Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan 2024 / Part 3: Cluster/Sector Objectives and Response

3.5 Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items

PEOPLE IN NEED
3.6 million
PEOPLE TARGETED
3.3 million
REQUIREMENTS (US$)
150.1 million
CHILDREN
51%
WOMEN
24%
MEN
25%
WITH DISABILITY
15%

ESNFI - People targeted

Objectives

The ES/NFI Cluster aims to ensure that displacement-affected people have timely access to adequate Shelter and essential household items to live with health, security, safety, and dignity. The Cluster will focus on three sectoral objectives to address the humanitarian needs of the targeted population. These objectives will target those residing in areas with the highest severity levels according to the sectoral and intersectoral needs analysis:

  • To ensure that displacement-affected people have equitable access to adequate shelter solutions to protect and safeguard their health, security, privacy, and dignity. Linking with the first Strategic Objective, the Cluster will contribute to reduced morbidity mortality and suffering from multiple shocks by providing adequate physical living conditions for displaced families and minimizing exposure to natural or climatical hazards and violence, abuse, and exploitation.
  • To increase equitable, safe, and inclusive access to appropriate Shelter and household necessities, thereby improving the displacement-affected people's protection and living conditions. Aligned with the second Strategic Objective, the Cluster aims to deliver Emergency Shelter and Non-Food support to the displacement-affected people, ensuring the most vulnerable, such as the disabled, old, and female households, are at the center of the responses.
  • Enhance resilience through Shelter, settlements, and household support in recovery, reintegration, and relocation. Multilayer, recurring climate-induced, and protracted displacement have eroded people's assets and coping capacity. Linked with Strategic Objective 3, the response under this Cluster Objective will target the most vulnerable, displacement-affected people by contributing to sustainable livelihoods and resilience through the provision of repairs, technical support, and HLP-related activities.

Activities under these objectives will also include strengthening national NGOs' engagement and participation, enhancing the capacities of local and national authorities, and encouraging the participation of affected communities in the assessment and response processes. This approach aims to reinforce the government's ownership further and build the resilience of the affected communities.

Cross-cutting topics, i.e., protection mainstreaming, ‘do no -harm’ approaches, conflict sensitivity, including disabled and older people, GBV risk mitigation, and HLP. Accountability to the affected population, environmental considerations, and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) will also remain at the center of the Cluster's three objectives.

For returning migrants, partners will focus on ensuring timely access to humanitarian assistance. This assistance will take the form of gender appropriate NFI kits and emergency shelter assistance designed explicitly for vulnerable inbound and outbound migrants on all migratory routes, including through the operations of Migrant Response Centers (MRCs).

Response

The finding of the Humanitarian Need Overview is used to determine the scope of the ES/NFI responses. The analysis determines the severity of needs and the type of response of the affected community needs. The ES/NFI Cluster also factored gender, old age, and disability into the analysis. The Shelter and Non-Food Items needs of the targeted population groups vary, ranging from overcrowded shelter conditions, limited or no household items, lack of privacy, and exposure to harsh weather conditions to sub-standard housing conditions. The central objective of the Shelter/NFI response is to save and sustain lives by providing timely, targeted, and appropriate shelter assistance and NFI to the displacement-affected population. The Cluster will continue more tailored support to the population's needs, considering displacement status (IDPs, returnees, and affected population within the community), settlement type, weather conditions, potential vulnerabilities, and opportunities to provide efficient responses.

In 2024, the Cluster will continue its progressive shift and support towards more shelter activities, i.e., provision of Shelter to IDPs and shelter repairs as a first-line response to the returnees, aiming to address underlying drivers of needs where 29 per cent of the IDPs are either living in shelters that do no protect from weather elements or in an open space and 31 per cent of the return reported living in inadequate living conditions (either completely or partially destroyed shelters). Recognizing that a shelter cannot be a home without the protection of rights and the security of tenure, the Cluster will work closely with the Protection Cluster to address Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) issues.

The ES/NFI Cluster emphasizes the importance of people-centered prioritizing and need-based targeting. The Cluster targeting approach determines the type, scope, and scale of timely assistance, considering the specific needs of the displacement-affected population and recognizing the fluidity of the situation where households may fall into different population groups at different times.

The Cluster partners will intensify efforts to ensure that Shelter and NFI responses effectively reach persons with disabilities and older people. As a first step, the Cluster will increase efforts to minimize access barriers by ensuring the collection of disability, age, and gender-related data in Cluster-led assessments and monitoring steps. The clusters will continue adjusting the standard kits to ensure that responses are appropriate, and distribution considers accessibility. Furthermore, the Cluster has advanced steps in gender mainstreaming through training in all sub-nationals. Cluster partners will work with the Protection Cluster and Humanitarian Gender Working Group to integrate gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation efforts into Shelter/NFI programming.

