Project-induced displacement

A study and an operational guide on displacement caused by urban development projects in Haiti.

Study on project-induced involuntary displacement

This study attempts to shed light on the issue of involuntary displacement and resettlement induced by urban development projects in Haiti. The study includes an inventory of framework instruments, presenting the international framework for the protection and assistance of IDPs, framework documents produced by International Financial Institutions and Development Banks since the 1980s, and relevant elements of the Haitian legal framework.

This study is complemented by an operational guide that details the necessary steps for developing a resettlement plan. This guide is intended to help operators define resettlement projects, guiding the reader through seven key steps.

This study was carried out for the Haitian government – Unité de Construction de Logements et de Bâtiments Publics (UCLBP) supported by CARE and American
Red Cross.

Related works

Access to Adequate Housing

Evaluation of Impact of the UN-Habitat's Housing Approach to Adequate, Affordable Housing and Poverty Reduction

Access to Adequate Housing

Evaluation of Impact of the UN-Habitat’s Housing Approach to Adequate, Affordable Housing and Poverty Reduction, over the 2008-2019. The evaluation includes the assessment of the contribution of UN-Habitat’s Housing Approach, policy frameworks, programmes and capacity building to the progress in adequate and affordable housing and poverty reduction at global level.

It includes the analyses at Global, Regional-level and country case studies for Zambia and Mexico (country visits) Mozambique, Somalia, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Myanmar, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Haiti (remote assessments).

The assessment of achievements and contribution covers structural (policy frameworks), process (policy instruments) and outcome (realization of housing rights) levels.

The evaluation focuses on UN Habitat’s impact and contribution to the improvement of the living standards of poor people and to the realization of their housing rights.

In collaboration with Michael Bamberger and Mike Majale.

The study is available on UN-Habitat website.

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Shelter Responses to Cyclone Idai

An iterative and participatory evaluation about Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe contexts.

Post-Cyclone Shelter Assistance

Cyclone Idai made landfall on the eastern coast of the south-eastern Africa region during the night of 14-15 March 2019. It was one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. The protracted storm caused catastrophic damage, and a humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. The flooding caused immediate and extensive damage leading to the loss of hundreds of lives, the destruction of infrastructure, the disruption of basic services and livelihoods, as well as the devastation of cropland and crops. The floods caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai have affected more than three million people in the Republics of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, leaving at least 1,300 people dead.

The purpose of this study is to examine the shelter work of the CARE country offices, and to investigate the learning from the Cyclone Idai response. Additional objectives were to support the reflective learning and self-assessment of CARE Emergency Shelter Team and to identify opportunities of further investigation for CARE at regional level.

The study is available on CARE website.

Related works

Post-disater Urban Planning

Post-disaster urban planning guide to small municiaplities, Mexico

Post-Cyclone Urban Planning and Governance

Technical support for the development of a methodological guide to small Mexican municipalities for strategic post-earthquake urban planning. Based on  the identification of relevant case studies in Latin America and similar contexts, the guidance document developed includes methodological steps for efficient municipal planning in post-disaster contexts and effective tools for diagnostic and identification of priority areas.

Subcontract for Silvère Jarrot, Humanitarian consultant

Related works

Post-Cyclone Urban Recovery

Study on the post-cyclone urban context in Beira, Mozambique - 2019

Post-Cyclone Urban Recovery

Study on the post-cyclone urban context with the objectives to understand the impact of Cyclone Idai on urban households and communities as well as their shelter coping and self-recovery processes; and provide recommendations to inform the Shelter Cluster response strategy, CARE Mozambique and the COSACA consortium’s shelter response.

With Holly Schofield, Emergency Shelter Researcher, Advisor and Consultant

Study available on the Reliefweb and the Urban response portals

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Urban Resilience in Africa

Final Evaluation of a Urban Resilience program in Lusophone Africa

Urban Resilience in Africa

Evaluation of the Urban Risk Reduction and Resilience Building in Lusophone Africa Project:
Assessment of the achievement of expected accomplishments and performance of the project in increasing technical understanding and knowledge of municipal authorities, and enhanced communication and information exchange between cities and towns in project cities.

Related works

Adequate Urban Housing for Refugees

Study on housing alternatives to camps in Thessaloniki and its surrounding region (Greece)

This study responds to NRC’s request to review possible housing alternatives to camps in Thessaloniki and its surrounding region (Greece). The report is divided into three parts: a context analysis, an urban study and study of the housing market, and recommendations for implementing the “urban housing” component of the NRC project.

