MENA Humanitarian Shelter & Settlements Forum 2023
On the 22nd and 23rd of February 2023, the MENA Shelter and Settlements Forum was held in-person and virtually in Amman, Jordan. The two-day hybrid forum provided a platform to present, share, and discuss best shelter practices from the region, fostering dialogue and new learning opportunities amongst shelter practitioners, donors, researchers, and academics.
The forum was held in English and Arabic. All presentations, notes, and recordings can be accessed here.
Registration is now open!
Registration for the Middle East and North Africa Shelter and Settlements Forum is now open!
The Forum will be hosted 22-23 February 2023 in Amman, Jordan and online. Simultaneous translation of English and Arabic will be available. The agenda will be shared at a later date.
To register in person or virtually, please complete this form no later than February 6th, 2023. For more information, please see the MENA Shelter Forum website here: http://www.shelterforum.info/middle-east/. Please note – for in person attendance, all travel expenses and arrangements are the responsibility of the attendee or their organization. The Forum organizers are not responsible for travel expenses or arrangements. More information for both in person and virtual attendees will be sent to registrants at a later date.
Please share the registration information with your local partners and colleagues. InterAction will be supporting up to 3 local and national organization staff to attend the forum in person this year. For more information and to apply, see here.
Please send any questions to menashelterforum2023@gmail.com.
Call for Proposals is open until December 31!
22-23 February 2023, Amman: in person and online
MENA Shelter & Settlements Forum is a two day hybrid event held annually to bring regional humanitarian actors together to share, learn and network. 2023 MENA S&S Forum is inviting interested organizations and practitioners to submit an abstract for presentations.
Previous MENA Shelter and Settlements Forum covered topics such as coordination mechanisms, best practices in disaster risk reduction, greening, emergency and recovery solutions, and urban issues.
This year, we will focus on thematic discussions such as:
- Climate and environmental adaptation, including water and energy crisis
- Local leadership in humanitarian response
- Region-specific Shelter Projects and Settlements Approach
- Cultural heritage
- Protracted crises and recurrent response
- Camps and urban integration
You are encouraged to submit abstracts on the above or other relevant topics.
Please note: Presentations must focus on promising practices and learning and not on the promotion of individual organizations.
Abstract submissions must include a title, a description (not exceeding 200 words), and names, title, and background of speakers. Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes maximum.
Abstracts are due by December 12, 2022. Selected proposals will be notified via email from menashelterforum2023@gmail.com.
MENA Humanitarian Shelter & Settlements Forum 2021
For the agenda, recordings and presentations please follow the link HERE
The Second Middle East Shelter and Settlement Forum was held on the 28th and 27th of October 2021. It was attended by approximately 130 participants around the region and globally.
The two-day Forum was divided into three focus areas: 1- Sharing learnings from shelter and settlements programming in the MENA region, 2-Spotlight on global and regional shelter and settlement initiatives, and 3-Networking and discussions. The first day included a wide range of presentations depict the multi-dimensionality of current shelter and settlements response and the issues that are addressed – from detailed material, construction/repair and architecture focuses, to country-wide programming.
On the second day, participants entered parallel breakout groups to further discuss themes: Greening Shelter and Settlements Programming; Local Response and Leadership; Promoting Diversity & Inclusion; and Urban Displacement and Durable Solutions. The discussions were varied – in one group, representatives presented the leverage effect of urban interventions by means of raising quality of life through a response, and in another, participants supported green solutions as entry points to future programming.
On both days participants were able to attend a 30 min network session. The session aimed to promote regional cooperation and learning in shelter and settlements coordination and response. It brought together Shelter Team members and Shelter practitioners to get to know each other and share challenges, successes, initiatives and learning, with a view to establish and/or strengthen a regional network of shelter and settlements professionals who can support and consult each other to improve their work.
For more info, contact menashelterforum2021@gmail.com
MENA Humanitarian Shelter & Settlements Forum 2019
The first Middle East Shelter and Settlement Forum was held in Amman on the 10th and 11th of July 2019. It was attended by approximately 70 participants from 23 organizations plus independents.
The first day focused on learning from past experiences of shelter and settlement responses in the Middle East by actively engaging actors using case studies from the Shelter Projects publication. It also included an informal consultation to inform the development of an area/settlement-based approach guidance note, which will further support the rollout of the approach across the region. In addition, the Arabic version of the online Shelter and Settlements Course was released.
The second day was an open forum for exchange of ideas on shelter and settlement issues for practitioners in the Middle East and beyond. Building on the first day, the forum reviewed some of the best practices in the region, looking at how learnings can be transferred between countries, concentrating on a number of themes such as durable solutions and returns; engaging with local authorities; remote management and cash-based interventions.
The overall objective was to collectively review good practices and lessons learned, share experiences of approaches relevant to the region, build or strengthen a community of practice and create networks in the region. The expected audience is humanitarian and development practitioners with regional / international experience in shelter, settlements, as well as other related sectors, local/regional institutions including academia, representatives from donors with a specific interest in shelter and settlements and/or the region.
The event was hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and InterAction, in collaboration with global and regional partners and thanks to the support of USAID/OFDA.
For more info, contact menashelterforum@gmail.com
Presentations are available at this link.