Objectives: To assess how local and national capacities changed as a result of the tsunami response; to assess how well international actors engaged with local and national capacities in providing relief and recovery assistance; to assess the intended and unintended changes to local and national capacities as a result of the tsunami response by international actors; to assess the extent to which transition/risk reduction/recovery programming, planned and implemented, is likely to influence local and national capacities; to distil lessons learned for efforts to strengthen local and national capacities for future crisis response and recovery; to ensure that all the above assess and highlight gender differences and the varied experiences of women and men.