Millions of displaced people around the world have been displaced for over 5 years and continue to live in protracted displacement in camps and host communities.
People living in prolonged displacement have moved beyond the emergency phase, where the focus is largely on immediate survival and the need for humanitarian aid. However, many are stuck at this phase and continue to depend on humanitarian assistance. They are unable to achieve the self-reliance needed to rebuild their lives with dignity because they do not have the skills, resources, opportunities, access, and links to national programs, which then contributes to their displacement being prolonged.
As geopolitical tensions, conflicts and disasters continue to rise, it has become increasingly crucial to incorporate the possibility of a prolonged displacement at all phases and introduce a staggered approach to self-reliance and sustainable solutions from the early stages of displacement alongside humanitarian solutions. Displaced people should be empowered with psychosocial support, vocational skills, entrepreneurship training, financial resources, education, social connections, and links to government services to reduce their vulnerabilities.
There is now an urgency to bring an end to protracted displacement. This urgency needs to be built into sustainable, flexible, realistic, uncomplicated, multisector and multilayered frameworks for all stakeholders (actors) to work together.
