"I know how difficult it is to look for shelter": A day in the life of a humanitarian shelter advisor in Ukraine

What does a typical day look like for you working in Ukraine?

No day is the same! But I’m in touch with all our partners to support them technically when it comes to shelter and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related topics. NGOs here are quite new to humanitarian work so I spend around half of my time working with them to understand what shelter and WASH programming looks like. We also support on proposals, and we assess the situation of Ukraine’s buildings and houses in impacted areas. We also deliver events such as a recent shelter workshop, working with national NGOs.

Your job involves working in an active conflict zone – what impact does this have on you from a mental health perspective?

I saw an interesting article about the mental health of humanitarian workers recently. I really felt for the person who wrote it, talking about how sometimes we forget about our own mental health when working with vulnerable people. It definitely impacts your mental health to work in a war zone, especially as it’s my first time being an expat working outside of my home country or Turkey. But my colleagues are all amazing people and that’s how I am dealing with the challenges and overcoming any difficulties.

Going a bit broader than Ukraine – we’re seeing increasingly frequent extreme weather events. How do you see this affecting shelter needs globally?

With climate change and increasing temperatures, having adequate shelter is really crucial. In contexts like Africa or the Middle East where there are many settlements, the needs relate to ensuring there are more durable, dignified shelter solutions. But this requires a shift in mentality from donors, who often don’t fund the NGOs who want to shift from very basic shelters like tents to more long-term and dignified solutions. Temporary solutions and more transitional shelters are suitable for the contexts where we know the conflict or disaster will have an end, but it’s not applicable everywhere. The war in Syria has been going on for more than ten years and the people have been living in tents since 2013. So, thinking about more dignified shelter is really crucial – globally and especially at this time.