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.

5Response analysis: moving from needs to options, a step-by-step method

Response analysis is the stage at which it is decided which assistance options to offer to which households, under which modality and in what order. It is often the most neglected stage: many organisations go straight from the assessment to the available stock or to the shelter design they are familiar with. A rigorous response analysis takes two to five days of team work and is documented in a note that the donor and the cluster can read.

Step 1: start from groups, not products

The groups identified in the assessment (by current place of residence, level of damage and tenure status) are taken up again and, for each one, the question is asked: what is its current strategy, and how can it be supported? A family hosted by a relative does not need a tent: it needs that hosting arrangement to hold for a few more months, followed by a solution on its own plot or in rented accommodation.

Step 2: draw up the long list of options

For each group, all plausible options are listed: tarpaulin and shelter kit, repair kit, cash for repairs, emergency shelter, core or transitional shelter, host family support, rental assistance, rehabilitation of vacant housing or collective centres, planned relocation, HLP legal assistance, technical assistance only.

Step 3: apply the feasibility criteria

Step 4: compare costs over the period of protection

The gross cost is misleading. It must be related to the actual period of protection. Purely indicative orders of magnitude, to be replaced with the national cluster's values:

Step 5: sequence and write the response analysis note

The note runs to three to six pages: summary of groups and needs, options selected for each group with justification, options rejected and why, modalities (in-kind, cash, combination), sequencing over time, risks and mitigation measures, resources required. It is shared with the cluster, which checks consistency with the national decision tree and the harmonised transfer values.

A rejected option must be justified just as much as a selected one. A donor who sees that cash was considered and then rejected for documented market reasons has more confidence than a donor who is offered kits without explanation.

6Designing a cash for shelter and rental assistance programme

Cash for repair or construction: method

1. Market analysis: availability of key materials (corrugated iron sheets, timber, cement, nails, reinforcement bars), suppliers' capacity to double their volumes, restocking lead times, available quality, availability and wages of artisans. Recognised tools are used, for example the Red Cross Rapid Assessment for Markets (RAM) or the shelter market assessment guidance published by the Global Shelter Cluster and CALP.
2. Typology of works: define three or four standard packages (roof repair, wall repair, additional room, reconstruction of one safe room) with simple plans and good safer construction practices.
3. Bill of quantities for each package, costed at the monitored prices, plus labour and transport. The transfer value is rounded and harmonised with the cluster and the cash working group.
4. Conditionality and instalments: for example 50% at the start, 40% after verification of the foundations or the roof structure, 10% on completion. For households without available labour, provide support (artisan paid directly, community teams).
5. Technical assistance: training of local artisans, illustrated guides, site visits at each instalment. Indicative ratio: one technician per 60 to 100 active construction sites in rural areas, more in dense areas.
6. Payment mechanism: mobile money, bank, cash transfer agents, or vouchers with pre-selected suppliers if quality must be guaranteed. Check know-your-customer requirements and data protection.
7. Monitoring: post-distribution monitoring, weekly price monitoring, verification of the quality of works, complaints.

Rental assistance: method

1. Rental market analysis: stock of vacant housing, rents by type, practices (several months' advance payment, deposit), landlords' attitudes towards displaced people.
2. Minimum housing standards: inspection checklist (safe structure, watertight roof, windows, lockable door, access to water and toilets, floor area at least equal to the Sphere benchmark adapted to urban settings, no serious damp, electrical safety).
3. Written contract, tripartite or bipartite depending on the context: duration, rent, payment terms, prohibition of eviction without notice, dispute resolution procedure, inventory.
4. Amount and duration: often three to six months in emergencies, up to twelve in protracted crises, with a tapering amount or combined with livelihoods support to prepare the exit.
5. Payment: to the household (preserves its relationship with the landlord and its autonomy) or directly to the landlord (guarantees payment but creates dependency). The choice is justified on the basis of the risks.
6. Monitoring of market effects: if rents in the area rise by more than 10 to 15%, review the amount, the targeting and the supply strategy with the cluster (rehabilitation of vacant housing in exchange for frozen rents).

