Rebuilding countries after destruction: global experience for Ukraine

We have studied the recovery experience of 18 countries that have faced very serious natural disasters or wars over the past 70 years. Olena Dmytrenko, Head of the IAA’s Analytics Department, spoke about the findings of the study and the experience that is interesting for Ukraine in the podcast “What’s wrong with the economy?”.

*Listen to the podcast here 

Finland.

The country resisted the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, and was influenced by its neighbour for a long time, but managed to recover and build a high-quality education system and an exemplary social security system almost on its own.

Finland’s experience with refugees is particularly interesting. At the end of the Winter War, Finland’s population was just over 3 million people, so 450,000 refugees is a huge number for such a country. By 1948, Finland was able to resettle all of these people on its territory, i.e. not only provide them with simple housing, but also help them set up their own households and find work.

Indonesia.

In 2004, a major tsunami hit the Indian Ocean, with Indonesia being the hardest hit. The disaster affected more than 200,000 people, and one of the government’s policies was to focus on recovery. A separate ministry was assigned to these functions, and a separate recovery agency was established. We should consider such a systematic approach to planning and rebuilding Aceh, which suffered the most damage, as Ukraine is now actively discussing who should coordinate the reconstruction system, who should select projects, whether it should be a separate institution or not.

Iraq.

Like Indonesia, this country approached its reconstruction in a very thoughtful way: they planned, developed reconstruction plans, attracted donor funding, and created reconstruction institutions. However, the reconstruction of Iraq cannot be called too successful, which is primarily due to the high level of corruption.

During the reconstruction of Iraq, there were hopes that the population would take an active part in rebuilding the country. These expectations turned out to be too high. The population mostly rebuilt only private housing.

Germany.

The Germans worked hard and put a lot of effort into rebuilding their country, although Germany was significantly destroyed after the World War II. One of the factors behind the “German economic miracle” is the diligence of the Germans, their desire to overcome poverty and enter normal life as soon as possible.

Italy.

This country also recovered quickly after the World War II. But later, its economic development began to lag behind its European neighbours. One of the aspects we are interested in is the uneven development of Italy both before the World War II and during and after it. During the war, the south of the country suffered more destruction, while the north suffered less. 

But even before the war, the south was less developed than the north. So, for many years after the war, Italy’s policy was partly aimed at developing or supporting the south, overcoming its economic lag. We have a part of the country that was physically destroyed by Russian troops, and therefore we will need to rebuild the part of the country that suffered the most.

The war unleashed by Russia has already caused enormous damage to Ukrainians, the economy and the environment. And the road ahead is no less difficult to recover from the damage. 

Ukraine is paying an incredible price every day for the future victory. And we have to make sure that the country we are all fighting for so hard will be rebuilt as a progressive and comfortable country for people!

This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of NGO «Institute of Analytics and Advocacy» and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.