Global

DG ECHO Contribution 2021 - 2023

The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) has received a financial contribution from DG ECHO’s Enhanced Response Capacity Fund for a project to mobilize collective efforts towards a greener and climate smart humanitarian shelter and settlement response.

The overall project amounts to 873,776 EUR of which ECHO is contributing 650,000 EUR (70%) with the rest being co-funding from UNHCR, IFRC, and the partners who will implement the project.The duration of the project is 24 months starting on 1 July 2021. This grant has been channelled through UNHCR, which is responsible to ensure the smooth implementation of activities by Global Shelter Cluster partners and co-lead agencies and who will transfer the majority of the funds to partners.

 If your organization is interested in implementing any of the activities funded through this grant, please follow these steps:

1. Get familiar with the scope of the ECHO grant by consulting the presentation and watching the webinar which took place on the 6th of July 2021. 
2. Read the Partners’ Selection Process. It provides a summary of the process, timeline, and responsibilities of partners.
3. To apply, you will have to fill in the Expressions of Interest Excel document for those activities that you intend to apply and submit it to proposals@sheltercluster.org. The deadline for applications is by CoB Sunday, 1 August 2021. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at proposals@sheltercluster.org.

Those organizations which are not already UNHCR partners should submit a Partner Declaration explaining how they fulfill some basic eligibility criteria.

Shelter Cluster ECHO Process for Selection of Partners

Expression of Interest Table

UNHCR Partner Declaration Form

Questions and Answers

Shelter Cluster ECHO Grant Webinar – Tuesday 6 July 2021

Video recording of the Webinar

Powerpoint presentation

Previous ECHO Contributions

The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) received a financial contribution from DG ECHO's Enhanced Response Capacity Fund for 2013-2014, 2015-2016 and for 2017-2018. The total amount received over the 6 years was 4.6M EUR. This contribution was used to support the 2013-2017 Strategy and for preparatory action required as part of the consultation process for the 2018-2022 Strategy.

The Global Shelter Cluster would like to convey its gratitude and appreciation for the DG ECHO's support. DG ECHO's contribution has been catalytic in allowing the GSC to increase its sustainability, develop strategies, modalities and tools, compile and disseminate best practices, increase commitment from and support to partners, mainstream pilot elements, and strengthen the shelter response of humanitarian actors by improving the GSC surge capacity, prepardness and advocacy.

In addition to the financial contribution, which proved invauable, the GSC was involved in the development of the new DG ECHO thematic policy document on Shelter and Settlements which will guide DG ECHO partners and the overall humanitarian community when undertaking shelter and settlements interventions.

DG ECHO contribution 2017 – 2018

DG ECHO continues supporting the GSC to implement its strategy 2017-2018 and to start the new Strategy 2018-2022. This new contribution of 1 million Euro for a period of 24 months (1 January 2017 – 31 December 2018) will allow for the implementation of a project to strengthen the shelter response of humanitarian actors by improving the GSC surge capacity, preparedness, and advocacy.

As in previous years the grant is managed by UNHCR on behalf of the GSC. A transparent process was agreed with the GSC Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) which included a call for expressions of interest to the whole GSC, a webinar, and a set of criteria to select the expressions of interest. The selection process has now ended and the following partners have been selected by the SAG to implement the different activities of the project:

DG ECHO contribution 2015-2016

After the successful implementation of planned activities in 2013 and 2014, DG ECHO continued to support the second phase of the GSC Strategy 2013 – 2017 through another two-year grant. This new contribution builds on the achievements realised through the first grant and enables the GSC to further enhance the support provided to country-level clusters.

