IOM intends to respond to the priority needs of people affected by recent humanitarian shocks. IOM will pre-position emergency kits in the field (including emergency shelters, non-food items (NFIs), and hygiene kits inclusive of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) items) to immediately respond to any type of emergency and population movement and to contribute to ensuring the human dignity of people affected by prolonged displacement. IOM will also improve the living conditions of returnees and/or relocated and/or locally integrated IDPs through the rehabilitation of substandard housing (transitional shelters).

IOM's initiatives will include: 

• Dispatching emergency kits to the field (NFIs, shelter and hygiene kits) to be able to respond to the needs rapidly following a shock (conflict-related or disasters related to natural hazards).  
• Providing NFIs and emergency shelter kits to vulnerable families affected by recent shocks living in critical or substandard shelters in formal sites, camp-like settings and areas of return. 
• Improving living conditions of vulnerable host community households through the distribution of emergency shelter kits, NFIs and hygiene kits.
• Developing information, education, and communication (IEC) materials which help to communicate technical messages to beneficiaries for the shelter kits.
• Improving the living conditions of vulnerable households (returnees and/or relocated and/or locally integrated IDPs) through the rehabilitation of substandard housing (transitional shelters) to support conditions of safety, privacy and dignity. IOM will provide technical support alongside the intervention through skills training for masons and the targeted community. 
• Supporting cluster partners, through coordination, technical support, information management.
• Throughout the implementation of the shelter interventions, protection will be mainstreamed and mitigation measures to prevent GBV will be put in place.

IOM will provide camp coordination and camp management support to the government as the CCCM Cluster co-lead in the Central African Republic. Based on identified needs, IOM will support the improvement of coordination mechanisms with the existing CCCM actors in camps and host communities. 75 per cent of IDPs are hosted in host communities and 25 per cent in displacement camps as of September 2023. IOM will also work jointly with the government to organize and support the return, relocation and/or local integration of IDPs living in the camps but wishing to leave camps. IOM's initiatives will include: 

• Coordinating, as co-lead, the CCCM/shelter/NFI.
• Strengthening the capacities of camp management actors by organizing CCCM trainings and capacity-building activities. Specific trainings will target: 
  • Camp managers and members of government involved in CCCM activities (CCCM minimum standards, cross-cutting issues, registration of IDPs, protection).
  • The CCCM Coordination Team (trainings on information management tools, advocacy tools, HNI-HRP process etc.).
  • All the organizations implementing CCCM activities (strategies, minimum standardsm etc.).
• Reinforcing camp coordination and camp management mechanisms in existing camps or in out-of-camp areas. 
• Advocating for well-planned and dignified camp consolidation and closure processes, and respect for the IDPs' freedom of movement.
• Identifying and assessing affected communities in displacement sites and host communities to facilitate targeting and identifying specific needs and vulnerabilities of displaced people.
• Supporting the establishment and follow-up of information and feedback centres and other collective feedback mechanisms for the provision of a quality humanitarian information service that responds to the community's need for local information.
• Supporting durable solutions (relocation, return and local integration) for IDPs, in support of the government's efforts to decongest camps.

Protection principles are mainstreamed across interventions to ensure safety and dignity, avoid causing harm, and guarantee meaningful access to assistance for all persons in need, without discrimination. This includes GBV risk mitigation in line with IOM’s GBV in Crisis (GBViC) Framework as well as the inclusion of persons with disabilities throughout the programme cycle. Particular attention will be given to effective participation and empowerment of the community. Activities will be conducted and evaluated in consultation and collaboration with communities and will ensure the meaningful participation of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls, children, persons with disabilities, and older persons. Furthermore, IOM will ensure that complaint and feedback mechanisms (CFM) and other reporting mechanisms related to PSEA and the Child Safeguarding Policy are in place to prevent misconduct and guarantee accountability to the affected population, in line with the IOM Accountability to Affected Populations Framework.  

IOM initiatives will include:

• Providing Individual Protection Assistance, through direct provision of services and safe and ethical referrals, to victims/survivors of violence and crises including people living with disabilities, focusing on beneficiaries' specific needs and the development of standard operating procedures (SOPs). 
• Reinforcing the capacity of government, local authorities and humanitarian actors in responding to the protection needs of crisis-affected populations to better prevent and respond to protection issues and assist victims through training and elaboration of tools including on counter-trafficking, and GBV. 
• Organizing training sessions for the community-based structures on how to respond to disclosures of GBV, trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).  
• Facilitating access to protection key messages to the community members through awareness-raising by working closely with the women, men, people with disabilities, and youth committees. 
• Supporting the creation or reactivation of community-based child protection committees.
• Distributing material assistance such as dignity kits for women and girls of reproductive age and disseminating protection key messages.   
• Supporting access to legal documentation for IDPs and local communities.   
• Tailoring cash-based interventions (CBI) to the selected beneficiaries for basic needs including cash for protection to facilitate access to services.
• Ensuring inclusion of conflict-affected and left behind individuals in professional training and income-generating activities (IGAs). 
• Collaborating with local organizations of people with disabilities (OPDs) to contribute to responding to the needs of people with disabilities through psychosocial support such as psychoeducation sessions for communities on disabilities and reinforcing their capacity.

