Financing Humanitarian Crises in the Shelter and Settlements Sector: Clearing the Path for Recovery

The recovery of safe shelter and water after disasters supports vulnerable communities and the national economy. Governments and coordination organisations set principles and plans to guide international disaster response. Unfortunately, these can create obstacles for delivering disaster recovery. Obstacles can include inappropriate project timeframes, little flexibility in response to evolving situations, or restrictions that disallow permanent solutions. For example, a project timeframe that suits a healthcare organization managing a cholera outbreak, may be too short for a shelter organization to assist families beyond temporary shelter. There may be restrictions on using permanent building materials because they are not considered to be lifesaving.

These issues may occur when a general principle is applied across a range of different activities, or when a plan or principle is influenced by political advantage or cost saving. When new principles and plans are published it is common for disaster response organisations and think tanks to publish their reaction, but few prior studies exist looking back at the effects later on and internal reviews are rarely published. Gaps in existing knowledge include disaster response project reviews focused mainly on the effects of these principles and plans.

This research will examine why the principles and plans for international disaster response set by governments and coordination organisations, create obstacles for assisting people to recover their access to safe shelter and water. Research methods will be based on interviews with staff of disaster response organisations, governments and coordination organisations. Case studies will be collected and compared, highlighting obstacles in different countries and types of disaster.

The aim is to influence governments and coordination organisations to develop more practical principles and plans, for disaster response organisations to become more aware of what influences governments and coordination organisations, so that disaster response can have a lasting effect for vulnerable communities.