Shelter Cluster Malawi
ShelterCluster.org
Coordinating Humanitarian Shelter
Shelter Cluster Coordination Meeting, 29-01-2015 at 10.30
Lilongwe, Zowe conference room, ministry of land, housing and urban development
MEETING NOTES
Partners attending:
Save the Children, DFID, Irish Aid, UNDAC, UN Habitat, IOM, Un Women, Ministry land and housing
development,
Agenda
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8.
9.
Initial Prayer
Presentation of Updated Information obtained from DC Offices of affected areas on latest
developments of camps and population movement
Update from Agencies on ongoing and planned activities
Information Management – Introduction of Data Collection tools – 4 Ws and Damage Data
Templates (to be shared later today)
Trends in response and adaptation of cluster strategy accordingly
a. Promotion of Safe Housing Reconstruction Practices
b. Shelter Tool Kit common standard
Meeting Schedule of Cluster
Regional Level Coordination of Cluster Activities
AoB
Closing Prayer
Opening
The meeting was called to order at 10:45 am with an opening prayer by Miss S. Kadzakumanja. Welcome
remarks were made by the Principle Secretary for Lands and Housing Mrs Ivy Luhanga. In her remarks,
she made it a point that the Shelter and Camp committee is to report to the main committee on Friday,
30th January and therefore edged the members to participate and contribute where necessary. Selfintroductions were made.
Updates from district offices
The ministry was able to speak to all district commissioners in the affected districts, to get a feel of the
actual situation on the ground. A detailed breakdown of number of camps and households in them is
attached to these minutes. In some districts people have moved out of the schools, and classes have
resumed. The cluster has been requested to assist with firewood in Nsanje. After which firewood was
moved from Zomba to Nsanje. In Zomba people go out during the day, to relatives or their property, but
return to the shelters in schools during the night. To add on that, the Disaster officer in the Ministry of
The Shelter Cluster is led by the Ministry of land, housing and urban development and supported by The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration at the global level
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Shelter Cluster Malawi
ShelterCluster.org
Coordinating Humanitarian Shelter
Lands, Housing and Urban Development stated that, Nsanje and Chikhwawa districts have recently
received 200 and 150 tents respectively and that there are 300 more tents needed for Nsanje whereas
Chikhwawa needs about 100 more tents. He also made it a point that a lot of organisations are showing
interest in assisting the flood victims. However, there is need for the Shelter Cluster to submit a budget
for the activity to the main committee and that budget preparation under way.
Further information from UNDAC
 Chikwawa 19 sites - information on 7
 Tizula Chikuse, Bodza and Tizola Grain Bank part of the population can return home immediately
if supported with rehabilitation. Most villages report on completely destroyed houses and
unwillingness to return until after the rainy season
 Recommendation to establish temporary shelters of timber, plastic and tarpaulins in the district,
where the material can be reused in the rehabilitation of houses starting April.
 Please not that there is no adequate shelter facilities at any of the sites (besides Medrum) at the
moment and many are still sleeping outside, many sites extremely overcrowded and not
sufficient NFIs such as cooking utensils, buckets, and almost no mosquito nets available at all.
 verification has to be done at night - no capacity to do so.
 The governments number of affected has risen to approx. 14,000 HH in the district while UNDAC
Team estimates around 9,000 HH displaced with about 30% sleeping with relatives or have
other arrangements.
And on specific areas:
 Chabuka, 314 HH – needs to be relocated (currently in an overcrowded area, no space available,
within a settlement) required temporary shelter until after the rainy season when rehabilitation
can start
 Livunzu, 140 HH – needs to be relocated (currently in school), required temporary shelter until
after the rainy season when rehabilitation can start
 Bodza, 123 HH – needs to be relocated (currently in school), about 30 HH say that they can
return immediately if supported, while the remaining required temporary shelter until after the
rainy season when rehabilitation can start
 Malemia, 1221 HH (needs verification at night as this amount of people cannot fit in that space
and must be sleeping somewhere else) - needs to be relocated (currently in an overcrowded
area, no space available, within a settlement) required temporary shelter until after the rainy
season when rehabilitation can start. This site is in a very poor state so people are leaving due to
the conditions and difficult to track where they are going.
 Tizola Grain Bank, 554 HH - needs to be relocated (currently in an overcrowded area, no space
available, within a settlement). About half of the HH express that they can return home
immediately if assisted, the rest required temporary shelter until after the rainy season when
rehabilitation can start.
 Tizola/Chikuse, 317 HH - needs to be relocated (currently in an overcrowded area, no space
available, within a settlement). About half of the HH express that they can return home
immediately if assisted, the rest required temporary shelter until after the rainy season when
rehabilitation can start.
The Shelter Cluster is led by the Ministry of land, housing and urban development and supported by The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration at the global level
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Shelter Cluster Malawi
ShelterCluster.org
Coordinating Humanitarian Shelter

Medrum, 51 HH – can remain at site, at an evacuation center with adequate facilities, report
that all houses in villages was completely destroyed and cannot return until after the rainy
season.
Latest update of Red Cross assessment team (FACT)
 Ares visited so far: Nsanje, Chikwawa, Blantyre Urban
 Need for NFIs supporting people to move back to homes or alternative sites
 Need for Tarpaulins and Tool Kits
Pressing issues
 Need to coordinate activities with WASH and Protection Cluster to discuss cross cluster issues
such as gender issues, mosquito netting, latrines at houses, etc
 Site identification is a critical action that needs to be taken.
– Currently a CCCM meeting is ongoing. IOM is said to be scaling up to coordinate CCCM.
– Need to clarify coordination for CCCM
– Camp Management Actors to be identified. So far Concern Universal, Goal, Action Aid
are working in Camp Coordination and IOM and UNHCR have indicated interest
 Need to agree on standards for Shelter NFIs.
– The cluster proposes to start a working group to agree on these standards.
– There is need for a common approach in assisting the victims to ensure that there is no
inequality
– Mr Bulukutu Chirwa, 0888522685, sbulukutu@yahoo.com of Housing Department in the
Ministry is an expert on this.
 Need to start working on safe re-construction (IEC materials)


For all people that need to be relocated, family kits, shelter kits, materials and tarps are needed.
Shelter cluster recommends to support people returning to their houses.
There is a need for a more detailed assessment of the situation in camps, people moving back to
their homes, and the damage of houses.
Information management
The shelter cluster support team is starting to collect the 4W information (who, what, where and when)
on behalf of the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development and together with the Department
of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), so that we can inform agencies, donors and the other clusters
on the progress of the response.
Therefore we strongly urge agencies to complete the 4W template with your finished, ongoing and
planned activities, the sooner the better, but at least before each Friday.
Additionally, since a proper assessment of damage data on houses is missing at the moment, the cluster
kindly asks each agency to fill the shared damage data template as best as you can, for those affected
areas that you have visited and/or assessed.
The Shelter Cluster is led by the Ministry of land, housing and urban development and supported by The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration at the global level
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Shelter Cluster Malawi
ShelterCluster.org
Coordinating Humanitarian Shelter
Updates from participants
 DoDMA:
o From history it shows that these areas are affected yearly. All materials and best
practices should take in to account the repeating trend of floods. The best mitigation
should be found given that fact.
 Irish aid is planning to get in NFIs. They are working through world vision, concern universal
and others
 UN Women: the cluster is requested to consider including sex aggregated data in the
templates. Also in the setup of camps and sites partners are requested to take care of
vulnerable groups. UN Women is also promoting the implementation of street lighting. The
ministry reinforces this message that safe places within camps need to be picked.
 UNICEF: a donation from Japan has come in, supporting the in country distribution, including
tents and blankets. The ministry was there to receive the donation. It is still to be confirmed
to what extend this can be used for shelter support.
 Agencies also strengthen the message that beneficiary communication is critical to have.
The question is raised if there is a cluster that is responsible for beneficiary communication.
o The involvement of the local leaders is important. Local leaders also play a role in
identifying the most vulnerable, but also to spread information on safe housing.
Currently a project is ongoing on safer housing, funded by the world bank. Trainings on
safe houses have been conducted. The training is about safe building for earthquakes
and flooding. In the guidelines that have been produces there is some information on
flooding, but mainly on earthquakes. Technical experts are available at the department
of housing. These can assist in producing building back safer practices and materials.
 UN Habitat: This disaster is an opportunity for change. One of the changes needed is the
selection of areas that are safe for living.
 Ministry:
o A risk map is needed, so that the government can guide people on what areas are safe
for building. The ministry indicated that a mapping has been done. This map has been
shared with all actors in country.
o It was highlighted that the Ministry of Lands and Housing is preparing a Resettlement
Bill which will incorporate these issues and that ideas on what to include in the bill are
welcome.
o It was also stated that the existing laws need to be strengthened and harmonized with
the Resettlement Bill to mitigate these occurrences.
Meeting schedule of cluster
The partners are proposing to move to a weekly meeting. Thursday morning is the preferred time. 10.30
– 11.30.
The Shelter Cluster is led by the Ministry of land, housing and urban development and supported by The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration at the global level
Page 4
Shelter Cluster Malawi
ShelterCluster.org
Coordinating Humanitarian Shelter
Regional level coordination of cluster activities
The Disaster Officer, Mr. Kamtsalira explained that DoDMA is arranging that an operation centre be
established in the southern region to facilitate coordination of activities and the committee agreed that
names of officer be submitted to the shelter cluster Malawi. The Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban
Development has a representation to the regional coordination center in Blantyre: Mr. Chirwa,
099951694
The cluster support team is sending Dave Ray to the regional center starting this weekend. Dave can be
reached on coord2.malawi@sheltercluster.org, +265997314919
Closing remarks and prayer
The committee Chair person made the closing remarks by thanking the participants and edged them to
continue cooperating to ensure that we assist the flood victims.
The meeting closed with a word of prayer by Miss S. Kadzakumanja.
The Shelter Cluster is led by the Ministry of land, housing and urban development and supported by The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organisation for Migration at the global level
Page 5