Paired Assistance For Disaster Relief
Feb 20-2020
At the onset of the novel coronavirus, the governments in Hubei Province opted for a centralized mechanism to receive donations (e.g. medical supplies) and allocate them. It proved a faux pas as supplies kept piling up in warehouses and were not delivered to the most needed in time. The administrative crash cost local governments a big reputational loss, according to a paper by Prof. Zhang Xiaobo of the NSD and Prof. Xu Lihe of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
The paper examines the history, effects and side effects of the paired-assistance mechanism, which the State Council adopted on February 7th to replace Hubei’s centralized system. Under the paired-assistance system, 16 provinces were designated to each assist a virus-inflicted city in Hubei Province. As the pairs directly work out concrete aid plans, the aid system has been back in full throttle.
The paired-assistance mechanism is made possible by China’s governing system, in which the Central Government holds major decision-making power and controls personnel issues, while local governments enjoy relatively free rein over some issues such as economic ones. The downside of such an arrangement is retarded or wrong decision-making due to delays in information reporting or even misinformation. But it excels in execution: once the Central Government makes a decision, local governments act fast and even often overact, as officials vie for promotions.
The paired-assistance mechanism was first put into wide use in 2008 when Wenchuan in Sichuan Province was devastated by earthquakes. In recent years, the model has also been applied to poverty alleviation campaigns.
While the pair-assistance mechanism played a critical role in the disaster relief and re-construction of Wenchuan, certain negative effects have been observed, notably the so-called Dutch Disease. Generous aid packages tend to drive up local prices and salaries in non-tradable sectors, pricing out tradable sectors such as manufacturing.
Notwithstanding such concerns, the paired-assistance mechanism helped Wenchuan to return to normalcy within two years – not less than a miracle. The mechanism will adapt in its fight against the coronavirus epidemic, and there remain some concrete issues to be thought through.
