Please Find the Virtual Links to join the ASF 2022 in Dhaka Bangladesh.
Grand Ball Room
Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86878754427…
Passcode: 483569
Breakout Room 2
Link: https://zoom.us/j/98619729290…
Passcode: 289111
Breakout Room 3
Link: https://zoom.us/j/91230451067…
Passcode: 129653
Surma Hall (Breakout Room 4)
Link: https://zoom.us/j/98434812337…
Passcode: 427061
Meghna Hall (Breakout Room 5)
Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82921593726…
Passcode: 583122
Nepal chapter of the Asia Shelter Forum
Registration CLOSES on October 31, 2022!
Registration Link: https://rb.gy/zbooee
Link to Submit your EOI: https://forms.office.com/r/2MX4xavYAS
Conference Theme: Resilient Shelter and Settlements – Policy and Practice
Interested agencies/organizations/individuals are kindly requested to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) by October 31, 2022, no later than 5 PM Bangladesh Local Time.
Registration CLOSES on October 17, 2022!!
Click the link to REGISTER NOW: https://rb.gy/zbooee
SAVE THE DATE: Asia Shelter Forum 2022 in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 28-30 November 2022 at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka Registration is now open!! Click the link: https://rb.gy/zbooee
Asia Shelter Forum (ASF) is a regional forum initiated by shelter practitioners in 2015 in Bangkok that has aimed to localize the UK Shelter Forum, global annual shelter meetings, and other global shelter forums. The ASF aims to improve coordination, collaboration, share learnings and best practices among countries in the Asia region by engaging governments, donors, development partners, shelter cluster mechanisms and humanitarian organizations and partners. ASF has followed the practice of forming an organizing committee within the designated host country comprising leadership from the concerned government ministry. The same practice was followed for ASF 2021. Funds were allocated using a pool funding mechanism among stakeholders through the organizing committee.
To read more click on the link here: https://bit.ly/3ut16st
The DDM organized a Briefing Session to host the Asia Shelter Forum for 2022 in Bangladesh on 27th February 2022 at Spectra Convention Center, Dhaka with the objectives of sharing the experience from ASF 2021 hosted in Nepal and to complete the
formal handover of the hosting to the MoDMR.
The event kicked off with a presentation by Mr. Syed Ashraf, Communication Media
Specialist and ASF Focal Point, DDM, MoDMR on the hosting of the Asia Shelter Forum
2022, followed by speeches and participation from the audience.The presentation was
focused on the shelter initiative by MoDMR, overview and journey of ASF, participation
of DDM and various countries in 2021, and the way forward.
Click in the link to access to the Full Report: https://bit.ly/3tfqtyi
Conference Theme: Regional Learnings and Collaboration in Shelter and Settlements
Topics and Criteria for Regional Event Day
Click in the link to access to the Full Report: https://bit.ly/3uQabv3
Mr. Surendra Mohan Shrestha offered a vote of thanks on behalf of the Minister, Mr. Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Ministry of Urban Development. He praised the beauty of this forum to discuss challenges and identify solutions for our communities. He also expressed his commitment to ensure continued support in such regional collaborations and highlighted that such networks are important for regional learning. ASF needs to foster all countries in Asia-Pacific region to enhance its partnership and collaborations. He stated that the technical support would be essential as Nepalis advancing towards building resilient communities and much of the work remains to be done in the housing recovery of vulnerable households, urban areas and retrofitting, to ensure that no one is left behind. He further reiterated that MoUD remains committed to contributing to remaining reconstruction, preparedness and regular development works and ASF could play an important role to enrich knowledge transfer to policy makers and practitioners as it continues to expand in the region with robust support systems to coordinate, share ideas and implement best practices at all levels from grassroots level to regional, national and global shelter cluster.
Mr. Gyewali appreciated the forum’s capacity to know about activities of ASF in networking and extending of learnings by various institutions working in shelter and related components. In the 2015 earthquake, 8790 people died, almost 22,300 were injured, there was damage to 800,000 houses, 10,000 schools, 1,200 health facilities, 415 govt buildings, 300 local governments, 1500 water supply schemes, and 2200 heritage monuments and monasteries. The Post Disaster Needs Assessment estimated an economic loss of 7.1 billion USD.
