The Shelter and Settlements sector plays a crucial role in advancing gender equity and intersectional inclusion in humanitarian response. Building on the findings of the Wider Impact of Shelter research—which explores how shelter affects safety, dignity, access to rights, and long-term recovery—the gender stream of the CoP promotes an approach that recognizes how gender interacts with other aspects of people’s identities and experiences.

It advocates for inclusive, people-centered shelter solutions that reduce risk, enhance protection, and ensure the voices and needs of all individuals are meaningfully addressed. The stream also contributes to thematic priorities such as women’s access to Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) rights, gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation, and broader protection and inclusion efforts within shelter programming. Many other important areas—such as care responsibilities, climate resilience, and meaningful participation—are part of the evolving agenda and can be further explored collaboratively within the CoP.

Key Resources:

• CARE Gender and Shelter Good Programming Guidelines https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/CARE_Gender-and-shelter-good-programming-guidelines_2016.pdf
• Guidance on Mainstreaming Gender and Diversity in Shelter Programmes  https://sheltercluster.org/resources/documents/gender-and-diversity-guidance
• GBV Risk Mitigation in Shelter Chapters of the HRPs – Tipsheet https://sheltercluster.org/gbv-shelter-programming-working-group/documents/hrp-tip-sheet-gbv-risk-mitigation-mainstreaming
• Module 4: Women’s Access to Property – HLP in Shelter Online Course https://sheltercluster.org/resources/pages/hlp-and-displacement-interactive-learning-experience
• Wider Impact of Shelter – Gender Section

Contacts:

Step Haiselden – Global Shelter Team Leader 

Joud Keyyali – Shelter and Gender Technical Advisor

Janina Engler-Williams – Emergency Shelter Research Assistant