The context analysis first highlights the lack of data and information available on the refugee population in Greece, about 13,000 of whom live in camps in the northern regions of the country. These unknowns are consequently hampering international aid organizations’ efforts to move refugees out of the camps and into alternative accommodation. Furthermore, this housing solution itself remains a short-term response that currently mainly focuses on those applying for relocation to Europe, who are predominantly fully-registered refugees.

Client

–      Norwegian Refugee Council

Date

–      2016

The urban study of Thessaloniki reveals a city in crisis. As in the rest of the country, Thessaloniki has been deeply marked by the recession triggered by the 2009 economic crisis and by the austerity measures imposed by the EU that followed. At the urban level, the housing and construction market has been paralyzed , and the development of certain areas of the city has ground to a halt. Yet Thessaloniki remains a relatively mixed city without great social fragmentation that, throughout history, has managed to accommodate several major waves of migration.

The study of different neighborhoods reveals the demographic dynamism of the city’s vast suburbs that contain relatively new housing stock (30% of the total stock built between 1980 and 1995), which is primarily intended for sale (Evosmos, Thermi). The various maps presented in this study provide information on individual neighborhoods, including data on housing. The study also include an interactive map showing the density of urban services within the metropolitan area and in secondary cities. Combining this data reveals a number of potential locations in which to rehouse refugees.

T-Shelters Impact Evaluation

Long Term Impact Evaluation of a T-Shelters Project in Haiti

Five years after their construction, this evaluation has reviewed three main areas of the 1050 T-Shelters project: current shelters and school use and conditions; T-shelter modifications and durability; the long-term impacts for beneficiaries and communities.

Client

–      Handicap International

Date

–      2016

One of the main findings to emerge from our fieldwork is that 80% of the 206 T-shelters visited are still being lived in by their original occupants on their initial site, with this situation being more common among landowners and usufruct beneficiaries than among tenants. A second key finding is that 77% of the T-shelters show no signs of major damage. Modifications to the T-shelter are common as few shelters visited are still as originally built.

 The project has had significant long-term positive impacts on the beneficiaries as, five years after their construction, the vast majority of the T-shelters are still guaranteeing the physical security of people and their belongings and are continuing to provide security of tenure.

Refugees Shelter Assistance

Evaluation of a shelter program in semi-urban and urban Lebanon (Tripoli)

This evaluation analyzed the project’s two complementary strategies. First, the shelter kits distributed to help rehabilitate tents in informal settlements and that aimed to provide vulnerable families with the tools and materials necessary to improve their dwellings. The kits are designed to enable households to make the required modifications to their shelters themselves. Second, the rehabilitation of sub-standard housing, such as garages, stores or apartments in unfinished buildings, the aim of which was to reduce families’ exposure to the elements and improve privacy. The rehabilitation work is carried out by hired contractors working in the private sector.

Client

–      Solidarités International

Date

–      2016

According to the UNHCR, since the beginning of the crisis, Lebanon has welcomed a total of 1,835,840 refugees from Syria. In March 2016, a total of 1,048,275 refugees were registered, with the total Syrian population within Lebanon estimated to be 1.5 million. Even before the crisis, Lebanon was home to a population of more than 270,000 refugees from Palestine and the country now hosts an additional 42,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria.

At the moment, hopes for a short to medium-term solution to this crisis have all but disappeared; people have been fleeing from conflict-affected areas within Syria and their resources are much reduced. The Lebanese government has consistently refused to set up formal refugee camps and, as a result, the refugee population is widely dispersed and partly settled in urban or semi-urban areas.

IDP resettlement

Evaluation of CARE "Retrofit" approach for IDP resettlement in Haiti

Evaluation of the CARE resettlement strategies developed for IDP camp closures.

“CARE’s retrofit program has been empowering camp residents to find housing alternatives since 2012. A family living in a camp finds a homeowner whose house is damaged. In exchange for financial and technical assistance to repair their houses, homeowners agree to host the family rent-free for 12 to 24 months. Homeowners manage the project, which provides structural repairs through a technique called retrofit. They purchase materials locally and hire local workers, contributing to the neighborhood economy. CARE’s engineers train the workers, inspect materials and supervise the work.” Extract from the CARE Five-Year Progress Report

Client

–      CARE

Date

–      2014