Floods in Guinea - Govt. of Guinea / UN Agencies / UNDAC Assessment Mission (18 - 29 Oct 2001) report

Conakry
The Republic of Guinea
ABBREVIATIONS

A: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The worst floods for the last 30 years hit the eastern part of Guinea (Upper Guinea, Kankan region) when the main river Niger and its tributaries Sankarani, Fié, Milo and Dion overflowed. According to provisional Government estimates, more than 200,000 persons were affected to different degrees. Many of these people were temporarily displaced.

Several negative factors combined with the floods to produce a disastrous effect on the population. The Upper Guinea is the poorest province in the country. Thus the floods exacerbated serious social and economic problems which already existed. It should be kept in mind that the national economy is heavily burdened by many internally displaced persons (IDPs) who left certain areas because of border attacks carried out by unidentified armed groups. It should also be taken into account that the Republic of Guinea is still hosting a large number of refugees who fled from Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Floodwaters inundated and seriously damaged/destroyed rice paddies and subsidiaries crops. The floods also led to widespread pollution of drinking water sources. Consequently, sanitary and health conditions considerably worsened. The education system also suffered as a number of classrooms were damaged.

The Government of Guinea, the UN Agencies and the NGOs took the requisite steps to respond to the most immediate needs of the affected population. In view of the scale of the recent exceptional floods and the limited national capacity to respond, the Government of Guinea requested international humanitarian assistance for the affected population in the Upper Guinea.

Relevant UN agencies, in close cooperation with the Government of Guinea, carried out an assessment mission to the worst affected areas. Participating agencies were the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The joint assessment mission by the United Nations Agencies in Guinea and the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, supported by the Government, identified unmet relief needs in flood-affected areas. The present mission report aims to facilitate a coordinated international response and assist the Government in its on-going relief and rehabilitation efforts in the flood-devastated province.

Donors are invited to consider possibilities for assistance in the following major priority areas: agriculture (seeds), water and sanitation, health, education, and prevention and preparedness. This list does not exclude other affected sectors. Current available information indicates that immediate food needs are under control. A Food Security Assessment is planned for November 2001. A vulnerability analysis mapping will be established by the end of this year, a household food economy survey is planned for January-February 2002 and pre / post-harvest surveys will be carried out in February and September 2002. It is expected that all these actions will prevent further deterioration in the food security situation.

It should be noted that relevant UN Agencies will continue monitoring the situation and adjust requirements for international assistance, as necessary.

The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) will take the lead in prioritizing the detailed responsibilities of relief and initial rehabilitation activities. The joint national and international assistance is intended to alleviate the suffering of the affected people of Guinea and to facilitate a smooth transition towards rehabilitation activities.

Medium and long-term post-disaster rehabilitation needs will be further identified. To this end, UNCT will continue its cooperation and collaboration with the national authorities, interested donors and NGOs.

The primary responsibility for providing assistance to the population of the affected areas is first and foremost in the hands of the Government, and that is why possible international assistance should come as a supplement and be accurately targeted, so as to yield concrete and efficient results.

B: BACKGROUND

The Republic of Guinea is located in West Africa and bounded by Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The River Niger flows north from the southern highlands into Mali before turning south again through Niger and Nigeria.

Guinea ranks amongst the eight least developed countries in the world with a life expectancy of 45 years, an illiteracy rate of 65 percent, and a Gross National Product estimated at USD 550 per person¹. There is a high unemployment rate amongst the youth, which constitute over 60 percent of the population.

Despite depressing social and economic indicators and rampant poverty, Guinea has hosted more than 450,000 refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia over the last ten years with little international support.

Flooding of areas adjacent to the river Niger and to a number of other rivers in the Upper Guinea is an annual phenomenon.

It should be underlined that the Government does not have sufficient experience in dealing with floods and other types of natural disasters. However, it has started to formulate a systematic and coordinated strategy to deal with disaster management throughout the country. As a result of this strategy, the National Service for Humanitarian Assistance (SENAH) was established earlier this year in the MATDS. The SENAH is responsible for national policies, strategies and plans for all areas of natural disaster management from mitigation to response. It is also responsible for policy decisions relating to the various aspects of disaster management. In case of a major natural disaster, the SENAH is responsible for the coordination of appeals for relief assistance and for the coordination of disaster management at national level.

