THE BIG MOMENTUM

Reconstruction and resettlement in Northern Province ‘A Sri Lankan success story’:

[Continued from December 25]

S B Divaratne
Secretary, Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security – Northern Province

The first priority in resettlement was to provide temporary shelter to the returning IDPs. Housing had been a critical issue even when this area was under LTTE control.

Major cause for the damage was removal of roofs, doors and windows. It has been reported that the LTTE instructed people to remove whatever possible and retreat with the LTTE so that they can construct houses at a new location.

The PTF in consultation with several humanitarian agencies decided on three types of shelter, i.e. Temporary, semi-permanent and permanent houses. Action was taken to provide cash grants and shelter materials as an immediate solution for the people, either to repair part of the damage houses or to construct a temporary type of shelter.

On the request of GoSL, a cash grant of Rs 25,000 was funded by UNHCR. A total of 86,500 families have received the shelter grant as at 31.05.2012.

At the latter stage, action was taken to construct semi-permanent houses in place of temporary shelters as an when livelihood activities progressed.

The INGOs were requested to engage more in constructing semi-permanent houses rather than supporting temporary shelters.

The GoSL cannot take responsibility to put up houses for all the resettled families. What was possible and what was done by the GoSL was to support them to put up temporary shelters and subsequently, to repair damaged houses and construct semi-permanent houses.

The Government's aim was to develop the economic base of the people from the inception of the implementation of the resettlement programme with the hope that economic empowerment through enhancing the livelihood activities would enable them to put up their own houses.

Water and sanitation

Another priority was to ensure safe drinking water and proper sanitation for the resettled families. Nearly 15,000 wells were cleaned or renovated during this period. Most of the dug wells in the resettled areas were contaminated and damaged. Renovation of wells was considered a top priority during humanitarian phase of resettlement. National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS & DB) was entrusted to take lead in this exercise with support from UNICEF. Besides, NGO partners also played a major role in cleaning and reconstruction of dug wells.

Involvement of UN Agencies and I/NGOs on Resettlement

Over the last two and half years, UN Agencies and INGOs committed significant resources in providing humanitarian assistance to recover and rebuild the lives of the displaced families. Between 2009-2012, the UN system in Sri Lanka has provided US$ 437,942,702 assistance to the Northern Province on relief, humanitarian and recovery efforts led by the Government of Sri Lanka. With the resettlement process picking up, towards the end of 2009-2010 the UN, in collaboration with all partners and in support of Government efforts mobilized resources and provided assistance aimed at supporting the re-establishment of services and livelihood across the Northern Region. The international assistance was the result of consultative process led by the government of Sri Lanka through the PTF on assistance needed to provide humanitarian assistance. In order to streamline the UN, I/NGO contribution a Joint Plan for Assistance (JPA) was signed. The starting point for the JPA is the guidelines provided by the PTF for assistance. It was safer for the Government to promote the I/NGOs to support this initiative on humanitarian assistance since the area has been cleared of land mines and security issues were resolved. When the resettlement commenced, their involvement was restricted to those places in order to maximize external assistance. The PTF requested that humanitarian assistance be provided mainly for shelter, water and sanitation at the initial stage. As and when recovery process advanced, the I/NGOs were requested to invest on livelihood activities.

Early Recovery

The second phase of the humanitarian assistance was directed towards early recovery by providing assistance to commence economic operations. More attention was given to activities that would support recommencement of economic operations. The GOSL stepped up interventions and further promoted early recovery initiatives to revitalize the livelihoods of the resettled families. These included the creation of a supportive environment for immediate agricultural season through the provision of inputs and services to enhance the agricultural activities. As many as 39 INGOs were involved in supporting livelihood development. The principle adopted was to provide grants in cash or kind for resettled families to re-engage in economic activities that they were engaged in prior to displacement.

As a policy, each and every resettled family was provided with a package of assistance valued at not less than Rs. 35,000, so that it would be adequate to meet the initial requirement of any livelihood. During this period, major emphasis was directed towards resuscitation of paddy cultivation, clearing of abandoned paddy lands for cultivations, engaging in highland cultivation and other food crops, cultivation of high valued crops with lift irrigation, home gardening and fisheries including inland fishing, deep sea and lagoon fishing.

In addition, special attention was given to improve dairy farming, goat rearing, backyard poultry and self-employment. Targeting the poorest of poor, a programme was launched to provide cash for work to rehabilitate and infrastructure facilities while generating employment for the poor.

During the early recovery phase, the PTF directed all Divisional Secretaries to prepare a family profile of those resettled families as an “Action Plan” for the purpose of future planning.

A completed family profile is now available with the Divisional Secretaries for future planning focusing on family based development programmes.

Those that remained to be resettled have reduced to approximately 5,424 persons from the original case-load. The resettled process is envisaged to be completed as soon as the remaining demining progresses.

The resettlement of the IDPs who were displaced prior to 2008 – 2009, though the exact number is not yet certain, is being addressed. For example, there are nearly 15,000 Muslim families who were forced to leave Jaffna and Mannar areas by the LTTE presently living in several places in Sri Lanka; the majority being located in Puttalam district. In addition, considerable number of Sinhala and Muslim families was displaced during this period. The Tamil people, who have gone to South India, still living as refuges, are to be resettled if they volunteer to come back. In fact, a small number of families, has already returned. These categories are protracted IDPs. The process of resettling this category is complicated due to several reasons; the main reason being that some had sold out their properties when they left. Further, the lands belonging to families who left were taken over by the LTTE and distributed among the families favoured by them. However, the GoSL is determined to resolve these issues and complete the resettlement process. Those who are willing to return to their original places are provided with initial facilities to encourage returning.

Reconstruction and Development

Having successfully completed humanitarian and early recovery phase of resettlement, the next steps was to embark upon rebuilding the Northern Province through reconstruction and development. By this time, nearly 200,000 people had been resettled and the lives of the resettled families were moving towards normalcy. In order to achieve sustainability, major emphasis and substantive investment was set apart for infrastructure development. It was considered a major requirement to foster development and sustainability. In this endeavour, several projects were formulated to restore social and economic infrastructure. The GoSL was able to secure significant external assistance (loans) through commitments made by the donors. By this time, the entire administrative mechanism was re-established in the Province. Since the initial work required for early recovery was completed during the first two phases of the resettlement process, the major construction and rehabilitation were funded under these reconstruction programmes.

Restoration of Health Services

A substantial investment has been for restoration and upgrading of health services that were paralysed. High priority was accorded to renovate primary healthcare institutions and to improve medical care for the resettled families during the 180-Day programme. Restoration of health services include renovation of damaged heath institutions, reconstruction of new buildings, procurement of equipment, etc.

Major hospitals at all the districts have been renovated and provided with additional building facilities, equipment and manpower. At present, 161 preventive care institutions and 102 curative care institutions are functioning. The total expenditure for rehabilitation of the healthcare from 2009 to 2011 amounts to Rs. 2,135mn, and an investment of Rs. 9,254Mn has been allocated for ongoing and future projects. The health sector manpower of all categories is almost equal to the approved cadre for the Province. The mortality rate, malnutrition, infant mortality, low birth and weight rates in the Northern Province are below the national average which is impressive indicator reflecting the development of the health sector.

To be continued