RFAs: Provision of Shelter and Non-Food Item Assistance for Refugees and Displaced Persons in Sudan

UNHCR Sudan is seeking qualified partners to provide shelter and non-food item (NFI) assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and affected host communities. The programme focuses on safe, dignified, inclusive, protection-sensitive, and increasingly durable shelter solutions, with priority attention to vulnerable households in North Kordofan and other targeted areas.

What Is the UNHCR Sudan Shelter and NFI Programme?

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is inviting organizations to submit expressions of interest to support shelter and non-food item assistance in Sudan.

The initiative forms part of UNHCR Sudan’s multi-year results framework and seeks to address the shelter and essential household needs of displaced and crisis-affected populations.

The programme focuses particularly on North Kordofan, while interventions may also be implemented in other locations identified by UNHCR.

The overall objective is to ensure that affected populations have access to shelter solutions that are:

• Safe
• Dignified
• Inclusive
• Protection-sensitive
• Accessible
• Accountable
• Appropriate to local conditions
• Increasingly durable and sustainable

Who Will Benefit?

The programme targets several categories of vulnerable and displaced populations, including:

• Refugees
• Asylum-seekers
• Internally displaced persons
• Affected host communities
• Newly arrived displaced households
• Secondarily displaced households
• Households affected by floods
• Households affected by fires
• People living in open areas
• People living in unsafe or inadequate structures
• Persons with specific needs

Particular consideration should be given to people facing heightened protection risks, including:

• Women and girls
• Children
• Older persons
• Persons with disabilities
• Other vulnerable individuals and households

What Shelter Assistance Can Be Provided?

Selected partners may implement a range of emergency, transitional, and longer-term shelter interventions.

Potential activities include:

• Emergency shelter kits
• Family tents
• Shelter construction materials
• Communal shelters
• Partitioning of collective centres
• Rehabilitation of collective centres
• Repair of existing shelters
• Upgrading of inadequate shelters
• Transitional shelter solutions
• Rental support
• Cash for shelter
• Shelter-related vouchers
• Site development
• Disaster risk reduction measures

The specific form of assistance should be determined according to the needs of affected populations, local market conditions, feasibility, and protection and safety considerations.

Shelter Assistance Modalities

Partners may use different delivery mechanisms depending on the operating environment.

These may include:

• In-kind assistance: Physical shelter materials, emergency shelter kits, tents, or other items.
• Cash assistance: Financial support that allows households to address eligible shelter needs.
• Voucher assistance: Vouchers for obtaining approved shelter-related goods or services.
• Mixed modalities: A combination of cash, vouchers, and in-kind assistance.

Partners are expected to assess the feasibility, risks, markets, and protection implications before selecting an assistance modality.

Priority Households

The programme establishes a prioritization approach to ensure assistance reaches people with the greatest shelter and protection needs.

Priority may be given to:

1. Newly arrived displaced households.
2. Secondarily displaced households.
3. Households affected by floods or fires.
4. People living in open areas.
5. People living in unsafe structures.
6. Households containing persons with specific needs.

This prioritization should be implemented transparently and in accordance with UNHCR protection standards.

Protection Principles

Protection is a central component of the shelter programme.

Partners must integrate protection principles throughout assessment, targeting, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

Key principles include:

• Meaningful access to assistance.
• Participation of affected communities.
• Non-discrimination.
• Safety and dignity.
• Accountability to affected populations.
• Confidentiality where required.
• Protection-sensitive targeting.
• Age, gender, and diversity considerations.

Shelter assistance should not create additional protection risks or exclude people because of age, gender, disability, displacement status, or other vulnerabilities.

Community Participation

UNHCR encourages meaningful participation by affected communities throughout the project cycle.

Communities may participate in:

• Shelter planning.
• Site improvement activities.
• Household targeting.
• Distribution planning.
• Monitoring.
• Feedback mechanisms.
• Identification of shelter needs.
• Disaster risk reduction activities.

Community engagement can help ensure that interventions reflect actual needs and local conditions.

Partners should establish accessible mechanisms through which affected people can provide feedback, raise concerns, and report problems.

Site and Settlement Improvements

The programme can also support improvements to settlements where these activities reduce protection and environmental risks.

Potential activities include:

• Clearing blocked drainage systems.
• Improving access routes.
• Flood mitigation.
• Improving communal shelters.
• Rehabilitation of shared facilities.
• Reducing exposure to environmental hazards.
• Improving settlement-level safety.
• Disaster risk reduction measures.

