Director-General's remarks at the ILO/FAO event on "Planning for Livelihood Recovery" (en anglais seulement)

Mr. Chairman
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a pleasure to be with you today. The Global Platform is a timely – and highly necessary – forum for strengthening our preparation for and responses to – disasters. A central challenge in our disaster response is enabling a swift and smooth transition from recovery to reconstruction. The restoration of livelihoods is key to meeting that challenge. If breadwinners do not regain secure livelihoods, communities cannot resume their daily lives – without jobs and income, people cannot rebuild their homes, rebuild infrastructure, send their children back to school, or reinvigorate the local economy. This is crucial not only for the immediate reconstruction, but indeed for the long-term stability and sustainability of the affected communities, to equip them better to mitigate future disasters – whether these are the result of violent conflict or natural hazards. The participation of such distinguished panellists and the turnout here demonstrate – I think – that there is a clear recognition of the centrality of planning for livelihood recovery in disaster management.

A critical objective is to ensure that communities do not return to the situation prior to the disaster. Our aim should be to restore livelihoods in a way that reduces vulnerability and makes communities more resilient when faced with possible new disasters – we must “build back” better. When properly planned and implemented, the recovery and reconstruction process should empower the local population to enhance employment creation and income generation. Likewise, we must ensure that temporary solutions do not become the longer-term reality on the ground. Choices made in the initial aftermath of a disaster can determine the options available later on for recovery and reconstruction. Planning for livelihood recovery must therefore be integrated in the emergency relief and early recovery phases to facilitate solutions that benefit the community in the long run. Livelihood recovery cannot be an afterthought, or something we turn to only in due course.

The work of the ILO and FAO in this area so far – which will be presented in greater detail here today – shows how critical it is to focus on local economic recovery, promotion of coping mechanisms, and pre-allocation of resources to start and to bolster the development process. Indeed, as many communities living in disaster-prone areas already face significant development challenges, strategies for livelihood restoration must form part of our general development efforts.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Putting in place systems that will facilitate the restoration of livelihoods calls for the involvement of, and close cooperation between, national authorities, donors, members of the United Nations family, other international organizations and civil society. Plans for reconstruction must reflect the needs and aspirations of the affected communities themselves and contribute to building national capacity, while drawing on the accumulated experience and expertise of the international community. This event, organized by the ILO and FAO, in cooperation with UNDP, demonstrates our Organization’s collective commitment to such a comprehensive, inclusive preparedness process. And I highly appreciate the strong participation from countries with recent experiences of disasters, and I welcome your willingness to share your knowledge.

It is important that the United Nation provides direct support to national planning functions in disaster prone countries, and works to promote synergies among local, national and international players. Effective planning for livelihood recovery requires coordinated mechanisms where legislative and financial regulations contribute to the end result. Predictable and sustained funding from the donor community is essential to support this process of creating a general framework of agreements and standard procedure, which – in turn – will help to improve international disaster management in general. I know that the ILO/UNDP-led pre-disaster recovery planning process is at the initial stage of consultations. This process holds significant promise for enhancing our preparedness for post-disaster needs experienced by all affected groups. I trust that all members of the United Nations family engaged in this area will contribute to this process.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Our discussions here today are central to disaster reduction, disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation efforts. Preparing for the restoration of livelihoods is part of our work to put in place a system of proactive disaster management, which will enable us to do more, do it sooner and faster, do it more efficiently – and with greater impact for the victims of disasters. I look forward to your contributions to this work.

Thank you very much.