Brazil Flooding, June 2010
INTRODUCTION Every year hundreds and thousands of communities across the world lose their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods to disaster and humanitarian crisis. Every day they are faced with a battle for survival. We provide emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis. Since we began in 2000, we have responded to earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, typhoons and conflict, delivering emergency humanitarian aid to communities in need on every continent. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Syria crisis, and the biggest storm to ever make landfall – Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; we respond to the largest humanitarian crises the modern world has ever known. Alongside this, we help thousands of people displaced by disasters that are not featured in the media. Simply put, if there are families in need of emergency shelter, we do everything we can to help them.
‘Since I joined this small charity, I have not stopped being amazed at the high quality and hard work everyone at ShelterBox does day in and day out. Together with our staff, volunteers, patrons and, critically, our supporters and donors, we can deliver our objective – supporting and protecting those many thousands of families who have lost everything.’ Alison Wallace, Chief Executive
SHELTERBOX TIMELINE
10,945 boxes are sent in response to the Asian tsunami
India earthquake 143 boxes are sent Afghanistan conflict 160 boxes are sent
2000
2001
ShelterBox is founded
The 4R (Rotary-ReviewReport-Recover) teams are established, which have now evolved into ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs)
2002
2003
ShelterBox USA is founded
2004
2005
2006
ShelterBox becomes a signatory to the Red Cross Code of Conduct HRH The Duchess of Cornwall become President
ShelterBox headquarters are established in Cornwall, UK
Japan tsunami 1,693 boxes are sent
Haiti earthquake 27,796 boxes are sent
ShelterBox responds to the biggest storm to ever make landfall – Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines ShelterBox helps thousands of Syrian refugee families
Pakistan flooding 7,704 boxes are sent
China earthquake 2,050 boxes are sent
2007
2008
2009
2010
New ShelterBox logo is launched ShelterBox works with Vango to design the new white disaster relief tent
ShelterBox works with Scouts for the first time in the field in Kenya following conflict
Horn of Africa drought 5,587 boxes are sent
2011
2012
A public vote decides ShelterBox to be the winner of JustGiving’s Charity of the Year award
ShelterBox becomes Rotary International’s first project partner
2013
VISION, MISSION & VALUES Our Vision A world in which all people displaced by disasters and humanitarian crises are rapidly provided with emergency shelter and vital aid, which will help rebuild their communities and lives.
Our Mission To rapidly provide emergency shelter and vital aid to stabilise, protect and support communities overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis.
Our Values Respect: Respect is at the forefront of our decisions and actions. We value diversity and the empowerment of our beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and supporters. Honesty and integrity: Our actions and decisions are bound by ethical principles. We highly value trust and we strive to communicate clearly and truthfully. Accountability: We are accountable to beneficiaries, donors, staff and partners. We are committed to using the resources entrusted to us wisely and as effectively as possible and we take responsibility for our decisions and actions. Resourcefulness: We strive to be adaptable, flexible and agile in our response to changing situations, whilst always acting in the best interest of beneficiaries.
SHELTERBOX AID ShelterBox delivers the essentials people need to survive in the aftermath of a disaster. When we send boxes, each one is tailored to a disaster but may contain a disaster relief tent for a family, thermal blankets and groundsheets, water storage and purification equipment, solar lamps, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, mosquito nets and children’s activity packs. For colder countries, we can deliver winterised boxes that include more blankets and groundsheets and a thermal liner that fits between the inner and outer layers of the tent retaining more heat. Sometimes our aid is not packed in boxes but sent in bulk. It is essential that we always support the needs of those who have survived disasters and this can vary enormously based on the type and scale of a disaster. We also do this to maximise donors’ money ensuring that we only send what is really needed and appropriate for the situation and culture. We are constantly evolving as a charity and developing our aid. We sometimes provide midi tents that are a more compact version of our standard disaster relief tent. They are smaller to transport, easier to put up and take up less space, ideal for responses where space is at a premium or where temporary shelter is required for a shorter amount of time, like flooding. We can also deliver shelter kits containing plastic sheeting, basic tools,
rope and fixings that enable families to rapidly provide their own shelter or make repairs to their damaged houses in the aftermath of a disaster. In any disaster a large number of people without shelter will inevitably be children. Schools will often have been destroyed along with homes and other buildings. ShelterBox will, therefore, sometimes include ‘SchoolBoxes’ in their aid consignments. These contain essential supplies for teachers, including blackboard paint and chalk, along with school equipment for 50 children. Please note: We do not fundraise separately for the SchoolBoxes. These are only sent out as part of an overall aid consignment and are paid for through general funds. This is because our main focus is on the emergency humanitarian aid and we only send these boxes where we have heard a school or several schools have been destroyed.
