News & Updates

In every humanitarian emergency, time is the most limited resource. Decisions must be made quickly, supplies mobilized at scale, and shelter delivered under extreme pressure. In these moments, standardization is not bureaucracy—it is protection.

For decades, organizations such as UNHCR and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have developed rigorous shelter standards and catalog systems for one reason:
to ensure that emergency shelters actually perform when lives depend on them.

What Standardized Catalog Products Represent

UNHCR and Red Cross catalog products are not generic tents. They are the result of:

• multi-year field testing across climates,

• engineering validation under real-world stress,

• feedback loops from displaced families and field teams,

• and strict minimum performance benchmarks.

These standards cover critical factors such as:

• wind and rain resistance,

• thermal performance,

• fabric strength and tear resistance,

• fire safety and material compliance,

• anchoring systems and ground protection,

• repairability and lifespan.

When shelters meet these benchmarks, they reduce secondary risks: illness, exposure, asset loss, and repeated displacement.

The Risk of Non-Standard Shelter

When emergency procurement bypasses standardized catalog products, the consequences often surface downstream:

• shelters fail prematurely,

• replacement cycles accelerate,

• logistics costs multiply,

• and—most importantly—families are left exposed.

In humanitarian response, a shelter that fails once is not a cost saving—it is a liability.

This is why UNHCR and Red Cross guidelines exist: to protect both affected communities and the integrity of response systems.

Standardization Enables Speed, Not Delay

A common misconception is that standardized products slow response. In reality, they do the opposite.

Catalog-approved shelters allow:

• faster procurement decisions,

• predictable manufacturing timelines,

• consistent quality across batches,

• and interoperability across agencies and regions.

For manufacturers, working within these standards creates clarity. For agencies, it reduces risk. For displaced families, it delivers reliability.

A Manufacturer’s Perspective

At Nizam, we view UNHCR and Red Cross shelter standards as engineering baselines, not marketing checkboxes.

They provide:

• a shared technical language between agencies and manufacturers,

• a safeguard against under-specification,

• and a mechanism to continuously improve shelter performance through evidence, not assumption.

Designing outside these frameworks without equivalent validation introduces uncertainty where certainty is most needed.

Beyond Compliance: Responsibility

Meeting catalog standards should be the minimum, not the ceiling.

Humanitarian manufacturers carry a unique responsibility:
products are deployed not by choice, but by necessity. The end user has no alternative.

That reality demands:

• disciplined adherence to established standards,

• transparency in materials and testing,

• and a refusal to compromise performance for speed or margin.

The Path Forward

As humanitarian needs grow more complex—climate-driven displacement, protracted crises, harsher environments—the importance of standardized, field-proven shelter will only increase.

The future of humanitarian response depends on:

• stronger alignment between agencies and manufacturers,

• continued investment in standard evolution,

• and collective accountability for outcomes, not just outputs.

Standardized shelter is not about uniformity.
It is about trust.

And in humanitarian work, trust is as essential as the shelter itself.