This post originally appeared on my Linkedin page.
To put in clear perspective the impact of the global forced displacement crisis and the lives affected – the UNHCR Mid-Year Trend Statistics shows that more than 1 in every 73 people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes, and this figure continues to rise as new conflicts, violence, human rights violations and disasters break out. With limited options for voluntary and safe return, internally displaced people – who constitute the majority of forcibly displaced people, continue to live in camps, host communities, and other forms of settlements developed as temporary solutions for a prolonged period. This not only puts pressure on shared facilities, infrastructure, and resources – it also undermines the adequacy of available aid and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities.
In the early stages of a humanitarian crisis, displaced people depend on humanitarian assistance to survive with the provision of food, water, temporary shelter, and immediate medical assistance. As time goes by, displaced people begin to face new vulnerabilities linked to their journey and displacement – including trauma from their experience, anxiousness, uncertainty about the future, low self-esteem, and lack of self-confidence from losing their property and livelihood. Many have gone from being independent traders, business owners, teachers, doctors, nurses, and farmers to becoming dependent on aid, which affects their state of mind.
Internally displaced people have ideas and dreams; however, in a state of dependency, they are stuck in an extended transition gap between the emergency phase and reintegration into society because they have not been empowered and given the tools to support their state of mind, educate and upskill them in marketable skills, promote livelihood activities, achieve self-reliance and voluntarily and safely choose their preferred path of reintegration into society with dignity.
In essence, they need a bridge to move from the early phase of displacement to reintegration into society – and that bridge is required now – and not in years to come. It is becoming increasingly clear that existing support models need to be modified to incorporate self-reliance and development support from the early phase of displacement. This needs to start from day one with multisector stakeholders working together to create a nimble and integrated team with different but complementary skills, resources, and perspectives to plan towards developing the connecting bridge.
This bridge can include psychosocial support, education, health, vocational skills training, entrepreneur support, business start-up capacity building, funding, and equipment grants. Over time, providing continued support for their small businesses in camps and host communities can also help them access the private sector financing needed to scale and move towards sustainability. In addition, it is also essential to introduce schemes that support businesses and companies that employ and provide opportunities for internally displaced people across their value chain. Young people should also be linked to schemes that support mentorship and apprenticeship. It is crucial to connect internally displaced people to friends, extended family members, and acquaintances outside the camps in a safe and trusted way, as they can also provide connections, opportunities, and recommendations.
For governments, internally displaced people should be linked to national plans and have access to the government’s social safety net programs, which can provide a floor (standard of living) below which displaced people should not be allowed to fall. Internally displaced people should be linked to programs, including non-contributory pension schemes, conditional and unconditional cash transfers, school feeding programmes, and fee waivers for access to services, including health and education.
There is no single pathway from displacement to reintegration, and support should focus on providing the tools that allow displaced people to choose their preferred form of reintegration. Governments, agencies, NGOs, humanitarian, development, peace actors and all stakeholders will need to work together.
Now, there is a need for an even greater sense of urgency – with institutions and actors working together as one flexible and integrated team to achieve a humanity-centered objective.
