Minimum Economic Recovery Standards

 When natural disasters, conflicts, or other crises occur, truly effective aid meets the immediate needs of the population while priming it for sustainable economic recovery. Developing common standards for doing so is a first step toward stronger and more scalable impact. This initiative represents an industry consensus on minimum standards for economic recovery programs in crisis environments, which are detailed in the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS), Second Edition.

The MERS articulate the minimum level of technical and other assistance to be provided in promoting the recovery of economies and livelihoods affected by crisis. The MERS has six technical areas that are interdependent on one another for providing comprehensive relief and humanitarian assistance. These standards offer tools for government departments, humanitarian agencies, inter-governmental organizations, and local populations to enhance the effectiveness and quality of the economic assistance offered, and thus make a significant difference in the lives of the people affected by disasters. This website will elaborate on some of the programs related to the standards and what you can do as a development professional to become involved and understand the standards and incorporate them into your own work. 

• MERS HANDBOOK Webpage 

• See MERS in action 

• DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE MERS 3rd Edition HANDBOOK

• Share your post-crisis economic recovery story

UNDERSTANDING MERS E-Learning Course now available on the Disaster Ready Platform

The overall goal of the e-learning course is to broadly promote the use and adoption of the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS), a companion to the SPHERE Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. The course enables staff of humanitarian aid agencies to gain knowledge on the importance of MERS, what the standards are, how they work, what benefits they offer, and how the standards can be effectively applied in real life situations.

Intended audience: The four modules of the MERS E-learning course have been developed for humanitarian aid practitioners who require the skills and knowledge to apply good practice in economic recovery post crisis. They are intended for practitioners experienced in emergency situations, but less familiar with economic recovery initiatives; practitioners experienced in economic development but less accustomed to crisis environments, and anyone else who is working in multiple sectors in crisis environments and wants to learn about what constitutes an effective response to help disaster affected populations to gain fair access to viable market opportunities and regain their livelihoods.

Duration: The learning will take approximately 120 minutes.

Access the course on the Disaster Ready Platform www.disasterready.org under Humanitarian Essentials