On Wednesday 8 August 2018, Australian Red Cross, together with RMIT University’s Master of Disaster, Design and Development (MoDDD) together with the Australian Red Cross hosted a one-day shelter symposium in Melbourne, Australia, that brought together representatives from DFAT, humanitarian organisations, academia and the private sector.

Specific objectives for the day included:
• Share brief snapshots from the field to illustrate the reality and complexity of the shelter and settlements sector;
• Discuss in depth four common challenges (identified by the participants prior to the event);
• Build relationships between the university research sector and the wide gamut of actors engaging in shelter and settlements projects across the Asia pacific Region;
• Explore the potential of creating a new forum/ network for NGO, government private sector and community agencies to share lessons from shelter and settlement programming, build collaborative projects and improve ways of working.

It was from this symposium and the discussions held on the day that it was agreed to create a cross sectoral, cross disciplinary no–logo shelter forum that could continue these discussions and help to move the Australian based sector forward.

Access the RMIT MoDDD + ARC Shelter Symposium Report.

Presentations from the Symposium below: