Better Shelter. UNHCR signs for 10,000 flat-pack shelters
04/04/2015.
IKEA FOUNDATION and UNHCR
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA.
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA.
The collaboration between the IKEA Foundation and the UNHCR has resulted in a new, innovative, safer and more durable shelter for refugee families around the world. UNHCR has placed an order of 10,000 units with the social enterprise Better Shelter. This partnership has introduced an innovative approach to designing for refugees and putting their needs at the heart of the development process.
A Somali child walks past a row of prototype ‘Refugee Housing Unit’ shelters, in Kobe Refugee Camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia. Kobe is home to over 35,000 Somali refugees. Photograph © Ikea Foundation. Click above to see larger image.
Assembly of Better Shelter prototype, Hilawyen Refugee camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, July 2013. Photograph © R. Cox.
The tents the UN usually provides refugees start to disintegrate after six months. The new Ikea-designed shelters are built to last 10 times that long. Click above to see larger image.
Assembly of Better Shelter prototype, Hilawyen Refugee camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, July 2013. Photograph © R. Cox. Click above to see larger image.
Kobe Refugee Camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia – a young Somali refugee stands with her baby in the doorway of her new home, an IKEA Foundation funded prototype ‘Refugee Housing Unit’ shelter. Around 20 families are testing these new shelters to ensure they offer dignified and secure housing for refugees. Photograph © Ikea Foundation. Click above to see larger image.
Riyad with sons, daughters and mother in law inside a Better Shelter prototype, Kawergosk refugee camp, Iraq, March 2015.Photograph © Better Shelter. Click above to see larger image.
Interior of a Better Shelter prototype in Kawergosk Refugee Camp, Erbil, Iraq. Photograph © Better Shelter. Click above to see larger image.
Hussein with daughters and grand daughter, Kawergosk Refugee Camp, Erbil, Iraq March 2015. Photograph © R. Cox.
Better Shelter. Photograph © Ikea Foundation. Click above to see larger image.
Better Shelter. Photograph © Ikea Foundation. Click above to see larger image.
Photograph © Better Shelter. Click above to see larger image.
The tents the UN usually provides refugees start to disintegrate after six months. The new Ikea-designed shelters are built to last 10 times that long. Click above to see larger image.
Lukhman with daughter, Kawergosk Refugee Camp, Erbil, Iraq March 2015.
The Better Shelter is a temporary shelter designed with special attention to transport volume, weight, price, safety as well as health and comfort. It can be assembled on site without additional tools and equipment, and is fitted with a solar panel and lamp to provide light during the dark hours. The expected lifespan of the shelter is three years. Production of shelters is about to begin and in the summer of 2015 UNHCR will start delivering shelters to thousands of families in refugee camps.
The temporary shelter is composed of several basic elements, including a lightweight steel frame, roof and wall panels, door and windows, floor covering, solar energy system (lamp and telephone charge) and an anchoring system.
Prototypes have been tested and evaluated by UNHCR with respect to the personal, social and cultural expectations of the people that it aspires to rehabilitate, as well as the environmental, logistic and financial framework it is designed for.
Better Shelter
In collaboration with: Ikea Foundation and UNHCR
ABOUT UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.
For more than six decades, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of some 8,600 people in more than 125 countries continues to help some 33.9 million persons.
ABOUT IKEA FOUNDATION
The IKEA Foundation aims to improve opportunities for children and youth in some of the world’s poorest communities by funding holistic, long-term programmes that can create substantial, lasting change. The IKEA Foundation works with strong strategic partners applying innovative approaches to achieve large-scale results in four fundamental areas of a child’s life: a place to call home; a healthy start in life; a quality education; and a sustainable family income.