SHELTERBOX OPERATIONS The ShelterBox Operations Team continuously monitors disasters enabling us to be in a position to respond rapidly and effectively when disaster strikes. Every disaster is different and therefore so is every ShelterBox deployment. Sometimes we respond to disasters independently, other times it is on requests for assistance from other aid agencies or government authorities. The common thread is ensuring the response always supports the direct needs of the beneficiaries. Our experienced logistics team works tirelessly to ensure aid reaches the most vulnerable families and communities. We always endeavor to deliver ShelterBox aid in the most effective way possible. This can be by road, sea, air or a mix of all three. ShelterBoxes are packed and dispatched from our headquarters in Cornwall, UK. We have stocks of prepositioned boxes stored in strategic locations across the globe including Dubai, Singapore, Panama and Curacao to enable a rapid response. Collaboration in the field is becoming more and more common in our work not just with aid agencies and government bodies but also with logistics companies and airlines. They regularly offer cheap, sometimes free, freight as well as flights for our ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs), allowing for more of our donors’ money to be spent in other vital areas. We work closely with the Global Shelter Cluster, a coordinating body made up of the leading humanitarian aid agencies who specialise in shelter. It aims to reinforce preparedness and technical capabilities to respond to humanitarian crises through coordination at regional, national and global levels. The most important people are the families we help. We firmly believe that our work is never finished until we have measured and evaluated the impact our aid has had by listening to the needs of the people that we are helping. When appropriate, we will send teams on post-deployment monitoring and evaluation programmes to assess how effective our aid is and to work with the communities we help to find out ways we can improve our equipment and service. The feedback we receive from the field is used to facilitate further development into ways we can improve the quality and effectiveness of the aid we deliver.
Colombia Flooding, November 2010
‘Collaboration with local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has been key to many of our successes this year as we have been able to deliver aid to families in countries where it is difficult to operate, like Russia and Nigeria. We hope to build more partnerships like this to expand our operational capacity, particularly around the Syria crisis. We are also aiming to continue to expand our prepositioning programme to further reduce reaction times and increase efficiency in logistics.’ Alf Evans, Operations Manager
VOLUNTEERS
‘If someone wants to listen, I’ll talk about what ShelterBox does. It’s simple, effective, quick and it works. I met a man who had lost his tuk-tuk business and one of his two children in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. Despite his suffering and loss, he was happy as he was able to rebuild his life with his family using a ShelterBox kit with tools, blankets, children’s packs and cooking equipment. His story made me want to help ShelterBox’ David Crook, warehouse volunteer and retired headteacher.
The strength of our enthusiastic volunteers is beyond measure. It is their commitment to our cause that enables us to provide homes for countless communities who survive disasters. Some volunteers perform the essential task of packing every single ShelterBox that leaves our warehouse in the UK whilst others assist in other departments including Operations, Training, Fundraising and Communications, Reception and Supporter Care. Our ShelterBox aid is delivered to communities in need by volunteers: our incredible ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members. To become an SRT member, each individual has to undertake rigorous training before they are qualified to deliver emergency aid. These ordinary people who do extraordinary things drop everything at a moment’s notice to head into disaster zones to assess the need and bring aid to communities overwhelmed by humanitarian crises. Our worldwide network of SRT members is a key component to our ability to respond rapidly to disasters.
