Shelter Projects 2008

Much has been written over the years about the challenge of providing shelter for households affected by crises, whether they are human-made or result from natural events. In spite of the many reports commissioned by governments, donors, independent experts, multilateral and international aid organizations that provide a variety of recommendations on issues
ranging from design to cost analysis methods, shelter remains one of the most controversial and challenging components of sustainable recovery from disasters.

In recent years, the humanitarian community has looked inward, learning from their past experiences in providing emergency shelter for the ever-increasing number of populations suffering from crises worldwide. The humanitarian reform process has helped widen the community of practitioners, reinforced global and country-based coordination systems, and required the agencies concerned to seek new and better means of ensuring integrated and robust humanitarian programming.

This publication is an example of a series of learning tools being produced to support improved response to crises. It has been developed by the Emergency Shelter Cluster through a group of agencies within the cluster led by UN-HABITAT. It contains summaries of a range of experiences applied in crisis situations, and an honest appraisal of their successes and failures. From these, a number of key principles emerge. One key principle is that the survivors of these crises must be given every opportunity to engage in their own recovery.