IOM will improve the immunization coverage of children and vulnerable persons in prefectures with high internal population movements and difficult access and low immunization coverage in CAR, as well as provide primary health support in highly populated IDP hosting environments through: 

• Increasing demand for routine immunizations through effective risk communication and community engagement via sensitization, identification of targets, and orientation to health facilities.
• Improving access to routine immunization services for mobile populations (migrants, displaced, returnees, etc.), zero-dose children, host communities and hard-to-reach populations by using mobile clinics and reinforcing existing health facilities for immunization and community mobilization and sensitization to use immunization services.
• Strengthening the management and supervision capacities of the health sector in primary health care through trainings, refreshers, monitoring and coaching.
• Supporting existing health facilities with primary health care by providing basic equipment and trainings/refreshers.

IOM will provide MHPSS services to migrants and crisis-affected populations in line with IOM’s Manual on Community-Based MHPSS in Emergencies and Displacement (2nd Edition, IOM, 2021) and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings. IOM interventions will focus on providing MHPSS activities, including family and community support, to foster recovery and resilience among host communities and CAR returnees affected by the conflict and build resilience to shocks. The interventions will include: 

• Providing psychosocial support to the affected population including distressed individuals, people at risk of GBV and victims of trafficking (VoTs), as well as conducting mobile MHPSS community-based activities including the provision of psychological first aid, providing referrals for people with severe mental health conditions to specialized mental health service providers, individual and group counselling and socio-relational activities such as psychoeducational activities, and support groups. 
• Reaching out to communities, e.g. via psychosocial mobile teams, and via psychoeducational activities.

IOM is committed to further integrating in its return/local integration assistance package the provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in transitional and post-crisis situations for returnees, relocated, or locally integrated IDPs. This is essential for ensuring their health, well-being, and sustainable reintegration. As part of this assistance, IOM will focus on:

• Developing or rehabilitating water supply systems, including boreholes, wells, water points, and distribution networks, ensuring a sustainable and safe water source that meets the minimum daily water needs of the population. 
• Implementing water quality testing and monitoring programs to ensure that the water source remains safe for consumption. 
• Constructing and upgrading sanitation facilities, such as latrines, to provide safe and hygienic options.  
• Conducting hygiene promotion campaigns and education to teach proper handwashing, sanitation, and safe water storage practices, empowering the community with knowledge to prevent diseases. 
• Addressing wastewater management through the construction of drainage systems and wastewater treatment facilities to minimize environmental contamination. 
• Providing hygiene kits to households, which may include soap, menstrual hygiene products, and other essentials for maintaining personal hygiene.
• Providing training and capacity-building opportunities to local community members and water and sanitation committees to enhance their ability to operate and maintain WASH infrastructure.
• Conduct integrated health WASH programming relating to hygiene promotion campaigns and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) related to preventing infectious disease outbreaks and implementing measures to address diarrheal diseases.

This multifaceted approach aligns with the World Health Organization's (WHO) analysis, emphasizing the importance of preventing and mitigating infectious disease outbreaks.

The IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) is a system to monitor population displacement and estimate their needs to inform decision-makers and support the delivery of an appropriate response. In CAR, DTM has been active since 2013 and has provided a solid base of reliable data for action and insight used by humanitarian actors. Thanks to its significant presence and to its recognized experience in displacement tracking in the country, DTM is a valuable asset in informing the humanitarian community about the new displacement dynamics and trends. As per DTM’s methodological framework, in 2024, activities will include:

