Villagers rebuild their homes in Ngapudaw township in the Ayeyarwady delta last month. Pic: AFP/Khin Maung Win

SIX months after cyclone Nargis struck the Ayeyarwady delta, the main concern for the United Nations is the massive shortfall in funding needed to help rebuild livelihoods for the hundreds of thousands of survivors.

The call for money for cyclone relief and early recovery has so far produced only 55 percent of the total required, the UN resident coordinator, Mr Bishow Parajuli, told The Myanmar Times last week.

One of the most important issues remains the rebuilding of livelihoods for some of the 2.4 million cyclone survivors, many of whom lost everything, including loved ones. There is a fear that if livelihoods do not recover, more handouts and basic food delivery programs will be needed, creating a dependent population.

At present, total funding for livelihood programs for the UN stands at 16 percent of the needed amount, which Mr Parajuli said was “a major constraint” on relief efforts.

According to figures released last week, only $13 million of the $51 million sought by the UN for early economic recovery and community infrastructure development in the delta has been received.

“The major area of activity in livelihood support is rebuilding the agricultural sector, where time is of the essence. For example, we need a lot of fertiliser,” Mr Parajuli said.

He said that so far, local and international aid agencies, the UN, the Ministry of Health and other agencies have been most successful in mounting a well-coordinated effort to avert early fears of disease epidemics.

He also said that there were now no government constraints on delivering aid to affected populations.

“We have good cooperation with the authorities. All technical people who want to help are allowed to bring their resources to the delta without any difficulties,” Mr Parajuli said.

He said increased engagement with the government has helped cement stronger relations between Myanmar and the UN.

“I think one of the most important things that has happened was the visit of [UN secretary general Mr Ban Ki-moon] and establishing good rapport with senior authorities,” he said.

He was referring to a visit by Mr Ban to Myanmar in May to discuss aid operations with the country’s leaders. It was the first visit by a UN secretary general to Myanmar in more than 44 years.

“The second wonderful thing is the increasing openness and access for visa and travel permits to the delta and all the logistics support in terms of helicopter facilitation of relief supplies up to the affected areas, and also the very effective function of Tripartite Core Group (TCG) and its leadership,” Mr Parajuli said.

The group was formed shortly after the cyclone with representatives from the Myanmar government, UN and ASEAN with a mandate to mount a coordinated relief effort.

Mr Parajuli said he hoped the government would prolong the TCG’s mandate beyond the current deadline of mid 2009, to support the recovery process in the coming years.

“By April, which is six months from now, there will still be lots and lots of work to be done. We are working on a recovery plan for two to three years, so there will be a lot of work, and that means a lot of cooperation and support from experts will be needed,” he said.

Mr Parajuli praised the core group’s efforts, saying it was a good example of how aid projects could be expanded in other parts of Myanmar. But he also cautioned that low levels of funding could curtail such expansion.

“We need a platform to hold discussions and learn from these examples to help the people of Myanmar in other areas where there is need,” he said. “If we receive more assistance from donors, I hope we will be able to encourage the authorities to be more open as well.”

Mr Andrew Kirkwood of Save the Children said the organisation has about $15 million in funding to continue its work through next April.

“But starting from next monsoon season we will have very little left, so unless we do some significant fundraising between now and then we will have to scale down our activities very, very sharply,” Mr Kirkwood said in an interview with The Myanmar Times last Thursday.

“What is a bit worrying for us is that, especially in the western parts of the delta, people are still very much dependent on food assistance,” he said, adding that his agency plans to continue its aid operations in the delta for at least two more years.

He said Save the Children’s priorities included rebuilding schools and dealing with potential water shortages.

“There are 3200 primary schools we need to rebuild ... [and] the potential water shortage in the dry season is a very important issue,” he said.

Mr Kirkwood said relief operations for cyclone victims have been very effective so far, but funding remained an area of major concern.

Similar concerns about funding are reflected in the experiences of other INGOs. Mr Klaus Lohmann, the head of the Nargis Recovery Program for Welt Hunger Hilfe, said he was concerned that funding would dry up before relief efforts were complete, a project that he said would take at least two years.

“You cannot recover in six months or even 12 months after a disaster of this magnitude,” said Mr Sanaka Samarasinha, the deputy resident representative of the UN Development Program (UNDP). “It’s difficult to hold people accountable for effective results if you have limited resources to achieve those results.”

He said the UNDP has asked for US$58 million from the $482 million requested in the UN’s Revised Appeal in July. So far, only $19 million has been received.

Mr Samarasinha said that despite this funding shortfall, the work that the government, UN and ASEAN has done together under the auspices of the TCG in the past six months could have a positive impact on development work in Myanmar for a long time to come.

“That is the message that all of us are giving to the donors,” he said. “Donors asked for a more effective and transparent method for delivering aid, and we have come up with one that people are happy with. Now we have to make sure that the funds come through to get the job done so that the victims of the cyclone don’t continue to suffer.”

A government report issued last month said efforts to rehabilitate the education sector were also suffering from lack of funding.

“Partners have reported gaps in financial resources for the response, especially with regards reconstruction, and planned upgrading of temporary structures to more permanent schools,” said the report, issued by the Department of Social Welfare.

Meanwhile, the Tripartite Core Group launched another survey of the cyclone-affected region on October 19 to update its assessment of the needs of delta residents. The review will be completed by the end of this month and the results will be submitted to a summit of ASEAN leaders due to be held in Thailand on December 15.

The assessment will be second by the TCG, which conducted a similar survey in June.

ASEAN, which leads the group, said the new review would complement the earlier assessment and “provide objective and credible data nearly six months after the cyclone”.

“The Periodic Review will serve as a measure of the degree to which humanitarian relief and early recovery efforts have succeeded in meeting the needs of people living in the cyclone-affected areas and further prepare for assistance to the affected population,” said a statement issued by ASEAN on October 19.

An October 20 report by the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) titled Burma/Myanmar After Nargis: Time to Normalise Aid Relations said international aid donors should view cyclone relief work as an example of how aid can be effectively provided to the people of Myanmar.

The report cited UN statistics showing that Myanmar received only US$2.9 in foreign aid per person in 2005, compared to more than $38 per person in nearby Cambodia and nearly $50 in Laos.

“Aid alone, of course, will not bring sustainable human development, never mind peace and democracy. Yet, because of the limited links between Myanmar and the outside world, aid has unusual importance as an arena of interaction among the government, society and the international community,” the report said.