Global Shelter Cluster

Global Shelter Cluster
Name	Global Shelter Cluster
Formation	2005
Type	Coordination mechanism
Headquarters	Geneva
Region served	International
Parent organization	United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Global Shelter Cluster is an international humanitarian coordination mechanism that focuses on emergency shelter, settlements, and housing recovery in humanitarian crises. It convenes humanitarian actors to provide strategic guidance, technical standards, and operational coordination for displaced populations affected by natural hazards, conflicts, and complex emergencies. The Cluster links normative frameworks, operational agencies, and donor bodies to harmonize responses across crises in regions such as South Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Latin America.

Overview

The Cluster brings together United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organizations, national NGOs, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and bilateral donors to coordinate shelter and settlement responses. Key partners include United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Organization for Migration, and agencies such as CARE International, Oxfam International, and Médecins Sans Frontières. The Cluster develops technical guidance, standards, and tools used alongside frameworks like the Sphere Project and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to inform programming in displaced persons camps, urban settings, and host communities.

History and Development

The mechanism emerged from humanitarian reforms after major crises in the early 2000s, including the responses to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It was formalized within the Humanitarian Reform Agenda to strengthen sectoral coordination among agencies such as United Nations Development Programme and World Food Programme. Over time, its remit expanded through lessons from operations in the Haiti earthquake (2010), the Syrian Civil War, and the 2015 Nepal earthquake, adopting standards influenced by initiatives like the Global Shelter Cluster peer review and technical capacities from institutions such as Columbia University and ETH Zurich for settlement planning.

Structure and Governance

The Cluster is co-led by designated UN agencies and an international NGO consortium, often pairing UN-Habitat or UNHCR with lead NGOs such as Norwegian Refugee Council or International Rescue Committee. Governance is guided by steering committees, global coordinators, and technical advisory groups that include experts from International Committee of the Red Cross, academic partners, and national authorities. It operates under policy instruments from United Nations General Assembly and coordinates with mechanisms like the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Regional and country-level clusters adapt global guidance to contexts such as Somalia, Bangladesh, and Philippines.

Operational Activities and Services

Activities encompass emergency shelter distribution, transitional settlement design, site planning, damage assessment, shelter rehabilitation, and cash-based interventions. The Cluster issues technical resources including the Emergency Shelter Cluster Handbook, standards aligned with the Sphere Handbook, and guidance on cash-transfer programming used in crises like the South Sudan conflict and the Mozambique cyclones. Operational support includes surge deployment of experts, training for national shelter actors, and coordination of logistics with actors such as World Bank-funded recovery programs and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations missions.

Partnerships and Coordination

Partnerships span UN entities, international NGOs, national disaster management agencies, and research institutions. The Cluster works with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Asian Development Bank, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and local civil society networks to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation into shelter practice. Coordination mechanisms include inter-cluster meetings with Health Cluster, Protection Cluster, and WASH Cluster to ensure multisectoral responses in contexts like protracted displacement in Lebanon and rapid-onset events in Indonesia.

Funding and Resources

The Cluster itself is not a fundraising entity but supports pooled funds and appeals managed by partners, including Central Emergency Response Fund, country-based pooled funds, and bilateral donor contributions from governments such as United States Department of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (United Kingdom), and agencies like Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It produces strategic response plans and shelter-specific budget matrices used to inform appeals to funders including European Commission humanitarian instruments and private foundations.

Impact, Challenges, and Criticism

The Cluster has improved coordination, standardization, and technical capacity in shelter responses across crises like the Rohingya refugee crisis and the Yemen conflict, contributing to more coherent programming and improved beneficiary outcomes. Criticism includes challenges in linking emergency shelter to durable housing recovery, perceived UN-centric governance noted in reviews by Joint Inspection Unit, and difficulties adapting standards to urban displacement contexts raised by organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and academic critiques from University College London. Operational constraints include funding shortfalls, political access barriers in settings like Syria and Myanmar, and tensions between short-term relief and long-term housing policy led by national ministries.

Category:Humanitarian aid