about

Below is some background information about Shelter Meeting

• what is Shelter Meeting?
• history

^ what is Shelter Meeting?

The Shelter Meeting is a sector forum service. The purpose of the Shelter Meeting is for participant organisations to discuss, coordinate and agree initiatives, policy, good practise and technical specifications relating to the transitional settlement and reconstruction needs of populations affected by conflict and natural disasters.

The Shelter Meeting convenes twice a year and runs over two or more days, depending on the agenda set by the participants. Different participating organisations volunteer to host each meeting.

As agreed by participating organisations, Shelter Meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which is explained on the participation page.

Participants are kept informed about the Shelter Meeting through an email newsletter. Summaries of proceedings and presentation slides from past meetings approved for circulation are available to view and download in past meetings .

^ history

A regular meeting supporting the transitional settlement and shelter sector was first proposed by participants of peer review meetings held by the University of Cambridge shelterproject, formed to support the revision of the guidelines Transitional Settlement: Displaced Populations which were funded by DFID/CHAD and published by Oxfam Publications in 2005.

Originally entitled the 'Shelter Forum', these meetings were held as extensions of the shelterproject.org peer reviews. At the second forum, it was proposed that the forum and peer review be merged into one meeting. It was agreed by those present that the secretariat of this new Shelter Meeting would be held by Shelter Centre.

The first Shelter Meeting was held in November 2004, hosted by UNDP in Geneva.