The following publications recognise the ECHO contribution to the GSC:

GSC Achievements Report 2014	GSC Achievements Report 2015	GSC Factsheets for Achievements Report 2015
GSC Mid-Year Update 2016	GSC Factsheets for Mid-Year Update 2016	GSC Surge Capacity - Global Focal Points

In line with the Strategic Aim 1 of the GSC Strategy 2013 – 2017, the deployment of surge capacity in the short and medium term will be enhanced to ensure continuity and predictability of country-level cluster coordination; The GSC surge capacity model will be strengthened by reinforcing and adapting the existing immediate surge capacity (Global Focal Points and Regional Focal Points) and by addressing medium-term surge capacity through the roles of the Senior Roving Cluster Coordinators and Senior Roving Technical Coordinators. This generous funding – along with additional resources secured through GSC partners’ own contributions, as well as through other donors – allows the GSC to introduce a series of innovative approaches to address the challenges identified in previous years:

• Further developing Strategic Aim 2, the GSC will also reinforce integrated systems to inform improved practice and foster innovation. Closer links will be established between assessments, monitoring, and evaluation (AME) that will allow better quantification and qualification of the responses provided by cluster partners to meet shelter needs. Learning from these responses will be captured at country level and disseminated at global level through training, the GSC website, the Shelter Projects website and publications.

• Following Strategic Aim 3, the improved capturing of information will enable the GSC to better explain the situation of country-level clusters and undertake evidence-based advocacy. This advocacy will be done through the enhanced network of cluster agencies that this Action will reinforce, and through specific projects. The GSC, including its Working Groups, will be strengthened to deliver functional tools and systems and promote consistency and accountability of shelter coordination.

The organizations that were selected by the SAG to implement these activities are the following:

Partners

Monitoring Mission

DG ECHO and the GSC undertook a joint monitoring mission to assess the extent to which the support provided by the GSC was benefitting country-level clusters. This mission took place from 16 to 21 November 2015 to Nepal. The mission report and its annexes can be found here.

Tools for Partners

For information on how to visually acknowledge ECHO’s financial support in the developed visibility materials, please click below:

ECHO Visibility Guidelines

For additional information on ECHO visibility, please visit: http://www.echo-visibility.eu/

Additional resources:

The following link takes you to the DG-ECHO Partners Website, in which relevant and up-to-date-resources pertaining to different aspects of the implementation of an ECHO-funded grant may be found (e.g. FAQs, training, distance learning, guidelines, etc.).

DG ECHO Contribution 2013 - 2014

The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) received financial support from ECHO Enhanced Response Capacity Fund from April 2013 until December 2014.  ECHO's key support enhanced the GSC's surge capacity and preparedness at country level. The proposal submitted to ECHO in 2013 and the activities  undertaken during 2013 and 2014 were aligned with the GSC 2013-2017 Strategy.  Eight partners engaged in the  implementation of the activities funded by ECHO, while UNHCR, as co-lead of the Global Shelter Cluster,  served as coordinator of their implementation.

The following leaflets summarize the ECHO contribution to the GSC surge capacity:

                   ECHO Contribution                                         Surge Capacity - GFP                                    Surge Capacity - RFP

Application to ECHO and selection of Implementing Agencies

The application to ECHO was led by the GSC Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) on behalf of the GSC. In December 2012, the SAG agreed to present a proposal to ECHO led by UNHCR. The SAG agreed on a process to invite partners to participate and set the criteria for selecting the partners that would implement the activities. The criteria were based on the organization’s capacity, past support to the Shelter Cluster, willingness, and institutional commitment to continue with the activity after the end of ECHO’s funds, and others. Email updates informing about this opportunity were sent to all global cluster partners asking for expressions of interest to implement the activities included in the ECHO proposal. After a careful revision of the expressions of interest against the agreed-upon criteria, the SAG selected the partners that were best positioned to implement the activities  supported by ECHO.

The organizations that were selected by the SAG to implement these activities can be found in the table below under the title "Implementing Agencies".

A list of relevant documents from the selection process is available below.

Please see below the SAG meeting minutes related to this process:

- SAG meeting on 12 December 2012 deciding to present a proposal to ECHO
- SAG meeting on 6 March 2013 defining the process to select partners to implement the process
- SAG meeting on 27 March deciding which organisations will implement the project
- Decision from the SAG on IOM hosting of the RFP Asia and Pacific for Conflict (50%)

Implementing Agencies