The SENAH has played an important role in collecting, analyzing and disseminating data on flood damages and is keeping all Government departments and international agencies updated. The resulting data helps the Government to take informed decisions when mobilizing available resources in order to lessen the suffering of the affected population.

This report is based on joint Government, UN Agency and UNDAC mission findings and it takes into account the results of previous missions carried out by the Government together with OCHA-Guinea, relevant UN Agencies and some NGOs.

It should be noted that the UNDAC Team arrived in the country when the immediate emergency period was already over. The UNDAC team, along with Government and United Nations Agency representatives, visited some of the affected areas in the Kankan, Siguiri, Mandiana and Kouroussa prefectures where meetings were held with local authorities, affected persons and NGOs.

C: FLOOD IMPACT

In August - September 2001 the worst floods for the last 30 years hit Upper Guinea (Kankan region), located in the eastern part of Guinea, bordering Mali, after the main river Niger and its tributaries Sankarani, Fié, Milo and Dion overflowed. The floods have affected the poorest region of Guinea (62 per cent of the population lives beneath the poverty line) which is composed mainly of farmers who represent 80 per cent of the most under-privileged of the entire population of the country. It must be underlined that the floods' impact exacerbated problems already extant in this, the poorest region of the country.

Affected prefectures in the Kankan region are Mandiana, Kouroussa, Kankan, Siguiri, Faranah, and Kérouané. The maximum water level registered in Kankan, was 7.5 meters; this exceeded the alert danger point by 2.5 metres. Areas were covered by flood water for a period lasting from 4 to 5 weeks depending on the specific location. Available hydrological data are given in Annex I to the present report (in French).

The breakdown of affected populations by prefectures is as follows:

• Kankan (approx. 107,235 people) in the sub-prectures of Balandou, Bate, Nafadji, Karifamoriah and 8 neighbourhoods of the Urban Commune;
• Mandiana (approx. 15,110 people) in the sub-prefectures of Balandougouba, Kalakoro, Faralako, Kantoumanina; Koundianakoro, Morodou, Sansando and 3 neighbourhoods in the Urban Commune;
• Kouroussa (approx. 8,910 people) in the sub-prefectures of Balato, Baro, Doura, Koumana and 2 districts of the Urban Community;
• Siguiri (approx. 84,195 people) in the sub-prefecture of Bankon
• Kérouané (approx. 20,235 people)

Governmental authorities reported 9 people dead and more than 200,000 people affected to different degrees, including some 40,000 children under the age of 5. More exact figures are still to be supplied by the Government.

Food security: is the sector most affected.

According to data from the Agriculture Department in Kankan, the floods inundated and damaged / destroyed an estimated 16,296 hectares of rice paddy and 3,814 hectares of subsidiary crops. Most of the losses occurred along the region's riverbanks. The type of crop loss differs from one prefecture to another.

More detailed data on agricultural losses is given in Annex II (in French).

There is only one annual cereal harvest in the Upper Guinea, from October to December. Consequently, the current losses will have an impact on food and seed availability as well as on revenue. Losses are unevenly spread throughout the region. Some farmers, mostly extremely poor, are likely to exhaust their limited food reserves in the months to come, and will therefore need emergency food assistance. However, the Government, WFP and FAO require more time to determine the exact food security situation following these floods.

Availability of quality seeds for the new agricultural season in May-June 2002 might be a problem since the regional seed center of Bordo in Kankan was severely affected by the floods.

Water and Sanitation:

Open water points located in many villages and neighbourhoods affected by the floods have been quickly contaminated by latrines. However, in the Mandiana Prefecture, the water is supplied mainly through sealed borehole drills which provide on average 22 litres/person/day. These water points have not been affected by the floods. At the same time, the population living in the poorest urban neighbourhoods or villages located in the flood-affected sub-prefectures of Kankan and Kouroussa don't always have access even to minimal standard potable water. Consequently, people have to obtain their water supplies from polluted water sources such as ponds open wells or rivers, significantly increasing their vulnerability to water-borne diseases.

