A/HRC/16/42 upon to provide the funding to address crises have remained rigidly caught within two main areas of engagement, i.e. ‘humanitarian assistance’ and ‘development’. Budgets for these are not interchangeable and so the result has been an artificial separation of what should ideally be more interconnected activities. Current funding instruments (Flash Appeals) hardly allow for undertaking, from the start of humanitarian operations, the type of analyses and consultations which would help reduce the margins of uncertainty and error in resettlement, reconstruction, land tenure and the protection and realisation of the right to adequate housing. The history of applications by development agencies for FA funding for initiatives designed to build longer-term sustainability in humanitarian operations is a mixed one, and the scope for accessing resources to undertake critical policy development, legal reform and planning work has been very limited. 54. Part of the problem is an as yet incomplete understanding of the concept of “Recovery” (in its defined two phases of “Early” and “Long-term”) and of its programmatic implications in the course of humanitarian assistance. The earlier conceptualization of the transition from “relief” to “development” was not useful. The problem was that it attempted to establish a rigid sequential logic, which tended to overlook certain essential “nonhumanitarian” actions that would need to commence from the very start of humanitarian assistance and carry through into the resumption of normal development processes. 55. The stakes in determining the ultimate success in ensuring equitable and efficient reconstruction and recovery are highest in the period immediately following the initial crisis “event”, which normally coincides with the start of humanitarian assistance. Key determinants for ultimate success or failure in long-term reconstruction and development are normally drawn during that early period, either through informed and proactive policy choices, or simply by default. This applies to many areas of recovery; perhaps nowhere more than in the area of human settlement, the right to adequate housing and land tenure. It is a matter of concern that there is a general lack of awareness of the consequences of overlooking key issues related to human rights and land tenure systems during the first critical months of a response. Steps are needed to ensure that early opportunities are recognized and utilized, in a way that protects and promotes instead of undermines the right to adequate housing for everyone affected by conflicts and disasters. In a context of stretched resources and huge pressure to deliver concrete results, costly policy mistakes can be made which, particularly in the area of the right to adequate housing and land tenure, can have serious long-term consequences. However not taking crucial necessary steps can also have disastrous consequences. 56. To do this requires resources from within countries, bilateral and multilateral international donors, relief agencies and NGOs etc. With regard to post-disaster housing challenges: “Reducing the impact of natural disasters on poorer countries is directly related to their ability to access sufficient funding to reconstruct properly in the post-disaster period. Post-disaster funding stimulates economic activity and restores critical components of ongoing economic growth. The key is whether or not the country can access financing early in the post-disaster phase of recovery57.” Once accessed, allocation and use of those funds is also vitally important. If initial needs assessments are conducted on a competitive, sector-driven basis, this can result in competition between agencies for “their” projects and programmes, instead of much needed integration of forward-looking strategies. If such inputs are well used, crises resulting from disasters can in spite of all their negative impacts also be times of opportunity: “In post-disaster situations, intense periods of social rearrangement can occur, and legitimacy, authority and rules are much more fluid and open than perhaps at other times. While such situations present challenges such as low predictability and sometimes the overlooking of safeguards on the other hand they can also 57 18 P. Freeman, “Allocation of Post-Disaster Reconstruction Financing to Housing”, in Building Research & Information, 32(5), 2004, p. 429.