Lessons Learnt from CARE’s Shelter Responses to Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

The purpose of the present study is to examine the shelter work of the CARE country offices, and to investigate the learning from the Cyclone Idai response. Additional objectives were to support the reflective learning and self-assessment of CARE Emergency Shelter Team and to identify opportunities of further investigation for CARE at regional level. As the evaluation was scheduled for July 2020, it encountered several challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (see Limitations in section 3.4). As a result, all work on this evaluation has been conducted remotely. The methodological approach adopted was participatory, iterative, and flexible.
 In the three countries of response, shelter was quickly identified as a priority need, and CARE decided to undertake shelter interventions for roughly the same reasons. These stemmed partly from the early discussions conducted with donors to facilitate the distribution of prepositioned (or provided) NFI stock, and included the considerable need identified during early joint assessments and the comparatively low level of engagement from other actors, which resulted in many gaps. CARE was one of the main shelter actors on the regional post-Idai response, and the INGO which has provided support to the most households in Mozambique. [72 pages]