This explains why tens of thousands of people found themselves in dire need of clean drinking water.

Post-flood interventions to rehabilitate primary water supplies will be crucial to prevent the outbreak and transmission of faecal-oral disease. This would seem to be the most important area of intervention for the coming months.

Even though punctual well decontamination measures should be applied, any other medium-term action should necessarily be channeled through the local and national authorities.

Health:

So far, no epidemics have been reported. However, poor sanitation and water supply conditions increase the risks of water-borne diseases including malaria, yellow fewer, cholera, diarrhoea and, skin diseases. Already, some health centres and health authorities have reported an increase in malaria, diarrhoea and skin diseases in comparison with the same period in 2000, even though specific preventative activities have already been undertaken by GOG, NGOs and UN Agencies.

With the presence of water puddles and polluted water, mosquitoes have proliferated and infested the overall region.

It should be noted that revenue losses will limit access to health services.

Education:

A number of classrooms were damaged, while some were temporarily inundated. Loss of materials and equipment was recorded in different prefectures. 30 classrooms were damaged in 11 schools within the urban community of Kankan and in 7 of the sub-prefectures of Mandiana. 9 schools in the urban community of Kankan have been reported as inundated with loss of school manuals, registers and management documents. Figures for the other affected prefectures are unknown at this stage.

Regional authorities estimate that these damages affect some 1,790 students.

Revenue losses will also limit access to education services.

Infrastructure and Habitat:

Based on field visits and ensuing discussions, it is believed that infrastructure has not been seriously damaged. Habitat was affected, but damage has not reached disastrous proportions. It should be noted that some dwellers have already taken adequate measures to repair/rebuild their huts/houses.

Prevention and Preparedness Aspects

Flooding is not a new phenomenon in the Upper Guinea though the floods are usually less severe than the recent ones. A number of rivers in the province are prone to regular flooding which deposits silt. This makes the soils on lower terraces close to rivers more fertile than those on topographically higher terraces. Since agricultural communities will continue to live and exploit the land in flood-prone areas, an effective hazard management plan focusing on practical approaches to disaster management and stressing mitigation preparedness techniques must be developed.

Technically speaking, there is an alert mechanism but this failed to work efficiently, in part because the flood victims failed to apprehend the magnitude of the impending floods. In some places, including the sub-prefecture of Kouroussa, flash floods occurred at night, preventing many people from saving food reserves, poultry and personal belongings.

The severity of the rainfall in the region is not sufficient to explain the huge impact of the floods. This must also be attributed to a number of other elements such as:

• people have lost the tradition of coping with this phenomenon because of the absence of severe floods during last 30 years. Preparedness levels are low, due to lack of information and coordination. Poor land use management also increases vulnerability, and there has been no assessment of community mitigation options.
  
  
• in many places, traditional huts and private homes are built much too close to rivers, in areas which are regularly flooded. This problem should be addressed by the Government in order to avoid future damage.
  
  
• the vulnerability of settlements at risk was not known to the population, nor had escape strategies been identified. As a result, not only dwellings were flooded, but also food stocks and livestock were lost due to the lack of contingency planning.

Mention should be made of the role played by this region in hosting refugees and IDPs displaced by conflict in border areas. Preparedness measures should be devised to maintain the "host capacity" of this region in view of the fluidity of the border population.

D: RESPONSE TO THE RECENT FLOODS IN THE UPPER GUINEA

The most urgent needs of the affected population in the Upper Guinea were covered thanks to national, UN and international response.

D.1 National Response

The Government of Guinea, in cooperation with provincial and local authorities, provided emergency assistance to the affected people. It carried out an assessment mission in the worst affected communities and initiated the rapid distribution of food and non-food items. In particular, the Government provided food (150 metric tons) and medicines (worth GNF 55 million, approx. USD 27,000) to the affected areas.

