1.4 Shelter terminology & jargon
The shelter sector uses a great deal of specialist terminology and jargon. This can help to simply describe the situations and programmes encountered in humanitarian shelter, but can also obscure meaning and make it difficult to explain what a particular shelter project is trying to achieve. This is particularly problematic when explaining projects to the recipients of shelter projects, especially where the terms do not translate into their languages clearly. Practitioners should take great care to ensure that all those involved in projects fully understand the terms they are using, and agree upon a common definition.
| Area-based approach | An area-based approach supports people after a disaster in a specific location to transition effectively from relief to recovery; it works with existing structures and can be scaled up. Five key elements of ABAs are that they: 1. Are people-centred, as meaningful engagement with affected populations is essential 2. Focus on a defined area, such as a neighbourhood 3. Take time, spanning relief to recovery 4. Can be scaled-up to other areas, which emphasises the need for local ownership, and 5. Rely on strong collaboration between sectors and key actors. See also: ‘neighbourhood approach’, ‘settlements approach’ |
| Collective centres | A building or covered space which is used to house multiple (usually five or more) households or families in the same space. While the space my be superficially subdivided to provide privacy, individual households will not have their own secure spaces. Schools and other public buildings are often used as collective centres. From the CCCM cluster Collective Centre Guidelines: “Collective Centres are pre-existing buildings and structures used for the collective and communal settlement of the displaced population in the event of conflict or natural disaster.” Collective centres typically fall under the auspices of the CCCM cluster, not the shelter cluster. |
| Cookset | An NFI kit of pots, pans and kitchen implements.
See also: ‘kitchen set’ |
| Core house | Similar to a one-room shelter, this is a permanent, durable and strong, but small, house. The aim is that the occupants can expand the building over time, but have a safe place to live in the shorter term. Core houses are typically engineered structures. |
| Durable shelter | Durable shelter is a term often used interchangeably with permanent shelter, to describe a shelter intended to last typically more than 10 years. CARE discourages the use of ‘durable shelter’, and instead prefers to describe the actual design life of the structure and its components. |
| Durable solutions | Not to be confused with durable shelter, durable solutions is a term used, most often in the context of refugees, to describe a long-term or permanent solution to their displacement – typically meaning voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement in a third country. |
| Emergency shelter | Emergency shelter is any form of shelter that is used in the immediate aftermath of a shock, disaster or crisis. It can include tents, emergency shelter kits, plastic sheeting, hotels, emergency rentals, hosting and more. It is typically only for the short term (weeks & months, not years), but often due to lack of a availability of longer term shelter solutions can be used for longer. |
| Emergency shelter kit | Emergency shelter kits are kits of materials (see NFIs) which can be used to form emergency or makeshift shelter. A standard kit includes as a minimum 2 high-specification tarpaulins and a length of rope, but may also include tools and fixings. |
| Engineered shelter | Shelters or buildings that have been designed and built with rigourous engineering standards, including the input from professionally qualified structural engineers |
| GSC (global shelter cluster) | The Global Shelter Cluster is part of the IASC Cluster System, which coordinates humanitarian response in many crises. |
| Hosting | Shelter provided by host families – where people voluntarily take in displaced people in order to provide them with shelter. |
| House | 1. Noun: a building or structure in which someone lives; a dwelling. 2. Verb: to accommodate someone inside a dwelling. A house is typically something that is permanent, and includes the social, economic and cultural conditions that are required for adequacy and permanence. |
| Household NFIs (non-food items) | Household non-food items is a term used to describe the selection of NFIs that is typically considered to be part of the shelter sector’s remit. They include clothes, bedding & blankets, kitchen sets or cooksets, stoves and fuel for heating and cooking, lights etc. They exclude NFIs which are related to WASH (buckets, water containers, water purifiers) and mosquito nets. |
| Informal (tented) camp | See ‘informal (tented) settlement’ |
| Informal (tented) settlement | They are a group of tented of other types of housing units established by the IDPs themselves or by non‐experienced actors, often erected on land that the occupants have no legal claim to.