Tool: rental housing inspection checklist

Rental assistance without an exit strategy merely postpones eviction by a few months. From the outset it must be combined with livelihoods support, referral to housing programmes or a durable solution.

7Full example: the shelter response after the Karsane earthquake

Fictional context. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the medium-sized city of Karsane (about 140,000 inhabitants). In the Haut-Bessin and La Tannerie neighbourhoods, where your NGO works, the in-depth assessment identifies three groups: 600 owner households whose masonry house is damaged but repairable (category 2 after inspection by municipal engineers), 400 tenant households whose building has been tagged red, and 250 households hosted by relatives. Building material markets are functioning and rents are starting to rise. Winter begins in five months. Budget available from the donor: USD 1.1 million over twelve months.

Group 1: 600 owners, conditional cash for repairs

The team defines a standard repair package (partial roofing, repair of cracks and addition of reinforced concrete ring beams at roof level) and costs a bill of quantities at prices monitored in three markets:

The USD 650 value is presented to the cluster's technical working group, which harmonises it with two other NGOs working in neighbouring areas (they proposed USD 500 and USD 720): the common value adopted is USD 650, subject to revision if the building materials price index monitored by the cash working group rises by more than 10%. Payment is made in three instalments via mobile money: USD 325 at the start, USD 260 after verification of the ring beams before concrete is poured, USD 65 on completion. Eight technicians each monitor about 75 sites, i.e. 1,800 visits in total. Forty local artisans attend a three-day training course on good earthquake-resistant building practices; their list is shared with households, with no obligation to hire them.

Group 2: 400 tenants, rental assistance

The survey of vacant housing carried out with neighbourhood committees counts 520 available units, 140 of which need minor repairs. Absorbing 400 households into 520 units would push rents up. The strategy therefore combines: six months of rental assistance at USD 90 per month for a two-room unit, plus USD 40 in moving costs (USD 580 per household); and rehabilitation of 120 damaged vacant units (USD 900 per unit on average) in exchange for a written commitment from landlords to rent them for twelve months at a frozen rent to programme households. Each unit is inspected using the checklist from the previous section; a written contract is signed, with a mediation clause involving the legal assistance partner.

Group 3: 250 hosted households, host family support

Each host family receives USD 70 per month for four months (USD 280) and a bedding kit for the host (USD 45); hosted households receive an NFI kit. At the end of the four months, hosted households that own their original dwelling are referred to group 1; the others to rental assistance if places become available.

Summary budget

Monitoring and adjustments

At four months, post-distribution monitoring shows that 88% of repairs are completed and compliant, 9% have stalled for lack of funds after a rise in cement prices, and 3% of households used the first instalment to repay debts. Adjustments decided: a USD 60 top-up for stalled sites, approved by the cluster on the basis of the price index; individual follow-up of indebted households and referral to a livelihoods programme; no retroactive exclusion. On the rental side, rents in the area have risen by 8%, below the alert threshold set at 12%.

In this example, no household receives a tent. All three groups are supported in their own strategy: repairing, renting or staying with relatives. This is the core of current shelter response doctrine.

8Security of tenure and safer construction: field procedures

Tenure due diligence in seven steps

1. Mapping of land actors: cadastre or land registry office, customary authorities, town council, neighbourhood committees, tenants' associations.
2. Household declaration: who occupies the property, since when, on what basis and with what documents. Women are interviewed too, not only the declared head of household.
3. Cross-checking with at least two independent sources: documents, neighbours, customary or administrative authority.
4. Verification of disputes: public posting of the list of plots concerned for 7 to 14 days to collect any challenges.
5. Written agreement: depending on the case, certificate of occupancy, owner-occupant agreement, land use agreement for a site, lease.
6. Validation by the competent authority and secure archiving, with a copy for the household.
7. Follow-up: visits at three and six months to detect eviction attempts; referral to legal assistance in case of dispute.

