National Shelter/NFI Cluster Meeting - 5 November 2014, Jouhayna Hotel, Erbil Minutes

National Shelter/NFI Cluster Meeting - 5 November 2014, Jouhayna Hotel, Erbil – Minutes

Chair

Mohamad Mukalled – National Shelter/NFI Cluster Coordinator

Agenda

·  Opening remarks – An Overview

·  Winterization update

·  The Shelter/NFI Cluster structure

·  Housing, Land and Property

·  AOB

Opening remarks – An Overview

·  Winterization updates will be presented on a weekly basis.

·  During a meeting with donors on 30 October 2014, the importance of up to date information about winterization became clear.

·  1.9 million IDPs are displaced now, which is also the new planning figure. The revised strategy is still in line with the SRP planning figure of 1.8 million, but it will be updated as soon as more detailed information about the needs comes in.

·  A second Information Management Officer is coming in to focus on the Centre and South of Iraq, an Information Management Unit will be created to service the UNHCR-led clusters (CCCM, Shelter and Protection), this should lead to better and more timely information management.

·  The Humanitarian Coordinator has asked for 15 million USD from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the latest displacement of 145,000 IDPs in the Centre and South of Iraq. As this is a UN mechanism, colleagues from IOM, UNHCR, UN-HABITAT and UNICEF were asked for proposals totaling 5.1 million to cover shelter and NFIs.

·  OCHA will send out a survey to seek feedback on how to improve the coordination mechanisms in place.

·  A trend analysis of the latest Displacement Tracking Matrix data shows a 5% increase in IDPs, leading to the new planning figure of 1.9 million. Increases are mainly in Dahuk and Anbar, while other governorates remain mostly stable.

·  Though still relatively small, expected shifts are visible in the accommodation types used by IDPs, with the amount of IDPs renting going down with 1% and those staying in host families and abandoned buildings going up with 2%. A slight drop of 1% in the number of IDPs staying in schools is also visible.

·  IDPs that are renting and in host families can be expected to seek other shelter arrangements soon. IDPs that are in abandoned and public buildings and those that are at risk of being evicted or at identified risk of rent increases should therefore be prioritized in interventions.

Winterization update

·  The number of 100,000 IDP families targeted for winterization interventions has not changed;

·  UNHCR distributed winterization items to 30,000 IDP families in KR-I; the winterized shelter kits for tents are delayed until December and will be distributed later. IOM distributed winterization items to 9,000 IDP families throughout Iraq.

·  Cluster partners are requested to use the presented template to report on their targets, distributions and gaps at a national level. This information is needed for advocacy and monitoring purposes. Until ActivityInfo is launched, the template will be used to gather this information on a weekly basis.

·  Information about gaps is crucial, as is the reason for the gap. Some Donors raised questions about he capacity of agencies to absorb the increased funding requested. This template is a national level document intended for a spot check, not replacing governorate-level reporting mechanisms.

·  The cluster in Dahuk has information about winterization activities from all partners that is submitted on a regular basis, the winterization planning document will be shared with the national cluster for their information. Distributions are ongoing, but lack of subsidies for kerosene and sensitivities around cash assistance are obstacles.

·  Some camps that are under development already house IDPs, details on the status of camps and the number of IDPs can be found in the weekly CCCM report (note that information from Erbil has not been updated recently).

·  In Dahuk no IDPs are currently living in the AFAD camps; schools will be vacated first followed by unfinished buildings. By 8 November IDPs are scheduled to start moving in.

The Shelter/NFI Cluster structure

·  The cluster structure has been discussed with partners; the main functions of the national cluster are policy making, reporting, strategy development and interacting with the government and other stakeholders (donors, UN agencies, other clusters etc.).

·  Sub-national clusters are proposed for KR-I and for the Centre and South, their function is to operationalize the cluster strategy, identify resources available and address gaps. They should interact with the national level cluster to facilitate information sharing.

·  NRC has offered capacity to be the co-chair with UNHCR in the north, in the south discussions are ongoing to involve IOM as co-chair. Terms of references are currently being developed in line with guidance from the Global Shelter Cluster. Coordination setups at governorate level remain the same; with sub-national clusters providing support as needed.

·  How to relate to the refugee coordination structure will be discussed with ACTED and UNHCR for the north.

·  There are discussions at the inter-cluster level with OCHA as well; the Shelter/NFI Cluster needs to make sure that its structure is aligned with the other clusters to the extent possible.

·  OCHA is organizing a workshop on 13 November to discuss coordination models. Agencies should have to attend the least amount of meetings possible.

·  Agencies operating outside camps are looking at activities that benefit both refugees and IDPs, such as community infrastructure; this makes it difficult to report strictly on either of these beneficiary groups.

·  At the policy level discussions are ongoing to switch to a geographical response coordination model rather than population based, this should result in smaller overheads and more synergies.

Housing, Land and Property

·  Housing, Land and Property (HLP) issues are still being discussed with NRC, UN-HABITAT and the Protection Cluster, as most HLP issues are protection related. The role of the Shelter/NFI Cluster is to help people cope with immediate needs, rather than solve the underlying issues.

·  Technical guidance in terms of shelter materials that are portable was agreed to be useful.

·  In terms of HLP issues, forced evictions are a problem during winter (this can happen to IDPs staying with host families, staying in schools and to renters that have exhausted their resources). In addition, the right to change a property or upgrade/improve housing is only possible with the permission of the owner (if they can be identified). Almost none of the displaced populations have written formal rental agreements, making them specifically vulnerable to evictions.

·  Protection monitoring teams are important to identify those at risk, but NFI distribution teams should also be trained to recognize situations of concern. There is information about HLP issues in Pakistan available on the website of UN-HABITAT, it maps the scale of formality of tenure agreements, which might be useful to implement in Iraq as well in order to provide support to IDP families as needed

AOB

·  IDP camps in Erbil are overstretched and it is unsure what will happen to Ankawa mall. IDPs or refugees can be hosted in Qushtapa camp, but it is up to the authorities to decide on the selection criteria, which are being discussed at the moment.

Action points

·  Cluster to present a detailed camp update at the next cluster meeting.

·  Cluster partners to complete the reporting template for winterization interventions.

Participants

ACTED, ERC, ICRC, PRM, NRC, UN-HABITAT, UNHCR