See also: ‘spontaneous settlement’, ‘self-established camp’ |
| Kitchen set | An NFI kit of pots, pans and kitchen implements |
| Makeshift shelter | A non-engineered shelter constructed from basic materials, often salvaged, scavenged or donated materials, to meet immediate shelter needs. |
| Neighbourhood approach | See ‘area-based approach’ |
| NFIs (non-food items) | Non-food items are things, (ie. material goods, or commodities), which are given to people in need in humanitarian responses. |
| Non-engineered shelter | Shelters or buildings that have not been designed and built to rigourous engineering standards, including the input from professionally qualified structural engineers |
| Permanent shelter | Permanent shelter is a term used to describe a permanent dwelling, most often a house, although it can also refer to long-term, sustainble rentals, or other lasting shelter solutions. There is actually no such thing as ‘permanent’ shelter, in that every building or shelter arrangement will have ongoing costs and maintenance requirements. Permanent shelter therefore usually refers to shelter solutions which will last many years, and buildings which will last in excess of 10 years. CARE recommends great care in the use of this term, and recommends explaining the actual intended or expected timescales involved. |
| Planned camp | The structures that are established by an accountable humanitarian actor and to the extent possible, meet the minimum SPHERE standards. The site was chosen by the humanitarian actor and, where possible, the infrastructure was established before the arrival of some IDPs. |
| Plastic sheeting | In the case of humanitarian aid, this refers to woven and laminated plastic sheeting. See https://www.wired.com/2016/01/tarpaulin/. |
| Reception centre | A temporary shelter or group of shelters that was erected to provide extremely short‐term support to IDPs while they are registered and referred to alternative housing solutions. These sites are often established during extremely large displacements. |
| SAG (strategic advisory group) | The Global Shelter Cluster and National Clusters are guided and advised by the Strategic Advisory Group, made up of participating agencies and other stakeholders. |
| Sealing-off kit | See ‘winterisation kit’ |
| Self-recovery | In humanitarian shelter programmes, this refers to people designing and building their own shelters, and largely using their own resources to do so. ‘Self-recovery shelter programmes’ will seek to provide technical assistance, materials and cash in some combination in order to support this process of self-recovery. |
| Semi-permanent shelter | The term semi-permanent shelter is used to refer to buildings which have some aspects of a permanent house but other aspects which are temporary. CARE discourages the use of this term, as it is poorly understood, confusing to beneficiaries and others, and often used to justify poor quality design or to obfuscate the real intentions of the programme. It is better to state the intended design life of the shelter and its primary components. |
| Settlements approach | See ‘area-based approach’ |
| Shade Net | Light fabric or net which is suspended above tents or shelters in order to shade it from the sun in hot, dry climates |
| Shelter | 1. Noun: a makeshift or temporary dwelling used in or after an emergency, or 2. Verb: being protected or shielded from the environment, elements and weather. Shelter is often used interchangeably with ‘house’, but this should be done with care. A ‘shelter’ is typically something that is inherently basic, incomplete or not suitable for permanence. |
| Shelter cluster | Part of the IASC Cluster System, the Shelter Cluster coordinates shelter responses when the system is activated. It is led by IFRC in natural disasters and by UNHCR in conflict situations. |
| Spontaneous camp | See ‘informal (tented) settlement’ |
| Tarpaulin (or ‘tarp’) | See ‘plastic sheeting’ |
| Temporary shelter | Shelter which is intended only for temporary use. CARE suggests great care in the use of this term, and suggests stating the intended design life of the shelter and its primary components. |
| Tent | |
| Transit centre or camp | A temporary shelter or group of shelters that was erected to provide extremely short‐term support to IDPs while they are registered and referred to alternative housing solutions. These sites are often established during extremely large displacements. |
| Transitional shelter | Emergency shelter which is intended and designed to be upgraded, re-used, re-cycled, or moved following its emergency use. CARE discourages the use of this term entirely because it is poorly understood and confusing to beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The term transitional does not translate into many languages. It is preferable to explain more carefully with longer prose exactly what the intentions of the shelter are, and to state the intended design life of the shelter and its primary components. |
| Winterisation / winterisation kit | Winterisation is the preparation of a shelter or building for winter, by sealing holes, adding insulation, adding flooring, and taking other measures which avoid the shelter being dangerously cold or wet in winter. A winterisation kit is a kit of materials, accompanied by guidance, for winterising a shelter.
See also ‘sealing-off kit’ |