UN-Habitat experience in Somalia

The speaker spoke about how the frequency of conflict and disaster in Ethiopia generated significant displaced populations with a wide variety of needs. He said that camps were subject to frequent fires and difficulties in maintaining relations with government authorities.

He told how UN-Habitat had developed a strategy in partnership with INGOs, forming an independent local shelter cluster, which had additionally formed appropriate links with other related clusters locally.

He went on to describe the shelter strategy agreed. This strategy involved providing walled compounds enclosing several family territories with one or two rooms for each family, and various kinds of support and building materials. From this basis, the families could build their own extensions and integrate with the wider community.