What is self-recovery?
Research shows that support from aid agencies within the first year after a major disaster is likely to meet about 15% of shelter need and is often less. As a result, many people have to rebuild their homes without support - they "self-recover". With self-recovery, homes often incorporate the same vulnerabilities, poor building practice and hazardous siting as before the disaster. The opportunity to build healthier, better ventilated homes using local techniques and resources can also be missed. In the context of ever-increasing need for humanitarian assistance and grave constraints on humanitarian funding, there is an imperative to understand how communities self-recover and how best to improve support for that process.
Supporting Self-recovery
The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC), the humanitarian coordination system co-led by IFRC and UNHCR, recognises supporting self-recovery as one of its Strategic Approaches. Consequently, projects and programmes that support survivor-led rebuilding are gaining momentum in the shelter sector. Self-recovery programmes will all be different, depending on the context. However, all self-recovery programmes must respect people's choices and priorities. For example, households must remain responsible for making key decisions such as shelter design and materials used for construction, and they must operate on their own timeframes.
Supporting self-recovery requires holistic approaches that include financial and / or technical and / or material support. As part of the project, guidance is being developed to support agencies with self-recovery programmes.
Guidance for supporting shelter self-recovery
After two years and extensive collaborative effort, the research team have published the first practitioner guidance on supporting self-recovery. Find out more by clicking the link to the Pathways Home page.
Global Research Translations Award 2019-2021
In October 2019, the team was awarded a grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Global Research Translations Award. The planned project activities build directly upon research and learning gathered in two previous GCRF awards that spanned 2016 to 2018. This earlier work led to the formation of the Global Shelter Cluster's Promoting Safer Building Working Group in 2018 and the ‘Informing Choice for Better Shelter’ protocol, a disaster response tool.
Project Partners
The project is led by the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP), Oxford Brookes University with close collaboration with CARE International UK. The Principal Investigator is Professor Cathrine Brun (CENDEP) and the project is managed by Charles Parrack (CENDEP) and Bill Flinn (CARE).
Other project partners are Habitat for Humanity, CRAterre and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with further cooperation from the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the British Geological Survey (BGS) and a growing community of practice that includes NGOs, academics and policy-makers.
Publications
Self-recovery in action
- CARE Philippines (2016) Stories of Recovery: Post Haiyan / Yolanda shelter response (report)
- Twigg, J et al (2017) Self-recovery from disasters: an interdisciplinary perspective (ODI paper)
- Miranda Morel, L (2017) Mapping (self-) recovery: reflections on people’s trajectories, perceptions & aspirations of recovery in the Philippines (UNMGYC report)
- Schofield, H & Flinn, B (2018) People First: Agency, choice and empowerment to support self-recovery in Global Shelter Cluster: The State of Humanitarian Shelter & Settlements (chapter).
- CARE Philippines (2019) Soaring high: Self-recovery through the eyes of local actors (report)
- Schofield, H et al (2019) Barriers to urban shelter self-recovery in Philippines and Nepal: lessons for humanitarian policy and practice, Journal of the British Academy (article)
- Sargeant, S et al (2020) The influence of the physical environment on self-recovery after disasters in Nepal and the Philippines, IntJDRR (article)
- Ahmed, A. and Parrack, C. (2022) Shelter Self-recovery: the experience of Vanuatu. Architecture (article)
Self-recovery reviews & discussion
- Parrack, C et al (2014) Getting the message across for safer self-recovery in post-disaster shelter (report)
- University College London & Habitat for Humanity (2015) Scoping Assessment: Shelter and Settlement Strategies (scoping assessment)
- Maynard V, Parker, E & Twigg, J (2017) Humanitarian Evidence Programme: The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Interventions Supporting Shelter Self-Recovery Following Humanitarian Crises (evidence brief)
- Schofield, H & Miranda Morel, L (2017) Whose recovery? Power, roles and ownership in humanitarian shelter assistance (CARE article)
- Flinn, B., Schofield, H & Miranda Morel, L (2017) The case for self-recovery, Forced Migration Review (CARE article)
- Newby, T (2018) What is self-recovery? The challenge for humanitarian agencies (CARE blog)
- Flinn, B (2019) Humanitarian shelter and the ethics of self-recovery (CARE discussion paper)
Local Building Cultures
- CRS (2015) Extending impact: Factors influencing households to adopt hazard-resistant construction practices in post-disaster settings (report)
- CRAterre (2015) Assessing local building cultures for resilience development (guide)
- Joffroy, T. et al (2018) Reconstruction with local architecture: Panay Island, Philippines, 2014-2017. Capitalizing on experiences from two shelter projects in the aftermath of the super typhoon Haiyan (CRAterre article)
- CRAterre Shelter response profiles for Haiti, DRC, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Fiji and Bangladesh. Available online.
Wider impacts of shelter
- Webb, S and Weinstein Sheffield, E (2020) COVID-19: What are the implications for humanitarian shelter? (blog)
- Webb, S. (2022) Working Together. Oxford Brookes University and CARE International UK.
- Webb, S. and Weinstein Sheffield, E (2021) Mindful Sheltering, Oxford Brookes University and CARE International UK. Available online
- Webb, S., Weinstein Sheffield, E. & Flinn, B., (2020) Towards Healthier Homes in Humanitarian Settings, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University & CARE International UK. Available online.
Our Partners
