Humanitarian Information and Coordination (Completed) | Pakistan | Projects | UN-HABITAT Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Fukuoka)

Background and Objectives

Background

The month of August 2008 saw Pakistan suffer from a series of overlapping crises, leaving hundreds of thousands in need of humanitarian assistance. Counter-terrorism operations and inter-tribal violence in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and Swat district in NWFP has caused significant displacement. OCHA situation report of 29 July’2009 states that the national database and registration authority (NADRA) reports that the number of verified IDPs in Pakistan is 2,263,765 persons or 323,395 families. Many of these IDPs stay in public buildings such as schools, community building and mosque and as well as rented accommodation. Majority of IDP families preferred to stay with host families. The traditional hospitality of friends, families and tribal networks helped to absorb most of the displaced since the conflict worsened. However, absorption capacity is now exhausted, with host families themselves badly affected by the overall economic crisis, and with the availability of living space in settled areas is limited and expensive.

Objectives

Component 1:

•The objective of the project is to provide skills development support to IDPs in camps and technical support to CCCM Cluster by establishing training and information facilities at major camps, conducting accelerated practical construction training to IDPs to improve skills for reconstruction needs, and providing community-based orientation and information for shelter and return.

Component 2:

•Enhance and improve decision-making and coordination for the response to affected IDPs by providing mapping, information management services and information dissemination to stakeholders.
•Provide support to OCHA office in Peshawar for inter-cluster coordination required for OCHA expansion and capacity enhancement in information management services.

Activities

Component 1:

•The main activities include policy and programme formulation for reconstruction to ensure that shelter and reconstruction are appropriate, effective and that all support initiatives are planned and delivered in a manner to optimize resources and opportunities.
•Shelter and camp planning support for UNHCR and close working with displaced communities to identify their evolving needs.
•Technical support for government departments and NGOs planning to engage in shelter and reconstruction activities through formal training, secondment of staff or others capacity building measures.
•Development of a construction skills development programme to expand and reinforce local skills as well as introduce new conventional construction skills, consolidate best practices from existing local construction skills and introduction of building improvements.
•Development of basic construction training targeted as skilled and semi-skilled persons. This will include mud wall construction, brick construction, basic steel fixing and concreting works.
•Training of 1,000 unskilled and semi-skilled persons (target IDPs directly) in order to meet reconstruction needs and increase the income generating capacity of low income family.
•An assessment of houses in affected districts. This will include :
- *Documentation of housing typologies in the affected districts including construction types, building layouts, room sizes, service provision, settlement pattern.
- *Analysis of local building vulnerability to natural hazards including earthquake and flood.
- *Documentation of building damage due to conflict, including partial damage and full destruction. This work will be based on government, NGO and IDP sources.
- *Documentation of building performance and service provision for local housing in the affected districts, including thermal performance, fuel efficiency, ventilation, sanitation, cooking arrangements.
- *Assessment of the supply of local building materials, including sources, quality, sizes, cost and transportation.
- *Assessment of local construction skills including traditional and conventional construction knowledge.
•Development and promotion of hazard risk reduction measures.
•Development and promotion of building improvements.

Component 2:

•Reactivation of the information systems and web portal previously used to provide information management (IM) and geographic information system (GIS) services to all cluster and humanitarian response initiatives by the UN agencies, NGOs, the Government and other stakeholders,
•Provide support to humanitarian coordinator (HC) office in Peshawar by collating cluster based information.

Results

Component 1:

•Technical support to UNHCR and the Commission for Afghan Refugees on IDP camp development (selection of sites, planning and specification, supervision of site and service installations).
•Planning of series of IDP camps for over 32,000 persons
•Supervision of IDP camp development and all service provision.
•Development of 540 community based camp facilities.
•Technical support for Shelter Cluster, for tent, camp and shelter improvement guidance.
•Development of 6 training curricula with theoretical and practical exercises. (1- Mud Masonry, 2- Brick Masonry, 3- Basic Carpentry, 4- Basic Concreting, 5- Hazard Resistant Construction, 6- Environmental Improvements.)
•Technical training provided to 1350 IDPs for construction skills
•Participation in Government and Cluster coordination meetings, including shelter, camp management, water and sanitation and protection.

Component 2:

•Assistance provided to HC office in Peshawar by collating cluster based information.
•Web portal and database established and operational.
•Cluster-based information system functioning.

Development Partners / Partners

Donor: USAID

Partners: PHF