Browse by sub-sector
Open all 197 in the libraryEmergency Shelter & NFI
Emergency and immediate shelter support and non-food item distribution, including tarpaulins, shelter kits, household items, and the speed, coverage, and adequacy of that assistance.
Output
Immediate Outcome
Climate-Adapted & Disaster-Resilient Shelter
Shelter designed for hazard resistance and climate conditions, including safer construction techniques, build-back-safer guidance, and resilience to wind, flood, and seismic risk.
Output
Immediate Outcome
Settlement Planning & Improvement
Site and settlement planning, layout, drainage, communal infrastructure, and upgrading of camps, informal settlements, and host-community sites.
Output
Goal
Urban Housing
Housing in urban contexts, including rental support, informal settlement upgrading, housing quality, and access to basic services in dense environments.
Output
Goal
Transitional & Permanent Shelter
Transitional, durable, and permanent shelter solutions, including reconstruction, owner-driven recovery, and progression from temporary to permanent housing.
Output
Goal
Other Shelter & Settlements sub-sectors
Smaller measurement areas in Shelter & Settlements, with a sample indicator from each.
Methods by outcome type
Match the method to the outcome, not to what is easiest to collect.
| Outcome type | Primary method | Observation | Key instruments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelter adequacy & quality | Technical shelter assessment against minimum standards | Direct observation and measurement required | Sphere shelter and settlement standards checklists, Global Shelter Cluster indicators |
| NFI distribution & use | Distribution monitoring plus post-distribution monitoring (PDM) | Verification at distribution; recall and observation for use | Distribution lists, PDM household questionnaires, Global Shelter Cluster NFI indicators |
| Settlement & site conditions | Site assessment and settlement-level survey | Direct observation of layout, drainage, and communal infrastructure | Sphere settlement standards, site planning checklists, Shelter Cluster assessment tools |
| Security of tenure | Household survey and documentation review on housing, land, and property | Not directly observable; documented and reported | HLP questionnaires, UN-Habitat / GLTN tenure-security guidance |
| Construction safety & build-back-safer | Technical inspection against safer-construction criteria | Direct observation of construction features required | Build Back Safer key messages, PASSA, safer-construction inspection checklists |
| Occupant satisfaction & use | Household survey and structured questionnaire | Not required (reported satisfaction and use) | Post-distribution and post-occupancy questionnaires, accessibility items (Washington Group) |
Common evaluation questions
The questions that anchor design and data-collection decisions, grouped by cluster.
Emergency Shelter & NFI
Did emergency shelter and NFI assistance reach the intended households quickly enough to meet need?
Evidence: Distribution records and post-distribution monitoring on timeliness, coverage, and receipt. Design: Implementation evaluation, before-and-after.
Were distributed items used as intended and did they meet household needs?
Evidence: Post-distribution monitoring on item use, condition, and reported adequacy against Sphere NFI guidance. Design: Outcome evaluation.
Climate-Adapted & Disaster-Resilient Shelter
Were shelters built with the intended hazard-resistant and safer-construction features?
Evidence: Technical inspection against Build Back Safer key messages and program construction criteria. Design: Implementation evaluation.
Did households retain and maintain safer-construction practices after support ended?
Evidence: Repeat technical inspection and household survey at program end and a follow-up point. Design: Sustainability / ex-post evaluation.
Settlement Planning & Improvement
Did settlement planning and upgrading improve site conditions against minimum standards?
Evidence: Site assessment of layout, drainage, and communal infrastructure against Sphere settlement standards at baseline and endline. Design: Outcome evaluation, before-and-after.
Were planned communal infrastructure and services delivered with the intended coverage?
Evidence: Site monitoring and settlement-level survey against the program plan. Design: Implementation evaluation.
Urban Housing
Did the program improve housing quality and access to basic services for targeted urban households?
Evidence: Household survey on housing condition and service access at baseline and endline. Design: Outcome evaluation, before-and-after.
Was rental or upgrading support delivered as planned and to the intended households?
Evidence: Program monitoring data triangulated with a household survey. Design: Implementation evaluation.
Transitional & Permanent Shelter
Did transitional or permanent shelters meet adequacy standards on completion?
Evidence: Technical shelter assessment against Sphere shelter and settlement standards at handover. Design: Implementation evaluation.
Did households hold secure tenure for the shelters provided or reconstructed?
Evidence: Household survey and documentation review on housing, land, and property status. Design: Outcome evaluation.
