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Shelter Coordination Meeting |
Sectoral Co-ordination Meeting
on Shelter
Friday, 17th August 2001
Chaired by Mr. Agostino Mulas, Senior Programme Officer, UNHCR
In attendance were:
Mr. C. Sanders - UNHCR
Mr. A. Mulas - UNHCR
Ms. D. Marijanovic-Prolic - UNHCR
Mr. P. Hebert - OCHA
Ms. D. Ferrari - OCHA
Ms. S. Pesic - OCHA
Mr. G. Mbayo - UNICEF
Mr. V. Danailov - IOM
Mr. T. Trombev - Dep. Minister of Transport and Communications
Ms. B. Crvenkovska - Ass. to Mr. Trombev
Mr. Z. Bozinovski - IEES Skopje
Mr. K. Carew - U.S. Embassy/PRM Mr. M. Hague - EU Delegation
Mr. A. Talmon-IAimee - IMG
Mr. A. Biondi - ECHO
Mr. G. Grimsich - CARE
Ms. D. Kostovska - CARE
Mr. K. Tobin - CRS
Mr. J. Snyder - OFDA/USAID
Ms. M. Mason - OFDA/USAID
Mr. R. Bernardo - Oxfam
Ms. J. Cocking - Oxfam
Ms. V. Atanasova - DRC
Ms. Z. Dowell - ARC
Ms. A. Naumovska - CESVI
Mr. R. Balik - CESVI
Mr. F. Pagani - IRC
Ms. M. Portillo - IRC
Mr. N. Koolik - IRC
Mr. G. Brown - IRC
Mr. A. Krzalovski - MCIC
Mr.G.Laskaris - European Perspective
Ms. L. Rushiti - European Perspective Mr. J. Srodecki - World Vision Int.
Ms. R. Savic - World Vision Int.
Mr. S. Taylor - Mercy Corps
Ms. A. Bideau - Solidarites
Objectives of the meeting:
To inform participants on the state of the assessment of Collective Centres
(CC).
To plan reconstruction and rehabilitation assistance in conflict-affected
areas.
Introductory remarks:
The Chair introduced Mr. Tome Trombev, Deputy Minister of Transport and
Communications and responsible for house and road reconstruction within
the Government Expert Team. Henceforth Mr. Trombev will be representing
the Government at Shelter Coordination Meetings. Mr. Hebert of OCHA announced
that a Sub-group of the Shelter Coordination Group had met earlier that
day. The outcome of that meeting would be reported in the course of the
meeting.
Assessment of Collective Centres:
IRC completed a preliminary assessment of
potential collective centres. The results of the assessment are contained
in the Assessment Report on Temporary Community Shelters drafted by IRC
and available from the IRC Office in Skopje.
IRC is now conducting
a technical assessment of collective centres to determine the level of
repairs needed by facilities that fell under categories B and C, that
is, in need of minor (cat. B) or substantial (cat. c) repairs, under the
first preliminary assessment. Almost 25 facilities have already been assessed.
The technical assessment will likely be completed at the end of August,
by which time 50 facilities and about 10,000 spaces will have been assessed.
Mr. Trombev was informed that the shelter
assessment is intended to identify places to accommodate a potentially
higher IDP caseload as well as IDPs currently residing in student hostels
that have to be emptied due to the imminent start of the academic year
on 3 September. IRC has already identified CCs that only need minor repairs,
that could be carried out by NGOs using available funds. The Italian Development
Agency, Cooperazione Italiana, has expressed interest in funding the rehabilitation
of 15 collective centres.
Reconstruction and rehabilitation
at villages in the crisis areas:
Mr. Trombev informed that the Government
assessment of needs for repairs and reconstruction will be conducted as
part of phase three of the peace agreement and will likely start next
week, if security conditions permit.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport and Communications
has developed a Draft Strategy for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
of the Damaged Facilities and Roads in the Crisis Areas and conducted
a model damage assessment of the village of Lopate. Copies of the Draft
Strategy report are available at UNHCR or at the Ministry of Transport
and Communications. Mr. Trombev invited participants to make comments
and suggestions on the report.
Mr. Hague of the Office of the
European Commission briefed on the meeting of the sub-group of
the Shelter Coordination Group held earlier that day, during which participants
agreed that small teams comprised of representatives of international
organisations, Government (IEES) and local self-government units will
carry out rapid damage assessments in the three villages where access
is possible, i.e. Aracinovo, Lopate and Opaje.
The rapid village assessments will be conducted
early next week. In order to undertake the assessments, volunteers,
preferably with technical expertise and previous experience, are sought
from NGOs with an interest in reconstruction activities. Volunteers, who
are available for the whole week next week, are invited to attend a training
workshop on how to complete the assessment forms, to be held on Moday,
20 August, at 10:00 at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Volunteers
were requested to communicate their names to Mr. Mulas of UNHCR at MULASAG@unhcr.ch.
Comments and questions:
Mr. Hebert invited donors to give an update on their activities and programmes.
Mr. Biondi announced that ECHO will not be involved in the repair and
reconstruction of private dwellings, because the EU has altready made
available funds for reconstruction activities through the Rapid Response
Mechanism. ECHO, however, is involved in the Water & Sanitation sector,
where it is funding a project, implemented by Solidarites, involving the
rehabilitation of wat/san facilities in schools and ambulantas in affected
areas. ECHO is also considering funding the rehabilitation of the school
in Aracinovo, once security conditions permit and electricity is finally
restored in the village.
Mr. Carew informed that
the US Government had allocated available funds to three different areas:
- To assist the return of refugees (to be covered through
PRM);
- To cover the needs of IDPs (to be covered through
OFDA) and
- To provide community shelter assistance, which could
include reconstruction of damaged houses.
OFDA was considering the
immediate release of 3-4 NGOs grants to finance activities in the three,
above-mentioned sectors, while 6-9 grants will likely be released at a
later date to support activities in the agricultural sector (FAO seeds
and fertiliser project) as well as return and reconstruction activities.
3 million US$ will likely be available for use from September 2001 until
the end of the year.
Summary of Agreed Action points:
NGOs interested in taking part in the rapid damage assessment next week
need to communicate their names to Mr Mulas at UNHCR by COB Friday, 17
August.
On Friday, 24 August, the sectoral co-ordination meetings will take place
as follows:
10:30 - 11:00 Sectoral Meeting on Host families
11:00 - 12:00 Sectoral Meeting on Shelter
12:30 - 13:30 Sectoral Meeting on Water and Sanitation
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