Template: minimum content of an occupancy agreement

• Identity of the parties, including both spouses when the household is a couple.
• Description and location of the plot or dwelling.
• Guaranteed duration of occupancy (at least equal to the expected lifespan of the shelter, often three to five years for a core shelter).
• Any consideration (rent, maintenance, none).
• What happens to the materials and the structure at the end of the agreement.
• Prohibition of eviction without at least three months' written notice and without a mediation procedure.
• Dispute resolution mechanism and the organisation's contact details.
• Signatures, witnesses, validation by the authority.

Building back safer: key messages by hazard

PASSA in practice

The IFRC's participatory approach is carried out in eight activities, conducted with a group of 15 to 20 community members over several weeks: tracing the history of shelter and settlements, analysing the frequency and impact of hazards, mapping safe and unsafe shelters, identifying safe and unsafe practices, exploring solution options, choosing and planning changes, solving problems with available resources, and then organising monitoring of the plan. A trained facilitator and a community volunteer co-facilitate; the community retains ownership of the action plan. The PASSA Youth version adapts the approach for adolescents.

A safer construction message only has an effect if it is checked on the construction site. Making an instalment conditional on a specific technical checkpoint is the most effective lever for ensuring it is applied.

9Common mistakes, donor expectations, contextual variations and interview questions

Common mistakes

• Choosing the option before the analysis: ordering transitional shelters because the donor funded them last year.
• Setting a transfer value without a bill of quantities: households do not finish the works and fall into debt, or the amount is excessive and creates tensions with non-targeted neighbours.
• Paying a large amount of cash for construction in one go, with neither technical assistance nor a checkpoint.
• Excluding tenants because programme models are designed for owners.
• Building on land without a written agreement, and then seeing families evicted.
• Disseminating safer construction messages that are not adapted to local materials, or copied from another country.
• Forgetting people without available labour: older people, female-headed households with young children, persons with disabilities. They need construction assistance, not just materials.

What donors and auditors look at

• The justification of modalities: market analysis, comparison of options, cost-efficiency.
• Harmonisation with the cluster's transfer values and typologies.
• The presence of qualified technical staff and procedures for verifying works.
• Supporting documents: payment lists reconciled with the transfer provider's statements, signed instalment verification forms, leases and occupancy agreements, post-distribution monitoring reports.
• For USAID BHA, compliance with applicable environmental requirements and with the shelter and settlements sector guidance; for DG ECHO, consistency with its guidance on shelter and settlements and on cash transfers; for OCHA-managed pooled funds, alignment with the cluster strategy.

Contextual variations

Interview questions

1. "How do you set a transfer value for repairs?" Bill of quantities for a standard package, prices monitored in several markets, labour and transport, harmonisation with the cluster and the cash working group, revision clause linked to a price index.
2. "When do you prefer in-kind assistance to cash?" Market not functioning or unable to absorb demand, materials of adequate quality not available locally, high inflation, protection risk associated with cash, documented household preference; often in combination.
3. "How do you exit a rental assistance programme?" Duration and tapering announced from the outset, livelihoods support, referral to housing programmes, negotiation of frozen rents in exchange for rehabilitation, follow-up of households after the end.
4. "What precautions do you take before building a core shelter?" Tenure due diligence, written agreement for a duration at least equal to the lifespan of the shelter, location outside hazard-prone areas, design approved by the cluster, technical assistance.
5. "How do you make sure a safer construction message is applied?" Training of artisans, demonstrations, instalments conditional on checkpoints, monitoring of a sample of sites.

Key references

• Sphere Handbook 2018, Shelter and Settlement chapter, in particular the standards on technical assistance and security of tenure.
• Global Shelter Cluster: guidance on cash-based interventions for shelter, on rental assistance and on security of tenure.
• IFRC and Norwegian Refugee Council: publications on security of tenure in post-disaster shelter programming.
• IFRC: PASSA guide, Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness, and its PASSA Youth version.
• CALP: glossary and quality tools for cash and voucher assistance.
• European Commission, DG ECHO: guidance on shelter and settlements and on cash transfers.
• USAID BHA: Emergency Application Guidelines, shelter and settlements sector.