Choosing and implementing the response

1The range of assistance options

There is no single solution. Several options are generally combined according to groups and phases:

• Tarpaulins and shelter kits: a rapid response to cover or repair; the IFRC shelter kit combines two tarpaulins, 30 m of rope and tools (shovel, hoe, machete, saw, hammer, shears, nails, tie wire).
• Repair kits and technical support for damaged houses: often the fastest and cheapest solution to get a family back home.
• Emergency shelters (family tents, lightweight structures) when there is no other option.
• Transitional or core shelters: a durable basic structure that the family can extend, dismantle or turn into permanent housing.
• Support to host families: extensions, cash, NFIs for both host and hosted households.
• Rental assistance and rehabilitation of collective housing or public buildings.

The choice depends on needs, tenure status, the market, the climate, the time available and resources. A tarpaulin can save a life for two weeks but does not provide lasting protection through a rainy season.

2Cash for shelter and rental assistance

When markets are functioning, cash transfers allow families to choose their materials, pay for labour or rent, and support the local economy. They require a market analysis (availability, prices, supplier capacity, quality of materials) and often a conditional modality: payment in instalments, after verification of construction progress.

Rental assistance pays all or part of the rent for several months. It involves checking the dwelling (safety, habitability, floor area), drawing up a written lease agreement, planning an exit strategy and monitoring the effect on rents in the neighbourhood. Cash for shelter is rarely sufficient on its own: it is accompanied by technical assistance to prevent families from rebuilding the same weaknesses.

3Housing, land and property (HLP)

Building on contested land exposes a family to eviction and the organisation to disputes. Security of tenure is a Sphere standard in its own right. It does not mean a formal title deed: it rests on a continuum of customary, informal or legal rights.

• Carry out due diligence with local authorities, customary leaders and neighbours before any construction.
• Draw up written agreements: owner and occupant, length of occupancy, no eviction without notice, what happens to the structure.
• Include women in agreements (joint names) and protect widows, who are often excluded from inheritance.
• Do not automatically exclude tenants and informal occupants: adapt the option (rental assistance, agreement with the owner).

The HLP Area of Responsibility of the Protection cluster and the Shelter cluster publish useful guidance at national level.

4Safer construction: build back safer and PASSA

After a disaster, families rebuild quickly, often with the same weaknesses. "Build back safer" approaches disseminate a few simple principles adapted to the hazard: good site selection, foundations, ring beams, bracing, roof-to-wall connections against wind, roof pitch and fixing.

The IFRC PASSA method (Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness) helps a community, through eight activities, to analyse its risks, identify unsafe building practices and plan improvements. Key messages are illustrated, tested on scale models and demonstrated on model houses. Technical assistance (training of craftspeople, site visits, illustrated guides) is often as important as materials.