Table of Contents

1.General Overview of Meeting

1.1 Background

1.2 Objectives of Consultation

1.3 Documents discussed and programme of the meeting

1.4 Some research priorities identified for immediate action

2.Discussion Summaries and Highlights

Session 1: Opening Session -Goals of ILO InFocus Programme

on Crisis Response and Reconstruction

Session 2: Conflict and Post-conflict Environments

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Session 3: Economic and Financial CrisisHighlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Session 4: Political and Social Transitions

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Session 5: Natural Disasters

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Session 6: Priorities for the Research Agenda

Concluding Session

3.Participants' Evaluation of the Research Consultation

Annexes

Annex A - Programme Agenda

Annex B - List of Participants

Annex C - Participating ILO Staff

1.General Overview of Meeting

The High Level Research Consultation on Crisis was organised by the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction as part of its effort to benefit from state-of-the-art research on the various dimensions of crisis, including armed conflict, natural disasters, difficult political and social transitions, and dramatic economic and financial downturns. The Consultation took place from 3 to 5 May 2000 in Geneva at the ILO Headquarters.

Its primary outcomes included:

Ø Creation of a research network comprised of experts, scholars and academics covering employment related and other socio-economic aspects of different crises, to support the knowledge development component of ILO's crisis response work;

Ø Identification of relevant issues for the ILO's focus for immediate, medium-term and long-term consideration;

Ø Determination of research priorities for ILO's crisis-based research for the next biennium;

Ø Affirmation of ILO's unique position and responsibility to contribute towards mitigating the labour-related and other socio-economic causes and impacts of crisis, and to assist in reconstruction, reintegration, peace-building and early-warning efforts in crisis-affected countries and regions;

Ø Identification of some of the relevant research methodologies to be employed.

1.1 Background

A growing number of countries are facing various types of crisis - armed conflicts, natural disasters, abrupt financial and economic downturns and difficult social or political transitions. In many cases, several types of crisis co-exist, further complicating the issue of effective response. If lasting solutions to such crises are to be found, they must include tackling the social and economic root causes of crises and their impacts. These include high levels of unemployment and underemployment, social exclusion and poverty, inequalities, violations of human rights and the absence of social dialogue and democracy.

Given this context, the ILO convened a Research Consultation on the subject of crises from 3-5 May 2000. This was attended by experts, scholars and practitioners from different parts of the world.

1.2 Objectives of Consultation

The purposes of the Consultation were:

- To brainstorm to determine research priorities on crisis issues and further define the research agenda of the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction;

- To establish an ILO network of external researchers and institutions to interact with the InFocus Crisis Programme in investigating the four types of crisis covered;

- To identify areas for collaborative and action-oriented research between the InFocus Programme and relevant external researchers and institutions.

The Consultation was attended by 16 academics, research consultants, and representatives of NGOs and donor agencies from fifteen countries including Burundi, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Norway, Palestine, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the United States. In addition, a number of ILO staff participated in the event. (See annexes B and C)

1.3Documents discussed and programme of the meeting

All participants prepared brief issues papers for presentation on research priorities relating to one of the four types of crisis. In accordance with the programme (Annex A) the substantive sessions generally consisted of panel presentations followed by plenary debate. The last session on priorities for research agenda was conducted both in plenary and working groups. The full texts of the various issues papers are annexed to this report.

1.4Some research priorities identified for immediate action

Through presentations, discussions of issues papers and plenary and small group deliberations, a wide range of potential research topics was identified. From among this broad range, the following emerged as some of the research areas requiring emphasis:

Ø The coping strategies of individuals and communities in crisis contexts - survival strategies of individuals, households and communities;

Ø Early warning - rapid response: What can local people and their communities contribute to early warning systems and how can they communicate early warning information to other actors and vice-versa? Identification of employment and other ILO-relevant social issues including fundamental principles and rights which should be included in early warning systems;

Ø Factors which prolonged or perpetuated armed conflict, with analysis of the incentives and disincentives for war and peace for different groups, including political leaders, and policy makers, combatants, the private sector and civil society groups;

Ø Special employment and other socio-economic challenges and the needs of vulnerable groups in crisis contexts, including issues relating to gender, child labour, poverty, reintegration of ex-combatants, returnees, refugees, internally displaced people, disabled persons;

Ø The role of the private sector in contributing to, as well as alleviating, crises and their effects;

Ø How can ILO's tripartite approach to social dialogue processes be used to engage proactive community participation in post-crisis programmes, post-crisis peace-building, dispute prevention and resolution, and in developing joint community visions for the future;

Ø The role of external factors like globalization, externally imposed policies, and external actors' involvement in triggering and aggravating crises;

Ø Identification of opportunities that exist, even in devastating crises, that can serve as catalysts for positive social, economic and political transformation.

2.Discussion Summaries and Highlights

Session 1: Opening Session - Goals of ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction

Mr. Göran Hultin (Executive Director, ILO's Employment Sector) and Ms. Eugenia Date-Bah (Director, InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction) officiated at the opening ceremony. Also present were Mr. Gerry Rodgers (CABINET) and Mr. Rizwanul Islam (Director, Recovery and Reconstruction Department).

Mr. Hultin opened the meeting. He traced the origins of the InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction to the recent Asian financial crisis. Hard questions had then been asked regarding the ILO's role, and it had become apparent that the Organization needed to build its capacity for responding to this and other types of crisis, in order to encourage longer term employment creation and other socio-economic developments to take place. Such an approach should also ensure the involvement of the local people in building their own capacity. He informed the gathering about ILO's informal ministerial meeting on financial and economic crises, in June 1999, which had, among other things, stressed the need to understand the nature of crisis challenges, to develop crisis preparedness and to adopt a proactive mode. He observed that the current meeting should inspire dialogue and debate on the issue and also help to establish a research network to share information and experience. In the course of the subsequent sessions, the gathering highlighted armed conflicts and natural disasters as the priority areas of action for the ILO's crisis response work, while not neglecting ILO's role in responding to financial and economic downturns, and political and social transitions.

Ms. E. Date-Bah indicated that crises of various kinds - armed conflicts, natural disasters, financial and economic downturns and difficult social and political transitions - constituted a major feature of the world today, threatening human security and sustainable development. By all indications, the incidence of these crises and the gravity of their repercussions would not abate in the immediate future. Thus, actors at all levels need to consider crises seriously and mainstream efforts towards prevention and alleviation of their adverse effects.

The ILO had an important role to play within crisis contexts. The Organization's history, tripartite structure, emphasis on social dialogue and proven capacity for developing socio-economic reintegration and other programmes for decent employment gave it a comparative advantage in making key contributions to crisis prevention, resolution and post-crisis reintegration, reconstruction and development processes. In this context, in September 1999, the ILO had established the InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, to develop coherent, efficient and rapid response to the different crises. (For a description of the programme, see the box on page iii.)

Research activities were critical to the work of the InFocus Programme. Numerous issues required investigation, but choices had to be made and priorities identified. There was a need for research that led directly to action. Since it could not address all of its research requirements in-house, the Programme had therefore to develop close linkages with researchers outside the ILO and the UN system. The present Research Consultation would help define the elements of the Programme's research agenda, and also establish an international network of external researchers, with whom the Programme could work.

In closing, Ms. Date-Bah stressed that the presentations and discussions of the Consultation should address the following:

Ø What did we know already?

Ø What areas and issues required further investigation?

Ø What research methodologies should be adopted, and why?

Ø What types of research partnerships were called for?

Ø What should be reflected in the research agenda of the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction in the short/medium term (2 years) and in the long term (3-5 years)?

Ø What other kinds of support did the ILO need to build an up-to-date research and knowledge base for an effective and timely response to the different types of crises?

Session 2: Conflict and Post-conflict Environments

Chair:Mr. J. Krishnamurty

Panel:Mr. Kappadath P. M. Kannan

Mr. Rudy Baldemor

Mr. Kenneth Bush

Mr. Arve Ofstad

Ms. Mary Chamie

Ms. Lillian Kimani

Mr. Léonce Ndikumana

Mr. J. Krishnamurty provided a brief overview of potential ILO research objectives in the area of post-conflict reconstruction. He emphasized that the primary need was for research leading to direct action within a time-frame of about three years. Research could help break down stereotypes and identify the most appropriate methodologies. It was important to recognize that conflict-related situations were increasingly frequent, and could no longer be considered as rare occurrences.

It was necessary to understand the regional and global forces that could lead to conflict in specific countries, and to design methodologies and research techniques to account for new and increasingly complex post-conflict environments. Finally, there was a need to better understand the dynamics and stages of conflict and the continuum from crisis through reconstruction to long-term development, and create proactive prevention strategies to avert future conflicts and cycles of violence.

Mr. Kappadath Kannan presented a paper entitled A Note on Response and Reconstruction in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations: Issues for Research. He observed that most major armed conflicts resulted in significant destabilization of the economy, of governance institutions and of social organization in conflict-affected countries. The problems were compounded when these countries also faced other types of crises, such as difficult political and economic transitions, or when they were low income, heavily indebted, transitional or least developed countries (LDCs).

The problems of poverty and social insecurity resulting from war could be alleviated by employment related interventions. This required an understanding of the macro-context and its implications in a given country, and the linkages to employment and income generation-related interventions. Assessments needed to be made of the consequences of conflict in specific countries, in terms of destruction/loss of economic assets, impact on economic and social/political institutions and on communities and individuals, with special attention to gender differentials in impacts. Such assessments would help in developing reconstruction programmes focusing on poverty, employment and economic security.

Mr. Kannan stressed the importance of food security, noting that even when adequate food was available, specific groups could face food security problems. The impact of conflict on the natural resource base of the economy and its long-term consequences was another important issue.

In many countries, good quality, up-to-date data, in appropriate formats, was not available. Such data was necessary for the provision technical assistance and designing appropriate reconstruction programmes.

