IOM Information Management & Policy Development for Durable Solutions for IDPs in Ethiopia

There are over 777’000 IDPs in Ethiopia today. While circa 70% of IDPs are forced into exile by conflicts, more than 60% of them live in the Somali National Regional State (SNRS) alone. The El Niño-induced drought along with the recent floods has increased the vulnerability of the population and led to a significant increase of IDPs.
Ethiopian IDPs are forced to move by both man-made and natural disasters. The lack of proper mechanisms to address the root causes of forced displacement often translates into protracted displacement for over a decade. Devising durable solutions is all the more challenging considering the lack of information available (coping mechanisms, access to services and displacement patterns, including secondary movements) as well as the fact that the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) acknowledged the issues of IDPs only recently. The absence of effective policy frameworks linking immediate humanitarian needs with longer-term livelihood recovery programmes left the root causes of internal displacement unaddressed, which has led to an increasing numbers of IDPs over time.

Improve the wellbeing of IDPs through enhanced information management, capacity building, policy development and advocacy towards durable solutions.

The Ethiopian IDPs: over 777’000 as of April 2016; 821’000 by the end of 2016 (projection).
GoE and donors who will both benefit from more in-depth and better quality data on IDPs.
The SNRS Regional Government, which will receive technical support including capacity building to adopt a regional Durable Solutions Strategy.  

Outcome 1:
An evidence-based National Framework on Durable Solutions that addresses the specific needs of protracted IDPs is developed through a collaborative effort of the Federal Government and humanitarian and development partners.

Outcome 2:
A sub-national Durable Solutions Strategy that ensures better protection and assistance to protracted IDPs in the SNRS is adopted and implemented under the leadership of the Regional Government, with the active participation of humanitarian and development actors.

Erwartete Resultate:  

Output 1.1: The tracking, monitoring, profiling and trend analysis of internal displacement is strengthened;
Output 1.2: A nation-wide IDP service mapping is conducted and disseminated;
Output 2.1: A Durable Solutions Strategy along with an Operational Plan are elaborated and adopted;
Output 2.2: Through dialogue and advocacy vis-à-vis donors and GoE, additional support and funding is mobilized to support durable solutions for IDPs.

Resultate von früheren Phasen:  

This project builds upon the results and lessons learned from a 2014 project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) funded by the SDC and European Union through the Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection Department (ECHO).
This intervention allowed the regular production of displacement updates and the procurement of Emergency Shelter & Non-Food Items (ES/NFI), which addressed the information gap on IDPs and improved the response capacity to deal with internal displacement. It contributed to highlight the IDP issue at the federal level.
The intervention was deemed relevant and successful. Through the proposed project, IOM will focus on durable solutions and on the political instruments necessary for their implementation.

The project will be implemented in collaboration with EU through ECHO, which has been supporting IOM’s tracking service and emergency response capacity since 2010.
The data collected is expected to inform other SDC-funded interventions in the SNRS, notably the project “Strengthening Drought Resilience in the Somali Region”, as well as the broader efforts currently taking place in the region (including Somalia) to address protracted displacement.

Phase 1 01.07.2016 - 31.12.2017   (Completed)