Download Bridging the Shelter and Construction Sector in Somalia

Linking relief rehabilitation and development
Bridging the shelter and construction sector in Somalia
Is humanitarian aid failing? How come that after nearly 7 decades of the functioning of the United
Nations, we are not able to cope? How come so many people have lost faith in the system and in its
mandate? These are some of the burning questions that many people have while working in this
competitive business called humanitarian aid. Many have tried through books and documentaries to
show the in-efficiency and inertness of our industry, but there have been less that came up with
concrete solutions to tackle the problems that we are facing.
Despite the fact that the funding of development has almost doubled since 2000, there is a widening
gap between the needs and the resources available to service them. In many cases, development actors
are standing in to scale up humanitarian operations while in other countries humanitarians become the
triggers for longer term developmental issues. After 7 decades of relative stability, we can see that the
models that have been used in the past do not fit the context today. Humanitarian aid is changing, with
a stronger engagement with the private and public sector?
The Shelter Cluster, a coordination body in Somalia for shelter and housing, has been working actively
since 2011 to bring all different stakeholders together and tackle coordination at a wider level. The work
of the Shelter Cluster in Somalia has opened space for development actors, government stakeholders
and the private sector to work side-by-side with humanitarians towards more sustainable approaches in
the construction sector as a whole. The following principles guided the coordination model to be used:
(1) De-centralized approach (2) Information Management (3) Sustainable Local Area-Based Solutions.
1. Coordination in humanitarian settings
In 2005, it was agreed in-between the key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners to set up a body to
help direct coordination of humanitarian assistance, called the ‘cluster approach’1. It covers the nine
main humanitarian sectors: water & sanitation, health, education, shelter, food security, nutrition,
logistics, camp management and protection.
Coordination is essential to the success of any humanitarian response. In most crisis situations, a large
number of organizations work together to provide support in the same area. Under these
circumstances, coordination allows all actors to get a better understanding of the situation and to share
effective practices. It prevents dangerous gaps in assistance, and helps avoid wasteful duplication.
Nevertheless, the system is not working as efficiently as we would want due to competition, unwillingness to share data, accessibility, security constraints and lack of capacity.
1
Transformative Agenda: http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/iasc-transformative-agenda
ALNAP Exploring coordination in humanitarian clusters: http://www.alnap.org/resource/20360
Abstract Lecture University of Hasselt
The Shelter Cluster in Somalia has taken a unique road towards a de-centralized leadership for
coordination. The de-centralized approach envisioned to strengthen the decision making process and
leadership at field level, while ensuring a strategic joint approach from the National Secretariat2. In
Somalia, UN agencies and NGOs work side by side sharing the roles and responsibilities to ensure a
coordinated but remote-managed approach. Since 2014, the Shelter Cluster taps into most regions in
Somalia through a network of trained coordinators and partners who have access with the communities,
local agencies and government counterparts. The de-centralized coordination model brought together
more than 25 agencies working through the use of a common strategic framework and common
standards. The de-centralized leadership also helps to link up easily with the different Federal State level
administrations, crucial in the handover of responsibilities in time.
2. Information management
For non-governmental organizations responding to humanitarian disasters, big data and open data are
more than just buzzwords — they are fast becoming a necessity in saving lives. With resources shrinking
there is a strong pressure on the humanitarian community to deliver better and more strategic. The
rapid spread of technologies, especially information and communication technologies, has changed the
humanitarian action and humanitarians, too. But technology also potentially enables affected
communities to quickly transform themselves into first responders, provide critical information, and
match assistance needs with providers. The development of a more technology-oriented approach to
humanitarian action is essential and inescapable. The advantages are to improve, for example,
information gathering, analysis, coordination, action or fund-raising. However, as new applications of
technologies become more prevalent among humanitarians, the risks, limitations and failures of
technology also become more apparent. What matters is not technology, but how we use it.3
Transparent and usable data is a prerequisite to ensure not only an efficient form of delivery of
assistance, but also to evaluate the impact you have made. In a Somalia context and after two decades
of civil war, public data sets remain very scarce even though there is a magnitude of data that is
collected individually. But data is power and it is this small fact that makes our industry very
competitive. For example, although Internal Displaced Population Groups (IDPs) have been a main
priority for humanitarians, they have not been prioritized by many sectors in a context dominated by
food security and nutrition problems as data is not available.
To improve the overall living conditions of IDPs in Somalia, the Shelter Cluster started to pilot a project
called the Settlement Infrastructure Mapping exercise. It was an attempt to collect inter-sectorial data
on IDP settlements in a systematic way. The objective of the infrastructure mapping exercise is to
provide a useful and timely ‘snap-shot’ of the IDP settlements at a specific time and provide this data to
all stakeholders publicly in order to inform better plan and inform the response for IDPs. With the
support of its network of partners in Somalia and the use of mobile technology, this pilot was scaled up
2
https://www.sheltercluster.org/national-cluster/library/tor-and-sc-structure
3
World Disaster Report 2013
Abstract Lecture University of Hasselt
to collect more than 130.000 GIS points in more than 900 settlements in 21 urban cities4 in Somalia with
more than 500 different data collectors within 3 years.
3. Complementary approaches in the construction sector
The Somalia Shelter Cluster (SC) has historically provided emergency assistance to newly displaced
people affected by natural and human-caused disasters. However, with the overall security situation
having improved since the beginning of 2013, the cluster is placing more of an emphasis on longer term
solutions for protracted displaced communities and returning refugees. The Shelter Cluster adopted a
philosophy of Sustainable Shelter Solutions5 to bring all necessary stakeholders together. They look at
short-term interventions to tamper the effects of issues such as land tenure insecurity, IDP legal rights
status, and low humanitarian funding levels. A strong integrated approach is necessary as sustainable
solutions need to be addressed as a holistic package. The Shelter Cluster has identified 7 key topics that
show that “A shelter is more than a roof”: (1) Land Tenure (2) Site and settlement planning (3) Owner
Driven Approaches and community participation (4) Protection Mainstreaming (5) Localized Solutions
(6) Building Back Safer and (7) Modalities.

The lack of access to housing, land and property rights, including insecurity of tenure, is major
obstacle to more sustainable solutions to displacement.

Local Building Culture and Earth Architecture are often seen as inferior products than the other
more cement based materials. The concept pushes towards a strong local area based livelihoods
approach boosting the informal construction sector.

In an owner driven approach, the prioritization of needs and the decision-making are in the
hands of the affected families, giving them ownership of their project.
As the development actors in Somalia are still not fully present nor operational in the respective
administrative regions in Somalia, humanitarian actors are still considered the most operational partners
in Somalia. Nevertheless, it is crucial to get the development agencies on board from the on-set to work
towards a common goal with shared responsibilities. It is this space that is lacking and is urgently
needed. Through workshops and strong collaboration, the Shelter Cluster has looked at complimentary
approaches in the construction sector to provide the necessary space for all actors to engage and to
ensure that humanitarian sector has a triggering effect towards more sustainable and durable solutions
in Somalia. Government, development actors, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector and communities
all have a role to play in this process.
4
https://www.sheltercluster.org/somalia/library/mapping-exercise
5
https://www.sheltercluster.org/national-cluster/documents/strategic-operating-framework-sof-2016
Abstract Lecture University of Hasselt