This paper aims to provide an analysis of lessons learned and emerging principles on the functioning of local governance in disaster recovery (and briefly relief and early recovery) – drawing primarily on experiences from the five countries most seriously affected by the Tsunami: India, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand and Sri Lanka but also experiences from previous disasters. 

The main focus of the study is on: (i) the impact of the Tsunami on local governance institutions and local government service delivery; (ii) the role of local governance institutions in recovery - the processes of recovering the institutions themselves but, more fundamentally, their functioning within the national framework for recovery and their role in local recovery; and (iii) how local governance functioned in the recovery period focusing on the local processes - in particular key principles such as representation, participation, accountability, transparency, peace building and integrity. The paper also briefly addresses the role and functioning of donor programmes in relation to the above, but focus is on the lessons learned on how national systems of decentralized governance function in recovery situations.