To address the climate crisis, the Cluster will promote environmental-friendly solutions to Shelter and NFI interventions through localized and contextualized humanitarian action for long-term resilience. In collaboration with the AAP Working Group, the ES/NFI Cluster will ensure communities are aware of channels to raise and report their concerns with the option of being provided with feedback and a forum to be heard. Communities will be informed about their rights, entitled services, and how to voice complaints.
The ES/NFI Cluster will continue to work closely with the Protection and Food Cluster in coordinating assessments, targeting beneficiaries, and joint distribution wherever possible. The Cluster will also closely coordinate with the WASH Cluster to mainstream both shelter and WASH core competencies in return response, supporting beneficiaries' access to adequate shelter and sanitation facilities.

At the onset of an emergency, access to ES/NFI items is essential for swiftly delivering assistance to meet acute needs. In some contexts, the availability of such items in the local market can mean that swift procurement in response to an emergency is sufficient to maintain an acceptable response capacity. However, the Cluster believes that current market structures in Ethiopia are insufficient to support rapid procurement of the items needed for the type of response envisaged. Market monitoring in the last quarter shows a significant increase (200 per cent) in the cost of Shelter-related items, putting an enormous strain on partners to meet the latent need. Ensuring that appropriate ES/NFI items can be made available swiftly through pre-positioning and pipeline management is vital for saving lives. It is equally necessary that sufficient human and logistical resources are in place to deliver assistance where it is most needed.

In response to the identified vulnerabilities of returnee migrants and in line with the priorities and plans of the Government of Ethiopia, the planned response for 2024 will focus on the provision of lifesaving assistance and tailored protection assistance. The Plan aims to reach 162,950 vulnerable returning migrants at different Points of Entry (PoE). The response will include providing lifesaving assistance to vulnerable returnees through essential services, including temporary Shelter, accommodation, and home rent support. Based on individual needs, NFI relief items, including hygiene items, basic shelter kits, and clothing, will be distributed to newly arrived returnees. A strong emphasis will be placed on meeting the special needs of migrant returnees with increased vulnerabilities (persons with disabilities, older people, and persons with chronic illness and other health conditions).
The ES/NFI response for the migrant returnees is integrated within the holistic multi-sectoral response provided per individual. The response will be tailored to the specific needs of individuals and will follow both in-kind and cash delivery modalities as deemed appropriate.

Financial requirements

An estimated 127.9million USD (displacement-affected population) and 22.2million USD (returning migrants) will be required to reach 3.11 million (displacement-affected population) and 162,950 (returning migrants). For the displacement-affected population, 25 per cent of the sectoral cost is under Cluster Objective 1, and the activities under this funding will provide shelter-related activities for both IDPs and returnees. The response modalities will include in-kind and market-based assistance where markets can support the intervention without negatively impacting people and/or markets; about 75 per cent is expected to be in-kind.

The inflation rate is one of the drivers of costs, particularly the Shelter related materials such as Tarpaulins and essential construction materials for the returnees. A shift towards shelter and NFI responses that are climate-appropriate, disability-inclusive, and IDP return responses has also impacted the average cost per household, which shows an 8 per cent increase compared to 2023. Investments in these solutions are expected to be more inclusive and improve the living conditions of the affected population. The Shelter and NFI interventions require significant materials and incur procurement, transportation, and distribution costs.


Monitoring

Monitoring will be done to provide timely, evidence-based information to track the progress and gaps in the Cluster response against stated objectives and indicators, and for this monitoring, information will be used to correct and adapt Shelter and NFI programming accordingly.
Response will be monitored through monthly reports provided by partners via ActivityInfo. The results of the analysis will be published monthly to reflect gaps in the response against the HRP. Monitoring of stocks and funding will continue to be undertaken through similar platforms. To enhance the quality of the Cluster's monitoring of the response in 2024, the ES/NFI Cluster will continue conducting a series of refresher trainings on assessments, KOBO, and the effective use of the ActivityInfo.

Impact monitoring will be done through Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) to further feed into future programming. Static and online interactive dashboards will continue to be updated to provide real-time information on gaps, achievement, and coverage by partners at national and subnational levels. Partners will be advised to add relevant standardized perception indicators to their monitoring frameworks and quantitative data collection tools to ensure that displacement-affected people have a say in the way Shelter and NFI programming is monitored, adjusted, and evaluated.

The Cluster conducted two rounds of Cluster lead assessment and monitoring in all the sub-national Clusters. For 2024, similar and independent monitoring and assessment will be carried out, followed by good practice and lesson-learned exercises. With these assessments and exercises, the Cluster will be able to monitor the impact of the response in a timely manner.