D.2 United Nations Response

The United Nations Agencies immediately responded to this disaster. On 28 September, OCHA and the UN partners (UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR and WHO (see Annex 10)) met to devise immediate short-terms emergency response and set up a UN System emergency response-working group.

UNDP has requested USD 50,000 from its emergency reserve. Funds have already been disbursed for logistic and assessment support. Funds will also be used for emergency assistance to household and communications.

OCHA has released USD 30,000 Emergency Cash Grant to provide immediate life-sustaining support to the victims of the disaster. OCHA office in Guinea has facilitated various meetings to better coordinate national response to the crisis.

OCHA-Geneva is staying in close contact with the OCHA Field Office in Guinea. It collects relevant information and issues situation reports, which are available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int

WFP has released USD 257,275 for ongoing emergency food assistance for some 26,000 beneficiaries. Ongoing activities:

- Following conflicts along some of the Guinean borders and the ensuing population movements, WFP, under Emergency Operation 6312 and in collaboration with the NGO OCPH, offered assistance to more than 30,000 persons in the Kankan region, including 1,400 of them in Mandiana, and 11,000 in Kankan, in March and July 2001.

The beneficiaries received in two sequences a thirty-day ration amounting to 13.25 kg (9 kg of cereals, 3.5 kg of pulses and 0.75 kg of oil), totalling 334.8 tons.

Following the floods, a decision was taken to carry out a third distribution in October to 1,400 displaced persons in the Mandiana prefecture.

Within the framework of assistance to flood-affected persons, WFP decided to distribute in October through Première Urgence and OCPH, a 15-day ration to:

- 12,000 persons in Mandiana (83 tons)
- 1,000 persons in Kouroussa (6,75 tons)
- 13,000 persons in the Kankan Township (90 tons).

for a total of 179,75 tons.

Considering an average cost of USD 500 per ton, initial WFP Emergency assistance amounts to USD 257,275 for 514,55 tons.

FAO, following the preliminary assessments undertaken on the agricultural sector, amended its agricultural component for the UN CAP 2002 Appeal for Guinea by the inclusion of provision of essential agricultural inputs for additional 5 000 vulnerable farm families affected by the floods.

UNICEF has provided 3,000 blankets, 3,000 oral rehydratation salt (ORS) and 13 medical kits which are being distributed through Organisation Catholique pour la Promotion Humaine (OCPH) and Caritas. Water disinfectant products have been made available to the Departments of Health and Water and Energy.

A five-person UNDAC team was dispatched to Guinea to conduct a rapid needs assessment in close cooperation with UNCT members and government officials from SENAH.

The major findings of the joint mission are reflected in the present report.

D.3 International Response

The Red Cross Movement distributed mats, blankets, buckets and soap to over 10,000 beneficiaries in Kankan. In total, 72 volunteers were trained in public hygiene awareness and prevention; 40 of them are working in Kankan and 32 in Mandiana. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has not launched an appeal, as it presently has the necessary resources for assistance.

MSF is assessing the water situation in the city of Kankan and its surroundings, and will be pursuing rehabilitation and emergency water supply activities in the urban area until the end of November this year.

EU/ECHO has provided 5000 mats and 10,000 bed sheets which have been distributed by OCPH among the affected population.

An additional emergency grant of USD 20,000 was provided by the Norwegian Government through OCHA.

Canada, Norway and Switzerland have provided three persons for the UNDAC mission.

E: AREAS REQUIRING SUPPLEMENTARY INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE

E. 1 Agriculture

The Regional Agriculture Department based in Kankan mentioned an important need for seeds to cover the deficit caused by the loss of the coming harvest. Seeds stocks are extremely low and will not be sufficient for 2002 seeding season. Seeds needed are :

• Rice seeds: 1,225 tons
• Maize: 36 tons
• Groundnut: 20 tons

More detailed requirements of seeds are given in Annex III and IV (in French).

As per information provided during the mission, the authorities will first look at the availability of seeds on the national market, but international procurement will probably be needed.

Exact program and figures require a fine-tuning, but an initial cost estimate gives a total amount of USD 500,000, including seeds distribution costs.