These interventions should be designed according to local risks and technical standards.

Local Materials and Market-Based Approaches

Where feasible, partners are encouraged to use:

• Locally available materials.
• Local labour.
• Local suppliers.
• Market-based approaches.
• Environmentally responsible materials and practices.

Using local resources can help strengthen local economies while reducing logistical challenges and potentially improving the sustainability of shelter interventions.

However, local procurement must not compromise technical quality, safety, protection, or humanitarian standards.

Moving Toward Durable Shelter Solutions

The programme recognizes that repeated emergency shelter assistance may not provide a sustainable solution for populations experiencing prolonged displacement.

Where circumstances permit, partners should therefore support a gradual transition from emergency assistance toward:

• More durable shelters.
• Cost-effective solutions.
• Locally appropriate construction.
• Shelter rehabilitation.
• Improved settlement infrastructure.
• Disaster-resilient housing solutions.
• Sustainable shelter approaches.

The transition should be adapted to the security, displacement, land, market, and humanitarian context of each location.

Who Is Eligible?

The call is intended for qualified organizations capable of implementing shelter and NFI interventions for displaced and affected populations in Sudan.

Potential partners should demonstrate the operational and technical capacity necessary to:

• Deliver shelter assistance.
• Provide NFI support.
• Work with displaced and host communities.
• Apply protection principles.
• Conduct needs assessments.
• Manage distributions or cash-based assistance.
• Engage communities.
• Monitor activities.
• Establish feedback and accountability mechanisms.
• Apply relevant shelter and settlement standards.
• Address the needs of women, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities.

Organizations should also demonstrate an understanding of the Sudanese operating context and the specific shelter needs of targeted communities.

What Partners Are Expected to Do

Selected partners will be expected to design and implement shelter and NFI interventions based on identified needs.

Core responsibilities may include:

• Assessing shelter and household needs.
• Identifying priority households.
• Designing appropriate shelter solutions.
• Providing emergency or transitional shelter assistance.
• Repairing and upgrading existing shelters.
• Supporting rental or cash-for-shelter solutions where appropriate.
• Improving communal and collective facilities.
• Implementing site-level improvements.
• Conducting disaster risk reduction activities.
• Monitoring assistance delivery.
• Maintaining community feedback systems.
• Ensuring technical quality.
• Integrating protection, age, gender, and diversity considerations.

How the Programme Works

The implementation approach should follow a needs-based and protection-sensitive process.

Step 1: Assess Shelter Needs

Partners identify households and communities requiring shelter or NFI assistance.

Assessments should consider:

• Shelter condition.
• Displacement status.
• Household vulnerabilities.
• Exposure to hazards.
• Accessibility.
• Protection risks.
• Availability of local shelter materials.
• Market conditions.

Step 2: Prioritize Vulnerable Households

Partners identify households requiring urgent assistance according to agreed vulnerability and prioritization criteria.

Particular attention should be given to newly displaced people, people living in unsafe conditions, disaster-affected households, and persons with specific needs.

Step 3: Select the Appropriate Assistance

The most suitable intervention should be selected based on the household’s circumstances.

Options may include:

• Shelter kits.
• Tents.
• Shelter materials.
• Repairs.
• Transitional shelters.
• Rental assistance.
• Cash for shelter.
• Vouchers.
• Communal shelter improvements.

Step 4: Engage the Community

Affected communities should participate in planning and implementation wherever possible.

This helps ensure that shelter interventions are appropriate, accessible, and responsive to local needs.

Step 5: Deliver Assistance

Partners deliver the approved assistance while maintaining safety, dignity, transparency, and technical standards.

Step 6: Monitor and Collect Feedback

Partners monitor whether assistance is reaching intended beneficiaries and whether it is safe, useful, and appropriate.

Feedback mechanisms should allow communities to report concerns and provide suggestions.

Step 7: Promote Longer-Term Solutions

Where conditions permit, emergency shelter activities should gradually transition toward more durable and sustainable solutions.

Key Protection Considerations

Shelter and settlement interventions should be designed around the different needs of affected populations.

Women and girls: Shelters should provide privacy, safety, and protection from gender-based risks.

Children: Shelter environments should reduce exposure to hazards and support safe living conditions.

