All Under One Roof
2.5 Collaboration and Coordination
Meaningful participation, collaboration and coordination will contribute to the accountability and impact of humanitarian activities. In most cases shelter practitioners are only one of many stakeholders in a coordinated response, but there is an important role for advocacy around ensuring technical standards are met and inclusion objectives are achieved. Shelter and settlements actors should work together with persons with disabilities and their representative organisations as well as coordinate with other relevant government bodies, organisations and clusters (e.g., Protection Cluster) to ensure that decisions are well informed and people are not left behind. Inclusion of OPDs and other relevant groups in community level processes at all stages will help inform and encourage participation of persons with disabilities as well as provide support and valuable inputs. In many cases however, persons with disabilities and/ or their representative organisations may not have previously engaged with the humanitarian operations or with the shelter cluster (or other similar coordination mechanisms). It is therefore important to ensure they are supported in their engagement and that expectations are managed. Participation should be meaningful and give results for the people who set aside time to participate. Consider from the outset how individuals and households can impact programme decisions, and manage expectations. Consider the following recommendations to improve participation, collaboration and coordination.
2.5.1 | Acknowledge different impairments and other intersecting factors when planning and carrying out consultation and participation activities. Engage with other stakeholders for support where necessary, including OPDs, community groups, protection expertise or MHPSS teams or working groups. | |
2.5.2 | Target initial consultations to help understand priorities and confirm acceptance within communities and households of the activities and improvements you are planning to implement. | |
2.5.3 | When delivering products for example in the form of shelter kits, transitional shelter or household items, use a pilot structure or test kit and invite persons with different types of disabilities to identify barriers and offer feedback on content and solutions. | |
2.5.4 | Provide information about shelter and settlement activities in multiple accessible formats (oral, print, sign language, easy-to-read/ plain language, video, etc.). Ask OPDs for inputs and advice. Ensure that persons with disabilities receive invitations in good time to attend information and sensitisation meetings in accessible venues. Children and youth with disabilities should receive child-friendly material to meaningfully contribute to the consultation . | |
2.5.5 | Factor in reasonable accommodation requests to any community activities or processes. | |
2.5.6 | Be aware of any power dynamics that exist in the community that may impact the ability of persons with disabilities to participate in activities and processes. | |
Additional guidance on inclusive meetings, communication and reasonable accommodation can be found at:
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2.5.7 | Identify additional support needs that fall outside the technical and financial scope of your programme – especially those identified as high priority needs through consultations, or where safety risks occur – and share these at cluster and inter-cluster meetings. | |
2.5.8 | Discuss minimum standards and accessible solutions within the Shelter Cluster (or cluster like mechanism) and with other sector responses in cross-sectoral fora. | |
2.5.9 | Support the establishment of focal points for inclusion or dedicated inclusion working groups, at the level of the Shelter Cluster and tap into existing mechanisms in the wider response. | |
2.5.10 | Create mechanisms within the emergency coordination system to support people’s voices and participation, for example by ensuring that OPDs and other disability stakeholders can be part of coordination processes. | |
2.5.11 | Where possible, coordinate with and draw on multi-sectoral expertise of other humanitarian (and potentially non-humanitarian agencies) working on aspects supportive of disability inclusion including allied health professionals (who may prescribe assistive devices and give recommendations on accessibility modifications) and protection actors (including those working on HLP, general protection, GBV, CCM, Child Protection and others). | |
Draw on relevant Global Shelter Cluster resources on inclusion such as the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities working group. | ||