Post Disaster Needs Assessment Training for the Water Sector

Post Disaster Needs Assessment Training

Major disasters have historically been followed by many diverse assessments carried out across multiple sectors and agencies. This results in many disconnected reports, leading to delays while reports are reviewed and cross-referenced; and can contribute to a fragmented response to the disaster. In response to the need for better coordination of recovery measures and for rebuilding with greater resilience, the UN Development Group, the World Bank and the European Union have developed the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) assessment methodology. It is a “harmonized and coordinated approach, providing for an objective, comprehensive and government-led assessment of the post disaster damages, losses and recovery needs, and paving the way for a consolidated recovery framework.”

The basis of this Technical Assistance (TA) project is “Building Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure through Enhanced Knowledge”. Output 3 of the TA is “Resilient recovery capacity enhanced”. The output (of which the training is part) is intended to build capacity by ensuring that appropriate disaster-resilient approaches are incorporated into post-disaster recovery efforts.

This is to be achieved through increasing the knowledge and skills of government officials, primarily in relation to the infrastructure sector. The foundation of the capacity building efforts is the provision of training in the PDNA methodology to enable improved pre-disaster planning and better coordination of post-disaster assessment and response delivery. Fiji was selected by the TA project managers as the target country for capacity building in the Pacific region. This output of the TA was being delivered  in collaboration with The Pacific Community (SPC) in Fiji.

Axiom provided Peter as the Water Sector Specialist and co-facilitator for the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) training activities in July 2021. Peter and the SPC team delivered two weeks of training facilitation (presentations and breakout groups) on the  PDNA data gathering and reporting methodology. Sixty three Government representatives attended from Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia in two groups across the two weeks. The training was delivered via Zoom due to COVID-19 travel restrictions at the time.