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One year on
01/2006 |
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[ Tsunami ]
One year on
In the twelve months since the devastating seaquake in Southeast Asia, the Community Service Agency – Partnership Initiative at InWEnt has brokered 117 projects with a total volume of ¤ 21 million. It has also helped in an advisory capacity with another 175 projects. Altogether, the agency has registered more than 1,300 offers of help from state and municipal authorities, schools, clubs and associations, companies and private individuals. The federal government created the Partnership Initiative agency in the immediate aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami to help with the reconstruction and development in the affected regions. Its mission is to coordinate assistance from Germany and direct the help to where it is needed most.
“I am deeply impressed by the number of people already planning more charity events for 2006,” said Christina Rau, the German government’s special representative, when the figures for 2005 year were presented in Berlin. In recent months, Germany’s former First Lady has visited many local authorities, initiatives and companies nationwide helping with reconstruction work in the areas hit by the tsunami. All the signs indicate that long-term links are being forged, she says.
Some 300 partnerships have now been formed – with widely differing profiles. Numerous housing and school construction projects are underway, especially in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. For Thailand, sponsors have been found for several hospitals. In all the countries affected, German partners have helped with the purchase or repair of fishing boats and other equipment on a “help for self-help” basis. In many cases, projects are supported by more than one German partner. InWEnt has paired most of the support-offering insititutions with experienced organisations as cooperation partners.
On December 26, 2004, a giant flood wave was created by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale. It brought devastation, suffering and distress to a number of countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as parts of East Africa. According to official sources, more than 220,000 people were killed, 1.7 million lost their possessions. Experts put the damage toll at $ 9.6 billion.
The disaster triggered a major aid response worldwide. At a United Nations donor conference hastily convened in Geneva in January 2005, the then German government pledged ¤ 500 million for a period of five years. In addition to that public money, private sponsors have so far donated close to ¤ 670 million to non-governmental organisations.
The Partnership Initiative advises, liases with and supports local authorities, companies, associations and schools in Germany seeking to help sustain the momentum of reconstruction work in the areas destroyed. It puts those offering aid in touch with appropriate partners and projects in Asia. In the long run, the German government hopes to see those relationships, most of which are project-based, transformed into lasting local authority partnerships.
The Partnership Initiative at InWEnt cooperates with government bodies in Germany and the target countries. The action alliance “Together for People in Need – Development Works!” – formed by Bread for the World, German Agro Action, medico international, Misereor and Terre des Hommes – is also involved in the Initiative. The service agency plays a subsidiary role, with no monopoly on either coordination or project allocation. Among the criteria applied is the requirement that projects should be geared to the needs of the people affected and assistance should be developmentally sound, compliant with the principle of “help for self-help”, and provided in consultation with the authorities on the ground.
Meeting these criteria calls for painstaking planning and the professionalism implicit in the Partnership Initiative’s maxim “Quality takes precedence over speed”. The aim, after all, is to harness the wave of willingness to help in the aftermath of the tsunami and to give lasting impetus to North-South cooperation at the local level.
Norbert Glaser
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