A vegetable seed project is also considered by the relevant authorities to partly cover needs of affected farmers. This program will address 3,130 groups and associations. The total cost, including seeds, tools, fertilizers, is estimated at USD 96,000.

As for FAO, its programme aims to support the most vulnerable farmers to enable them to resume agricultural activities in order to reduce food aid dependency and restore their self-sufficiency by ensuring the next planting season through distribution of rice and vegetable seeds.

FAO has been following the floods phenomena in general since 2000 and has integrated relevant requirements in the Consolidated Appeal 2002 (to be launched in November) through a project proposal. This project, estimated at USD 225,000 is targeting 5,000 flood-affected farmers in the prefectures of Faranah, Kankan, Mandiana and Siguiri. The following agricultural inputs will be provided:

• Rice seeds: 175 mt
• Maize seeds: 25 mt
• Vegetable seeds: 250 kg
• Hoes: 10,000 units
• Watering can: 1,250 units
• Spades: 1,250 units
• Wheel-barrows: 20 units

Rehabilitation of Irrigated areas

Several community-based gardening areas previously managed by local producers association including women groups have been seriously or sometimes completely destroyed by the floods.

In order to restore income generation activities to vulnerable groups in particular those women associations that lost their productive capacity it is of utmost importance to provide rapid rehabilitation support to the following small perimeters:

1. Gardening perimeter of Madina (Kankan):

This spans over 20 hectares and has been initiated and equipped by the Projet d'Appui aux Initiatives Villageoises (PAIB or Village-based initiatives support project) funded by the World Bank with the support of the Bureau Technique du Génie Rural of Kankan (BTGR or Office for Rural Technical Suport).

2. Gardening perimeter of Balandou (Kankan)

These 12 hectares received the support of PAIB and BTGR but were completely destroyed by the river Milo.

The total cost for rehabilitating 30 hectares of these key income-generation infrastructures are estimated at 24,000,000 FG (some USD 12,000) including technical support and monitoring.

More detailed requirements are given in Annex V(in French).

E.2 Food

WFP has planned a food security assessment mission to the Kankan Region for this coming November.

The aim is to identify the most vulnerable areas and communities in order to prioritise assistance and define the modalities and a schedule of interventions.

A multi-sectorial team will analyse the secondary data and results of evaluations already carried out, while interviewing, in the field, key informants as well as the local authorities.

By the end of the current year, WFP will set up a Vulnerability Assessment Mechanism (VAM) at the country level. The VAM will target the most needy communities and allow a better consultation/coordination in the provision of assistance.

In January-February 2002, WFP will conduct a major Household Food Economy Survey to complement and cross-check existing information on food security in the Kankan region, and to improve the targeting of intervention areas and most vulnerable communities.

In 2002, WFP will give priority to harmonization of methodologies and approaches for every sector of intervention (emergency, post-emergency and development).

Post- and pre-harvest evaluations will be carried out in February and September 2002.

Planned activities

Four major axes of strategic intervention in the flood-affected areas have already been planned for 2002.

• Assistance to the IDPs (PRRO 10064.0), including nutritional monitoring of about 20,000 persons in Mandiana, Kouroussa and Kankan, and support for the integration of populations not returning to their areas of origin through "Food For Work" (FFW) and "Food For Training" (FFT) activities between March and November 2002 (approximately 5,000 participants will receive family rations of 2.3-2kg of cereals, 0.2 kg of vegetables, 0.1 kg of oil - during 9 months for a total volume of 1,500 tons);
  
  
• Assistance to the flood affected persons through FFW recovery activities for 3,000 persons for 9 months, from January to September 2002, for a total of 930 tons;
  
  
• The Rural Development Project, activity no. 2 in the Country Program, will provide assistance through VCT and VCF activities throughout the year 2002 to 14,500 participants in Kankan region. Out of which 4,300 are located in Mandiana prefecture and 2,200 in Kouroussa prefectures. The volume of WFP food assistance within this project is estimated at 2,000 tons. For all FFW projects, basic tools will be distributed to the groups / associations involved.
  
  
• The School Canteen Project, activity no. 1 in the Country Program, will fully start in January 2002 and be established in about 50 schools to assist 10,000 elementary school students in the Kankan Region, during the second and third quarter of the 2002-2003 school year. This assistance will amount to 450 tons of rice, pulses and oil).

With the 14,500 participants to the FFW and FFT activities receiving a 5 person family ration, in total 72,000 persons will indirectly benefit from WFP assistance in this region. This does not take into account the assistance to the school canteens.

The total WFP assistance in the Kankan Region, considering an average cost amount to USD 2,440,000 (4,880 tons at an average cost of USD 500 per ton).

E.3 Water and Sanitation

In order to reduce the risk of post-flood outbreaks of water-borne and vector-borne diseases, UNICEF is requesting funds to drill 50 new water points, to equip them with hand pumps, to construct 10 water distribution points in urban areas and to support awareness and education campaigns to improve hygiene behaviours through radio messages and participative methods. Activities under this project will be closely linked to activities implemented in other sectors, more specifically health, nutrition and education sectors.

The implementation of the project will be carried out in collaboration with GOG, NGOs and the private sector. The project will contribute to guarantee basic needs in terms of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Requested Budget

MSF has also presented a practical project proposal with regard to safe drinking water, for which MSF is seeking financial support (Annex VI-in French)

E.4 Health and Nutrition

Health:

The regional health authorities presented a need estimate for basic medicines to cover flood-affected populations in the region totaling GNF 346,666,404 (USD 182,000) (See Annex VII in French).

They also expressed a need to pre-position basic health equipment in case of cholera outbreak (GNF 5,053,500; approx. USD 2,650). (See Annex VIII in French).

UNICEF is requesting funds to pursue its activities in the watsan sector. The objective is to prevent and provide early care of diarrhoeal diseases and malaria. Pregnant women, as well as children under the age of 5, will be especially targeted. The implementation will be carried out in collaboration with GOG and NGOs. In addition, 50 health officers will receive further training on malaria and cholera tracking. Awareness campaigns will be developed and implemented through the Radio Rural with which UNICEF has an agreement. As a preventive measure, cholera kits will be positioned in the region. Duration of project: November 2001 to January 2002.

Requested Budget

In addition, in the sector of nutrition, UNICEF proposes:

• to supply and support the Guinean health system to treat the expected increase (and currently increasing) rates of child malnutrition in flood-affected areas of Guinea for 6 months by supplying 38 health centers and health posts in the flood-affected areas with high-protein biscuits to treat moderate malnutrition in children and supplying 4 hospitals in the flood-affected areas with therapeutic milk to treat severe malnutrition.
  
  
• to implement a nutrition surveillance system in the flood-affected areas to survey the nutritional status of children during this period of food shortage. Thus nutritional surveillance system will also serve as an early warning of a nutritional emergency for now and in the future by equipping and instructing local health structures how to carry out the nutritional status in children and to conduct nutritional surveillance.
  
  
• to provide nutrition education to people living in areas vulnerable to flooding to prevent nutritional emergencies now and in future floods by providing nutrition education materials to 38 health structures to teach people about general nutrition, nutrition during diarrhea (due to flood water contamination), food safety and storage during flooding, breastfeeding and complementary feeding during emergencies.

For detailed budget, please see Annex IX (in French).

E.5 Education

UNICEF proposes to rehabilitate 30 classrooms, provide classrooms equipment, as well as 23 education kits.

UNICEF will work closely together with its national counterparts to conduct rapid surveys to identify the locations in need of assistance, and the quantity of educational supplies required in each location. Concrete arrangements for the immediate purchase and delivery of supplies will be made after the surveys are complete.

It is recommended that some form of collaboration be established between UNICEF and UNESCO with regard to assistance to Guinea in the education sector.

Within current existing resources, UNICEF is planning to cover short-term needs through the provision of 13 tents for 7 damaged schools in Mandiana.

E.6 Prevention, preparedness, coordination and management

A. Background

The UNDAC team determined that it was necessary to have a competent and credible national interlocutor in times of crises and, the implementation of the SENAH' mandate needs to be supported towards a structure that is capable of carrying out the following duties:

Identify areas prone to natural or man-made disasters
Strengthen its experience in developing and implementing prevention and preparedness programs.

