Synergy International Systems announced today that its DAD 5.0 aid coordination and management system has been implemented in several countries affected by last year’s Tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean region. As part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) support of government-led recovery efforts, The Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand now have DAD systems coming online which are collecting and tracking aid and assistance data in support of their respective reconstruction projects.Preparations are also underway to establish additional DAD systems in other affected countries in the region.Training on use of the DAD has begun involving the major stakeholders, donors and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are actively working on the ground in this massive relief and rehabilitation effort.
Ensuring a timely and effective reconstruction process which meets people’s expectations is a key priority facing Tsunami-affected countries. At the High Level Coordination Meeting on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Tsunami-Affected Countries hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 18 March 2005, UNDP and ADB were asked to support governments in tracking Tsunami funds and whether projects are achieving their goals.
According to the UNDP, “Nationally-owned tracking systems will better enable the Governments and their partners to align support with the needs – avoiding duplication, and filling gaps – by building up a very detailed picture of who is doing what and where. The DAD will track every major project – covering both the finances (how much was promised and how much has been delivered project-by-project) and the expected results. Expected outputs are set for each project and a deadline for delivery. Actual results achieved will be measured quantitatively and qualitatively. This makes it easy for Government and donor countries to check whether funds are being used in the way they expected. Members of the public can use the internet to see which projects are planned in their district, and whether these projects are delivering results.”
After the Manila meeting, the Governments of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand asked for assistance from UNDP in establishing their own nationally owned tracking systems. Synergy International Systems, working with UNDP country teams, conducted a round of rigorous needs assessments in order to customize the Donor Assistance Database to meet each country’s specific requirements. The DAD systems have now been installed within the Government body responsible for Tsunami coordination.
In addition to standard DAD functions such as bi-lingual Web Portals, GIS and advanced data analysis tools, new capabilities for tracking reconstruction in impacted sectors such as housing, fishing and agriculture have been added, as well as NGO registration databases for coordinating activities among the myriad local implementation agencies.Each DAD system will track funding assistance and the correlated reconstruction projects at a detailed reporting level, such as state, district and sub-district.
“These aid tracking systems will help all partners plan their assistance better, and provide ordinary citizens with a tool to hold their governments and partners accountable – both in the Tsunami affected countries, and back home. The goal is full transparency and enhanced effectiveness” says the UNDP.
UNDP is also developing a regional database which will be on-line by August, 2005. The Regional Tsunami DAD, based in Bangkok, will bring together information across all Tsunami-affected countries, and cover funds, projects and results through one website.