No single agency or discipline alone could cope with the immense burden of destructive conflict. The issue brought the international community together, and highlighted the need for interdisciplinary research. If the nature, consequences and solutions for violent conflict were to be properly understood, a comprehensive research and action framework, with clearly defined objectives was called for. This should be established by work at local and community levels, but interventions should also be placed in a broader macro framework, in order to assess the entire post-conflict context.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

The need for a long-term perspective for generating employment and income and reducing poverty and social insecurity was of paramount importance. Thus, a major task of an employment-related research intervention would be to develop a Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, which would address the needs of rural areas in post-conflict situations. Such a programme would include the following elements:

· Land reform and other institutional interventions for enhancing agricultural productivity, including investments in technology and institutions for the management and development of land and water resources;

· Local-level development as a key element of sustainable response. This should include an emphasis on the development of rural economic infrastructure;

· Regeneration of natural resources that might have been depleted by natural crises or armed conflict;

· Development of the social sector, emphasizing access to health and education, with a focus on the rural poor.

Mr. Rudy Baldemor covered Post-Conflict Strategy - the Philippine experience. He described the background, planning and implementation of an ILO post-conflict programme organized to support the peace agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which ended their 28-year civil war.

He identified various fields in which research might prove useful, such as investigation into why governments and individuals became engaged in destructive, expensive armed conflicts, and into the motives of leaders, policy-makers, and decision-makers. The motives and mind-sets of the combatants were also of interest. Leaders might be politically and power-driven, while the combatants might be wholly or partly motivated by the need for income and gainful employment.

It was also important to understand the mind-sets of the "rebels" in order to have a clear understanding of the roots of the conflict. A picture could thus be obtained of who they were, how they perceived themselves and their adversaries. This type of analysis was necessary for understanding the causes of war, the possibilities for preventing future violence and the needs of commu

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Best practices of other UN and multilateral agencies involved in the delivery of services in similar situations;

· Analyses of programmes that promoted sustainable cultures of peace;

· Analysis of poverty at both the macro and micro levels and specifically in war affected communities;

· Studies on how international NGOs generated, managed and disseminated funds related to crisis intervention;

· A review of appropriate structures for a rapid action force or quick response team which could be quickly mobilized when needed, together with review of mechanisms and structures for providing rapid delivery of programmes and services for affected populations.

Mr. Ken Bush , speaking on Research Issues Related to Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations, indicated that conflicts were often caused or triggered by various types of systemic collapse, ineffective institutions of governance, corruption, imbalance of power, and other factors that weakened the social and political fabric of society and ultimately led to breakdown. The term "reconstruction" was therefore a misnomer, since the aim was not simply to rebuild the system and institutions, which previously existed and failed, but to confront the challenge of creating more effective, transparent and appropriate structures, which would replace the former institutions and sow seeds of sustainability.

It was necessary to know not only what occurred before and during conflict, but also how and when it occurred and what happened at each phase. Research could shed some light on several key issues, such as the points at which economic instability generated violence, at which point bad governance gave way to systemic human rights abuses and mass dislocation of peoples, or when the negative environmental effects of militarisation or exploitation of resources triggered natural disasters. These questions needed to be approached not simply academically, but also as a basis for policy making and development of effective programmatic responses to crisis and conflict.

Early warning led to early action, and therefore it was important to recognise and support indigenous resources that might contribute to early warning, early action, and conflict prevention, as well as peace building and reconstruction. Members of local communities could be instrumental in recognizing early warning indicators by monitoring various types of events and trends. There was a need to mobilize political will to move from warning indicators into timely action efforts.

The most urgent research need was in identifying and understanding the impacts of the interventions made, so as to ascertain whether their effect was positive, and whether their impact would be short lived or long term. It was consequently important to develop the necessary analytical, programming, monitoring and evaluation tools to identify and measure the impact of development and humanitarian projects related to peace and conflict, so as to increase the constructive effects and decrease the destructive ones. The Conflict Impact Assessment was a particularly useful tool in this respect, and could help to mainstream peace and conflict issues into development planning and programming.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Use of case studies to identify and examine the critical moments when non-violent conflict became violent or militarized;

· Identifying and better understanding the constructive opportunities presented by conflict and post-conflict contexts;

· Understanding how the various types of crises were related and linked;

· Understanding how external forces could affect the ability of State actors to respond to conflict;

· Acknowledging that there was often early warning without commensurate early action, indicating that experiences of failed early warning should be documented and reviewed for policy revision at global, regional and national levels;

· Understanding that peace building included deconstruction of the structures of violence as well as construction of structures for peace;

· Learning how to nurture and support indigenous peace building capacities;

· Understanding the impact of the interventions.

Mr. Arve Ofstad , speaking on Research Issues of Relevance for ILO, Relating to Countries in Violent Conflict and Post-War Situations, emphasized that the concept of a "continuum," often used in discussion of conflict, created the artificial impression of a linear progression from violence to an orderly peace process with rehabilitation and reconstruction. It was now recognized that the processes of conflict and its resolution were much less linear and more circular and chaotic, particularly with regard to countries facing protracted internal violence. Moreover, many countries experienced new outbreaks of violence after ratification of peace agreements and even during reconstruction phases.

ILO research might focus on three specific issues: firstly, post-war reintegration of soldiers, combatants and other organized parties to the conflict; returning refugees, IDPs, war widows, orphans, traumatized children, the disabled, and others affected by the conflict; secondly, regional economic development programmes with decentralization of decision making - which could be sensitive in environments with separatist or minority based conflicts - and thirdly, creation of social institutions and mechanisms for conflict resolution, negotiation and bargaining, utilizing experience from tripartite processes in labour disputes.

With regard to research on reintegration issues, there should be a coherent research programme on the short- and long-term effects of various approaches to reintegration of ex-combatants and their organised support groups, taking into account the conditions which had initiated the armed conflict and paying attention to the political, socio-economic and cultural bases for the conflict. In addition, the various approaches to reintegration into economic and social life needed to be analyzed.

In terms of regional economic development and decentralization, it was widely acknowledged that many internal wars were caused by perceived or real discrimination against minority groups on ethnic, religious and socio-cultural grounds, and involved struggles over access to resources, land, education, employment, health care and other vital needs. They might also involve struggles related to rights, identity, pride, self-determination and exclusionary and discriminatory practices. The proposed research programme should therefore analyze experiences of decentralization and devolution of power resulting from post-war peace settlements in the 1990's. The ILO should focus on regional economic development in such cases, with emphasis on economic opportunity, economic integration and balanced regional development.

As a result of its tripartite organization and its emphasis on mechanisms for negotiation and bargaining in the workplace, the ILO already had considerable experience regarding social institutions and mechanisms for conflict resolution. It was therefore in a unique position to assist in the development of processes and mechanisms for conflict resolution. Violent conflicts sometimes erupted due to the lack of such credible institutional mechanisms for settlement of national disputes and conflicting interests. Lack of democratic institutions, lack of trust in such institutions, misuse of power by government and disrespect for minorities were all indicators of a failing system for peaceful settlement of disputes at the level of national governance.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Analysis of the various conditions generating armed conflict and its outcome, and developing a typology;

· Analysis of the various approaches to reintegration into economic and social life;

· Analysis of experiences of decentralization and devolution of power resulting from post-war peace settlements in the 1990's, focusing on regional economic development;

· Analysis of successful models of conflict settlement mechanisms, including those used by the ILO through its tripartite structure, and appropriate adaptation of such models for creating national dispute resolution programmes.

Ms. Mary Chamie speaking on Statistical Assessment and Monitoring of Crisis and Reconstruction, outlined the critical nature of data collection and analysis in crisis and post-crisis settings, indicating that a comprehensive and objective statistical system was a key component of rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. There were three broad programme planning phases where comparable statistics should be prepared under different structural and security conditions. These included emergency related contexts, where statistics were immediately needed to assess the situation; peacekeeping related contexts, in which statistical activities were more likely to focus on building research systems in newly functioning public administration and public policy programmes, and reconstruction related contexts, in which a programme of statistics was needed to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate policies affecting populations and their socio-economic conditions, including the structure and quality of labour markets and the labour forces.

Statistical systems should emphasize transparency, accuracy and reliability of available data. Statistics should be produced using a coordinated and consistent methodological approach, and could vary, depending on the phase of the crisis. Often, a small number of key variables, as few as 10-15, could provide a good picture. Existing systems should be used as far as possible.

Efforts should be made to encourage a harmonised approach to the classifications and definitions used, and the data collected should also be useful in development of long-term programmes.

Research goals included rapid assessment of emergency conditions, creation of a strategy for incorporating research design and statistical plans into basic peacekeeping/ restoration activities, and collection of statistics during reconstruction. In emergency conditions, rapid assessment techniques were sometimes needed to ascertain critical data such as numbers of persons dislocated, imprisoned and reported missing, numbers of casualties; extent of damage and destruction, including damage to infrastructure; rate and volume of movements of populations and access of the population to basic social services.

A key research priority was the development of approaches and methodologies to improve data analysis/policy analysis relationships at various stages of programme assistance in order to address needs at all phases of crisis. The needs included:

· An immediate strategy for rapid assessment and analysis;

· In the mid-term, a strategy for interim analysis;

· In the long-term, quality information and formal statistical analysis under stable conditions;

· In the long-term, continuity in recording experiences for comparison with future situations in order to anticipate future needs, and reviewing strategies for improving services during emergency and post-crisis conditions.

Ms. Lillian Kimani's presentation on Women in Conflict and Post-war Reconstruction, referred to the fact that war and civil strife were widespread in the developing world. Work in conflict contexts and post-war environments absorbed a significant and increasing proportion of the resources of local and international non-governmental organisations. In the last few years the world had witnessed full-scale wars in numerous countries in Africa, Asia and some parts of Europe.

In situations of war or civil conflict all civilians suffered, but there were many gender-specific human rights issues which organizations involved in development, relief, and emergency work needed to be aware of and needed to address in their interventions. War and conflict created specific gender-related difficulties for women, which could be explored further through gender-sensitive research.

Women experienced conflict and crisis in several ways explicitly related to the gender divisions of rights and responsibilities. Class and ethnic differences overlaid this gender-related experience. The violence suffered by some women during conflict could be linked to class and ethnic groupings and differences within their societies. Most reports on women and conflict emphasized the psychological and social impact of conflict situations. But there was a need to focus more attention on the gender related socio-economic impact of war and conflict on women, and their long-term effects on society in general.

The emotional and financial burdens of war, both during and in the aftermath of conflict, had been acknowledged by many commentators. When men were absent, the full weight of family survival fell on women, compelled to take on roles from which they had previously been excluded. This often presented new economic demands and unexpected forms of hardship. Although many women found ways of coping, they continued to feel overwhelmed and to worry excessively about the future of their children.

Many research issues arose in this context, as there was only a limited body of research and evaluations available within aid agencies that included data on the impact of crises on the socio-economics of households and women in conflict in post-war situations. In addition, there was still very little known about displaced women, especially in recent political crises. It was essential that research institutions and aid agencies collected more data on women's issues related to conflict and post-war situations.

Finally, armed conflicts caused massive destruction of physical and economic infrastructure. The difficulties of restructuring the economic and labour systems in the aftermath of war were extreme. Research on aid planning in emergency situations had shown that a community's ability to survive disaster depended on the extent to which it had minimised 'vulnerabilities' and maximised 'capacities." Strengthening women's status and capacities could contribute to the community's ability to withstand the effects of disaster.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Investigating the nature of current and potential crises in countries that had been involved in civil conflicts or wars;

· Undertaking research activities to assist in mapping the incidence of vulnerability among various social groups in crisis situations;

· Assessing the impact of crises and their future effects on the socio-economic conditions of various groups;

· Development of a methodology to systematically address socio-economic issues in crisis and reconstruction programmes;

· In monitoring and evaluation of development and emergency projects, introduction of gender specific monitoring points at all stages of the project cycle and assessing the gender and crisis impact of relief and rehabilitation projects and the involvement of women in project activities;

· Mainstreaming/integration of gender in socio-economic policies and reconstruction programmes;

· Analysis of how post-crisis programmes could best include education and economic empowerment activities and reduce barriers to economic empowerment by women in post-crisis venues.

Mr. Leonce Ndikumana's gave a presentation on Employment challenges in post-conflict reconstruction: Issues and agenda for research. Many developing countries had undergone, or were currently undergoing, recurring armed conflict and cycles of violence. It was imperative to understand the root causes of such intractable conflict, and design policies that could allow these countries to return to a long-term development track. It should be noted that the economic and political spheres were closely intertwined, in the sense that decisions in the economic domain affected and were affected by the political environment.

Reconstruction in post-conflict countries posed serious development challenges:

· Armed conflicts destroyed economic infrastructure and caused high levels of poverty;

· Post conflict countries tended to have a distorted public spending structure (with a heavy proportion of military spending), fiscal deficits and high public debt;

· Post-conflict countries faced severe constraints associated with weak state institutions and lack of mechanisms of effective popular representation;

· These countries were often characterised by high levels of social tensions.

Public employment was an important element of post-conflict reconstruction, both because of the limited size of the private sector and also because of the role of the government in building and rebuilding public infrastructure. As such, public employment could serve as a tool for reconciliation and signal the end of an era of political exclusion. Equity in employment could act as a bonding instrument in countries with a history of social conflicts, since opposition movements generally drew support from segments of the population that felt disenfranchised in their country as a result of exclusion.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Analysis of the central role of employment in the growth process, which could become uneven and fragile if it emphasized solely capital accumulation and trade-led growth, without adequate attention to employment of the general population;

· Exploration of the role of credit systems, often ignored in reconstruction processes in general and in employment promotion in particular. In post-conflict countries, the role of finance and credit systems was essential to the reconstruction process;

· Analysis of the role of discriminatory employment practices in generating conflicts;

· Analysis of the linkages between the employment content of post-conflict reconstruction programmes and economic growth;

· A study of the types of incentive mechanisms which could be offered for employment creation in the private sector;

· A study of how efficient credit systems could be devised to help in the task of employment promotion;

· Analysis of incentives and disincentives for armed conflict among different sectors.

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

The presentations clearly showed that research on armed conflict environments needed to address not only the central political differences themselves, but the underlying social, cultural and economic problems that led to the situation. The following themes highlighted by the presenters were further analyzed and developed during the plenary discussion. Among them:

Ø Armed conflicts disrupted societies and communities in profound and protracted ways and international organizations could play an important role in addressing them. One of the principal impacts, which warranted study, especially from the perspective of the ILO, was the loss of assets, resources, employment and sources of income for large segments of the population.

Ø The impact of armed conflicts on rural and urban areas was very different and needed to be studied so the findings could be used in the development of reconstruction plans. Post-crisis reconstruction programmes should be tailored to the specific area context.

Ø Research into political and armed conflict should involve experts in economics, anthropology, sociology and others from the broad social science spectrum.

Ø Adaptation of the tripartite approach of the ILO could be an appropriate mechanism for conflict settlement;

Ø Research into methodologies for applying tripartism to conflict settlement could prove very useful.

Ø Employment data had to be collected to develop employment profiles and study potential conflict coping mechanisms.

Chair:Mr. Eddy Lee

Panel: Mr. Guillermo Garcia-Huidobro

Mr. Mauricio Leon

Mr. E. Lee opened the session by remarking that the boundaries of different types of crises were not always clear-cut, since there were linkages and points of intersection between and among all of them. For example, financial and economic disruptions often accompanied or triggered processes of social and political transition, and vice versa. Collective action often led to institutional failures, such as the herding behaviour that was generally observed in collapsing financial markets. Thus, structural economic reforms were needed, while at the same time priority must be given to strengthening social policies. Social protection could help to prevent the negative effects of economic reform.

Inaccurate predictions and use of inadequate tools for measurement could result in policies that aggravated crisis rather than mitigated it. It was important to develop the right financial architecture to design appropriate political-economic solutions to such crises. This involved choosing the right type of research to support policies that advocated the social dimension in government macro-economic policy, and deciding how best the unfulfilled economic needs of communities and populations emerging from crisis could be met.

Simply determining which socio-political system was best, or developing generic policies that addressed transition processes was not sufficient. Rather, it was important to devise solutions that addressed the high social costs involved in economic transitions and develop the appropriate structural reforms to deal with both the social and the economic sides of the equation.

Mr. Guillermo García-Huidobro spoke on Economic and Financial Crises. He noted that economic theory recognised the close link between macroeconomic issues and labour markets. Nevertheless, the ILO seldom joined the other international organisations that advised governments on stabilisation policies at the moment when key decisions were being made. The ILO tended to participate at a later stage, when social emergency programmes had to be designed to compensate for the social costs of economic measures in terms of open unemployment and falling real wages.

Stabilization policies were not unique; there might be several options, which could achieve similar results, and the ILO should get involved in proposing options that minimized negative impacts on labour markets, especially in terms of unemployment and wages. In order to participate in the early stages, the ILO should strengthen its research and experience in labour-related macroeconomic policies.

The ILO's objectives should be tied to medium- and long-term perspectives rather than exclusively the short-term. This could contribute to facilitating the transition from short- term stabilization to long-term structural change. There was a spectrum of alternative structural adjustment schemes that were compatible with alternative economic styles and effective labour market arrangements.

The promotion by ILO of tripartite programmes to address economic and financial crises could allow the agency to become involved at earlier stages of the process and would help to elicit input from civil society actors. Stabilization policies defined - explicitly or otherwise - the relative burden workers and employers would have to share. The ILO had considerable experience in reaching such consensual agreements with regard to labour market adjustments. Programmes that had been openly discussed with social partners were more likely to succeed.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Development of mechanisms to give priority to the various crises and their elements, so that the ILO could further pursue its central goals;

· Developing tools based on existing ILO instruments and methodologies that could help resolve those elements of crises related to the ILO mandate;

· Ensuring that ILO research addressed the short, medium and long terms, and which instruments and methodologies were required for each phase.

Mr. Mauricio León spoke about Ecuador: Crises, dollarisation, vulnerability and social protection. He noted that developing countries could be vulnerable to a variety of types and levels of crisis, often simultaneously. Over the past two decades Ecuador had suffered the impact of natural disasters (the destruction of infrastructure and agricultural production by El Niño in 1982-83 and 1997-98, and an earthquake in 1987 that broke the oil pipeline and interrupted oil exports), armed border conflicts with Peru (1981 and 1995), the debt crisis of 1982, declining petroleum export prices (1986 and 1998) and an economic and financial crisis (1998-99).

A number of elements in the crisis in Ecuador had further aggravated the situation:

· Certain macroeconomic policies, particularly the recent adoption of the dollar, had made the country extremely vulnerable to exogenous shocks;

· Ecuador's weak political institutions could not deal effectively with social conflicts, thus increasing the country's vulnerability, a situation further exacerbated by accusations of corruption against numerous government administrations over the last decade;

· The constant exposure to natural, economic and political instability translated into a loss of physical, human, social, and financial capital, which in turn weakened the country's capacity to face future crises;

· The almost complete absence of a culture of prevention, both in the political arena as well as within the general population, intensified the country's vulnerability to crisis. Furthermore, responses to crisis tended to be highly inefficient. The increasing weakness of the public institutional sector was a special factor in Ecuador's vulnerability.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes, and questions included the following:

· Establishing how the various types of crisis affected the living conditions of the population, particularly of vulnerable groups;

· Determining how affected groups, particularly the poor, coped with crisis;

· Deciding which were the key components of a good social protection system that responded to crisis and helped reduce structural poverty;

· Determining the best institutional design for a social protection system;

· Developing ways in which short-term social protection could be linked to medium-term reduction of poverty and creation of employment opportunities;

· Improving the capabilities of public and non-governmental institutions to respond to particular crises;

· Determining how social programmes could be optimized during a crisis and how social benefits could be targeted more efficiently;

· Achieving a suitable balance between macroeconomic stability and social protection;

· Establishing how economic and social policies could be effectively linked, the kind of institutions needed, and how macroeconomic adjustment programmes could protect social spending.