The standards that matter
Shelter and settlements has a clear standards backbone. Start with the Sphere Handbook for the shelter and settlement minimum standards and their indicator and guidance structure, use the Global Shelter Cluster standardized indicators so your figures reconcile across the response, apply Build Back Safer key messages and PASSA for safer construction, and use housing, land, and property guidance for tenure. Assess adequacy against the standards rather than asserting a specific area or material figure as universal, and include accessibility using the Washington Group questions.
Sphere Handbook (Shelter and Settlement) ↗
Minimum standards for shelter and settlement, with key actions, indicators, and guidance used to assess adequacy in humanitarian response.
Global Shelter Cluster ↗
IASC shelter coordination mechanism providing standardized shelter, settlement, and NFI indicators and assessment guidance.
GSC Standardized Shelter Indicators ↗
Standardized indicator list, definitions, and usage guidelines for tracking and reporting shelter, settlement, and NFI interventions.
Shelter Projects ↗
Repository of documented post-disaster and post-conflict shelter project case studies and overviews for benchmarking.
Build Back Safer Key Messages ↗
Global Shelter Cluster set of safer-construction messages used as a checklist for owner-driven self-recovery.
IFRC PASSA ↗
Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness, a community method for raising awareness of shelter-related risk and safer practices.
UN-Habitat Land Tenure Security ↗
Housing, land, and property and security-of-tenure guidance and tools for displacement and recovery contexts.
Washington Group on Disability Statistics ↗
Standardized functioning questions used to disaggregate shelter assessments and reach by disability and accessibility.
IASC ↗
Inter-Agency Standing Committee, the humanitarian coordination forum under which the cluster system, including shelter, operates.
Common mistakes to avoid
Reporting shelters built without assessing adequacy
A completed shelter is an output. Sphere expects adequacy to be assessed against the shelter and settlement minimum standards, not assumed from a count of structures.
Using non-standard shelter and NFI indicator wording
Reworded indicators break comparability across the response. Use the Global Shelter Cluster standardized indicators and definitions so figures reconcile with cluster reporting.
Counting NFI distribution as use
Items distributed are not items used. Post-distribution monitoring is needed to assess receipt, condition, and use, consistent with Global Shelter Cluster guidance.
Asserting a single covered-area or material figure as universal
Sphere frames adequacy through standards, indicators, and context-specific guidance rather than one fixed figure. Assess against the standard for the context instead of quoting a universal number.
Treating shelter provision as evidence of secure tenure
Building or distributing a shelter does not establish housing, land, and property rights. Tenure security is assessed separately, consistent with HLP and UN-Habitat / GLTN guidance.
Omitting accessibility and disability disaggregation
Shelter assessments that ignore accessibility miss whether shelter is usable by all occupants. Disaggregate using the Washington Group questions rather than assuming uniform access.
Frequently asked questions
What standard should I assess shelter adequacy against?
Use the Sphere Handbook shelter and settlement minimum standards, which set out key actions, indicators, and guidance notes for adequate shelter in humanitarian contexts. Sphere frames adequacy through standards and context-specific guidance rather than a single universal figure, so assess against the standard for your context and state the criteria you used. For coordinated reporting, align your indicators to the Global Shelter Cluster standardized indicators.
How do I measure whether distributed NFIs actually helped?
Distribution records show what was handed out, which is an output. To learn whether items were received, kept, and used, run post-distribution monitoring (PDM) with a household questionnaire on receipt, condition, and use. Align the indicators to the Global Shelter Cluster NFI definitions so the results are comparable across the response.
How should I measure security of tenure?
Treat tenure as separate from the physical shelter. Use a household survey and documentation review on housing, land, and property (HLP) status, drawing on UN-Habitat and Global Land Tool Network tenure-security guidance. Providing or reconstructing a shelter does not by itself establish secure tenure, so measure it directly rather than inferring it from shelter delivery.
How do I evaluate build-back-safer or disaster-resilient shelter?
Inspect the constructed shelters against safer-construction criteria rather than relying on a count of completed structures. The Global Shelter Cluster Build Back Safer key messages and IFRC PASSA provide a basis for the features to check, such as foundations, bracing, joints, tie-downs, and roofing. Combine technical inspection with a household survey to see whether safer practices are understood and maintained.
How do I make shelter assessments inclusive and accessible?
Disaggregate reach and adequacy by disability using the Washington Group questions, and assess whether shelter and site features are usable by occupants with different needs. Inclusion is a design requirement, not an add-on: build accessibility items into your assessment tools and report disaggregated results rather than assuming uniform access.