Overview

Establish a clear set up for distribution to avoid confusion and promote a good flow of people and goods during the distribution. Available locations that fulfil these above conditions may be limited, but at a minimum, the following points should be considered when establishing a distribution site. 

During the planning or proposal stage, make sure the distribution budget has lines for setting up distribution sites with key considerations, such as a shaded waiting area, water tanks and latrines, and cost for door-to-door distribution. If not, discuss with the donor or the funding agency to support.

Key Considerations for distribution site layout

• Entry and exit: Identify clear entry, registration, and exit points for beneficiaries and transport of goods (including the trucks and the transport that beneficiaries will use to take their packages back home).
• Set up a registration point, where IOM staff collects the signatures of beneficiaries before they collect their items.
• Waiting area: There should always be a separate line or claiming queue for males and females. Make sure people with disabilities and other groups like women with infants, lactating women, and the elderly are prioritized. 
• Provide shade for all beneficiaries or at least for the most vulnerable groups. Try to use natural shade or construct secured shaded areas if the site will be used many times. 
• Provide water for beneficiaries in case it is a hot environment.
• After beneficiaries have assembled in the waiting area, explain the process for distribution. A waiting area could be used to disseminate key messages to different groups.
• Layout relief items in ordered piles to facilitate handing out by staff or picking up by beneficiaries.
• Where necessary make arrangements for the presence of security forces (in coordination with local authorities). 
• Banners: complaints and feedback mechanisms and hotlines.
• Make sure putting visibility materials at distribution site. (See: VISIBILITY IN EMERGENCIES entry)
• Complaints and beneficiary feedback: Allocate a dedicated space in an area away from distribution queues and crowded areas where people can talk in confidence. Hang banners with hotline numbers and how to report complaints and feedback.(See: Feedback and Complaint Mechanisms in Shelter Operations entry)
• Protection desk: Whenever possible, set up a protection desk nearby the complaints and feedback desks.
• Guiding staff: Assign staff for directing beneficiaries to the right point (to the verification desk, to the Complaints and Feedback desk, to drinking water, to latrines, etc.).
• Space for vehicles used in the distribution: consider safe area for project vehicles, including waiting area for onward transportation support. Park vehicles for rapid exit if required.
• Post signage at distribution site with safety security rules.
• Consider evacuation route in case of an emergency, especially for people with disabilities, who should be able to exit safely and with dignity.
   

Contacts

For more information, please contact the Shelter and Settlements Unit in Geneva: ShelterSupport@iom.int.

Please also find the contact information to the IOM Shelter Reference Group: ShelterReferenceGroup@iom.int.