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Four key themes emerged in the group discussion on research related to economic and financial crises:

· Emphasis should be placed on studying the role of various measures and interventions relating to employment, income creation and social protection before, during, and after crisis, in mitigating the adverse effects of shocks during the short run and over the longer term;

· Research on the particular impacts of shocks on the formal and informal sectors and on urban and rural environments, in both the short and long run;

· Research on the special impacts on particular groups of workers, such as the poor, the unskilled and women;

· Studies on the impact of economic crises on the quality of jobs (wages, standards, security). There should be a system of early warning indicators of potential employment crises. The system should be continuous, updated periodically and encompass all sectors, and local communities should also become involved in early warning programmes. A key tool in this type of activity could be surveys that asked specific questions, such as how workers adjust their expenditures in times of crisis.

Chair: Mr. Rashid Amjad

Panel: Mr. Ted McDonald

Mr. Boris Vujcic

Mr. Nader Said

Mr. Ruben Zamora

Ms. Alena Nesporova

Mr. R. Amjad opened the session by acknowledging the diversity of the programme participants and stressing the need to include the term 'economic' as a key aspect of any transition process. He reminded the group of the importance of the initial questions raised by the Director of IFP/CRISIS, Ms. Eugenia Date-Bah, in her introductory remarks. (See Session I.)

Although there were certain universal impacts, it was necessary to distinguish between crises. In the case of social and political transitions, smooth processes were essential to prevent future crises. International organizations played an important role in ensuring that social factors were taken into account in developing transition programmes. Indonesia was a case in point, where long term stability of the political economic system could only be ensured if the democratic institutions were strengthened; yet neither the World Bank nor the IMF had addressed this element in their economic stabilization programmes.

There was a significant increase in the importance of "global time" as opposed to "local time". In the past, national developments were primarily influenced by local and national forces. More recently, as the spread of the Asian financial crisis throughout the world demonstrated, global forces exerted a wider influence. Nevertheless, local forces and cultures continued to exist. When addressing difficult social and political transitions it was now necessary to consider both the global and local elements.

Mr. Ted McDonald covered the topic of Research Thoughts on Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169. He focused on particular indigenous peoples of the Americas who had been the beneficiaries of recent ILO policies and programmes. Indigenous people were often the most economically and politically marginalized groups in their respective countries. While crises often produced problems related to obtaining or losing wage employment, the greatest portion of this population suffered indirectly through disruption of their traditional economies and life styles, rapid political changes, troubled national economies, hyperinflation, decreased opportunities to participate in labour or retail markets and similar phenomena over which they had little control or influence.

Current crises affecting indigenous populations in the Americas included armed conflict (Colombia), abrupt financial and economic downturns (Ecuador), and difficult social and political transitions (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru). While these events had generated an initial body of literature, there had been little objective research and no crisis had yet produced a broadly accepted response process. The marginalization of indigenous people was often exacerbated by an absence of genuine dialogue in which they were included.

ILO Convention No. 169 served as a useful illustration of some of the dilemmas surrounding crisis response. Convention No. 169 provided for a broad range of civil, political, social and economic rights for indigenous and tribal peoples. However, country-specific interpretations of the articles were often plagued by local disputes, while indigenous actors sought greater involvement in the definition of rules and regulations, as a means to provide them with a sense of ownership and security. Their responses thus reflected a broad concern for inclusion and full participation.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions, included the following:

· Finding out the genuine concerns of indigenous people through research taking advantage of ILO Convention 169;

· Training and trust-building of indigenous populations based on Convention 169, through such means as establishing various types of dialogue, including social dialogue, and using appropriate tools and methodologies for promoting inclusiveness of indigenous peoples;

· Developing a database on indigenous populations, since information regarding the effects of conflict on marginalized populations was limited. Research should be undertaken to obtain analytically useful data.

Mr. Boris Vujcic delivered a presentation entitled The Labour Market Problems During the War and Transition. The process of transition from planned to market economies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was characterised by deep structural changes throughout entire national economies. These rapid changes in economic structure were immediately reflected in the labour market. This was due to the fact that the demand for labour was derived from the demand for goods and services that it helped to produce. Therefore, the analysis of the labour market created a complementary background for an analysis of the overall structure of a particular economy and its developments during the transition.

Undoubtedly, the dominant characteristic of the early phase of the transition process was a sharp decline in output, productivity and investment. In the labour market, this was reflected in decreasing levels of employment and rapidly increasing unemployment, and an accelerated change in the employment structure. In almost all of the transition countries unemployment increased sharply, creating a difficult situation at the very beginning of the transition process. At the same time, inequalities also substantially increased. Therefore, the transition process had generated critical problems, which were almost non-existent before. Policymakers were likely to focus more on these problems in coming years, as other aspects of transition, such as stabilization, privatization and liberalization, were also undertaken.

Following the recession in the early years of transition, many transition countries had experienced recovery in productivity, investment and GDP growth. However, unemployment continued to rise even well after the productivity and output had started to grow. Many analysts regarded rapid increases in unemployment as a "normal" sign of the necessary restructuring taking place in a transition country. Although this might be a valid perspective, the fact that the unemployment levels increased dramatically and remained high, was reason for serious concern. The problem of high unemployment had to be dealt with, regardless of its roots.

Croatia was an interesting example of transition. The employment and unemployment situation mirrored output developments at the beginning of the transition, but failed to reflect the output and productivity recovery experienced in the second stage of transition. As in other transition countries, employment fell and unemployment rose very quickly once the transition process started. Since the beginning of the transition the total number of employed persons had fallen by more than 400,000, or one quarter of the total pre-transition employment level, and the unemployment rate had risen to 12.6 per cent (based on ILO concepts). At the same time, the shadow economy had grown.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Understanding the nature of the unemployment problem in transitional countries in order to develop effective policies to address it;

· The first phase of labour market restructuring, dominated by job reduction, appeared to have ended. It was important to determine how to begin the second, more difficult phase, in which the speed of job creation should outpace the speed of job destruction;

· Establishing how countries undergoing future transitions could learn from the experiences of Eastern Europe;

· Determining an approach to the problem posed by high taxation levels in transitional countries, particularly payroll taxes. Such taxes were not conducive to employment, but at the same time taxes could not be lowered because of the large number of inactive people, either retired or unemployed, needing support.

Mr. Nader Said's presentation covered Research Issues Relating to Political and Social Transition (A Case Study of Palestine). Palestine was still undergoing the transition which had started in 1993. Despite the achievements of recent years, such as the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Palestinian land, and the granting to Palestinians of responsibility over social and economic development, the Israeli occupation continued to maintain control, in different ways and to varying degrees. More than 80 per cent of the lands of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were under Israeli control, and Israel was still isolating the two regions from each other while closing Jerusalem to both regions. Israel also retained control over natural resources, including water and nature preserves as well as military control over borders and border crossings Given this dependence on Israel, it remained impossible to build an independent, autonomously planned Palestinian economy.

The human development indicators in Palestine were very low and the Palestinian economy remained vulnerable. About 23 per cent of people were below the poverty line, on the basis of a low poverty level of $350 per year. About 75 per cent of the total poor population were working poor. Palestine's peculiar political and economic situation appeared to have fostered economic growth without sustainable employment: a situation in which employment was not available to all, and where the poor were getting poorer and the rich richer.

Many of the research issues for transitional societies could be applied to the Palestinian context. Therefore, the research issues outlined may be relevant to other transitional societies as well. The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Analysis of the relationship between political processes and the economic transformations in transition states, especially as they relate to workers' rights and employment;

· In transitional periods, the role of international donors and agencies became larger. It was necessary to determine how this funding was influencing employment. Did it generate sustainable jobs? What kinds of employment opportunities were generated? Were the jobs for the poor, or for the middle class and the educated?

· Establishing how the participation of groups and institutions that fought to achieve change could be ensured during transitional periods;

· Deciding what should be done about the large number of groups, such as women, migrant labourers and refugees, driven into even greater marginalization during transitional periods?

· The participation of women in the labour force was a serious developmental issue, which required study, if solutions were to be found in harmony with other economic, population and cultural issues.

Mr. Rubén Zamora presented a paper on the subject of El Salvador: From Peace Process to Partial Consolidation of Democracy. The Salvadoran peace process had been presented as one of the successful cases of transition from war to peace and from military authoritarianism to democracy. Ten years after the implementation of the Chapultepec Agreement, its strengths and weaknesses could be analysed. This would be useful not only for Salvadoran society, but also for other countries experiencing similar processes of transition. Transition, in this case, related to the socio-economic and political transformations that were necessary as part of the peace process to end the cycle of protracted conflict.

The success of peace negotiations that put an end to twelve years of civil war (1980-1992) had pushed Salvadoran society into a four stranded transition process that was still continuing:

· Transition from war to peace, with the cease-fire and overall reduction and disarmament of both the military and the guerrilla forces. This transition was accomplished with considerable success;

· Political transition, with a movement away from a militaristic regime towards demilitarized politics: probably the most important accomplishment of the peace agreements. The "guerrilla" movement reconstituted itself into a political party. The success of this transition was demonstrated by the fact that the party of the former "guerrillas" was one of the two most influential forces in the country, while the Armed Forces no longer played an important role in politics;

· Change in the conception and practice of politics, from an exclusively authoritarian regime to democracy. Torture, political detentions and illegal detainment had disappeared as routine security force practice. Public liberties had increased substantially, as had political dialogue in the early years after the agreements. However, in the last five years there had been a tendency towards re-polarization of social and political life;

· There was also a postponed transition, involving social and economic exclusion. The peace agreements had not addressed this issue systematically, beyond identifying measures to compensate and reintegrate ex-combatants, war-handicapped and relatives of fallen fighters. A discussion mechanism between government, workers and business leaders, the Social Economic Forum, had been established, but little had been done to make it operational.

