Advocacy is a critical tool for the Global Shelter Cluster and its international and country-level partners; it plays a vital role in promoting and safeguarding the right to adequate housing and improving humanitarian standards such as those in the Sphere Handbook. Effective advocacy influences policies and mobilizes resources, ensuring that shelter needs are prioritized in humanitarian responses and planning for durable solutions. 

The following resources were developed to assist country-level clusters with their advocacy and communications efforts. 

An advocacy and communications strategic action plan was developed in 2021 to align the outreach work with the GSC 2018-2022 strategy. This will be updated to align with the forthcoming GSC strategy.

The actions in the 2021 strategic action plan are focused on three complementary main tasks: 

1) Increasing the visibility of the shelter and settlements sector through communication and advocacy actions;

2) Supporting the country cluster coordinators with advocacy guidance;

3) Conducting targeted advocacy based on evidence and research

You can find a summary of the strategies here and the previous Communications and Advocacy Strategy for the Shelter Cluster developed in 2013 can be consulted. 

Additionally, the Global Shelter Cluster Support Team, particularly the Global Focal Point for Advocacy and Communications, is available for guidance to support with the creation of advocacy and communications products. 

Advocacy support

A number of tools and templates have been created to support country-level cluster coordinators and partners in the development of advocacy action plans. These include the following documents:

• GSC Advocacy Plan Template
• Human Interest Story Template
• Tips for Donor Outreach and Fundraising

Branding and visual guidelines

A consistent visual appeal is important for any brand or organization. Following these brand guidelines in all publications, documents, and presentations will improve brand recognition of the Global Shelter Cluster and contribute to the greater influencing capacity of the Global Shelter Cluster and country-level clusters. 

The 2024 Shelter Cluster brand guidelines and logos are available to be downloaded below by clicking on the image. 

You can also find several templates for regular products, including PowerPoint presentations, business cards, factsheets, and infographics, under the GSC Brand Guideline Folder.zip link. 

For any questions regarding GSC advocacy and communications, please contact Sarah Pilchick, the GSC Global Focal Point for Advocacy and Communications, at gfpadvocacy@sheltercluster.org.

Shelter Helps

The GSC partner and SAG member Interaction has produced infographics and posters which explain well the impact of Shelter on different aspects of people's lives. You can find them here.

Communication with Affected Populations

Experience shows that programmes are more successful and sustainable if affected people can participate meaningfully in all stages of humanitarian programs, from design to implementation. Shelter Cluster partners have used people-driven approaches for years to ensure a higher participation of the people they serve. Communication can play a very important role in supporting people-driven shelter programmes and under the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) project a compendium of messaging has been developed to support shelter actors with communication activities. The CDAC Network is maintaining a resource library that can help you get started, provide you with ideas and lessons learned. You can find the library here: http://www.cdacnetwork.org/resources