GLOBAL SHELTER CLUSTER ANNUAL MEETING 2020

Bahamas Coordination Team presented their country profile.

Key takeaways from the session:

• High level discussion is needed at the GSC and development institutions (as for development banks and UNDP) related to how we systematically engage with each other at the country level. For Dorian response, majority of cluster partners were mostly only interested in the relief and early recovery phases and very few will continue into development; but Sectorial Coordination Teams are well placed to support bridging sectorial issues between humanitarian and development spaces.
• We should explore further how to enhance the added value of Shelter Cluster/Sector coordination in middle/high income countries as in the Bahamas. Cluster coordination requires there a lot of flexibility and multi-disciplinarity skills/approach to understand the context, the variety of partners, the dynamics that influence the response, including the politics of data & (social) media. Diplomatic relationships skills are required, with better understanding of governance systems to be able to interact.
• Impact of cyclones in middle/high income countries as in the Bahamas, comes with a post disaster exacerbation of shelter & housing related vulnerabilities. Affected population might lose really costly housing assets, with mortgage still pending and having still to live in an expensive living environment. Understanding the budget limits to support rebuilding of housing assets, humanitarian shelter response require then an enhanced focus on socio technical support for affected population and institutions.

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