Five and a half years after the earthquake, the progress has been remarkable. Nepal has received huge support, locally and internationally. NRA has completed 80% of the private housing reconstruction. There were many challenges in the reconstruction process as the NRA was moving forward for instance the country itself was transitioning from unitary to federal political system, constitution drafting process, general election including difficult geographical terrain of the country, lack of human and financial resources among others. Nepal has gained extensive lessons, especially in shelter. Some of the major lessons are as follows:
There are many more lessons that need to be shared. For this, the documentation process is ongoing, through various routes. The NRA timeline is till the end of 2021, after which it will be handed over to concerned government agencies. The Parliament has provided the legal framework for establishing the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA). The NRA has already started collaborating with the NDRRMA so that the NRA’s learnings and remaining tasks can be handed over to NDRRMA smoothly. He concluded his closing remarks by stating that intensive discussion will be required on multihazard Shelter Response, Localization, Urban, Retrofitting and Area Based/ Settlement Approach in the next ASF 2021.
The Asia Shelter Forum reflects the importance of government leadership to bring CBOs and I/NGOs together to share, reflect and identify the most appropriate housing solutions, especially for the most vulnerable in our societies. CRS reaffirms its commitment to governments and civil society organizations across Asia to support your goals for safe & dignified homes for vulnerable households in the countries. This partnership has already moved forward in Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Indonesia, and this needs to replicate in other countries like India, Vietnam and Myanmar, where there are high shelter needs as well. Last year CRS identified Homes and Communities all other aspects of shelter beyond brick and mortar, to make a house a home and a settlement a community. Homes and Communities is a priority global program area, through which we intend to help at least 10 million to safeguard safe homes and communities by 2030. This is a long-term process requiring coordination between many stakeholders and led by the governments. Mr. D’Silva added work is just beginning on how to use the unique platform of ASF for dialogue between governments, organizations, and civil society, and continue dialogue. He encouraged participation in one or more of the working groups, so that the
key points can be taken to next year and beyond.
MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH
Department of Director General
Mr. Md. Atiqul Haque applauded the forum’s capacity to share experiences and learning on the expansion of urban housing and settlement, and also stressed the need for multilateral dialogue on urban housing and shelter. He gave an overview of Bangladesh’s vulnerability to the natural disaster including floods, cyclones, riverbank erosion, typhoons. These are the major cause of distress, displacement, and vulnerability of a large number of people in both urban and rural dwellings. Forums and platforms like ASF need to be strengthened from country to country, cluster to cluster and from community to community. Accountable assistance for disaster affected populations is possible through effective partnership and more collaboration, accountable assistance can be provided to people suffering from disaster. Immediate recovery relies on humanitarian assistance. Role of humanitarian organization becomes paramount in crisis situations. In partnership with the government, humanitarian actors can reach the most vulnerable population like people with disabilities, pregnant and lactating mothers, female-headed households, senior citizens, marginalized castes, and, disaster and conflict affected populations. Issues of vulnerable people and underprivileged communities, disaster-affected people, and conflict-affected people need to be addressed accordingly and discussed in different forums. Humanitarian actors need to contribute in formulating humanitarian assistance policy. ASF is a milestone to enhance knowledge of shelter practitioners through sharing of capacity building initiatives on disaster preparedness and response. He is assured ASF will continue to build stronger shelter communities of shelter practitioners of Asia Region to contribute to the global shelter forum. He expressed People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s interest in organizing the future Asia Shelter Forum.
