In October 2007, almost three years after the tsunami, the DEC commissioned experts from Arup to carry out a short mission to Aceh to review the post-tsunami reconstruction programme undertaken by DEC Member Agencies. The aim of the mission was to provide assurance on the quality of construction and that the programmes would be completed satisfactorily. Arup’s mission report highlighted many of the key challenges that DEC Member Agencies faced in delivering reconstruction programmes and lessons learned in the process. In their responses to the report, several DEC Member Agencies felt there was potential to use this material to promote inter-agency learning or to develop a best practice guide. As a result, this publication has been created with the intention of capturing key characteristics of the response and lessons learned, in a widely available format. It is intended to provide a valuable reference in future disaster responses.