International disaster relief charity ShelterBox has appointed its first chief operating officer (COO). Natasha Eden is joining the Truro-based charity as it scales up its mission to provide emergency shelter to people uprooted from their homes by disaster or conflict. 

Natasha will be responsible for steering day-to-day operations, streamlining processes and making sure everyone is working towards ShelterBox’s goals. 

She joins the charity from Sanctuary, where she oversaw a multi-million-pound social housing decarbonisation fund, and a strategic partnership with Cornwall Council that will see £100m development investment in the county over the next 10 years.  

ShelterBox has operational headquarters in Truro and an operational team permanently based in the Philippines because of the frequency with which it responds there.

It is currently supporting displaced people across the world, including in Malawi where thousands of people have been displaced by severe flooding in a cycle of disaster that is devastating the country; and in Gaza, supporting some of the 1.7 million people who have been displaced by the conflict.  

It also has teams working to support displaced communities affected by conflict in Yemen, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Syria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Chad, as well as drought-affected people in Somalia. To find out more, visit shelterbox.org