MESSAGE FROM THE REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES
Officer Incharge, Under Secretary
Mr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. stated that Asia is prone to natural hazards and global warming. Every year disastrous events are reported in many zones of the Asia-Pacific region. Many people lose their lives, get injured, and are displaced. Physical and social infrastructure of the nation gets disrupted and also severely affects public service. He suggested three action points to make a resilient community, and also to reduce the heavy losses from the disaster; reduce the potential risk of hazards or global warming, needs to have an effective and efficient response, which requires preparedness, and doing many simulation exercises, and appropriate and prompt response to the disaster. There can be lingering horizontal impact and risk, though the possible damages and loss from hazards are minimized from better preparedness and response. Hence, they need prompt response and immediate recovery from the disaster. Lessons from the past disaster should be mainstreamed into the recovery program. Every individual needs to know how to survive before, during, and aftermath of disaster. There should be easy and prompt access to basic access services such as health, schools and most importantly shelter aftermath of disaster. Inter community support should be guided by national policies. Contribution of every sector helps in achieving resilient communities. In particular for shelter, he further suggested to consider the followings three points:
MESSAGE FROM INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS
Head of Office, IFRC Indonesia
Mr. Jan Gelfand stated Shelter as the process beyond the product. It is more than a technical endeavor. Shelter intervention needs standard,
law, policy, finance and skilled human resources. Recent COVID-19
pandemic further sensitized the importance of shelter to deal with
stresses and shocks due to multitude disasters. Shelter and settlement
give a sense of belonging, safety and security, in our sense of belonging.
This is important to build and nurture relationships with the fundamental
building blocks of community. He highlighted the role of government
and political will for sustainability of shelter intervention because shelter
requires law, policy, guidelines, budget and skilled human resources. Sustainable shelter intervention should be guided with an anticipatory method to reduce vulnerability, use of cash grants and most significantly community engagement for accountability.
He thanked all the organizations for engaging in creative dialogue in shelter. He encouraged participants to push limits and think globally. Learning from each other is vital to promote innovation and creative thinking. Coordination events like ASF need to take place in the field to measure success and get realistic feedback. He acknowledged that shelter is fundamental to any agenda of localization, and also expressed IFRC commitment to continuously support and coordinate in shelter before, during, and aftermath of disaster.
MESSAGE FROM REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Ministry of Social Affairs
Mr. Muhamad Safii Nasuton, delivered a message to the Government of Nepal for recognizing role of the local government as a first responder to disaster. The local government has diverse experience in shelter response. Therefore, it is critical to facilitate collaboration between local governments with other shelter actors across the Asia region to strengthen shelter capacity. Threats imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic have restricted the mobility of human beings. This has amplified the need of shelter and also provided more opportunities to explore and examine to create breakthroughs on shelter response. In times of disasters, there is substantial demand for shelter. So, it requires collaboration among humanitarian organizations. Coordination is key to ensure that affected families receive humanitarian assistance. He highlighted that Ministry of Social Affairs is standby as the coordinator of shelter sub-cluster to orchestrate a smooth transition for better life of the affected
population. He mentioned that shelter sub-cluster have supported humanitarian actors in assisting over one million disaster affected populations in Indonesia.
Shelter sub-cluster is currently supporting coordination for COVID-19 situation to commence interagency collaboration that is strengthening the capacity of cluster members over 30,000 volunteers of the Ministry of Social Affairs across Indonesia. They have also facilitated the development of policy, guidelines and tools at national and local level for shelter assistance. This policy and guidelines include humanitarian shelter guideline, guideline on construction during COVID-19 situation, standard for temporary shelter etc. He handed over ASF certificate to the joint panel of National Reconstruction Authority and Government of Nepal – Ministry of Urban Development on behalf of Republic of Indonesia.
Asia Shelter Forum is a forum of practitioners that allows sharing of experiences and learnings across the Asia-Pacific thereby fostering an environment to support and collaborate. Due to COVID-19 related restrictions, ASF 2020 was planned virtually as a half day workshop in November 2020 to be followed by an extended event in April 2021. The Virtual and Abridged Asia Shelter Forum 2020 provided a great platform to share best practices, lessons learnt, innovations, and other priority topics for the governments from Asia-Pacific as well as donor and regional, national and international humanitarian actors, academic institutions, and civil society.
This Asia Shelter Forum aims at creating a platform that builds professional connections and understanding of best practices in shelter and settlements programming in the Asia Pacific Region. The forum was started by the shelter practitioners in 2015 as the shelter meet for practitioners in Bangkok, followed by 2018 in Bangkok and 2019 in Indonesia. The main objective of the forum is to bring the shelter and settlement practitioners together to create safe space to share experiences and learn from each other. The past forum activities had proven well to engage the participants and strengthen the capacity of the practitioners to explore more technical solutions to serve the community we work. Similarly, from the past forum we have seen Government leading the forum and every year more and more governments from the region are coming together to facilitate the discussion among the practitioners.