Although there was no doubt that Salvadoran society had been profoundly modified by the peace process, and there was recognition among all sectors that the transformation was real and irreversible, there were still problems. Firstly, there was recent, but increasing, disenchantment with democracy. Secondly, the re-polarization of political life had raised many further concerns. In recent years politicians and the electorate again appeared to be taking up extreme positions. Thirdly, the polarization of social life had meant that social conflicts, which were forgotten in the effort to achieve peace, had resurfaced and needed to be addressed.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Macroeconomic policies recommended by international financial institutions and donors focussed on the reduction of public expenditures and the role of the state. This was contrary to the policies adopted by national governments. The first victims were social programmes, which were precisely the type of programmes most needed during post-conflict reconstruction. It was important to reflect on the special nature of post-crisis reconstruction and to identify possible mechanisms to ensure that the role of the state and funding for programmes in this area were not reduced;

· Salvadoran experience suggests that another critical area of research was the design of reintegration programmes for former combatants. In El Salvador former combatants were given land, on the assumption that after the war they would want to return to agricultural activities. This assumption was erroneous, as many of them no longer had an interest in farming. Great care was called for in the design of methodologies to deal with the reintegration needs of former fighters.

· Research should also be carried out on the process and institutions for a collective national dialogue, involving all the social actors. Peace negotiations could not cover all topics; for political and economic progress to be made, the proper institutional mechanisms needed to be developed.

Ms. Alena Nesporova delivered a paper entitled Comments on Transitions. She pointed out that after initial painful transitions, most of the former centrally planned economies in Eastern Europe had returned to growth. However, only three countries had been able to exceed their pre-reform levels - Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland, with Hungary close to achieving it. Many other countries - such as Moldova, Tajikistan and Georgia - had gone through serious adjustments, losing up to one third of their pre-reform GDPs. Social effects of adjustment had now begun to appear, most critically in terms of unemployment and accelerated deskilling.

Younger, flexible and more mobile individuals found it easier to adapt, while less mobile workers, mainly women with small children, had experienced serious problems adjusting. Poverty affected a high proportion of the population in some countries, and the situation was worsened by further problems relating to differences in access to, and quality of, education, and access to health services.

Employment and social policies had not so far proven effective, and other approaches should be sought. Since active labour market policies could not solve all the problems, attention should be given to broader economic policies. The critical issue was how to speed up structural adjustment with minimum social cost.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions were as follows:

· Identification of the lessons to be learned from the Eastern European experience of transition that could be useful to other countries undergoing similar processes of transition;

· Determining the types of systems needed to address the social effects of adjustment, especially with respect to re-skilling;

· Establishing the role played by employment and social policies in facilitating the process of structural adjustment.

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

Three important questions emerged from the group discussions:

1) To what extent did the social agenda become increasingly important in the latter stages of transition?

2) To what extent was tripartite social dialogue a useful exercise during and following political and social transitions? When was it most useful and what were its limitations?

3) What methodologies could be employed to ensure, to the extent possible, that adequate attention was paid to vulnerable groups, notably women, ex-combatants and children?

Additional points and comments raised by participants included:

Ø Institutions needed to deal with the expectations raised by transitions, otherwise social discontent would emerge as a powerful force to be addressed.

Ø Conflicts and transitions tended to generate a cascade of mini-crises that affected workers in general.

Ø Ways should be sought to use training more effectively, to mitigate the discomfort of transition processes.

Ø Transition processes caused countries to lose capital, especially human capital. Ways should be sought to mitigate this problem through training, and by ensuring that people were appropriately skilled for available jobs.

Ø Transition processes often caused growth of employment in the informal sector. It was important to know more about the nature and conditions of such work.

Ø External factors such as terms of trade vulnerability and the burden of debt were very important.

Ø Economists should work with other social scientists to devise appropriate timing of adjustment policies, especially regarding the interaction between political and economic transitions.

Session 5: Natural Disasters>

Chair:Mr. Rizwanul Islam

Panel:Ms. Zenaida Delica

Ms. Patricia Delaney

Mr. Charles Setchell

Mr. Patrick Dumazert

Ms. Monica Trujillo

Mr. Krishna Pribadi

Ms. Elaine Enarson

Mr. R. Islam opened the session by outlining a series of broad questions for reflection in post-crisis intervention, particularly after natural disaster. What kind of research was required and would be most helpful in developing knowledge which would lead to direct action? Why should the ILO become involved in research, and what type of research agenda was most suitable, given ILO's expertise and mandate? What kind of research would be most helpful when thinking about designing informal income generation and social protection programmes in a post-crisis context? What were the time frames that should be imposed? What was the nature of the linkages between the various types of crises and how extensive were these interconnections?

Ms. Monica Trujillo made a presentation on Disaster Preparedness: the Gender Dimension. The IFP/CRISIS mandate to address the employment challenges of crisis and respond to crisis effectively must involve addressing the root causes of crisis and the concomitant short- and long- term needs. There was therefore a need for early warning systems, crisis preparedness, emergency assistance, rehabilitation and development Crises could not be considered purely in terms of universal calamities: their effects were determined by the level of vulnerability of the affected population and national and local capacities to cope and respond effectively. Levels of food security, poverty, access to producing resources and access to employment and income generating activities, could increase or decrease the impact of a crisis.

Thus, disaster preparedness measures should partly aim at reducing the level of vulnerability of individuals and communities, and at strengthening their coping capacities.

Disaster preparedness activities could be built into development initiatives by promoting sustainable practices, mainstreaming preparedness and strengthening coping capacities. While the gender dimension of natural disaster preparedness had not been fully explored, there had been regional initiatives to improve gender-related responses to emergencies, with the aim of promoting women's participation in the prevention and mitigation of disasters. Research on local knowledge to provide a basis for policy and programming decisions was the key to the implementation of disaster prevention strategies.

Vulnerability mapping and capacity mapping could prove useful. Vulnerability mapping could help determine which specific population groups were most likely to be affected by particular types of crisis (for example, the landless, farmers, wage labourers and women), and by extension, which groups should be specifically monitored and targeted for disaster assistance. It could also identify why specific population groups were vulnerable, and how efforts could be undertaken to decrease destructive impacts and increase capacities for coping with and responding to crisis.

Similarly, capacity mapping could be instrumental in identifying a range of skills and economic activities that were sustainable when confronted by crisis, and which should therefore be promoted and mainstreamed in development programmes. Capacity mapping could also serve to identify local, national and international organizations involved in disaster prevention, for the purposes of networking and collaboration. Such linkages with other agencies and institutions already doing disaster-related work was vital.

Gender considerations could play an important role in the development of early warning systems, therefore, the speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Establishing how women's access to employment or income-generating activities was limited by insecurity and violence against them;

· Working out how gender-sensitive mechanisms could be built at the community level for monitoring the potential for armed conflict;

· Developing techniques and strategies for vulnerability mapping to determine which specific population groups were more vulnerable to crises;

· Establishing techniques and strategies for capacity mapping in order to identify the range of skills and economic activities that were sustainable in the face of crisis.

Ms. Patricia L. Delaney gave a presentation on The View From the Bottom: The Socio-cultural context of natural disasters. There was a growing awareness of the relationship between bad development practices and increased disaster impact in the developing world. Many scholars therefore recognized that the line between "natural" and "human-induced" disasters had become blurred. Little data had been collected and analysed on the social and cultural context of disaster prevention, response and reconstruction at grassroots levels. It was helpful to approach the question from a holistic perspective: vulnerability to disaster; capacities and responses; disasters and social change; economics and socio-cultural context, and research priorities and methodological considerations.

Thus, the degree to which groups and individuals were vulnerable to particular natural hazards was shaped largely by existing economic, social and political systems. As stratification increased, vulnerability to disaster increased for those at the bottom of the hierarchy, whether due to poverty, disability, nomadism, minority ethnic status, political affiliation, age, illiteracy, or for a wide range of other reasons. Increased vulnerability also meant greater likelihood of destructive impact, reduced ability to cope effectively, and less likelihood of timely reintegration following a disaster.

The most significant social indicator of vulnerability to disaster was poverty, partly because poor families tended to live in sub-standard housing with poor infrastructure, but also because the poor were also least likely to receive or have access to sufficient aid.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Vulnerability to disaster:

q Determining which were the most salient vulnerabilities in natural disasters and which were the best research methods for uncovering those vulnerabilities;

q Establishing whether there was a correlation between natural disaster and social vulnerability;

q Determining ways in which existing models of geophysical vulnerability could be modified to include social vulnerability as well (e.g. community risk maps).

· Local-level capacities and responses to disaster:

q Determining local perceptions of disaster risk and seeing how these conceptions could be incorporated into early warning systems, evacuation plans, etc.;

q Fixing the likely range of responses in a disaster setting, and establishing which interventions would best support those existing responses;

q Working out how best to mobilize local capacities;

q Determining the point at which local coping mechanisms had been exhausted;

q Finding ways to include household-level skills and capacities in response planning.

· Disasters and socio-cultural change:

q Determining which fundamental causes could be addressed in the aftermath of a disaster, which were most likely to be positively changed and which should be left alone;

q Establishing how disaster specialists could move beyond well-intentioned assumptions about social roles, to utilization of local conceptions of social roles and responsibilities;

q Designing responses to meet both short-term relief needs and also stimulate longer-term social change.

· Economics and socio-cultural context:

q Determining how and to what extent the informal economy was affected by natural disasters;

q Deciding which social structures could be mobilized to decrease the time lag to economic reintegration (e.g. day-care centres in shelters);

q Working out how best to minimize external aid and maximize domestic production in the short-term;

q Determining the specific economic impacts at the household level;

Mr. Charles Setchell , speaking on Socio-Economic Issues Related to Natural and Human-Caused Disasters: Initial Thoughts on A Research agenda, suggested that several recent and emerging trends had dramatically altered the environment in which humanitarian and development organizations worked. These included rapid population growth and rapid urban population growth, particularly in developing countries; growing demands for a wide range of services; regional differences in urban growth; changes in age structure; widespread and growing poverty; environmental degradation and loss of global bio-diversity, and an increase in the vulnerability of millions of people to natural and human-caused disasters. These trends suggested the need for re-thinking the way intervention was addressed, and this in turn created additional demands for research and analysis.

New responses to crisis involved taking multi-faceted approaches to the reduction of multiple-hazard environments, establishing linkages between debt reduction and hazard reduction, and increasing livelihood opportunities through programme support. Studies of the socio-economic impacts of disaster operations should be undertaken to identify opportunities to both support beneficial effects and mitigate adverse effects, and the impact of disaster operations on local housing and labour markets should be a priority.

Several factors could work to undermine greater understanding of the linkages between disasters and livelihood/income-generating activities:

· Funding. Funds were declining at a time when severe need was growing. This increased pressure to implement disaster mitigation programmes as surrogates for development programmes;

· "Bottom-line" thinking. This type of thinking suggested that the only reliable project results were those which were quantifiable via cost-benefit analysis;

· Philosophy. There were long standing conceptual and institutional walls between the humanitarian and development communities, which could impede necessary collaboration and cooperation efforts;

· Periodicity. The "payoff" of investments in disaster mitigation programmes was perceived by many only if the disaster event was repeated shortly after programmes were implemented, so that donors could measure or monitor the results of interventions;

· Marketing. While marketing strategies could generate attention and resource allocations, they could undermine needs, which might also be urgent, but less immediately compelling to the international community.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions, included the following:

· Identifying new research activities which could provide the ILO and other agencies with the information needed to make the case for higher levels of international assistance;

· Designing research activities which could demonstrate the linkages between disaster and development activities, particularly with regard to employment generation;

· Establishing the types of sectoral activities which had the greatest potential for employment generation in the aftermath of disaster or crisis;

· Determining how causality could be measured more accurately over time, and which research activities could be used to trace the impact of programmes more accurately over a protracted time period.

Ms. Zenaida Delica , in her paper entitled Enhancing Women's Capacity to Manage and Recover from Disasters, highlighted the importance of documenting the capacities and coping strategies of women during disasters. Such documentation would assist in designing programmes to enhance these capacities. This would help women to resist disasters effectively, and set them on the road to recovery and reintegration.

60 per cent of the world's population lived in Asia, where 40 per cent of its disaster events took place; this represented over 80 per cent of the total human impact of disasters. Lack of employment opportunities, leading to poverty, greatly increased the vulnerability of individuals and groups. Indeed, unemployment in Asia was a significant problem, dramatically compounded by disasters. Even in non-disaster conditions, more and more men were forced to leave their homes to search for income-generating activities, leaving women as heads of households and families. In addition, women were expected to increase the household income by earning themselves, while having full responsibility for children, family and home.

When a disaster or emergency struck the community, the responsibilities of women increased enormously. The disaster could result in loss of income, loss of harvest and even loss of household facilities, such as arrangements for cooking, all of which seriously affected women. At the same time they were subject to discrimination based on gender, age and religious factors.

Nevertheless no extensive analysis of women's capacities and capabilities during and after crisis had been undertaken. Such studies should come under the heading of preparedness, so that during emergencies, these capacities could be validated and utilized. This should be done within the community-based disaster management framework. Women's input should be considered in formulating action plans and programmes. Disaster could provide the opportunity for development, and the international community could take advantage of these opportunities by organizing women and providing training and education. The skills they already possessed could be developed as a basis for future employment.

Further research was therefore needed to assess what capacities should be enhanced and what responses would benefit from existing capacities, and to this extent there was a general need to document the experiences of women during and after disasters more fully.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Finding the best strategies available to assist women in overcoming the challenges posed by natural disaster situations;

· Developing ways to enhance women's coping and survival mechanisms and strategies;

· Determining how government and bi-lateral assessment instruments could register the capacities as well as the needs of women who had survived natural disasters;

· Capitalising on the analysis of capacities as a preparedness measure;

· Determining how women's capacities could be best included in the formulation of plans and action for prevention and mitigation;

· Deciding what types of training should be provided for women and men in post-crisis communities;

Establishing how capacity assessments could contribute to enhancing the future of women who had survived natural disasters, and how it could also lead to future employment opportunities.

Ms. Elaine Enarson , in a paper on Gender Issues in Natural Disasters, Talking Points and Research Needs, stated that gender had been neglected in disaster research, planning and practice. It had a strong influence in shaping human responses to disaster, both directly and indirectly, and that women were particularly affected by the social impacts of natural disasters. Indeed, gender inequality was a root cause of women's disaster vulnerability, making them disproportionately affected by disaster.

However, the effects of disaster on women were not universal or identical; highly vulnerable women had specific and variable needs before, during and after crisis; gender shaped capacity as well as vulnerability and although women were often regarded exclusively as helpless victims, they had great capacities for resourceful and proactive responses to crisis. It was therefore imperative that gender issues be effectively integrated into disaster research, planning and organizational practice.

This could be achieved more effectively through supporting a comprehensive gender-based research agenda to identify needs of disaster-vulnerable women; supporting action research projects for women at-risk in vulnerable communities; including women from vulnerable social groups as partners in community based disaster planning; developing relevant materials for training; increasing awareness of gender bias in disaster management practice, and identifying factors that could decrease gender bias in organisational and institutional disaster practice and response.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Seeking effective models for integrating gender analysis into disaster planning;

· Establishing how information on gender perspectives could be transferred to practitioners and policy-makers;

· Defining which social indicators best predicted the relative impact of natural disasters on women and men, girls and boys, and determining whether gender-specific data on these points were available to planners;

· Establishing the different ways in which men and women responded to, and were affected by natural disasters, including exposure, losses and ability to recover;

· Determining the degree to which gender-related disaster vulnerability patterns had been included in the design and implementation of emergency response and reconstruction policies, and with what effect;

· Establishing which social indicators best predicted vulnerabilities;

· Finding out which models existed for the successful integration of gender into pre-disaster vulnerability assessments;

· Determining the specific short-term needs of highly vulnerable girls and women in specific contexts;

· Researching documented models of effective integration of community-based women's groups into disaster planning and response efforts.

Mr. Krishna Pribadi, in a presentation on Disaster Mitigation and Employment Issues, observed that disaster at its simplest level could be considered as the interaction between various types of hazards and vulnerable conditions, causing severe losses to individuals, communities and the environment. There were, however, differences between disasters caused by natural events and those produced by civil conflict and other man-made hazards. Prolonged civil conflict disrupted the entire society and its institutions, rendering them inactive during the recovery period after a natural disaster.

Disaster management measures included prevention, mitigation, preparedness, emergency response (during or after impact) and recovery. In a disaster management cycle, immediate development projects could be a link between disaster related activities and long-term national development, which involved social and institutional development in addition to rehabilitation of physical infrastructure. It was important to consider the effects of a disaster on the future policies of national development in order to benefit from the opportunities created by the disaster, and equally to ensure that future development did not create further disaster problems or exacerbate existing vulnerabilities.

Mitigation programmes could be successful if preceded by proper risk assessment processes to better understand potential future threats. There were various approaches to disaster mitigation initiatives - regional, national or local - depending on the administrative level of the institution taking the initiative. Temporary employment opportunities could be created during crisis situations, such as the construction of temporary shelters and restoration of infrastructure during the emergency response phase, or physical rehabilitation and reconstruction works during the recovery phase.

Mitigation programmes and employment programmes could be directly related. Well- planned mitigation programmes could create employment opportunities by generating the professional jobs necessary to the different phases of mitigation, including the implementation of physical works and structural programmes. It was critical that various stakeholders should be involved in planning a mitigation programme where employment issues were taken into account. A sustainable mitigation programme should be able to provide both immediate and long-term income-generation opportunities.

The speaker's list of research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· Research on mitigation methods and tools involving the creation of sustainable employment opportunities should be encouraged. The benefit of creating job opportunities should be taken into account in the cost-benefit analysis of mitigation measures;

· Lessons learned from various global crisis responses and reconstruction experiences should be documented and disseminated. Manuals and guidelines for response and reconstruction phases of various crises emerging from different types of hazards, taking into account employment issues, should be developed and promoted. The manuals should also contain methodologies for assessing real needs in generating sustainable employment;

· Employment was a critical aspect of disaster management and disaster mitigation. Many important issues related to employment opportunities, vulnerability reduction and mitigation programmes were interlinked and should be considered as a whole.

Mr. Patrick Dumazert examined Responses to Crisis and Reconstruction -Research Issues related to Natural Disasters. The impact of natural disasters was worsened by existing socio-economic difficulties. Research should focus on existing conditions of latent crisis that could turn natural events into crisis. A research agenda should thus concentrate on understanding change processes that positively or negatively affected the opportunities and capacity of actors to react to them. This included the processes of transformation, where close attention should be paid to policies, norms, action plans and resource allocations, since these could generate a positive long-term outcome from a crisis.

As the principal topics in any research agenda on crisis responses, it was essential to consider:

· The people, local experiences and the portfolio of existing skills and capacities;

· The most beneficial types of 'reactive' initiatives, such as reconstruction plans;

· Post-crisis activities and programmes that could prevent or mitigate future crises.

Researchers should not be limited to looking at vulnerabilities and capacity deficits, but also community resources and capabilities. However, under the heading of vulnerabilities, the peoples' own perceptions of the threats existing in their environment should feature; this would ensure that the knowledge and capacity building programme was specifically applicable to them.

In addressing the issue of reconstruction, external actors tended to recreate what existed before, rather than take the opportunity to effect important, far-reaching changes. Adopting an innovative and creative approach to rebuilding and reshaping structures could improve and transform systems. Prevention was a relatively recent topic in public policy discourse. Even after many decades of fostering development, the Conference of the International Decade for Reduction of Natural Disasters emphasized that given the increased propensity for natural disasters in recent years, human activities could increase vulnerability to disasters. Since social vulnerability due to poverty represented substantial element of the cause, it followed that one of the best prevention policies was sustainable, equitable economic development.

The speaker's list of key research priorities, themes and questions included the following:

· The human factor, apart from physical and material needs, should be taken into account when developing research agendas for post-crisis contexts, thus creating a multi-tiered knowledge base addressing all levels, including the social, organizational, psycho-social and cognitive levels;

· Strategies should be adopted to enlist the aid of external actors, including actors such as development banks, to address reconstruction strategies and create innovative policies and programmes to mitigate crisis impacts.