• Maintaining national coverage of Mobility Tracking assessments to provide an estimate of the number and profile of IDPs and returnees as well as an overview of their needs and living conditions on a regular basis in defined locations. This will allow supporting advocacy, humanitarian response and early recovery and crisis prevention programmes. 
• Emergency Tracking, providing humanitarian and governmental actors with timely data on the number and needs of individuals displaced due to recent shocks (such as drought, flood, and conflicts).
• Increasing flow monitoring capacities and maintaining activities in Ndele, in Amdafock and Ouadda Ndjalle in coordination with the CNR (National Commission for Refugees) to publish weekly updates on new arrivals related to the Sudanese crisis, if needed.
• Future intention survey, allowing the relevant actors (humanitarian community/durable solutions actors) to propose interventions more in line with the needs and future intentions of the displaced people, returnees in sites and in host communities.
• Extending the Solution and Mobility Index (SMI) to national coverage, supporting the design of the country’s durable solution strategies and highlighting, to humanitarian and durable solution actors, the fragility of returns in some areas, in line with the recommendations of the Data for Solutions to Internal Displacement (DSID) Framework.
• Multisectoral needs assessment (MSNA) in return locations to inform on the needs of the returned populations.
• The Transhumance Tracking Tool, tracking cross-border transhumance flows in the Western region on the borders with Cameroon and the Northern region on the border with Chad, to set up early warning mechanisms in potential agropastoral conflict “hotspots” to provide trends and evidence-based information on transhumance, the perception by the communities, transhumance corridors, the size and type of the herds, the number and profile of herders accompanying cattle and inform community stabilization programmes.  

IOM CAR will rely on the experience of its DTM team to collect information on trafficking in person and track tendencies, notably in IDP sites, and allow for better response planning. Activities will include: 

• Collecting data on trafficking in persons tendencies.
• Assessing VoT and potential VoT needs and preferred responses. 
• Collecting data on trends for surveillance in coordination with the EOC of the MOH.

In line with the S.G. Action Agenda on Internal Displacement, a series of reforms are required in the 15 pilot countries. IOM will actively contribute to the search for funding to support the coordination and implementation of the durable solutions activities mentioned in the 2024-2027 strategy. Particular attention will be paid to:

• Coordinating the implementation of this roadmap, which includes:
  • Supporting the return of displaced people living in sites and with host families, and
  • Developing income-generating activities with a view to the financial and economic empowerment of those assisted.
  • The development of basic social infrastructures as defined in the action plan of the national strategy for sustainable solutions in the areas of return is also a focus for IOM in the Central African Republic.

Each year, CAR deals with several moderate floods. Every year, houses, crops, and roads are destroyed by floods in Bangui, its hinterland and at the prefectural level. This is a recurring natural hazard that combines rainfall runoff with overflowing rivers, which poses a significant risk to already vulnerable communities. Torrential rains associated with flooding are found more in the north of the country, while the south sees slow-moving floods (gradual rise of water). Since 2017, IOM has been involved in providing life-saving support to flood victims in the country. In 2024, IOM will focus on:  

• Strengthening institutional capacities by reforming/consolidating the operational framework of CAR’s national disaster response and risk reduction strategy with the development, training and dissemination of a flood contingency plan for the city of Bangui and or for other key sub-prefectural locations (including urban planners and other government entities such as the ministry of health, urban development and other related entities.
• Supporting the government to improve the quality and quantity of the infrastructure systems at national and community levels in areas of the city at high risk for flooding undertaken by at-risk communities through cash-for-work, which will simultaneously revitalize the local economy and strengthen social cohesion.  
• Creating and/or reinforcing and equipping local disaster risk reduction (DRR) teams/groups to organize and/or support all DRR actions in their geographical areas. 
• Establishing community-driven Early Warning Systems (EWS) that will be operated and maintained by local community groups.
• Strengthening communities’ risk detection and analysis and hazard forecasting, including observation, measurement, and prediction. Trainings will focus on monitoring and how communities can continuously detect/identify risks (through meteorological warnings), report on these trends, forecast the impact, and identify the threshold to issue a warning.
• Enhancing dissemination and communication of alerts to communities before an event occurs through early warning systems and public awareness campaigns.
• Improving the response capacity of communities and distributing in-kind emergency support packages to reduce the impact of emergency disasters as well as health/wash emergency preparedness activities.

IOM will continue to consolidate its community stabilization activities and will focus on engaging in new locations to support the peace process and address drivers of instability and fragility. This programming will involve the strengthening of local peace-building capacities and the constructive and professional engagement of young people who consider violence (enrolment into armed groups) as the only alternative to survival, creating positive change in the socioeconomic status of their respective communities. In an environment like CAR with a high unemployment rate, job creation, especially for young people, is essential to escape fragility and foster stability, peace and social cohesion. This approach will ensure that the target population (youth, local authorities, women, traditional and religious groups, and so forth) can contribute to the peace process through their participation in prioritized community projects. This will include:  

• Enhancing the quality of skills training and contributing to improving skills training centres of local enterprises. 
• Supporting the enrolment of youth into skills training programs and developing new economic opportunities/skills based on local market demands.
• Reinforcing coordination between the state, local enterprises and skills training centres to ensure that skill sets match job market opportunities.
• Contributing to building the capacity of local authorities in social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, conflict prevention and conflict resolution with the aim of building/increasing the confidence between the local authorities and their respective communities; and contributing to the construction/rehabilitation of prioritized community infrastructures through community participation.