The ASF 2020 was successfully hosted by MoUD-Nepal, NRA and DUDBC and supported by the HRRP and the organizing committee members namely CRS, IFRC, GSC, Habitat for Humanity, IOM, EU, and NGO Federation of Nepal as the major contributors for Asia Shelter Forum in Nepal. The Forum explored best practices and shelter approaches and initiatives that are community-driven, urban focused, retrofitting oriented, considerate of the multi-hazard risk and appropriate shelter needs and even more contextual in the face of COVID-19.
On 29 November 2020, ASF 2020 hosted more than 300 participants from around the world in a hybrid setting consisting of virtual participants (Zoom and Facebook) together with in-person meeting participants following COVID-19 safe protocols. Er. Mani Ram Gelal, Director General, DUDBC Nepal welcomed the participants and the dignitaries which was followed by remarks from the following four regional government dignitaries highlighting the emerging needs of the shelter across Asia Pacific Region.
All statements from dignitaries stressed the need to leverage resources from the government to strengthen shelter management and establish stronger institutional mechanisms for effective shelter response. There were five sessions
in the event:
In the first session, an update on the global shelter cluster mechanism was provided. The role of GSC for coordination, response, and capacity building of different government and non-government organizations for humanitarian assistance was made clear among the participants. Various ongoing initiatives of its working groups with brief updates from Construction standards, inclusion of persons with disabilities, promoting shelter projects, settlement approaches in urban settings were highlighted. Participants also understood that GSC provides in-country and remote support to the country level clusters on the need basis. Second session proposed four emerging shelter issues to be addressed in the context of COVID-19. Linking health and living conditions was the first emerging shelter issue identified, where the speaker stressed on the need for adequate housing facilities for overall well-being of humans. Importance of adequate shelter was also discussed to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Eviction was the third emerging shelter issue. Regular tracking of eviction data and monitoring is helpful to figure out the underlying cause of evictions and homelessness. Regular tracking and analysis of eviction data also prevent eviction of underprivileged communities, and targeted groups like health workers/frontline workers in times of outbreak of infectious diseases. Economic Recovery should be mainstreamed in shelter programs to improve income of people and sustain their livelihood through income generation employment opportunities.
Third session offered participants to gain insights from experiences and learning on urban recovery and housing shared by speakers and panelists from India, Chile, Nepal and Srilanka. The speaker from Nepal compared the rural and urban reconstruction and stressed on slow urban recovery. Findings from combined study (qualitative & quantitative) revealed housing finance, financial process and policy, and land etc. has made urban housing recovery complex. The panelist from Chile summarized various challenges dealt in the post-disaster phase; houses need estimation and setting eligibility criteria for government support, relocating displaced from temporary camps, and building common indicators for urban recovery. The panelist argued that public and private intervention requires holistic urban resilience and regeneration. Incorporation of risk reduction approaches and adjustment in policy and legislation based on empirical data is needed to swift the recovery process. People centered approach for recovery and reconstruction was emphasized through the panelist from India. The success of recovery and reconstruction should be examined with the lens of social capital to get overall well-being of people. The speaker representing the Urban Settlement Working Group proposed that threats from disaster at current and in future situations should be analyzed and embedded into contemporary housing practices. The link between planning and budgeting decisions for safe and affordable housing need to be strengthened.
