The Settlement Side of Shelter:

Current USAID/OFDA

Project Activity in

Afghanistan

Charles A. Setchell,Shelter and Settlements Advisor, USAID/OFDA

SETTLEMENTS, the “Where?” of Humanitarian Mandates

Where Settlements are located,How they have developed,How rapidly they grow,How strong their economies are, andHow well they are managed, esp. in times of crisis…

Will largely determine whether they become the sites of future disasters -- and HUM responses

The TRENDS Affecting Settlements Are Many, and

Include…• The Future Is Urban. Global population will increase from 6.2 billion to 8.3 billion from ’03-’30; 100% located in the cities of developing countries!

• Increasing Poverty. Over 3.0 billion people -- one-half of humanity -- currently survive on per capita incomes of no more than $2/day, up from 2.5 billion in 1987. Millions more earn only slightly more.

• Increasing Vulnerability. More people are living in hazard-prone areas, and environmental conditions in/near settlements are often degraded.

• Increasing Conflict. Crime, security, conflict

A Case of Disasters by Design?

• Are tomorrow’s disasters being incorporated into today’s development processes?

• What is our role in these processes, in the era of “developmental relief”?

• What of the flip-side, “humanitarian

development”?

• Disasters/crises accelerate and exacerbate the urbanization process

• Typical humanitarian response to disaster/crisis-induced displacement is “return to village of origin,” reflecting both rural bias and misunderstanding of the underlying dynamic

• How to reconcile, given need to develop a strategy?

Macro-level Implications for Your Work

Features of Settlements Programming

• Multi-sectoral, reflecting multi-faceted character of context (settlements)

• Cognizant of gender, environment, and local organizations and social relations

• Opportunistic with regard to livelihood promotion (“CFE”, “CFT”, and “RR” in Pakistan)

• Transitional, by linking relief and developmental concerns

• Accountable to local governing structures

Getting Re-Oriented29.5 mill people; 251,772

sq. mi.(nearly 20% larger than

France)

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Work with USAID mission, State/BPRM, embassy, and others to assess shelter conditions in Kabul Area

• Design a project to provide safe, adequate, and habitable shelter to at least 3,500 vulnerable households

• Provide a means of interacting and building capacity with government officials and others on critical issues associated with urban shelter delivery, and

• Serve as a model for replication of how to deliver shelter to vulnerable households elsewhere in Kabul, and in cities elsewhere.

Afghanistan’s Urban Areas: A Primer

• Asia’s fastest growing cities during 90s• Now perhaps world’s fastest growing cities • Urban pop. will grow nearly five-fold in next 23

years; recent events will accelerate rate• Kabul now contains 4.0-4.5 million people, up

from 1.5 million in late ’01, for 167-200% growth, but developed land has only increased by 59%

• Current needs adding to backlog of needs• Regional cities are also growing fast.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Kabul may be growing by 300,000 people per year, generating a need for 50,000 houses, but actual housing growth is a fraction of this

• 60-70% of population lives in informal areas, with few or no services

• The Kabul Municipality (aka, “City Hall”) has no significant capacity, no project budget, and is viewed as part of the problem

• Findings of the 2004 OFDA-funded Kabul Vulnerability Assessment remain relevant

• UNHCR estimates at least 3.5 MILLION Afghans still remain outside the country.

Institutional Landscape Has Also Changed Since ‘04

• Not only has growth outstripped services and housing supply, but

• Afghan urban institutions remain weak, and

• International community has retrenched on urban shelter

But Afghans still form the largest refugee population in the world,

even though more than four million have returned since 2002, most from neighboring Pakistan and Iran. With housing in scarce supply, families live just about

anywhere.

Result: Precarious, Unserviced

Shelter

A Response: “KASSP”

• $4.4 million project featuring shelter assistance, “shelter opportunities survey” (SOS), and seismic preparedness & mitigation

• Based, in part, on OFDA’s 2004 shelter activities in Kabul (18,234 families assisted over 8 months, @ approx. $4.5 million)

• Located in and near existing neighborhoods, at notable scale, preferably in informal areas

• Close collaboration with Kabul Municipality,

• Supported by mission, KM, MUDH, IOs, and NGOs (15 concepts, 4 proposals)

Transitional Shelter

Featuring Livelihood Generation and Hazard Mitigation

Minor Repair

and Upgrading

Host & Guest Family

Support

Mitigation by Design

Shelter-Livelihood Linkage

Larger Settlements Issues

• Every part of the “civil land system” is in disrepair (e.g., measurement, legal, recordation, management, eminent domain, dispute resolution, taxation), and

• Policy makers know steps “A and Z”, but not steps B, C, and D. Problems are so complex that they tend to get lost in the complexity, with no perceived way to break out.

Don’t Think We’re Here

Yet,

but…

Conclusions• CARE started work 20 April;

will conclude end of November

• Check ReliefWeb for updates!

Kabul is Part of Larger OFDA Effort

• Reliance on Local Materials & Markets

• Emphasis on SPG, FOG/MTIR, & SC (!!)

• Linking Shelter to Livelihoods

• Incorporating Mitigation

• “R & D”