Togo: Lomé hosts the 1st Forum of the Francophone Emergency Shelter Network to rethink responses to humanitarian crises in Africa
In the face of growing humanitarian, climate, and security crises in West Africa, the Togolese capital, Lomé, is hosting the 1st Forum of the Francophone Emergency Shelter Network (RHUF) from July 1 to 3, 2025. Organized by the African School of Architecture and Urbanism (EAMAU), with support from partners such as the Red Cross and UNHCR, this landmark event aims to reinvent emergency shelter models in the Francophone world.
The forum brings together experts, urban planners, researchers, humanitarian actors, and public decision-makers around a shared ambition: to design emergency housing solutions that are safer, more sustainable, culturally relevant, and suited to local realities. The need is urgent, as some areas of the continent have up to 38% of their population displaced during disasters or conflicts.
For Dr. Malam Boukar Awa Krou, Director General of EAMAU, it is time to “move beyond a logic of temporary solutions to build a lasting response framework,” drawing on indigenous cultures and local innovations. He calls for a paradigm shift in humanitarian intervention.
This first edition in Francophone Africa is a major milestone, following a similar gathering held in Kenya. It comes at a time of chronic underfunding, low media visibility, and an urgent need to structure the urban humanitarian sector. Discussions focus on funding emergency shelter, managing the transition from emergency to reconstruction, and strengthening synergies between universities, practitioners, and humanitarian agencies.
At the opening, Kanka-Malik Natchaba, Togolese Minister of Higher Education and Vice-Chairman of EAMAU’s Board of Directors, hailed the event as “a strategic opportunity” to strengthen the network, share experiences, and lay the foundations for a new approach to humanitarian housing in the face of climate change, urban expansion, and increasing population mobility. The forum thus aims to establish the foundations of stronger, more sustainable cooperation to address the humanitarian challenges of the 21st century.
