In Brest, the main 2 building school in the centre of the village was severely damaged. One of the buildings was burnt down and the other was hit by a grenade. Detailed technical assessment will be done by Solidarites at a later stage.

UNICEF reiterates that the 78 schools’ priority list includes conflict damaged as well as schools that are small or in bad condition. In addition, Ministry of Education (MoE) list includes 400 schools outside of the conflict areas that are in need of rehabilitation. Based on the data available from MoE, OSCE, and regional coordination, UNICEF will compile a common matrix on all the schools in the country and present it to the group and to IMG for inclusion in the PIMS.

TFF provided detailed information on schools to be covered/completed in April – May from the new funds approved. These data is being entered in the PIMS. The Chair noted that the misunderstanding between IMG and TFF about the Matejce school has been cleared. Unfortunately, it appeared that IMG will not repair the old 4-classroom building and TFF withdrew because it taught that the school was fully covered. Lesson learnt is that agencies should check the situation in the field before noting the commitment in the coordination matrices.

Government Priorities and Strategy (Ministry of Health)

Based on the October 2001 rapid assessment of the primary health care facilities in the conflict affected regions, the Ministry of Health (MoH) set priorities on the rehabilitation of clinics in the Kumanovo region (Matejce, Nikustak, Slupcane, Lojane, Vaksince and Lipkovo). The main repair works are now being concluded and equipment and staffing arrangements are ongoing. The rehabilitation of the Lipkovo ambulanta is though pending due to withdrawal of donors. According to the technical documentation made earlier, US$ 70,000 is needed for the repair/upgrading of the building and additional US$ 30,000 for the heating system. The Chair invited agencies to express interest to commit funds or review possibilities of combining funds available from the community support programmes. Also, no interest has been expressed yet for the ambulanta in Staro Nagoricane.

In the Tetovo area, the first priority was to re-establish primary health services in Radusa. Instead of reconstructing the old mine ambulanta with 10,000 patients capacity which served both miners and local population, a house in the village was adjusted/rehabilitated by UNHCR QIPs/CRS to serve as ambulanta for the 2,000 local population. MoH has carried out technical assessment, and will issue permission of work after some minor adjustments are made these days. Support medical staff is already in service, while MoH is currently in the process of hiring an ethnic Albanian doctor. Another high priority is the upgrading of the Special Tuberculosis Hospital in Lesok that is of utmost importance for the health system of the country, as it covers patients from the entire region. Some €300,000 is needed, but unfortunately no donor has expressed interest yet to rehabilitate it.

In the Skopje area, MoH has to provide primary health services in the Skopska Crna Gora mountain villages. Before the conflict, MoH medical doctor was visiting the ambulantas twice a month and providing services the total 500 local population. Ambulantas have been destroyed or damaged and need to be reconstructed/rehabilitated. MoH recommends that donors should have in mind that one centrally located ambulanta, e.g. that in Malina Mala, can serve several villages. ECHO noted it is interested, but the actual commitment depends on the return.

General Overview and Update (WHO)

WHO is providing 10 sets of medical equipment to cover ambulantas in the Lipkovo municipality, as well as Lojane, Vaksince, Aracinovo, Radusa and other ambulantas the rehabilitation of which is still to be completed. Updates were provided to IMG for inclusion in the PIMS.

MoH and WHO highly recommend that donors and agencies interested in rehabilitation/reconstruction work in close cooperation with them, not only to prevent overlapping and gaps, but to provide for following of the national health standards and full utilisation of the funds. It is very important not to raise the expectations by providing objects and services over the national standard that the MoH will not be able to meet later.

UNDP tender offers for the Kumanovo water supply system to provide alternate water sources will be opened on 1 April and hopefully activities will start by 10 April. Development of the sewage system for Tetovo town project and drilling of 2 new water wells in Jegunovce is underway.

UNDP had a recent communication with OSCE Skopje Team on the needs identified by the OSCE teams in the field. These were further conveyed to the Ministry of Transport and Communications MoTC). UNDP will follow up the issue with MoTC and report back to the group.

