Last week I was awarded one of two Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements Fellowships from USAID/OFDA (US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance) and Habitat for Humanity! I am very excited and honored to be recognized by these organizations and receive funding for my ongoing research in the Philippines.
Specifically, this fellowship will be used to investigate discrepancies between households’ understanding of safe shelter and shelter practitioners’ understanding of safe shelter. I will also use this funding to work with organizations to tease out why these discrepancies exist and how we can create new or modify existing strategies to address these discrepancies and promote safer building. I am particularly excited about working with and learning from the organizations responding to disasters around the world.
Stay tuned for updates on this research as it develops in the coming months! And I would be remiss to not thank my advisors for their continued support and guidance throughout my research and the examples set by the two previous USAID/OFDA Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements Fellows from my research group – I’m proud to continue the tradition!
Casie Venable 