As disasters grow more frequent and severe, humanitarian shelter assistance must go beyond crisis response. Climate-related hazards are increasingly impacting vulnerable populations, whether in fragile and conflict-affected contexts such as Yemen and Nigeria, or in stable and strong governmental engagement with the international community like Madagascar, while funding remains insufficient.
Shelter is not just a roof overhead; it is the frontline of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) , where choices about location, materials and design directly influence safety, dignity and survival.
Rebuilding the same shelter after each hazard is inefficient, costly and undignified. As emphasized by the 2030 Global Shelter Cluster Strategy, the Shelter and Settlement sector must shift from reactive response to anticipatory action, with DRR as a fundamental enabler of that shift.
Since 2023,UNDRR and the Global Shelter Cluster have been working together to help break this cycle by strengthening the integration of DRR and environmental considerations in humanitarian shelter and settlements coordination and response. Key outputs include:
• Global guidance on entry points for DRR in conflict and non-conflict shelter operations, including ecosystem-based DRR;
• Environment and climate tip sheets for the 2025 Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC), to support needs assessment and response planning phases;
• Technical support to shelter responses in Yemen Madagascar and Nigeria.
In Yemen, over 4 million people remain displaced, many living in informal sites on flood-prone terrain. In 2024 alone, flash-floods affected more than 100,000 households across 22 governorates, with 571 IDP sites facing high risk of flooding.
Working with UNHCR and Yemen Shelter/CCCM Cluster, and supported by UNDRR, Yemen Al-Khair for Relief and Development (YARD) led a set of community-driven flood mitigation initiatives, including:
• Flood risk assessments in Sana'a, Ibb, Hajjah, Al-Jawf and Sa'ada;
• Construction of a 2.5 km flood diversion channel, reinforced with bems, in Al-Mahzam Al-Sharqi (Al-Hazm District);
• Installation of eco-DRR measures such as erosion-resistant barriers using local materials to protect shelters and redirect runoff;
• Transitional shelter upgrades, hazard mapping and drainage maintenance;
• Formation of community-based DRR committees for early warning and infrastructure maintenance.
This cost-efficient intervention directly reduce exposure for 2,800 displaced and host community members, combining technical design with strong local ownership. A second phase of support is continuing in 2025, expanding DRR integration and capacity building across additional high-risk sites.
Crucially, these interventions were locally led. In Yemen, women-led community groups designed flood protection that saved entire neighbourhoods. Local leadership not only reduces costs, it delivers faster, more durable results.
A simple drainage system or a protective wall can mean the difference between devastation and safety.
Yemen is facing a climate crisis, with floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising seas making life even harder for communities already affected by conflict
The UNDRR-Global Shelter Cluster partnership is leading a shift in humanitarian shelter practice: from reactive responses to risk-informed, forward-looking approaches. Preparedness and risk reduction are not optional - they are essential pillars of effective humanitarian shelter. Risk-informed shelter design is one of the most direct, immediate tools we have to reduce hazard impacts and protect communities in crisis.
By equipping national actors with tools, technical guidance and targeted in-country support, the initiative is helping shape shelter and settlement approaches that are safer, more inclusive and more sustainable. This reflects a broader shift across the sector: DRR is not an afterthought and must be integrated from the start of humanitarian responses.