Fourth session covered experience sharing of retrofitting practitioners from Asia Pacific region; Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Philippines. Nepal endorsed retrofitting initiatives effectively post-earthquake 2015 to control the haphazard building practice. Both hardware and software activities for retrofitting have been implemented by governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Those activities include retrofitting of school
building, governmental building, capacity building of stakeholders and public awareness raising. In Pakistan, retrofitting curricula were developed, engineers and mason were trained, and provided on the job training to mason. Similarly, in Bhutan, guidelines for assessment and retrofitting were developed, public and private buildings were assessed, engineers and mason were trained, and onthe-job training for mason was provided. In Bangladesh, engineers and masons were trained and after that, the local organizations developed and implemented retrofitting designs. The importance of physical demonstration to help people to understand retrofitting. Technical complexity and limited provision for retrofitting in building code and generally low confidence among the technical professionals were some of the major challenges that need to be overcome from retrofitting issues. Common housing typologies in Indonesia are unreinforced masonry, confined masonry, timber-framed on stilts/over masonry skirt base etc.. Technical defects in such housing typology make the retrofitting process complicated.
The Homeowner Retrofitting Program was implemented in the Philippines to strengthen the housing structures. By providing homeowners with access to financial resources and creation of market-demand, program implementation becomes easier.
Fifth session underlined the importance of integrated assessment of multiple hazards for effective shelter management. Philippines’s Geo-Risk Philippines initiatives were shared. This initiative has two platforms: Physical and Governance platforms. In the physical platform, tools are developed for data integration, management, analysis, and assessment of information and in the governance platform, stakeholders can collaborate to share optimum use of the information necessary for risk governance. Different platforms under GeoRiskPH are GeoMapper, GeoAnalytics, and HazardHunterPH. The GeoMapper allows collecting field and off-line surveys. The GeoAnalytics application is designed for visualization and analytics purposes. The HazardhunterPH offers 24/7 hazard assessment services. Major achievement and learning of the Durable SolutionII project implemented in Nepal through the funding of UKAID was presented, funded by UKAID. The project has four core thematic areas for project implementation: implementation & coordination, geo-hazard assessment, policy development support, and resilience building. From Bangladesh, Caritas Bangladesh presented learning and achievement on resilient and climate Smart Design and response through a community-led approach project. Community engagement in the construction designing phase was stressed to ensure sustainability and maintain social cohesion. Discussion on different technical solutions for low housing such as strong resilient design, inclusive local practices and culture were made. The framework of the community-led settlement project implemented by KMSS, Myanmar was presented which has social, environmental,
and economic dimensions for project intervention.
Mr. Marc D’ Silva, Regional Director, CRS bridged Asia Shelter Forum 2020 & 21. The Asia Shelter Forum reflects the importance of government leadership to bring CBOs and I/NGOs together to share, reflect and identify the most appropriate housing solutions, especially for the most vulnerable in our societies. Key ASF working groups came together on areas of urban issues, retrofitting, COVID-19 settlement response, and multi-hazard response. He clarified that the outcomes of these working groups will form the basis of the ASF 2021. He encouraged active participation in one or more of the working groups, so that the key points for scaling next year and beyond.
Mr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha shared a presentation to invite participants to ICNR 2021. ICNR will be hosted from 23 April 2021 to 25 April 2021, and the 26th will be ASF. He requested all the participants to block 4 days for shelter week. Participants are expected from across the globe, especially disaster-prone countries. international, national, invited guests, and high-level dignitaries will be invited based on the situation. There is a higher possibility that the conference will as well be organized in a hybrid model; physical and virtual.
Representatives from key organizations working in the disaster and shelter recovery sector marked their presence in ASF. Feedback collected via zoom & feedback indicated that participants were raised more questions on shelter response to disasters that are common across the Asia region. Need of multisectoral collaboration for raising awareness at ground level is best understood by participants and they also recognized the importance of designing effective plans for recovery of disaster affected populations.
The Chief Guest, Er. Sushil Gyewali, Chief Executive Officer, NRA, and Er. Surendra Mohan Shrestha, Joint Secretary, MoUD-Nepal provided a solid overview of the forum and briefly outlined deliberations of each session. Their closing remarks reiterated Nepal’s commitment for continued support in such regional collaboration and showed dedication for holistic development that enriched best ideas of shelter allocation. They also made clear that shelter is multi-disciplinary efforts and strong commitment and collaboration from all the sectors; governmental, non-governmental, and private are required for better shelter and its emergency response.
Handover from Indonesia to Nepal
This report provides a summary of events – minutes or key points – of sessions across the Indonesian Shelter Week 2019, held in Lombok Indonesia, from Monday 19 to Friday 23 August.
