Given the sheer magnitude of the disaster and the urgency to respond at once, the ILO together with the UN country team decided to coordinate a substantial operation of immediate and temporary voluntary deployment of staff to the affected areas.

Volunteer teams of about 3 to 5 people from a cross section of agencies were sent to all affected districts to assist the District Secretaries' offices and relevant ministries with coordination of relief and reconstruction efforts. This experience gave the ILO tangible evidence that relief and development go hand in hand. It was then in fact that many started planning for those much needed reconstruction interventions which are now being developed for the recovery of the country.

Subsequent to this immediate reaction, the ILO's response to the tsunami disaster focuses on three main areas, i.e. (i) situational assessments in relation to income and employment, (ii) assistance to the Government in developing and where appropriate implementing a rapid income recovery programme, and (iii) addressing rights of affected vulnerable communities/groups. These three areas are inter-related, with assessments contributing to policy formulation and the design of programmes and projects, and upstream policy advisory assistance possibly resulting in downstream projects, including for the most vulnerable areas and groups. Capacity building is inherent in each of these responses, but the focus will be on quick action and immediate results, drawing on existing capacities to the extent possible, where possible combining this with sustainability.

To enable quick action, existing ILO tools will be used. These include existing guidelines for establishing emergency public employment services, community based training modules, modules for integrated rural accessibility planning leading into labour-based infrastructure construction and maintenance, start and improve your business training packages, manuals for setting up cooperatives, for involving municipalities in the informal economy, and existing non formal education packages. For most of these tools some Sri Lankan delivery capacity is in place.

Policy advice and the formulation of projects in which these tools will be used should be based on reliable data and needs assessments, which was the first area in which the ILO response became operational. The ILO was requested by the Government of Sri Lanka to provide an analysis of the loss of jobs and livelihoods, and needs for assistance to recover incomes among the affected population. In Colombo, the ILO immediately gathered a team of experts to address this. The team was complemented by support from HQs, the SRO, ROAP and elsewhere.

The ILO focus was on providing information which would be useful to both government and donors in their rebuilding and reconstruction efforts. The work covered four areas: (i) a rapid desk study of Social and Employment Impact, (ii) a rapid assessment survey of the impact on livelihoods of families in the affected areas, (iii) a survey of skills demand - ongoing (iv) and a survey of affected workplaces - in preparation.

The rapid assessment survey was a joint effort of the ILO office and JobsNet staff working under the framework of their existing project with the Ministry of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment. It was done in close cooperation and cost shared with the World Food Programme which assessed the food security situation.

The information gathered was analysed and released and it is now being used for formulating specific programmes aimed at restoring livelihoods. It was at this stage that the strong policy orientation of the ILO's work emerged. On the basis of a presentation to the Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, the ILO was requested to draft a strategy paper which was later absorbed in the Government's action plan to rebuild the tsunami affected areas. The ILO was then requested by the Task Force on Rebuilding the Nation to further elaborate this into a proposal for a Rapid Income Recovery Programme through which the Government would coordinate and manage the various projects and interventions that aim at securing and rebuilding livelihoods. This work is currently ongoing, and is being undertaken in collaboration with the World Bank and the UNDP.