Welcome to the SEEP Network Practitioner Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis!
We are excited to share with you the draft of the standards and to receive your input.

What are the Economic Recovery Standards?
The Economic Recovery Standards were spearheaded by the SEEP Network and written by a dedicated group of 35 practitioners from 25 development organizations, facilitated by Tracy Gerstle (CHF International and CARE), lead facilitator, and Laura Meissner (SEEP), co-facilitator. The Standards address strategies and interventions designed to promote enterprises, employment, and cash flow and asset management among affected enterprises and livelihoods in environments affected by conflict or disaster. The Standards include two overall sections on Common Standards and Assessments & Analysis, plus four distinct technical areas: financial services, assets interventions, employment creation, and enterprise development.

Who is the audience for the Economic Recovery Standards?
In crisis environments, a broad range of practitioners are engaged directly or indirectly in strategies to promote economic recovery. Therefore, these standards were developed with the following three groups in mind:

• Practitioners experienced in emergency situations, but less familiar with economic recovery initiatives
• Practitioners experienced in economic development but unaccustomed to crisis environments
• Practitioners and programs working in multiple interventions or sectors in crisis environments (e.g. health, education, infrastructure, or HIV/AIDS)

Why should I comment on the Standards?
The Standards you see here are a draft. A dedicated group of over 30 practitioners from 25 development organizations have worked together to create this document. However, we need many more voices and input to help strengthen the Standards and build consensus around these issues. We will be publishing the Standards in the fall of 2008 and would like your input on the draft we present here. Please post your comments to help us gather feedback from diverse stakeholders!

How can I field-test the Standards or get more involved?
We are very interested in having the Standards field-tested in conflict- and disaster-affected environments. The process involves applying the Standards (or the relevant sections) to your programming for a set duration of time, documenting the results and recommendations, and submitting your feedback to SEEP. We are also interested in organizing regional consultation meetings in conjunction with existing conferences and events to gain a wider range of stakeholder input on the Standards in different regional contexts. If you are interested in field-testing or in helping organize a regional consultation, please contact Tracy Gerstle, Lead Facilitator, or Laura Meissner, Co-Facilitator. .

I don’t have a user account on this site. How can I provide my feedback on the draft?
Anyone may create a user account and it only takes a minute.

1. Go here and fill in your user name (we suggest your real name as all comments will identify you by this name) and your email address.
2. Check the box for “Join Economic Recovery Standards.”
3. Click Submit, and an email will be sent to you with a temporary password.
4. Log into the site, click Edit on your profile, and change your password. We encourage you to add your profile information for the Contacts directory.
5. You are ready to start posting! Just go to the Review & Comment page and click on the section you’d like to provide feedback for.

Go to the Standards draft.

Download the PDF of the Standards Draft.

Add your comments, reviews, and input here (registered users only).

This initiative is carried out as part of the AED FIELD-Support mechanism.

This document is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the SEEP Network and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.