On the other hand, social disparities, lack of social cohesion, particularly as a result of community tensions, religious divisions and conflicts between communities over resources (limited access to arable land, water sources and other resources), are also factors of fragility that undermine social cohesion and are vectors of conflict. IOM's programming in this direction to contribute to community stability in CAR will include the following approaches:

• Improving access to water infrastructure in communities of return in order to prevent conflicts over these resources, focusing on infrastructures that are sustainable, resilient to climate hazards (floods, drought among others) and powered by solar energy.
• Contributing to the capacity building of local communities and their leaders on the prevention and positive management of conflicts related to access to infrastructures, natural resources and land. This approach will also support the functioning of conflict resolution, early warning and early response mechanisms and techniques.

Community violence reduction (CVR) initiatives will complement community stabilization (CS) activities as they aim to improve security and contribute to the protection of civilians at the local level, through the economic and social reinsertion of individuals associated with armed groups, non-eligible to the national DDR programme, and community members, with a focus on youth with conflict-carrying capacities and women. CVR and CS activities constitute essential grassroots community engagement to prevent and reduce communal and agropastoral conflicts/violence in key hotspots, revitalize local economies, and promote peaceful coexistence and social cohesion, thereby contributing to the protection of civilians and the creation of a secure environment. Through its Community Engagement and Policing (CEP) activities, IOM will target border areas and communities with influxes of migrants or IDPs to enable a decentralized approach in which State authorities and law enforcement establish a proactive and efficient relationship with communities. This process includes enabling community leaders to communicate their safety and security needs and concerns to relevant authorities and help avert cross-border crime, identify security issues, and take ownership of regional challenges; therefore, contributing to improved border governance practices. CEP interventions can target cross-border or transit locations, areas of origin to which IDPs and refugees have returned, and areas in which migrants reside. This will include improving the security situation through:

• Re-socializing direct beneficiaries (at-risk youth and former combatants non-eligible for the national DDR programme).
• Economic reintegration through viable, market-verified IGAs.
• Promoting reconciliation, social cohesion and peaceful resolution of conflicts at the community level.
• Building the capacity of local structures for sustainable engagement of communities.
• Promoting peaceful transhumance, revitalizing its early warning mechanisms and improving the collection and management of information on pastoralism and transhumance. 
• Promoting peaceful transhumance by improving the transhumance corridors and surrounding localities with appropriate agro-pastoral infrastructures (markets, roads, water points (wells and ponds), grazing areas, community parks, etc.). With regards to water access infrastructure, emphasis will be placed on infrastructure that will be able to withstand flooding (in particular with wells that comply with international standards and whose surroundings are raised to avoid flooding, as well as grazing areas developed in non-flood zones), or any other climatic hazard.
• Promoting peaceful transhumance by developing a better understanding of conflict drivers and strengthening conflict prevention mechanisms in localities where transhumance hot spots are located accordingly; furthermore, the accent will be put on contributing to the capacity building of local and transhumant communities and their leaders on the prevention and positive management of conflicts related to access to the agropastoral resources.
• Supporting women’s empowerment initiatives such as the establishment of women’s cultural centres as a space where women can discuss their security concerns – accessible to CSOs and police officers upon invitation.
• Undertaking community-based development projects for underserved populations such as youth, children, and elderly people, with a focus on refugees and IDPs.
• Creating a safety and security-conscious community to sustain safety for all residents in the area at reduced crime levels.
• Supporting existing or establishing new inclusive community peace committees or similar platforms where local communities can work to identify and resolve local safety and security issues in partnership with law enforcement.

IOM intends to increase its livelihoods and economic recovery activities, as part of a durable solutions package, designed to help returnees, and/or relocated and/or locally integrated IDPs regain their economic self-sufficiency and rebuild their lives. These activities are crucial in enabling people to transition from humanitarian assistance to long-term stability. The interventions will include: 

• Vocational Training: Providing training in various skills and trades to equip individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to find employment or start their own businesses.  
• Savings and Financial Literacy Education: Educating individuals on the importance of savings and responsible financial management, including the establishment of savings groups and mechanisms.
• Microfinance and Access to Credit (Village Loans and Credits Associations): Facilitating access to microloans and credit for individuals, allowing them to invest in income-generating activities. 
• Market Development: Fostering the development and resilience of local markets to ensure fair access for producers and consumers, often through infrastructural improvements and market linkages. 
• Cash-based interventions (CBI): Providing cash or vouchers to vulnerable individuals and families to help them meet basic needs, and invest in livelihoods, while stimulating local economies for sustainable solutions. 
• Community-Based Initiatives: Supporting community-based economic activities, such as community gardens, cooperatives, and other income-generating projects.