Shelter and Settlements Training Course Module1: Overview and Trends Course Notes

Transcription

1 1. Overview and Trends 1.1 Welcome Welcome to Module 1 of the shelter and settlements training course. This module will look at an overview of humanitarian shelter assistance and the cross-cutting opportunities of shelter interventions. It will also look at global trends in shelter responses. Click Next to continue. Untitled Layer 1 (Slide Layer) Page 1 of 34

2 1.2 Navigation Help Shelter and Settlements Training Course Before we begin this online module, let's learn how to navigate through it. Click each marker to learn how to navigate this e-learning module. This section allows access to any topic or page within the module by clicking on its listing. This section allows you to navigate to the next and previous screens. This section allows you to pause the current screen using the pause button. You can replay the screen using the replay button. You can control the audio volume using this button. You may also want to check the audio volume of your computer. Click the Notes tab to view a transcript of the current slide. Page 2 of 34

3 1.3 Training Overview Shelter and Settlements Training Course Hello, my name is Charles Setchell, and I serve as the Senior Shelter, Settlements, and Hazard Mitigation Advisor at the US Agency for International Development Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, or OFDA. I realize that my name, title, and affiliation are quite a mouthful, so I ll break it down for you: If people affected by disasters and crises in other countries need some form of shelter, I work with others to respond to their needs, in an office that coordinates US Government responses to natural disasters overseas. The Module that you re looking at is the first in a series of five videos that are based on a one-day Shelter and Settlements ( S&S ) training workshop that I and some colleagues developed some years ago. The five Modules are a joint effort of USAID/OFDA and the US-based NGO consortium known as InterAction, and specifically InterAction's Mohamed Hilmi and members of the InterAction Shelter and Settlements Working Group. We think the videos will provide humanitarian workers and others with the basics of S&S sector work as part of larger international humanitarian assistance efforts. Briefly, these modules cover the following topics: Global settlements trends affecting humanitarian shelter assistance S&S assessment issues and concerns Shelter Settlements, and Risk Reduction and Reconceiving the Road to Recovery. Page 3 of 34

4 1.4 Course Takeaways Shelter and Settlements Training Course After reviewing all five modules, you ll be able to: Identify and understand terms used in the S&S sector Identify and discuss general global settlement trends affecting humanitarian shelter assistance Know what S > 4W + R means Know why housing should be viewed as a VERB, and not just a noun Identify various shelter sector interventions Discuss the important role of shelter in livelihood generation, health, WASH, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), protection, and other humanitarian sectors Identify concepts and techniques for linking shelter to longer-term recovery and reconstruction, and Complete a virtual assessment based on a real situation & five self-assessment quizzes. On behalf of USAID/OFDA and InterAction, thank you for taking the time to complete the modules and we welcome your comments <mailto:> or (csetchell@usaid.org). Let s start with our first session. Page 4 of 34

5 1.5 Module 1 Objectives Shelter and Settlements Training Course Hello. This is the first of five training modules on humanitarian Shelter and Settlements (S&S) assistance. These e-learning training modules are based on a one-day S&S training course developed by USAID/OFDA. This session will provide a brief overview of the main training topics, and review some global trends that influence the provision of S&S assistance. Specifically, this session will focus on the following: Covered Living Space International Context and Rapid Urbanization The importance of context in informing S&S activities The important role of shelter in livelihood generation and the recovery and regeneration of settlements, and S > 4W + R Page 5 of 34

6 1.6 Covered Living Space per Person We will start off this module by understanding some covered living spaces. We will look at 4 different spaces: two square meters, three-and-a-half square meters, five square meters and nine square meters. Remember that we're working with square meters in this activity. Click each covered living space to learn more. Two square meters: This represents the average covered living space per person in places like downtown Port au Prince, in Haiti. It is undeniably small, not much bigger than the size of a single bed. In urban slums around the world, in cities such as Calcutta and Lagos, people will rent out this space, and they might even have to time-share to be able to afford it. Three point five square meters: This is the minimum covered living space per person that the humanitarian community has been using through the Sphere Project. Humanitarian minimum standard states that along with 3.5 square meters per person, we are also providing each family with basic non-food items such as blankets, jerry cans, and cooking kit. All of this, along with a 50-kilo sack of rice and fuel all has to fit within their allocated space. This does not leave much space for living, but remember that many living in an urban slum have only m 2 each. Click the link for more discussion around 3.5 square meters. With an estimate of 5 to 6 people per family, it is clear that we cannot fully comply with minimum Sphere standards when distributing tents as emergency shelter. Page 6 of 34

7 This, amongst other reasons, means that we should look at alternative-to-tent shelter solution where possible. Haiti, with its pre-disaster average of 2 sq. m. living space per person, had caused the humanitarian community to question the validity of using 3.5 sq. m. in urban contexts where land is not abundantly available. As such there was an agreement to downsize the standard being used for transitional shelter phase. For transitional or early recovery phase, it is possible to consider multi-story structures in order to achieve higher density in an urban context. Community acceptance will be an important component when introducing a new template for the response. Five Square Meters: The spatial criteria being used by UN Habitat to define an urban slum in a developing country is that the community is made up of small houses with an average of 5 sq. m. of covered living space per person. This is used along with 5 or 6 other indicators to define areas of urban slums. Nine square meters: This number came about as the result of a large housing survey carried out by the World Bank. Nine square meters was identified as the global average for living space per person in developing countries. It is expected that the number has gone up in the recent few years, with a large expansion of housing stock in countries like China, India and Brazil. Page 7 of 34

8 2m (Slide Layer) Shelter and Settlements Training Course 3.5m (Slide Layer) More discussion (Slide Layer) Page 8 of 34

9 5m (Slide Layer) Shelter and Settlements Training Course 9m (Slide Layer) Page 9 of 34

10 1.7 Sphere Project Guidelines Having seen all the different metrics and what they mean physically, let s now focus on the key standard used in shelter and settlement sector: 3.5 sq. m. per person of covered living space. Click each marker to learn more about the 3.5 sq. m. per person of covered living space. This number is considered minimally adequate to promote health, privacy, and human dignity. It is very modest. This number is also only 1/25th of the average new house size per capita in the U.S. Of course, things are also changing in the US, as more people are living alone in an apartment, an idea that is inconceivable for many countries in the world. 3.5 square meters is also about 40 percent of what people had on the average before the disaster. Increasingly, we are forced to think even smaller than sphere standards to be able to fit into urban contexts such as Haiti, though we continue to aspire towards achieving these minimum standards. Remember: The Sphere project is not only about this one number; the shelter and settlement standard 1 focuses on contributing to the security, safety, health and well-being of both displaced and nondisplaced affected populations and promote recovery and reconstruction where possible. Page 10 of 34

11 1.8 Terminology (Units of Analysis) Before we move ahead into the module, this is a quick review of terminologies commonly used in the humanitarian sector. The humanitarian sector tends to classify people depending on their situations, so it could be Internally Displaced People (IDPs), refugees, or sometimes they are simply referred to as affected population. Families vs. Households have long been debated and discussed, and many criteria have been proposed on how to judge what a family or a household is. In our working environment, emphasis is placed on households defined as a group of people occupying the same covered living space that may or may not belong to the same family. While housing is the term used in development sector, humanitarians use the word shelter, partly to signify its non-permanent nature, and to clarify the intention to support provision of dwellings that have limited life-span. Community and Settlements, however, tend to be relatively interchangeable for both columns. These basics, or units of analysis, are the key to understanding CONTEXT. CONTEXT is what we need to have some understanding of as we strategize and design our interventions. Page 11 of 34

12 1.9 Benefits of Shelter and Settlements If we look back 5 or 6 years at the economic crash of 2008 in the United States and several other countries, at the Asian economic crisis in the late nineties, and the Japanese bubble burst in the late eighties, all of them have at least one thing in common. The crashes are all related to housing and the real estate development sector. A large portion of any economy is directly linked to construction and related businesses. This is true even in the modest economies we typically work in. Shelter has a very central function in any society, including economically, socially, or politically. So why do we focus on this in the humanitarian sector? Shelter can generate the impacts needed for response, and recovery. It also contributes towards longerterm Disaster Risk Reduction and therefore resiliency of a community. Settlements are the context for these activities. To understand the context is to be able to design an intervention that is effective, culturally appropriate, and creates long lasting impacts for the communities. Page 12 of 34

13 1.10 Economic Impacts of Shelter It is therefore important to understand economic impacts of shelter interventions. When shelter designs are context-driven, when they're not pre-fabricated solutions flown in from halfway around the world, impacts can be significant in the disaster-affected economies. OFDA s first mandate is to save lives, the second is to reduce suffering, and third, to reduce the economic and social impacts of disasters. A context-driven shelter intervention can jump start affected economies, revitalize local markets, and lead the transition into recovery re-construction. Page 13 of 34

14 1.11 Shelter-Related Livelihood Activities Apart from having an indirect impact on a local economy through material procurement, there are also livelihood activities that are directly related to shelter and settlements activities. We will be briefly exploring different livelihood opportunities related to shelter in the post-disaster context. Click on each picture to hear more about them. One of the most common shelter-related livelihood activities is material production. This includes local brick-making, or compressed earth block, as well as pre-fabrication of doors and windows. Apart from revitalizing local economy through use of local material and labor force, this also has the added benefits of providing communities with additional skills they may not previously have. This type of support also offers great opportunities for integration of disaster risk reduction components. Generating jobs for local labor force has significant economic impacts to disaster-affected communities. Whether it is skill laborers such as carpenters for doors and window-making, masons for brick-laying, or unskilled laborers for rubble removal, drainage clearing, or for servicing community infrastructure. It is also extremely beneficial from both a social and psychosocial stand point, providing communities with a sense of normalcy. The indirect benefits of using local materials and local labor are manifold and should always be prioritized. From a different perspective, the value of a safe shelter is more than just having a place to live. For many families, it is also a platform for livelihood activities, where home-based enterprise is a vital part of economic survival. Part of a shelter is given over to small scale productions, or be used as a storefront. For these families, having a safe shelter is vital for recovering their livelihoods. Page 14 of 34

15 LMP (Slide Layer) LL (Slide Layer) SHE (Slide Layer) Page 15 of 34

16 1.12 OFDA s Approach to Shelter and Settlements Next, we shall look at OFDA s approach to Shelter and Settlements: 1. It is based on field assessments, and is a reflection on particular needs of the affected settlements, especially households considered most vulnerable. 2. It prioritizes local materials, markets and labors, where possible, 3. It links shelter and livelihoods, 4. It emphasizes the application of internationally recognized guidelines such as the Sphere Project, including provision of minimally adequate space, whenever possible, 5. It reduces social and economic impacts of present and future disasters through integration of Disaster Risk Reduction measures, 6. It continues research into the sector. Click the icon for more information on USAID or OFDA s approach to Shelter and Settlement Sector. Page 16 of 34

17 1.13 Overview of Humanitarian Shelter Assistance We will now have a look at different types of humanitarian shelter assistance that is commonly used by the humanitarian community. The first row of photographs shows common shelter options and assistances during the emergency phase such as Host Family or Community, Tents or Plastic sheeting, Collective Centres, and Camps. The second row of photographs show samples of shelter assistances that are commonly linked to recovery phase such as Repair Program, Transitional Shelter, and Upgrading to Permanence. Click each image to get a description. Hosting Support: This is one of the most pervasive forms of self-recovery and is often overlooked by humanitarian actors, thus making it a challenge to programming efforts. However, through community based assessments hosting arrangements and opportunities can be readily identified. Hosting will be discussed as part of assessment activities in later chapters. Plastic Sheeting Shelter as NFIs: Many families will also choose to stay close to their damaged or destroyed homes, putting together a shelter as they are able. The humanitarian shelter assistance in this case focuses on waterproofing and securing these shelters either through distribution of tents or shelter kits. The shelter kit is commonly made up of plastic sheeting, rope and fixings. In cases where framing structures cannot be salvaged or obtained locally, additional poles may be included into this shelter kit. The reason home-based or community-based support is generally preferred is because it promotes selfrecovery and is a stepping stone for a return to normalcy. In this way, shelter kit is a preferred option for its flexibility, adaptability, and reuse-ability. Page 17 of 34

18 Collective Centers: In many settlements, the only safe building still standing after a disaster could be public buildings, such as schools, temples, mosques, churches, or governmental buildings. Often these buildings are also natural gathering place for the community. In many settlements it is part of their contingency plan. While this reduces the urgency of immediate shelter provision, ensuring that these buildings provide safe and adequate dwelling is often a challenge - whether it be from overcrowding or inadequate infrastructure. Prolonged stay will also delay communities recovery as the buildings cannot return to original function and schools could not be re-opened. Long-term use of such public buildings, specifically schools, should be avoided whenever possible due to negative impacts on recovery and the return to normalcy. Camps: In some cases, it is not possible to stay in their place of origin and the affected population may collectively settle onto available land. Alternatively, camps can be a planned solution offered to the displaced population. While the shelter support may not vary much from distribution of shelter and shelter kit, the camp setting can create dependency, attract those not seriously affect by the disaster, and prolong its life beyond necessity. From experience, camps can delay recovery process and can itself become an inadequate long-term settlement. As such, camps should be viewed as a last resort rather than a default option. Repairs and Retrofit: A certain portion of the housing stocks will have only been damaged, rather than completely destroyed. Understanding the pattern and nature of damage will be fundamental to determining repair needs. Repair needs will vary; there are no universal solutions. The repair and retrofit program has the capacity to reduce the number of displaced populations, act as an incentive for returns to place of origin, and it can contribute to jump starting the overall recovery efforts. Transitional Shelter: When the delay to reconstruction is predicted, transitional shelter maybe used as an interim solution for families with destroyed houses. An agency will likely design the shelter in such a way that it requires active input from beneficiaries. A transitional shelter program may only provide key structural elements like footings, frames and roofing, requiring families to contribute towards wall cladding, or reuse the plastic sheeting previously provided. Transitional shelter is considered not only a humanitarian response but a stepping stone towards recovery and normalcy. Upgrading to Permanence: The Upgrading to Permanence term necessarily presumes Transitional Shelter, while it is not always imperative. The upgrading process will be a natural step for most Page 18 of 34

19 households, it will be carried out incrementally as and when resources become available. In rare cases, donors and governments might step in to provide support in the form of reconstruction grants. O1 (Slide Layer) O2 (Slide Layer) Page 19 of 34

20 O3 (Slide Layer) Shelter and Settlements Training Course O4 (Slide Layer) O5 (Slide Layer) Page 20 of 34

21 O6 (Slide Layer) Shelter and Settlements Training Course O7 (Slide Layer) Page 21 of 34

22 1.14 The Utility of Shelter Assistance to Response and Recovery Most of the shelter programs during early recovery phase can be delivered in a variety of ways. And from our discussions around economic impact of shelter interventions, the delivery method we choose should also contribute towards maximizing impact and increasing efficiency of the assistance. As such, the shelter program, no matter how modest, should jump-start and re-engage affected populations in the longer term process of housing development. It should also act as a means to promote livelihoods. Disaster Risk Reduction, or DRR, should be part of the process every step of the way. Many shelter programs have the capacity building and knowledge sharing component to ensure that houses and shelters built are safer than that which was destroyed. Shelter and Settlements sector is an excellent means of engaging with other humanitarian sectors such as Water, Sanitation, Health and early recovery. All of it promotes better settlements and healthy living. Unlike other sectors, there is no easy transition into development for shelter and settlements. The skill sets required to manage and build permanent housing is very different from what is required from the humanitarian community during emergency phase. There will also likely be complications with land ownership that could take years to resolve. As such, it is important that the shelter programs are context-driven and fills enough of the transition gap to be able to propel the recovery process onwards. Remember: OFDA Does NOT Engage in Housing Reconstruction or Development, But Rather Humanitarian Shelter Assistance. Page 22 of 34

