URDA has been recently invited to participate as one of the 6 members in the Temporary Technical Committee (TTC) which is co-led by the NRC Middle East and UN-Habitat Lebanon. URDA will be joining IRC, Habitat for Humanity, Legal Action Worldwide, CLDH, and Caritas to help guarantee successful delivery of shelter assistance.
The Committee is established in the aftermath of the Beirut Port Blast of 04 August 2020 and the subsequent emergency humanitarian response operation to support the most vulnerable affected populations with shelter assistance to return shelters to pre-blast status.
Considering the complex context of the response, and the scale of destruction of the built fabric, Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) considerations are paramount for the successful delivery of shelter assistance. Their inclusion in the main shelter interventions (including Rehabilitation and Minor Repairs and Cash for Rent assistance) is critical to ensure that assistance reaches beneficiaries on time, and a do-no-harm approach in the immediate response guided by the relevant national laws and international laws and guidelines (International human rights law, Pinheiro Principles, etc) For this purpose, these terms of reference have been drafted.
More specifically, the TTC aims at achieving the following outcomes:
- Strengthen the capacity of humanitarian actors in identifying and addressing HLP issues
- Mainstream HLP issues in the Beirut Blast Response shelter interventions and sectoral assessments to guide and support all key actors in tackling emerging HLP challenges and conduct HLP monitoring and awareness for more sensitive and effective interventions
- Support the Rehabilitation, Minor Repairs, and Cash TTCs with timely and relevant guidance including, due diligence activities, the shelter assessment tools, and SOPs
- Link the aforementioned TTCs with Protection and Legal Assistance working groups to ensure the coherence of response with the Protection Framework
- Enhance awareness on specific HLP issues and their relevance to the immediate response, as well as longer-term recovery and conflict prevention, and advocate for the realization of HLP rights