Highlights of plenary discussion following panel presentations

The participants approached the problem of natural disasters from a variety of perspectives, based on the experiences of many countries. Some of the most important themes that emerged during their discussions included:

Ø The need to emphasize disaster preparedness: natural disasters, to some extent, could be foreseen, depending on the geographic location or the natural history of particular countries and regions. This meant that for areas prone to certain types of natural phenomena, specific mitigating and response mechanisms and budgeting procedures should be developed in advance. Although natural disasters could not be prevented, their effects could be mitigated by an adequate preparedness plan. As international institutions executed response plans for natural disasters, they should also plant the seeds for development of preparedness plans for future disasters of the same type;

Ø Disaster preparedness was directly linked to vulnerability, both social and economic. Addressing the underlying social and economic factors that made people vulnerable to natural disasters, such as extreme poverty, was one of the most effective mechanisms of mitigation;

Ø Reconstruction after natural disasters often involved external actors who created little or no long-term employment for the affected population, and did not build on the capacity base of the local population. The ILO approach of employment-intensive reconstruction, combined with locally-based involvement, should be encouraged and promoted among international institutions;

Ø Linking debt relief to programmes of hazard mitigation could be one of the most effective ways to induce countries to engage in disaster preparedness;

Ø It was important to think not only in terms of community vulnerability, but also in terms of the capacities of individuals, households and communities to galvanize their personal strengths and resources to overcome the obstacles produced by crisis collectively;

Ø It was critical to understand the gender elements of disaster impacts, as disasters often affected women and men in different ways. There was also a need to develop gender-coping strategies for post-disaster reconstruction. In addition, the psychological and social effects of disasters on children was often overlooked;

Ø One of the problems created by disasters was the withdrawal of long-term business capital. It was important to analyze how this could be prevented and determine the types of incentives that could be offered to the private sector to encourage continued investment;

Ø The ILO should seek to include advancement of employment opportunities and opportunities for income generation in its disaster response plans;

Ø In recent years many creative financing mechanisms had been developed that incorporated environmental protection and disaster preparedness, for example, the debt for nature swaps that prevented soil erosion and mitigated the impacts of floods. Research should be conducted on debt swaps and other creative mechanisms of this type in addressing disaster preparedness;

Ø Disaster management should be considered as an on-going item in national budgets, rather than an extraordinary expenditure when disasters strike.

Session 6: Priorities for the Research Agenda

Ch ai r: Mr. Gerry Rogers

Presenter:Ms. Eugenia Date-Bah

Mr. G. Rodgers indicated that the creation of an InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction had for some time been a high priority for the ILO Director-General, Mr. Juan Somavia. Although the programme was still embryonic, it was clear that its potential was enormous. The programme included research as a priority on its agenda, particularly in terms of understanding the required intervention processes and their impacts on decent work for men and women.

It was also critical to start with clear goals in mind and think through how best to mobilize ILO's capacity to meet those goals. An understanding was needed of how objectives such as fundamental rights, employment promotion, social protection and social dialogue were affected by crisis. The research component would provide support for this inquiry.

In the research, it was essential to look at knowledge systems, methods for mapping risks and estimating employment and income losses, and processes for early warning and commensurate early action, as well as exploring coping mechanisms, gender issues and special needs and vulnerabilities. There was a need to identify the priorities and determine a medium term strategy to address them.

The Director-General was particularly interested in ensuring that the ILO had an operational rapid response mechanism. This raised the question of how a large bureaucratic organization could change to accommodate this type of need. Part of the research should therefore concentrate on how institutions and systems function, and how they could be redesigned to respond quickly and optimally when necessary. IFP/CRISIS should establish the priority of key research needs, and make clear plans regarding goals for the next biennium as well as long-term goals.

Ms. E. Date-Bah presented a quick compilation of the key research issues that had emerged throughout the consultation. After some deliberation, the participants followed the Chair's assessment that it was paramount to identify priorities, establish criteria, explore the types of data needed and design appropriate methodologies. ILO also needed to explore the institutional context for service delivery and for determining how best to transfer research findings into direct action.

The group collectively emphasized the importance of flexibility and innovation in determining both research priorities and methodologies. Since identification of the target audience would help determine the nature of the research, it was important to decide who the probable audience was for the research products - ILO officials, policymakers, project implementers, victims, or others: specific needs should drive the research strategy. The group also pointed to the fact that different types of knowledge were needed at different stages on the continuum from crisis to development, and that actors at different levels - international, state and community based - required different data and information.

To consider the above issues in more depth, the participants divided into four groups, representing each type of crisis, reporting subsequently on their deliberations to the plenary. As was clear from the themes developed in the break-out sessions, reported below, many of the issues were cross-cutting and universal, relating to all types and dimensions of crisis.

Outcomes of break-out group discussions:

1. Break-out group on conflict and post-conflict environments - Principal research themes and questions included the following:

The critical issues for research and analysis in this area related to prevention of conflict; developing systems for early warning and early response; breaking cycles of violence; building capacities for rapid response; analyzing coping mechanisms, and creation of jobs and income generation in post-conflict/militarized environments, with special attention to the following:

· Given the limited resources for rapid response within an organization, how could they best be used to cope with the emergencies, which arose as a result of armed conflict, and how could they be not only of immediate assistance, but also sow seeds of long-term sustainability?

· How could rapid and accurate assessment of conflict situations be ensured and how could they lead to immediate action?

· What were the primary coping mechanisms used by communities in conflict and in post-conflict settings, and how could reintegration efforts be enhanced?

· What type of research was required in relation to creating employment in the context of a post conflict/militarized economy?

· What methods could be used to inform local communities of early warning indicators so they could report to the relevant actors and thus play a role in the system?

2. Break-out group on economic and financial crises - Principal research themes and questions included the following:

The critical issues for research and analysis in this area related to creation of jobs, income generation, and job protection during and after crisis in order to mitigate adverse effects of financial and economic shocks, with special attention to the following:

· Addressing loss of employment at all levels;

· Shift from the formal to the informal sectors;

· Potential loss of social protection and social security in the face of necessary budget cuts;

· Methodologies to incorporate employment-related issues in the development of new institutions;

· Systemic financial institutional arrangements, so that responses were systematic, rather than random or ad-hoc;

· Establishment of early warning indicators of financial crises, both permanent and periodic, to avert destructive impacts on employment;

· Analysis of coping mechanisms and methodologies for maximising community empowerment strategies in reaching solutions to financial crises.

3. Break-out group on political and social transitions - Principal research themes and questions included the following:

The critical issues for research and analysis in this area related to creation of jobs and income generation, economic and social reintegration, the impacts of transitions and societal transformations on individuals, communities and societies, and social protections to mitigate adverse impacts and austerity measures associated with transitions, with special attention to the following:

· Reintegration of people into the economy, which included re-development of human capital and re-skilling, requiring a sustainable and holistic approach, with parallel political, sociological, economic and cultural perspectives;

· At the political level, what were the constraints and opportunities during transition processes and during the process of developing political agreements? How could these issues be properly accommodated in political agreements?

· At the socio-economic level, what was the impact of the transformation on individuals, households and communities? What kind of society did they aspire to becoming? What were peoples' perceptions and fears? Did they feel that they had any input or any choice? What did they expect and hope for after the transition?

· Transitions presented a vast range of possibilities, economic, political and social opportunities, notwithstanding the concomitant limitations and constraints; how should these be analysed and optimised in order to promote smoother transitions with fewer destructive impacts?

· Reintegration, training and capacity-building programmes needed to be incorporated into all research agendas related to softening the blow of political, social and economic transitions.

4. Break-out group on natural disasters - Principal research themes and questions included the following:

The critical issues to analyse in this area related to creation of jobs and income generation, economic and social reintegration, the impacts of natural disasters on individuals, communities and societies, social protections in order to mitigate the adverse and unexpected impacts of natural disasters, minimising destruction through planning and preparedness, and coping mechanisms and capacity building with special attention to the following:

Types of activities IFP/CRISIS should be expected to perform, many of which included analytical and research dimensions:

· Shock reduction - interventions which alleviated immediate effects;

· Stock-taking - assessment of current status of impacts, damage and casualties;

· Early assessment and implementation of employment and income-generation options;

· Promoting post-crisis social dialogue;

· Actively supporting residents and rebuilding efforts at the community level;

· Analysis of the impact of natural disaster specifically on employment and economic activities;

· Studying the range of impacts of various types of natural disasters, in a range of geopolitical regions, both in the short and long term;

· Reviewing strategies for mitigation and social protection - analysis of how best to mitigate not only impacts of disaster, but also vulnerability to them, with emphasis on the linkages between poverty and high casualty levels;

· Analysis of community coping mechanisms and the resilience of individuals, households and communities to withstand shocks;

· Promoting mitigation and reconstruction with an eye towards social and economic reintegration, and construction of improved systems and infrastructures, rather than merely rebuilding and repeating what existed before.

Concluding Session

Mr. R. Islam, Director of the Recovery and Reconstruction Department, closed the Research Consultation. He thanked the participants for their valuable contributions to the discussions, and highlighted some of the outcomes and possible follow-ups, which would strengthen the research work of the InFocus Programme on crisis.

3. Participants' Evaluation of the Research Consultation

The participants commended the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction for taking the initiative to organize the Consultation with outside researchers. The deliberations had been rich, and the meeting was the beginning of a worthwhile process.

In respect of what the Research Consultation had achieved, it was generally felt that a major step had been taken in terms of identifying the important research topics but more work on establishing their priorities and on methodologies was required.

Almost all the participants accepted membership of the ILO IFP/Crisis' external research network, and provided their e-mail addresses accordingly.

Decisions taken with regard to the follow-up to the Consultation included:

· The dissemination of the results of meeting's deliberations, including information on research topics identified;

· Publicizing, marketing and advocacy internally and externally.

Regarding the ILO's role in transmitting research insights gathered, the following was decided:

· To make systematic use of the research results in ILO activities and advisory services;

· To develop mechanisms for moving from ideas to action;

· To host seminars and workshops;

· To present research results to policy-makers at different levels.

