IWRA Executive Office

OS3g Climate change: disasters and extreme events

abstract 90

Capacity Building in Developing Countries as the Aftermath of Natural Disasters

Author(s): South-South support initiative
Author(s): Tadeusz Malkiewicz
Registration No. 267 CURRICULUM VITAE PERSONAL DETAILS: Surname : Malkiewicz First Names : Tadeusz , Thad Date Of Birth : 11 March 1951 Place Of Birth : Bogatynia, Poland Citizenship : South African, Polish Home Address : 1205 Mountain Av

Keyword(s): Capacity Building , Water Management , Water for Growth and Development

Article:

Poster:

Session: OS3g Climate change: disasters and extreme events

AbstractCAPACITY BUILDING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AS THE

AFTERMATH OF NATURAL DISASTERS
Mr Tadeusz Malkiewicz ,Department of Water Affairs and

Forestry , Pretoria, South Africa

On 26 December 2004, an earthquake below the Indian Ocean triggered a

tsunami that affected among others India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Maldives, Somalia

and Tanzania. Sri Lanka, despite its distance from the quake, was devastated by the disaster – with more than 30

000 people dead and almost three quarters of its coastline scoured.

The South African Water Sector

(SAWS) was to offer assistance to two of these tsunami-stricken countries : Sri Lanka and Maldives. More

specifically, the aim was to achieve the following :

1) To enable the accelerated and more efficient roll-out of

donor funds in tsunami-stricken countries for the obvious benefit of communities which have lost so much;
2)

Strive to leave behind more effective and efficient water management governance structures in those countries where

we were involved, on our departure; and
3) To build/improve bilateral relations between South Africa and the

relevant countries, especially in the area of water management.

It has been our policy throughout the process

that we can not and will not prescribe to these countries on how they should progress matters. We have been aiming

to share our experience and insights which the SAWS has gained over the past 1,5 decades during our endeavours

to improve our inherited water management problems, inter alia utilising relatively large amounts of donor funds. Our

main focus has been on empowering and building capacity.

We should also maybe mention that, whilst the

initial objectives of the SAWS reconnaissance teams were strongly focused on the 1st SAWS objective mentioned

above, our actual involvement in both countries ( Sri Lanka and Maldives ) was very much in respect of the 2nd

objective. This shift in focus was requested by the water management sectors of those countries.

As a link to

the main theme of the recent 4th World Water Forum held in Mexico in March 2006 `` Water for Growth and

Development``, it was decided in September 2006 to implement a pilot project at Hambantota ( Sri Lanka). The

W4G&D represents the latest in international best practice and forms the basis of considerable recent breakthroughs

and positive developments in SAWS.

Events

The congress

Programme

Practical Infos

Capacity Building in Developing Countries as the Aftermath of Natural Disasters