Shelter Centre is a Swiss

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

that works to support bodies involved in the

shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...

of populations affected by conflict and natural disaster, stating that is supplies collaboration, consensus, and capacity but does not implement operations directly. Shelter Centre offers this support through its biannual sector forum, called the Shelter Meeting, maintaining the inter-agency Shelter Library and developing strategic sector guidelines and technical training for field use, always involving a broad consensus within the humanitarian community.

History

Operationally, in 2005 following the

Indian Ocean tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scient ...

of 2004, Shelter Centre introduced th
Transitional Shelter
approach, while the executive director was seconded by

DFID The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

to the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

to lead natural humanitarian shelter coordination. The Transitional Shelter approach was also one of the response options in the 2010 sector response plan for shelter in Haiti, agreed with the Government of Haiti while the Shelter Centre executive director was seconded by

to the

International Organisation for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for Human migration, migrants, including internally displa ...

to the lead national shelter coordination. In 2010, in collaboration with the

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

and funded by

, Shelter Centre led the revision of strategic sector guideline
Shelter After Disaster
After developing technical training with the RedRbr>UK
an
India
the

Inter-Agency Standing Committee The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is an inter-agency forum of United Nations and non-UN humanitarian partners founded in 1991 to strengthen humanitarian assistance. The overall objective of the IASC is to improve the delivery of humanitaria ...

, th
International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
and th
UNHCR
in 2011 Shelter Centre led the development o
CORE Workshops
funded b

an
DFID
CORE involves humanitarian agencies worldwide in agreeing and delivering together common humanitarian technical training. In accordance with its mission, Shelter Centre is an active partner in five of the global humanitarian coordination clusters of the IASC
Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)Early Recovery

Shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...

Protection
an
Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH)
Hosted initially by the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from its foundation in 2004, Shelter Centre developed from an earlier initiative
ShelterProject.org
which undertook research and development on sector standards, equipment and technical guidance, includin
Transitional Settlement: Displaced Populations
Tom Corsellis, executive director of Shelter Centre, was a founding member of both initiatives. In 2006, after having attained five years programme funding fro
DFID
Shelter Centre activities were hosted under a two-year agreement b
IFRC
Shelter Centre subsequently transitioned from being a UK NGO to a Swiss NGO in summer of 2008, relocating to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Its offices are currently in part under an agreement involving th
Geneva Welcome Centre (CAGI)
founded by the

Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...

and the

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

References

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External links

Shelter Centre
Organisations based in Switzerland Disaster management