Older persons: Access routes and facilities should consider mobility limitations.

Persons with disabilities: Shelter and communal facilities should be physically accessible.

People with specific needs: Assistance should be adapted according to individual and household circumstances.

Why This Programme Matters

Sudan’s displacement and humanitarian crisis has created significant shelter needs among displaced populations and host communities.

Safe shelter is not only a basic humanitarian requirement. It can also reduce exposure to:

• Extreme weather.
• Flooding.
• Fires.
• Violence.
• Protection risks.
• Disease and environmental hazards.
• Unsafe living conditions.

The programme therefore connects shelter assistance, protection, community participation, disaster risk reduction, and longer-term resilience.

A stronger shelter response can also support more sustainable solutions by combining emergency assistance with rehabilitation, local materials, market-based approaches, and improved settlement infrastructure.

Common Mistakes and Tips for Potential Partners

Do not focus only on distributing shelter materials.
Applications should demonstrate how shelter assistance will address protection, dignity, safety, accessibility, and longer-term needs.

Demonstrate community participation.
Explain how affected populations will participate in targeting, planning, implementation, monitoring, and feedback.

Address vulnerable groups explicitly.
Show how activities will respond to the needs of women, children, older people, persons with disabilities, and other groups facing protection risks.

Consider local markets.
Where feasible, explain how local suppliers, labour, materials, and market-based approaches can be used responsibly.

Include disaster risk reduction.
Where relevant, address risks such as flooding, fire, drainage problems, and unsafe access routes.

Balance emergency and durable solutions.
Explain how the intervention can reduce repeated reliance on emergency shelter assistance and support more sustainable solutions where circumstances allow.

Maintain technical and protection standards.
Cost savings should never compromise safety, quality, accessibility, or humanitarian principles.

Key Takeaways

• Programme: UNHCR Sudan Shelter and Non-Food Item Assistance.
• Country: Sudan.
• Key focus area: North Kordofan and other targeted locations.
• Target groups: Refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs, and affected host communities.
• Assistance: Shelter kits, tents, materials, repairs, transitional shelters, rental support, cash, vouchers, communal shelters, and site improvements.
• Approach: Safe, dignified, inclusive, accountable, and protection-sensitive.
• Priority: Newly displaced and vulnerable households, people in unsafe shelters, and disaster-affected populations.
• Long-term focus: Gradual transition from emergency shelter assistance toward durable and locally appropriate solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the UNHCR Sudan Shelter and NFI Call for Expressions of Interest?

It is an opportunity for qualified organizations to partner with UNHCR to provide shelter and non-food item assistance to displaced and crisis-affected populations in Sudan.

Who will benefit from the programme?

The programme supports refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, and affected host communities, with particular attention to vulnerable households and people living in unsafe or inadequate shelter.

What types of shelter assistance are supported?

Support may include emergency shelter kits, family tents, shelter materials, communal shelters, collective-centre rehabilitation, shelter repairs, transitional shelters, rental support, cash for shelter, vouchers, and site development.

Where will the programme operate?

The initiative focuses on North Kordofan and other locations identified as part of UNHCR Sudan’s targeted response.

Can cash assistance be used for shelter?

Yes. Where feasible and appropriate, partners may use cash-for-shelter or other cash-based interventions based on market conditions, feasibility, protection risks, and needs.

What protection principles must partners follow?

Partners must integrate meaningful access, participation, non-discrimination, safety, dignity, accountability, and age, gender, and diversity considerations throughout the project cycle.

Does the programme support longer-term shelter solutions?

Yes. Where conditions allow, UNHCR encourages partners to move progressively from repeated emergency shelter assistance toward more durable, cost-effective, locally appropriate, and disaster-resilient shelter solutions.

Conclusion

The UNHCR Sudan Shelter and NFI Assistance programme seeks qualified partners capable of delivering safe, dignified, inclusive, and protection-sensitive shelter solutions to displaced and affected populations. The opportunity covers a broad range of interventions, from emergency shelter kits and tents to shelter rehabilitation, cash-based assistance, site improvements, and disaster risk reduction.

For potential partners, a strong approach should combine technical shelter expertise, community participation, protection mainstreaming, accountability, local market engagement, and longer-term resilience. The ultimate goal is not only to provide immediate shelter assistance but also to help affected communities move toward safer, more sustainable, and context-appropriate living conditions.