As mandated in the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) the parties, GNU and SLM, have now embarked upon a process to identify key early recovery and long term reconstruction and development needs for Darfur.  This process, the Darfur Joint Assessment Mission (D-JAM), is led by the parties with support from the international community, particularly the United Nations and the World Bank, and the African Development Bank (AfDB). 

A “multi-track” approach has been adopted, based on two mutually re-enforcing tracks.  The first track ( Track I ) focuses on immediate priority needs for IDPS and refugees who return to areas of choice and re-establish their livelihoods.  The second track ( Track II ) focuses on post-conflict economic recovery, reconstruction and development needs to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

Both tracks must address security, access to land and water and reconciliation as priority issues.  The UN Resident Coordinator’s office (RCO) will support the parties in pursuit of the first track while the World Bank and African Development Bank will similarly support Track II.  As Tack I and II proceed, the wider macro-economic framework will be assessed, and a process to address debt issues at a national level will be launched, with support from the IMF and the World Bank.

Urgent priorities in Darfur, agreed by the parties in the D-JAM, are focused on restoring peace, security and social stability; establishing the physical, institutional and social infrastructure required by IDPs, refugees and conflict-affected Darfuris to re-establish their livelihoods; and strengthening civil administration to perform their basic functions. Initial recovery efforts should lay the foundation for, and speed up the transition from, relief to development.

The UN and World Bank in partnership have developed common approach to supporting such needs assessments, national recovery plans and international donor conferences.  In the last two years alone, joint UN/WB PCNA exercises were conducted in Iraq, Liberia, Haiti and Sudan. Following the PCNA processes, donor conferences were held at which pledges of over US $40 billion were made.  A PCNA process is currently ongoing in Somalia. The Darfur post conflict needs assessment is called the Darfur Joint Assessment Mission (D-JAM).

The primary added value of the PCNA lies not so much in the collection of new data or identification of projects and programmes per se, but rather in the collective effort to assist national partners to develop a vision for the future and, on that basis, analyze which priority needs are to be addressed first, based on: 1) a clear understanding of why and how such interventions are most likely to contribute to the larger peace building and recovery process, and 2) the analysis of absorption and implementation capacity.  The challenge going forward with the PCNA methodology and related tools is to leverage a much stronger prioritization of actions to be taken during the early transition and recovery period, with a focus on identifying the strategic perspective on recovery and the critical path to actions necessary to sustain peacebuilding, including actions to address the root causes of conflict and fragility.

The D-JAM is managed by a Core Coordinating Group (CCG) comprising of representatives of the GNU, SLM, the United Nations, World Bank, the AfDB, the African Union (AU), and selected donors. The CCG is chaired by the Netherlands. Its role is to oversee the first phase of the D-JAM process and review progress of the D-JAM technical team. The CCG is assisted by two D-JAM core teams. The Track I team, called the “Early Recovery Team” will be facilitated by the UN, with full time technical experts seconded by the GNU, SLM and the UN. The Track II team will be facilitated by the World Bank and the AfDB. A coordination mechanism between Track I and Track II teams will be established that promotes integrated thinking and processes so as to minimize confusion, overburdening of people and mechanisms on the ground,  promoting economies of scale, maximizing sharing of resources (knowledge, expertise, logistics, etc), and minimizing heightened expectations.