Shelter Meeting achievements

Achievements resulting from the Shelter Meetings, the Shelter Forums and preceding peer reviews include:

• launch of the new Shelter Centre website, a completely interactive service with online discussions, geo-referencing of library contents, news and events.
• launch of the Shelter After Disaster guidelines, the result of a collaboration with UN/OCHA and the revision of the Field Edition: Transitional settlement and reconstruction after natural disasters (UN/OCHA, 2008).
• launch of the “Assistance in urban areas to populations affected by humanitarian crises” guidelines, in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and funded by DFID.
• launch of 'Exploring key changes and developments in post-disaster settlement, shelter and housing, 1982 - 2006' (OCHA, 2006)', the scoping study commissioned by OCHA and coordinated by Shelter Centre to inform the revision of 'Shelter after Disaster: Guidelines for Assistance' (UNDRO, 1982) (Shelter Meeting 06a)
• launch of Transitional Settlement: Displaced Populations, by the University of Cambridge shelterproject, funded by DFID/CHAD, published by Oxfam Publications
• development by Shelter Centre and agreement by the participant organisations of performance standards for tents, recently published by UN/OCHA as Part C of 'Tents. A Guide to the Use and Logistics of Family Tents in Human Relief',
• review and launch of 'Tents.A Guide to the Use and Logistics of Family Tents in Human Relief', by UN/OCHA, the University of Cambridge shelterproject and Shelter Centre
• review of the development of a lightweight family shelter by Shelter Centre
• review of the revision of Chapter 4, 'Minimum Standards in Shelter, Settlement and Non- Food Items', of 'The Sphere Project Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response'
• review of the 'Economic Impact of Emergency Shelter' (CHF, 2005) , by CHF International and funded by USAID.
• review of 'Comparative assessment of the development and operations costs of displaced persons settlements using grid- and cluster-based designs', by Shelter Centre, funded by USAID
• preliminary consultation and workshops chaired by UN/OCHA in support of the forthcoming revision of the key guidelines 'Shelter after Disaster: Guidelines for Assistance' (UNDRO, 1982)
• regular formal and informal coordination collaboration and cooperation opportunities between 5 bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, 5 United Nations bodies, and most of the IOs and NGOs operational in the transitional settlement and shelter sector