TFF noted that it is preparing a WES project in the Jegunovce municipality for which additional funding is needed. TFF and UNDP will work together to find a common approach and explore joint funding possibilities.

IMG reported that an EC expert is finalising a WES assessment that will include the needs in the conflict affected regions. The assessment report will be compiled and shared within the next 10 days.

UNDP reiterated that all reported WES needs and projects should be recorded in the PIMS.

Data on over 100 projects is already in the PIMS, but information from the major donors is still missing. IMG will carry on the data management through the PIMS until other agency takes over. Agencies should contact IMG for corrections. PIMS reports can be downloaded from www.img.org.com.

- Legal procedures on CAT 3 and CAT 4 houses

SNI and the NGO Council prepared the draft brochure on reconstruction standards for dissemination among the beneficiaries. The text of the draft in English was shared with agencies. Their comments should be provided for the next meeting. Once finalised, the brochure will be printed in Albanian and Macedonian language.

-Progress on repair and reconstruction programmes

With regard to reconstruction, IMG reported that in a meeting with CRIM and EAR representatives yesterday, ownership was identified as the only issue that may impose obstacles. Next week IMG will start a pilot project covering 3 villages with 25 C3 and C4 houses. A lawyer was hired to facilitate provision of documents and obtaining of construction permits.

The latest AoR spreadsheet was presented

-Brest – Presentation of rapid village assessment (UNHCR)

219 persons (29 families) who returned in two turns (September 2001and March 2002) currently reside in Brest under difficult housing conditions. No further housing capacity is available. If rehabilitation/reconstruction does not take place, the rest of the people can not return. Almost all of the 80 houses and other objects are damaged or destroyed. Some 50 houses could only be covered with this RVA as a part of the village is still not cleared of mines and UXOs. Out of the 50, some 30 are C4 and 20 in C1-3. UNHCR will target the C1 and C2 houses, while IMG will carry out detailed reassessment next week. The villagers claimed there was no electricity. TFF is asked to explore if any damage on the power supply system.

-Progress of IMG reassessment (IMG)

Houses that were initially estimated were now physically assessed. The Lipkovo Cat 3 and 4 figures have as result changed substantively, with more houses found than estimated. A summary of the reassessment so far with sample detailed list and map of one village were presented to illustrate what kind of information is available and how houses are mapped and numbered. Full report on the reassessment will be provided for the next meeting.

Further to the WES update, a discussion was raised on the worthiness and sustainability of the WES coordination within the Infrastructure / Rehabilitation (I/R) group under the temporary lead by UNHCR/UNDP. ECHO expressed a strong opinion that WES coordination should be provided at a much higher level than the current transitional I/R group is able and apt to provide. He suggested that the Humanitarian Coordinator should put additional efforts to identify an agency with appropriate mandate and capacity to take over the sector coordination role. SNI noted that the current situation, in which neither EAR nor US agencies with such potential would take over and assist transition to long term development, puts additional burden both on UNHCR/UNDP and agencies participating in the group.

The Chair reiterated that UNHCR only took the lead of the I/R sector because no other agency would do so. UNHCR’ responsibility was to coordinate the emergency shelter part which was completed and will not take the coordination of long-term development programmes, WES included, during the transition period. The Chair further noted that the Humanitarian Coordinator had already met with EAR and discussed the issue without achieving concrete results. EAR though made it clear that it will not take over coordination of the remaining rehabilitation programmes.

The Chair invited agencies to decide if WES should be excluded from the I/R sector coordination and clear what they expect to be achieved by the I/R group. Following a short discussion, agencies decided that WES should remain, as the I/R group is currently the only forum addressing WES issues. The focus of the group will be on information gathering, sharing and recording (in the PIMS database) which should provide for a swift hand-over once other lead agency is identified.

The Chair proposed and the group agreed that the meetings should be bi-weekly.

The next Infrastructure / Rehabilitation meeting will take place on Friday, 5 April 2002, at 09:15 hours at the UNHCR Office.