The Shelter Week was composed of four primary events, namely, the inaugural National Indonesian Shelter and Settlements Workshop from 19 – 20 August, the Global Shelter Cluster – Asia Pacific Shelter Meeting on 21 August, followed by the annual Asia Pacific Shelter Practitioners Forum on 22 August, and completed with a field visit to disaster affected areas of Lombok on the 23 August.
This report will be divided into four parts, corresponding consecutively with the four events of the week. The report will present the agendas for each of the events, followed by the minutes of each of the sessions or activities held for that event. Each event summary will be finalized highlighting key points, outcomes and recommendations of sessions and each event overall.
This report is to encourage currency of dialogue amongst Asia Pacific Shelter Clusters, to facilitate a community of practice of ongoing actions, communication and resource / ideas sharing.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS TO FULL REPORT: https://bit.ly/3ozmivx
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This year Asia Pacific Shelter Forum was held in Lombok Indonesia on August 2019 combined with National Shelter Conference hosted by the Ministry of Social Affairs with coordination support from IFRC. The forum brings together shelter practitioners from, and/or working in the region to share ideas and lessons learned on humanitarian shelter and settlement initiatives and programs which aims to build stronger community of shelter practice across the region.
Included in the event is a full day field visit to earthquake affected areas in Lombok to observe and discuss progress and challenges in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in urban areas.
Attended by approximately 140 participants from the region, and 13 out of 140 participants are CRS and Caritas representative. Nine (9) CRS staff from 5 Country Programs such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Philippines; two (2) staff from Caritas Bangladesh and two (2) S&S HRD staff had participated the forum. All CRS and Caritas staff presented at different sessions bringing a lot of credit to CRS.
The forum allowed time for discussions on six (6) thematic sessions such as:
An “open space” was also allocated for participants to nominate topics of interest followed by vibrant discussions and debate about the selected topics.
After the event, CRS and Caritas staff had debrief and reflect; each one sharing their observations, learning experience and takeaways from the forum.
CLICK ON THE LINK FOR FULL REPORT: https://bit.ly/2Ysq9zO
The Asia Pacific Shelter Week was composed of four primary events, namely, the inaugural National Indonesian Shelter and Settlements Workshop from 19 – 20 August, the Global Shelter Cluster – Asia Pacific Shelter Meeting on 21 August, followed by the annual Asia Pacific Shelter Practitioners Forum on 22 August, and completed with a field visit to disaster affected areas of Lombok on the 23 August.
In late August of 2019, the second Asia Pacific Regional Shelter workshops and forum, this year called “Shelter Week” was hosted in Lombok by Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) as lead of the National Protection and Displacement Cluster under which the Shelter Sub-Cluster sits, with support from IFRC as lead of the Global Shelter Cluster in Natural disasters, and the Asia Pacific Shelter Forum.
The Shelter Week events were held at the Hotel Lombok Raya in Lombok’s capital city of Mataram (Kota Mataram) on the Indonesian island of Lombok, in the Province of West Nusa Tenggara of which Mataram is the provincial capital. On behalf of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs, the Global Shelter Cluster and the Asia Pacific Shelter Forum members, we thank all participants, facilitators and organisers who took part in this years’ Indonesian Shelter Week.
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The Asia Shelter Forum is an informal forum for exchange of ideas and lessons learned for humanitarian shelter & settlement practitioners in Asia and Pacific. The Forum is established with the objective of coordination, collaboration, learning and sharing of the experiences on the shelter sectors and to inform, provide updates on various ongoing initiatives on shelter interventions in areas of disaster response, recovery, and preparedness to address particularly identified needs based on successes and lessons during implementation in the field.
In the previous Second Asia Shelter Forum that was held in Indonesia, the half day virtual workshop drew the attention of Government, international practitioners and donor agencies on the lessons and experience of recent disasters as well as the wider experience of shelter response in the region. The workshop was able to explore the best practices in achieving safe, adequate, dignified implementation of shelter programs that supports community engagement, community driven shelter initiatives and also for bringing global participants in an Asia Shelter Forum in April 2021.