The conclusions, which the participants could communicate to their organizations, were as follows:

· The ILO should encourage research to be undertaken on specific topics, without providing funding for all research;

· The approach to the research should be multi-disciplinary and be based on cooperation;

· The link between crisis and long-term development deserved investigation;

· The items contained in the research agenda;

· There was a need to put emphasis on the complex employment issues in post-crisis situations which had so far been neglected by most crisis relief and other actors;

· Support for the Programme and its agenda should be strengthened, and the research network expanded;

· Similar meetings/workshops/consultations/electronic conferences should be organised, on an annual or biennial basis, hosted by the ILO and rotated geographically;

· A dissemination service for research, by other persons and bodies, of relevance to the ILO IFP/CRISIS Programme should be developed;

· Dialogue should be maintained with others, and training and educational activities on the different forms of crisis should be organized;

· The external research network should receive training on gender methodology and analysis;

· Each participant should be placed on the IFP/CRISIS mailing list;

· Regional and national workshops should be organized;

· Basic information and statistics on each type of crisis should be published;

· Firmer links should be forged between research and action;

· A website with links to members of the network should be established. It should contain information on relevant publications, announcement of research, grants, etc.;

As far as other outcomes of its deliberations were concerned, the Research Consultation noted that some views regarding appropriate research methodologies remained inconclusive. Suggestions had been made for improving further research meetings, for example, by sending the list of topics and information on ILO's mandate to participants to prepare them for the meeting, and thus clarifying the focus of the discussions.

Annex A - Programme Agenda

Wednesday, 3 May 2000

08h30 - 09h30: Registration

09h30 - 10h00: Opening: Mr. Göran Hultin (Executive Director, Employment Sector)

Mr. Rizwanul Islam (Director, Recovery and Reconstruction Department)

10h00 - 10h45: Session I: The InFocus Programme and its Research Needs

Eugenia Date-Bah (Director, InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction)

10h45 - 11h00: Coffee Break

11h00 - 12h30: Session II: Research Issues Relating to Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations (Panel presentation and discussion)

Chair: Jayasankar Krishnamurty

Panelists: Kappadath P.M. Kannan

Rudy Baldemor

Kenneth Bush

Arve Ofstad

Mary Chamie

Lillian Kimani

12h30 - 14h00: Lunch Break

14h00 - 15h00: Session II: Continuation of discussion

15h00 - 15h15: Coffee Break

15h15 - 18h00: Session III: Research Issues Relating to Economic and Financial Crises (Panel presentation and discussion)

Chair: Eddie Lee

Panelists: Guillermo García Huidobro

Mauricio Léon

Léonce Ndikumana

Krishna Pribadi

18h00: Cocktail Reception (R2-Bar South)

Thursday, 4 May 2000

09h00 - 10h30: Session IV: Research Issues Relating to Political and Social Transitions (Panel presentation and discussion)

Chair: Rashid Amjad

Panelists: Ted Macdonald

Boris Vujcic

Nader Said

Ruben Zamora

Alena Nesporova

10h30 - 10h45: Coffee Break

10h45 - 12h30: Session IV: Continuation of discussion

12h30 - 14h00: Lunch Break

14h00 - 16h00: Session V: Research Issues Relating to Natural Disasters

(Panel presentation and discussion)

Chair: Rizwanul Islam

Panelists: Zenaida Delica

Patricia Delaney

Charles Setchell

Patrick Dumazert

Monica Trujillo

Elaine Enarson

16h00 - 16h15: Coffee Break

16h15 - 17h30: Session V: Continuation of discussion

Friday, 5 May 2000

09h00 - 10h30: Session VI: Priorities for Research Agenda

Chair: Gerry Rodgers

10h30 - 10h45: Group discussion on key research priorities

10h45 - 12h30: Session VI: Continuation in plenary of priorities for Research Agenda

12h30: Concluding Session: Mr. R. Islam

Annex B - List of Participants

Rudy BALDEMOR

c/o ILO Area Office

5th Floor, NEDA sa Makati Building

106 Amorsolo Street

Legaspi Village, Makati City

Philippines

Tel: +63-2-8193614

Fax: +63-2-8126143

E-mail: rudybal@mozcom.com

Kenneth BUSH

14 Chemin Colladon

1209 Geneva

Tel/Fax: +41-22-7981797

E-mail: kbush@iprolink.ch

Mary CHAMIE

United Nations

Economic Statistics Branch

One United Nations Plaza 2 - Room 1732

New York, NY 10017

USA

Tel: 1-212-9634869

Fax: 1-212-9691374

E-mail: mchamie@un.org

Patricia DELANEY

George Washington University

707 Chaney Drive

Takoma Park, MD 20912

USA

Tel.: +1-301-2701221 (h)

Tel.: +1-202-9944191 (w)

Fax: +1-301-8093294

E-mail: deanpatti@earthlink.net

Zenaida DELICA

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

Asian Institute of Technology

P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang

Pathumthani 12120

Thailand

Tel.: +66-2-524-5386/58

Fax: +66-2-524-5360

E-mail: zdelica@ait.ac.th

Patrick DUMAZERT

Col. Miguel Bonilla #191

Managua

Nicaragua

Tel./Fax: +505-277-0317

E-mail: patdum@idw.com.ni

Elaine ENARSON

33174 Bergen Mountain Rd.

Evergreen, CO 80439

USA

Tel.: +1-303-6701834

Fax:+1-303-6790938

E-mail: enarson@uswest.net

Guillermo GARCÍA HUIDOBRO

Casilla 251, Correo 20

Las Condes, Santiago

Chile

Tel.: +56-2-2166368

Fax:+56-2-2166873

E-mail: ggh@reuna.cl

Kappadath P.M. KANNAN

Indian Planning Commission Professor

Centre for Development Studies

Ulloor, Trivandrum 695011

India

Tel.: +91-471-446971 (h)

Tel.: +91-471-448881 (w)

Fax:+91-471-448942

E-mail: kpkannan@vsnl.com

Lillian KIMANI

Wits University

Johannesburg

South Africa

Tel.: +27-11-7371503/ 7371520

Fax: 0027-11-4842729

E-mail: kimani.l@pdm.wits.ac.za

Anthony Mauricio LÉON

Río Blanco 136 & Av. de la Prensa

Quito

Ecuador

Tel.: +593-2-286-678

Fax: +593-2-286-665

E-mail: siise@siise.gov.ec

Theodore MACDONALD

Harvard University

Programme on Non-Violent Sanctions and

Cultural Survival, Weatherhead Center

for International Affairs

1737 Cambridge Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

USA

Tel: +1-617-495-5915

Fax: +1-617-496-8562

E-mail: tmacdon@cfia.harvard.edu

Leonce NDIKUMANA

University of Masachussetts

Department of Economics

Thomson Hall, Box 37510

Amherst, MA 01003

USA

Tel: +1-413-545-6359

Fax: +1-413-545-2921

E-mail: ndiku@econs.umass.edu

Arve OFSTAD

Senior Research Fellow

Christian Michelsen Institute

P.O. Box 6033 Postterminalen

N-5892 Bergen

Norway

Tel.: +47-5557-4153/47-9093-4486

Fax: +47-5557-4166

E-mail: arve@ofstad@cmi.no

Krishna S. PRIBADI

Department of Civil Engineering

Institute of Technology Bandung

JL. Ganesha No. 10

Bandung

Indonesia

Tel.: +62-22-251-0718/250-2272

Fax: +62-22-251-0718

E-mail: iudmpitb@melsa.net.id

Nader SAID

Birzeit University

Development Studies Programme

P.O. Box 14

West Bank (via Israel)

Tel.: +972-2-2959250 (w)

Tel.: +972-2-2959739 (h)

Fax: +972-2-2958117

E-mail: dsp@palnet.com

Charles SETCHELL

USAID

Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance

1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

RRB 8th Floor

Washington, D.C. 20523

USA

Tel.:+1-202-712-0281

Fax:+1-202-216-3706

E-mail: csetchell@usaid.gov

Monica TRUJILLO

122-1469 Brenton St.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Canada B3J 3W7

Tel./Fax: +1-902-527-2083

E-mail: mptrujillo@yahoo.com

Boris VUJCIC

National Bank of Croatia

TRG Burze 3

Zagreb 10 000

Croatia

Tel.:+385-1-4564858

Fax: +385-1-4564784

E-mail: boris@vujcic@hnb.hr

Rubén ZAMORA

Avenida Maquilishuat # 204

Colonia Vista Hermosa

San Salvador

El Salvador

Tel:+503 242-2758/245-3643

Fax: + 503 242-2759/245-3644

E-mail: cd@ejje.com

Annex C - Participating ILO Staff

Name Sector/Unit Ext. No. E-Mail

AMJAD, Rashid EMP/WER 6105 amjad@ilo.org

BALKENHOL, Bernd EMP/SFU 6070 balkenhol@ilo.org

BURLE DE FIGUIEREDO, Jose INST 6686 figuieredo@ilo.org

CORDON, Roberto IFP/CRISIS 6321 cordon@ilo.org

DATE-BAH, Eugenia IFP/CRISIS 7908 date-bah@ilo.org

DOORN, Judith van EMP/SFU 6937 vandoorn@ilo.org

DRESS, Tobi IFP/CRISIS 7234 dress@ilo.org

GARCIA, Carlos IFP/SKILLS/POL 6844 garciac@ilo.org

HULTIN, Göran ED/EMP 7764 hultin@ilo.org

ISLAM, Rizwanul EMP/RECON 7539 islam@ilo.org

KABUNDI, Mpenga IFP/CRISIS 8171 kabundi@ilo.org

KRISHNAMURTY, Jayasankar IFP/CRISIS 8946 krishnamurty@ilo.org

LEE, Eddy IPG 6539 lee_eddy@ilo.org

NESPOROVA, Alena EMP/ANALYSIS 6781 nesporova@ilo.org

RODGERS, Gerry CABINET 7053 rodgers@ilo.or

ROMERO, Ana-Teresa IFP/DECLARATION 6513 romero@ilo.org

ROOIJ, Peter van EMP/SFU 7177 vanrooij@ilo.org

SWEPSTON, Lee EGALITE 7151 swepston@ilo.org

THOMAS, Constance EGALITE 7120 thomasc@ilo.org