23 Click the icon for description of Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements Activities. This is a description of humanitarian shelter and settlements activities that OFDA engages in within the humanitarian sector. It is a two-pager that was written in collaboration with our field staff and InterAction members in OFDA's Formula for Shelter and Settlements It is important to keep in mind that housing has significant impact beyond just habitability. There is a mathematical formula we like to use in shelter and settlements sector: S is more than 4W and R. Shelter is more than just 4 walls and a roof. It is also more than plastic sheeting, tents, and even houses. It can be a business, a factory on the front floor of someone's shelter. It can be a barn for the animals, a warehouse storing your goods for sale, or a granary. In fact, housing is a key feature in all settlements: 60 to 70 percent of any given settlement is typically consumed with housing. It is therefore an important feature of settlements that we live in around the world. So when you read in the papers that 10,000 houses are destroyed; what does that mean? Perhaps Tons of grain destroyed. Lots of jobs destroyed. Maybe farm animals destroyed. Factories and capital equipment destroyed. Home-based businesses might be destroyed as well. In short, household asset bases are adversely impacted when houses are affected by disasters or crises. Expeditious provision of shelter after disasters and crises is critical in establishing the platform for recovery of household assets. Page 23 of 34

24 1.16 Settlements Shelter and Settlements Training Course Settlements are the where of the mandate and it s the spatial component of our mandate. Settlements provide context for the work. The trends affecting these settlements are many, Where settlements are located, How they have developed, How rapidly they grow, How strong their economies are, and How well they are managed, especially in times of crisis, will largely determine whether they become the sites of future disasters and possible international humanitarian responses. So let s have a look at some emerging trends that will increasingly impact our future work, both in where and how we will be responding. Page 24 of 34

25 1.17 Trends in Population Growth First we have a map that shows projected population change by country from 2005 to The world population is undeniably growing, and growing fast. This growth, however, is far from uniform. Sub-Saharan Africa is recently projected by the United Nations Population Division to have the largest growth of 1.2 billion people by 2050, even more than population giant, Asia. For other parts of the world, growth is projected to be far more modest, with population decline expected in Europe. The population growth in sub-saharan Africa will be putting pressure on its urban centers, new cities will emerge and expand and poverty will become urbanized. Without adequate infrastructure and services, this is a very big challenge that we will be facing over the coming decades. Page 25 of 34

26 1.18 Trends in Urbanization Shelter and Settlements Training Course Here we have a chart that shows urban growth projections from 1950 to There are a few points from this chart that we should take a note of: First of all, it is projected that by 2030 just over 60% of the world population will live in urban areas. The sharpest increase between 2000 and 2030 will be in both Asia and Africa, going from 37% to 54 and 55%. This may not come as a surprise for Asia, but we may need to start seeing Africa as fast growing and sprawling urban centers. The Latin America and the Caribbean has recently seen its fair share of urban concentration increase and is projected to reach 85% in Most of this increase in concentration is expected to happen in small cities. Cities that are not well-known, provincial capitals, or rural hubs, these are the cities that will be seeing the most growth in the coming years. New cities will also emerge and expand in areas that were previously uninhabited. These cities will also probably have the least resources to cope with the rapid growth it will be facing. This is very critical. The implications of this rapid growth for the humanitarian community are profound. Vulnerabilities increase when cities expand without properly managing growth or implementing preparedness and prevention measures. These vulnerabilities will result in greater adverse impacts when disasters strike. Page 26 of 34