Expand its internal resources to conduct rapid assessments
Develop the capacity for coordinated interventions and reinforcement of related national capabilities while taking into account aspect of accessibility to affected areas.

B. Intervention Strategy

In order to prepare the SENAH to fully carry its mandate the proposed strategy is based on the following elements:

Exploiting the recent experience of SENAH (Solidarity caravans and floods disaster response) and other governmental offices to draw lessons learned and reinforce national capacity for managing disaster issues.

Associating SENAH to assistance operations in order to strengthen its ability to identify level of needs, ensure coordination and organize dispatching and reporting on aid.

Allowing SENAH to benefit from the presence of the UNCT and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) particularly with regard to the need for establishing a constructive dialogue among parties concerned by the implementation of its mandate.

Developing long term capacity building support to help SENAH develop mechanisms appropriate to institutional and operational actions deriving from its mandate.

Assist the MATDS in ensuring that the services of SENAH are effectively integrated in the ongoing public services decentralization policy and strategies.

At the conclusion of this initial assistance estimated for a one-year duration, the performance of the SENAH will be evaluated against its ability to:

Collect and share useful information to the humanitarian actors (vulnerable people's needs, aid dispatching, security, access to people, etc.)

Play a pivotal role in the interface between the international humanitarian community and the Government.

Ensure exhaustive coverage of the national territory particularly with regard to prevention and early warning capacity of decentralized government authorities and local communities.

It is also envisaged to involve an international management consultant, whose main objectives will then become: a) assist the MATDS and OCHA Guinea in facilitating the coordination, monitoring and reporting of flood-related assistance; and b) establish proper concertation with the SENAH to create a conductive environment for the proposed institutional assistance in disaster management (prevention preparedness, evaluation and intervention).

In order to achieve this series of objectives, the SENAH will need to increase its autonomy of action and develop its human and logistic capacity.

One of the possibilities would be to utilize an extensive experience of UNEP's APELL Programme (Awareness and Preparedness at Local Level), which could be applied to both environmental emergencies and natural disasters

It could be combined with a good experience of national experts from the Ministry of Environment, through the National Direction of Environment which has a significant expertise in natural disaster management and environmental area.

C. Coordinating Mechanisms

The project will build upon existing coordinating mechanisms at the level of intervention (national coordination structures, community councils, prefectoral committees of development...) (CRD) and shall benefit from the presence of OCHA' coordination effort in Guinea.

Requested Budget

F: IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

To respond to identify needs for assistance, donors can make their contributions directly to the United Nations Agencies concerned, directly to the Government of Guinea as part of their on-going bilateral cooperation or through OCHA, which is also available to serve as channel for unearmarked contributions. Regarding the funds channelled through the UN system, appropriate UN agencies will be accountable for monitoring, coordinating and reporting on the progress to their respective donors.

G: CONCLUSIONS

The recent exceptional floods produced serious negative impact on population and economy of in the Upper Guinea. It is important to avoid human suffering due to partial or complete loss of an annual harvest. It is not excluded that the food security situation may seriously deteriorate in the coming months. Under post-flood conditions, risks of morbidity and epidemics are ever present.

Initially, the Government of Guinea, UN Agencies and NGOs have taken the necessary steps to respond to most immediate emergency needs.

Donors are encouraged to consider possibilities to provide short- and medium-term relief assistance in agriculture, food, water and sanitation, initial rehabilitation of schools, as well as in improving national prevention and preparedness capacity. The UNCT will lead in the prioritization and division of detailed responsibilities of relief activities, and ensure that this region remains a possible "hosting area" for conflict-related population movements.

Longer-term post-disaster rehabilitation needs would be identified at a later stage. To this end, UNCT will continue its cooperation and collaboration with the national authorities, interested donors and NGOs.

Footnote:

¹ One US Dollar is 1910 Guinean Franc (GNF)according to the UN IMIS Currency Exchange Rates.

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