inter-institutional platform integrating the concerted efforts of the UN system, the EU, the WB, other participating international donors, financial institutions, and NGOs. The PDNA provides:

• an analysis of the context prior to the disaster
• an estimation of physical damages and economic losses, which provides a quantitative basis to estimate reconstruction and recovery needs (including Build Back Better and Disaster Risk Reduction elements) for each affected sector.
• a comprehensive recovery strategy that combines sector recovery needs and strategy for each sector into a single, harmonised document, outlining priority needs, recovery interventions, expected outputs and the cost of recovery and reconstruction.
• the basis for mobilising resources for recovery and reconstruction through local, national and international sources. 

The PDNA methodologies are defined in a summary (volume A) and sector notes (volume B) of the PDNA Handbook. The guidance is supplemented by a repository of globally applicable sector-specific survey questionnaires which use Kobotoolbox to collect data on damages and losses during future PDNA assessments. The questionnaires are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese and can be adapted to specific country contexts.

In addition to the PDNA methodology, the EU, the UN and the World Bank have developed a Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) that goes beyond the PDNA and provides more details on how to operationalise the PDNA recovery strategy. The DRF serves as means for prioritising, sequencing, planning and implementing recovery.  It provides a more in-depth description regarding the recovery vision, principles and policies, the institutional framework, recovery financing and accountability framework, and the implementation framework. The DRF aims at bringing the international and national stakeholders together behind a single, government-led recovery effort while ensuring that the goals of the recovery process are aligned with the overall development plans of the country.

Pandemic Recovery Needs Assessment

In May 2020, in order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PDNA methodology was adapted to elaborate a COVID-19 Recovery Needs Assessment (CRNA) methodology. This methodology was was then modified into the more generic Pandemic Recovery Needs Assessment methodology. 

Assessment Phases

Whilst each assessment process is tailored to the context, there are three generic phases in undertaking post-crisis assessments.

The role of EU Delegations

All decision-making on engagement and undertaking of an assessment rests with local offices (EU Delegations).

The EU can adopt a coordinating role, provide sector specialists, or assume a backstopping or review role. The decision on which of these roles shall be taken on is primarily made by the EU Delegation, after consultation with relevant services at Headquarters.

The role of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI)

FPI follows the implementation of the Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessment and Recovery Planning and represents the EU at headquarter level in the relevant High-Level Advisory Groups and Secretariat composed of the United Nations, the World Bank and the EU. 

FPI supports EU Delegations in engaging in assessments, coordinates scoping missions, provides relevant expert support for assessments as well as builds capacity for post-crisis assessments and recovery planning across the globe.

FPI actively supports the implementation of the Joint Declaration through two ongoing projects:

• 'Support to tri-partite cooperation on crises assessments (RPBA, PDNA, PRNA)', Implementing Partners: Particip GmbH in consortia with GiZ and Trias consult
• ‘Strengthening Capacities for Crisis Assessment, Recovery Planning and Peacebuilding' (Rollout IV); Implementing Partner: UNDP

FPI closely coordinates with other relevant services in the European Commission (INTPA, ECHO, ENEST, MENA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS). 

A concise summary of the work under the Joint Declaration, and of the support available through FPI can be found in the Factsheet ‘Support to Tripartite Cooperation on Crisis Assessments’.