27 1.19 Effects of Urbanization Shelter and Settlements Training Course Let s now look at what urbanization also brings, along with growth and civilization. Cities are also at the center of climate change and environmental degradation debates. With 1 billion people, those living in cities located in low-lying coastal areas are faced with rising sea levels. Settlements in these areas are and will continue to be affected in the coming years. Discussions around the reconfiguration, remediation and relocation of settlements are emerging everywhere, including in the humanitarian community, especially with regard to issues of risk reduction. By now most of you will have seen the movie, "Slum Dog Millionaire. The socio-economic and environmental conditions depicted in the movie are currently being experienced by nearly one of every six human beings, and is expected to be one in four by By that time, what you see in the photos will likely be the dominant form of housing. Currently, approximately one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. Half of these people will live in Africa. Globally, these unplanned, unserved, and largely unauthorized settlements will become the dominant form of human settlement in the future. The informal, unauthorized, and illegal status of these settlements will be discussed later in this course. Page 27 of 34

28 1.20 Disaster by Design? Shelter and Settlements Training Course What we have in all of that growth is that by 2030, close to 5 billion people will be living in cities. This doubles the current urban population, and will likely triple urban land requirement. Cities will be faced with service provision problems, environmental issues, infrastructural issues, and land issues. There will be a lot of land issues, with forced eviction, squatters, loss of communal land, escalation into social conflicts, create vulnerable populations, and so on. And we have not even started talking about hazard risks they will be faced with yet. Let s take a moment to think about this: there will be large areas of poor, high-density, low-quality housing, located in hazard-prone areas. The humanitarian community will need to both provide minimally adequate shelter and promote linkages to innovative recovery and development programs. Click the icon for learn about Global Settlement Trends and Implications for Humanitarian Action. Urban Displacement as the result of a disaster can place heavy burden on the cities as we will see in the following case study. Page 28 of 34

29 1.21 Case Study: Kabul Shelter and Settlements Training Course Many cities have been indirectly affected by disasters, its population more than doubled as the result of disaster-related displacements. Kabul was one such city. In 2002, only 22% of Afghanistan s population lived in urban areas. By 2009 this number was 30%. One factor that contributed to this unprecedented urban growth is the return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan. Many Afghans fled to Kabul and other cities as a mean of survival. Two districts in metropolitan Kabul (Marked in red on the map) accounted for 1 in every 5 returnees during 2002 and That is an increase of roughly an additional one million over a 5 year period, in a city designed for 2 million people. Kabul s population is currently estimated to be 4.5 million. Few cities could manage such rapid and expansive growth. A city with recurring disasters and perpetual conflicts, that have ravaged the city s resources and damaged its infrastructure, it was an impossible task for a local government to manage such growth. It is also a city with negligible access to formal land ownership, forcing those new migrants into unauthorized, informal, and illegal settlements, thereby increasing their vulnerability. All of this resulted in a city whose living condition has simply deteriorated. So the humanitarian community needs to understand the implications of urban displacement in relationship to our work. Page 29 of 34

30 1.22 Importance of Settlements So to recap on the importance of settlements. Settlements provide the context, shelter and its setting, The unit of analysis changes when we consider things from a settlement scale, forcing humanitarian actors to step back from a near-exclusive focus on household and shelter. We need to be thinking broadly in terms of communities or neighborhoods or other kind of needs and measurement to break down the larger urban mass into some form of coherent units of operation and analysis. Settlement level issues are discussed in Module four. Page 30 of 34

31 1.23 Summary Shelter and Settlements Training Course Key points to remember from Session 1 include: Settlements provide context for shelter interventions (Shelter and its Setting!) The Unit of Analysis changes when settlements are considered; there is no longer a near-exclusive focus on individuals, households and shelter, but also neighborhoods and larger communities S&S can frame response, recovery, AND other sectors; it s foundational! Shelter is the easy part of the sector; the tough issues are on the settlements side, and To conclude, S > 4W + R Let s move on to Session 2. Page 31 of 34

32 1.24 Quiz That brings us to the end of the module quiz. Read the instructions on the screen and click next to begin. Page 32 of 34

33 2. Quiz Shelter and Settlements Training Course Please refer to the online training: Page 33 of 34

34 2.12 Credits Shelter and Settlements Training Course Page 34 of 34