The Daiwa Securities Group Tsunami Reconstruction Fund was established to provide assistance to regions stricken by the Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004. Beginning in fiscal 2005, this fund provides long-term support for recovery over a 10-year period, disbursing 10 million yen annually for a total of 100 million yen.
Established within the Asian Community Trust (ACT), the Daiwa Securities Group Tsunami Reconstruction Fund provides grants to local NGOs that offer assistance in the fields of mental health care for children, utilization of microfinance and provision of educational opportunities for children in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, the three countries hardest hit by this disaster. Leveraging expertise in their respective areas, Asian Community Center 21 (ACC21), which functions as the executive office for ACT, undertakes program selection and activity monitoring, while The Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. acts as the custodian of this fund.
There are three key characteristics to this fund. First, it provides long-term recovery assistance measures rather than offering temporary donations. Second, it utilizes financial systems to provide assistance through charitable trusts, microfinance and other avenues. And finally, it is possible to grasp every detail of the activities being conducted through monitoring undertaken by ACC21.

In Indonesia, the Aceh branch of the locally based NGO, Indonesia Planned Parenthood Association (IPPA), undertakes medical procedures and follow-up activities for children who suffer from symptoms that include speech disorders and extreme emotional disturbance thought to be a result of the trauma inflicted by the tsunami. In Aceh Besar, volunteers recruited from local villages are taught methods of caring for children, establishing a system that makes it possible for children to be treated within their own villages in a self-reliant manner.

In Sri Lanka, the regionally based NGO, Women’s Saving Effort (“Wilpotha”), conducts skill training activities to ensure that female disaster victims are able to earn a living for themselves and provides micro-level financing for the purchase of the materials necessary to run a business. Women learn everything from savings mechanisms to methods for producing and selling products and bookkeeping. They also receive loans for the purchase of machines to produce garments, for telephone lines to start up telephone rental businesses and other endeavors. While still small in scale, these financial mechanisms are being used as one step in the provision of recovery assistance in this region.

In India, the locally based NGO, Social Service Sericulture Project Trust (SSSPT), provides occupational training to enable people with disabilities—who are the most in need of assistance among all of the victims of this disaster—to establish sustainable livelihoods for themselves. Aiming to foster their independence, participants receive technical training in such areas as the manufacture of bags from jute fiber as well as clothing, candle making and the creation of documents using personal computers.