YOUNG SHELTERBOX
ShelterBox launched its first schools activities in 2006, helping young people understand how disasters happen and the impact they have on individuals and communities around the globe. Over the next two years the support and enthusiasm demonstrated by children was remarkable and the project grew. In January 2009 we launched our first Young ShelterBox programme. By sharing what we have discovered about the world through our work, young people can better understand the effects of disasters. By learning about why these events happen and there devastating consequences, young people are challenged to perceive something beyond their own lives. Working with education specialists and youth leaders to harness the rich source of materials behind our work, we created online resources for teachers, Scout and other youth leaders. These creative and challenging activities are being used successfully both in and out of the classroom and young people are gaining a greater understanding about citizenship, the world they live in and how they can make a positive difference.
“ShelterBox and Scouts continue to work together - it may be “in the field” when required following a disaster or educating young people what it means to lose your home and everything in it. Our Partnership continues, ShelterBox and Scouts helping other people.” Nigel Hailey, International Commissioner, The Scout Association
PARTNERSHIPS
Collaboration is one of our core values and vital to enabling the timely delivery of a quality aid package to families in desperate need. Our collaborative working style lets us engage with a range of different organisations who are integral in helping us rapidly provide emergency shelter and vital aid to stabilise, protect and support communities overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis. Rotary - Many thousands of Rotary Clubs worldwide have supported us in a myriad of different ways from raising funds to providing invaluable logistical support on deployments. Alongside this, the global Rotary network has been key in our international growth with most of our affiliates being set up by Rotarians or Rotaracters. We have also signed a project partner agreement with Rotary International that enables both of us to collaborate more closely to bring relief and temporary shelter to survivors of natural disasters worldwide.
Peru Flooding, May 2012
Jordan (Syria conflict), February 2013
Scouts - We have a strong history of working with Scouts in disaster zones. From their assistance in the field to their engagement with the work we do, Scouts have become an integral part of the ShelterBox family. ShelterBox works in cooperation with National Scout Organizations worldwide. Aid Agencies - In order to maximise the timeliness, effectiveness and appropriateness of our response to humanitarian emergencies, we work with a range of leading international relief agencies and non-governmental organisations in the field. Corporates - We specialise in emergency disaster response and it is crucial that we get an SRT on the ground rapidly to assess the need for emergency shelter and other vital aid. Working with companies like Airlink, DHL and Etihad Airlines help us achieve this by offering discounted or free flights for our SRTs and aid, allowing for more of our donors’ money to be spent in other vitally needed areas.
Khaled, his wife and three children fled Syria’s Homs five months ago when their home was hit by a rocket. He and his family were inside the building at the time. They survived and escaped across the border to Lebanon but Khaled says the children still have nightmares. They are now living in a ShelterBox tent in Akroum, just two kilometres from the border. ‘God only knows where we would be living if we didn’t have the ShelterBox tent,’ said Khaled. ShelterBox continues to work with local implementing partners to provide support to refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. SRT members continue to assess the evolving situation and prepare to distribute more boxes to the communities most in need. Thanks to our donors worldwide for your support that makes our disaster relief work possible. Lebanon (Syria conflict), August 2012
KEY STATS
AS OF FEBRUARY 2014
Caption
Philippines Typhoon, January 2013
Nigeria Flooding, November 2012
HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED
None of our work would be possible without the people, like you, worldwide who give generously to ShelterBox. Day in and day out, these people make a real, tangible and lifesaving difference to the lives of people in disaster zones. There are many ways you can support our work, from making a donation to getting involved. You can sponsor a ShelterBox and find out where in the world it has gone or you can donate to our general fund to help us prepare for when the next big disaster strikes. Regular gifts and remembering ShelterBox in your Will can help disaster affected families for years to come. Every donation, be it of time or money, will make an enormous difference to families who have lost everything.
www.shelterbox.org Charity No. 1096479. Company No. 4612652. President: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
ShelterBox is a Charity independent of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation