Canada's tsunami lessons learnt - Conference and exhibition

A "tsunami lessons learned" conference and partners' exhibition organised by the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was held at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre on February 17 and 18. The event also marked the closing of Canada's tsunami reconstruction program. Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs, Hussain Bhaila attended the event as Chief Guest and Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Angela Bogdan, served as host.

Canada joined together with the international community and Government and people of Sri Lanka to ensure a swift and highly successful relief response to the tsunami. Almost fifty million Canadian dollars ($ 50 M) was invested in these relief efforts.

Those early successes were reinforced with sustained support for longer term reconstruction and development from CIDA and its Canadian, International and Sri Lankan partners.

These partnerships have resulted in effective recovery and reconstruction throughout all of Sri Lanka, and over $ 84.5 Million was invested for reconstruction projects focusing on assistance to local governance, fisheries, livelihoods, housing, gender equality and environmental rehabilitation.

The Conference and Partner Exhibition, "Lessons in Humanity - Working Together towards Disaster Resilient Communities" had the following objectives:

To facilitate the networking, collection and sharing of lessons learned and best practices amongst all of CIDA's tsunami partner organizations; and Provide an opportunity for CIDA's partners and their community organizations, rural enterprises and beneficiaries, who have benefited through CIDA's tsunami funding, to showcase and promote their products and to learn from similar organizations. The conference included presentations of good practices and success stories, as well as panel and group discussions on sustaining the achievements of tsunami reconstruction and identifying the lessons learned.

Discussions were organized by sector and provided participants with the opportunity to share experiences and to gather and document lessons learned for the future.

Technical sessions were held under the sectors of Livelihoods Support and Fisheries, Vocational Education and Training, Microfinance, Permanent Shelter, Water and Sanitation, Hygiene and Solid Waste Management, Environmental Restoration, Social Service Delivery, Local Governance, and Gender Equality.

The exhibition, which was open to the general public from 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., enabled partner organizations to share the results of projects implemented with Canadian support and provided rural communities with access to urban markets which is often difficult and costly. It also provided a forum through which all of CIDA's partners involved in tsunami reconstruction work could showcase the results and best practices of their initiatives.