In 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami challenged humanitarian assistance to an unprecedented degree. After three years implementing programmes in eight countries, UNICEF has achieved results for over 6 million children and women in tsunami-affected areas.
Some 1.2 million children were immunized against measles and more than 3 million children received vitamin A supplementation and essential drugs, as well as emergency water and sanitation to help prevent disease outbreaks in the aftermath of the disaster. Since then, UNICEF and its partners (including governments, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society groups) have helped build capabilities that did not exist before and assisted in reconstructing and improving on what the tsunami destroyed. They have combined the training of more than 56,000 health staff, the provision of key supplies and equipment to more than 7,000 health facilities and 2 million schoolchildren, the development of child protection policies and the construction and rehabilitation so far of 107 schools, 59 health facilities, 28 child centres and water facilities serving some 700,000 people.

In doing so, lessons were learned for future humanitarian assistance. The evaluation of UNICEF’s initial tsunami response highlighted some good practices that will lead to lasting improvements. Partnerships were expanded, particularly with UN agencies, the private sector and the military. Funding was timely and abundant and, as 53 per cent of incoming funds were thematic, they were also unearmarked and long term. This allowed for their flexible use according to priorities established with national counterparts. The global corporate trigger mechanism was activated, giving emergencies full organizational priority with respect to supplies, fundraising and deployment of staff for the initial 90 days. Global financial monitoring tools were modified to permit monthly tracking and reporting to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Country Offices’ twice-yearly reports on the results achieved in tsunami programmes allowed for a rigorous schedule of audits and evaluations. Information was widely shared through reports to donors, public UNICEF reports and the posting of evaluations and information on the UNICEF website.