The third Asia Shelter Forum was hosted by Nepal and was led by the HRRP for coordination with higher level officials and executives of Government of Nepal, delegates of international countries, authorities of multilateral, and bi-lateral donors, and the representatives of different I/NGOs within and outside the country.
On February 25th, 2016, The National Conference on “Shelter in Emergencies” was organised by CARE INDIA with support from Christian Aid and Sphere India. The conference, held in New Delhi, facilitated the process of exchange of experiences and lessons learned, as well as discussion of challenges encountered in implementing shelter projects in Indian context among a wide range of stakeholders. The conference was organised to disseminate the findings of the shelter study recently concluded by CARE INDIA, and provided a forum to share experiences from the past on shelter in post-humanitarian crisis. The key objective of the conference was to develop a consensus around strategy for shelters in future emergencies in India and the region.
Mr. Rajeev Sadanandan, Joint Secretary, Rural Housing, Ministry of Rural Development was the Chief Guest for the event. The other eminent dignitaries who attended the conference were Dr.Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, Mr. Vinod Sharma, Honourable Vice Chairman, Sikkim Disaster Management Authority and Eminent
professor at Indian Institute of Public Administration and Mr. Ajit Chaudhari, General Manager, Tata Sons. The conference was also participated by well-known shelter experts across the states as well as various international and national NGOs, International donors and UN agencies.
Workshop proceedings were conducted through a series of technical sessions, focusing on the various aspects of shelter construction like sharing of national experiences; capacity-building initiatives; best practices; emerging challenges and future directions for shelter response in India. Each of the technical sessions comprised of thematic presentations by programme stakeholders and experts followed by open discussions. Going beyond experiences related to the shelter projects, this knowledge sharing initiative also focused on key technical aspects of shelter reconstruction such as disaster risk assessment, disaster-resistant construction, retrofitting, regulatory mechanisms such as building codes and by-laws, use of sustainable construction materials, capacity
building of construction fraternity and role of community participation.
Some of the key take points which emerged from the deliberations during the conference were as follows:
The full conference proceedings can be downloaded here: Report-National Conference on Shelter in Emergencies.
On the 25th of February in Delhi there will be a one day conference to discuss the findings and recommendations of CARE and Christian Aid’s studies into the longer-term outcomes of post-disaster shelter projects in India.
Concept note – dissemination of shelter study – Feb 09
Further information on the outcomes, and copies of the study report, will be posted here in due course.
More detail on the Pakistan Shelter Forum coming soon…
To get involved please email us at ukshelterforum2013(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!
As part of the 14th UK Shelter Forum in March 2014 Anshu Sharma, SaferWorld Communications, presented an update from the India Shelter in Emergencies Forum. You can download Anshu’s presentation (which includes audio if you watch the slideshow) here.
In September 2013 members of the India Shelter in Emergencies Forum had been working on a joint assessment following the Uttarakhand flash flooding in northern India. Following this assessment SaferWorld Communications undertook additional research to fill gaps identified in the assessment. Key findings from this research were then documented in a report and exhibition later in the year.
Anshu then described an innovative programme being undertaken following cyclone Phailin in October 2013. With limited funding for humanitarian organisations (due to the low number of fatalities) SaferWorld Communications are currently focused on engaging with the large-scale government/World Bank permanent reconstruction programmes. Through this they have developed a ‘menu’ of options (see below) from which families can make their own decisions regarding different components of their house. This enables families to choose higher specifications on certain items – for example they might prefer a concrete roof – while managing the overall cost of their house and ensuring safety and sustainability.
Upcoming activities of the India Shelter in Emergencies Forum include a pre-monsoon meeting hosted by Christian Aid in April 2014, engagement with architectural and planning schools, and brainstorming how to tackle key emerging challenges and trends.
As part of the 13th UK Shelter Forum in September 2013 Ram Kishan, Christian Aid presented an update from the India Shelter in Emergencies Forum and a report from SaferWorld Communications into the Uttarakhand Floods.
The India Shelter in Emergencies Forum encourages open informal reflection on the issue of shelter in emergencies. It is hosted in rotation, with membership open to NGOs, academia and individual experts.