IOM will continue to provide shelter and non-food items (NFI), particularly in the Mopti, Timbuktu, Taoudéni, Gao, Kidal and Menaka regions, which are likely to be more conflict-prone. IOM will additionally position itself to provide the same type of assistance in other areas that also receive displaced persons due to insecurity, including Ségou and Sikasso. IOM also takes into account the risks related to natural hazards and the possible impacts, including displacement due to events such as floods.  

Activities will include: 

• Pre-positioning and/or distribution of shelter materials and household items in coordination with the shelter cluster coordination and the Malian authorities in charge of assistance to displaced persons affected by natural hazards and conflict; 
• Combination of shelter assistance with cash for building materials and labour;
• Moving towards transitional, semi-durable and durable types of shelter;  
• Design, set up/construction, and upgrades of emergency shelters, including individual and collective accommodation options. 
• Design, set-up/construction, and upgrades of transitional/core shelters and housing;
• Repair and retrofitting of damaged homes;
• Provision of material, technical and/or multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) for self-recovery, including information education and communication (IEC), training or support to Build Back Better (in coordination with the disaster risk reduction (DRR) team);
• Market-based interventions, including cash to access NFI/shelter/housing (may include cash or voucher assistance for rental, repairs or reconstruction of damaged shelters, shelter NFI and household items), and for supporting community infrastructure at the settlement level.

Coordination and site management efforts will be required to provide ongoing support to the DNDS and improve coordination between all relevant stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels. Activities such as site planning, strengthening the technical and logistical capacities of DNDS and supporting the coordination of the humanitarian response at planned sites will still be needed in 2024, particularly at the large IDP sites in the Gao, Timbuktu and Menaka regions identified by the government in its Strategic Plan for IDPs and Returnees 2022-2026, as well as in Mopti, where a massive movement of IDPs still arriving in sites.  
  
Infrastructure reinforcement activities at IDP sites will be targeted, including:  

• Construction and rehabilitation of storage warehouses for kits at IDP sites;     
• Construction of hangars at IDP sites for awareness-raising sessions and kit distribution to IDP and host communities; 
• Capacity-building for site managers on the camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) modules.  
• Contribution to the lighting of sites through solar streetlamps in IDP sites and expand it to green camp settings with installation of solar panels/mini grids and other green power generation that supports reduction of overall running costs; 
• Establishing playgrounds and sports areas for recreational activities;  and
• Strengthening and enhancing access to main services in  IDP sites by facilitating access to water and electricity for play areas, etc. 

In the vast and challenging terrain of the North and Central regions of Mali, humanitarian organizations such as Handicap International (HI) and Groupe Action Recherche for Local Development (GARDL in French) can be steadfast allies in addressing the pressing protection needs of communities affected by prolonged conflict, displacement, and insecurity. These organizations and dedicated local partners have been instrumental in facilitating the implementation of critical protection activities in these regions, extending their reach to Menaka and Ansongo. By partnering with HI, GARDL, and many other organizations present in the field where humanitarian support is most needed, IOM aims to enhance the safety, resilience, and well-being of the diverse and resilient populations living in these areas. Through community-led initiatives, awareness campaigns, and capacity-building programs, IOM will empower individuals and communities to identify and mitigate protection risks, access vital services, and foster a more secure and inclusive environment in one of Mali's most challenging contexts. Protection activities by IOM Mali will include:  

• Protection Assessments: Conduct assessments to identify vulnerable populations, their needs, and the risks they face. This may include gender and age-sensitive assessments to address the specific needs of women, children, and other at-risk groups.  
• Protection Prevention and Response Programmes: Implement child protection, gender-based Violence, and counter-trafficking programs to prevent and respond to abuse, exploitation, and neglect (especially with children) and include awareness-raising, training for staff and community members, and the provision of services for survivors including cash for protection. Activities will be implemented through in line with IOM's case management approach through general protection case management focusing on direct assistance and referrals to relevant services (including child protection (CP) and GBV) for the most vulnerable. 
• Community-Based Protection: Engage communities in protection activities, empowering them to identify and respond to threats and vulnerabilities within their own context by strengthening their capacities and establish systems to provide early warning of potential threats, such as conflict-related risks or natural disasters.  
• Strengthening the capacity of relevant actors on counter trafficking for effectively identifying, assisting and protecting victims of trafficking and on the National Referral Mechanism and its procedures.  
• Protection Campaigns: Conduct awareness campaigns to inform individuals and communities about potential protection risks, referral mechanisms, and the services that are accessible to them.  

These activities will be implemented through IOM’s case management approach and in areas where IOM staff cannot operate, they will be implemented by partners such as the Mali Red Cross, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through their One Stop Centers, and other GBV and CP NGOs. 

IOM intends to pursue its mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities in 2024 through initiatives such as the strengthening of psychosocial mobile team interventions, which will be extended to accessible localities in the most affected regions (Menaka, Gao and Kidal), in coordination with other relevant stakeholders such as Malian Red Cross (MRC), Danish Red Cross (DRC), and the Direction Regional du Developpement Social (DRDS). IOM will continue to undertake activities such as: 

• Identification, management, and referral of severe cases to specialized MHPSS and psychiatric services. Counselling support, counselling sessions, discussion groups, the implementation of community-based socio-relational activities and local capacity-building will be carried out wherever possible. The governmental actors involved in the situation will be strengthened, in order to perpetuate the actions and ensure greater ownership by the state. 
• Within the framework of social dynamism and social cohesion, the international NGO Right To Play (RTP) will be called upon for sessions on social cohesion and the culture of peace, as well as MHPSS community support. Community leaders, women's, girls' and youth associations will also be trained in basic standards of mental health and psychosocial support. Lessons learned will be documented and put to appropriate use. Communication materials, visibility and awareness-raising tools will be developed to reach a greater number of people. 

 IOM continuously supports efforts to set up WASH activities through concrete actions such as:    

• Training/awareness-raising in basic hygiene and sanitation;
• Rehabilitation of water infrastructure equipped with a human motor pump (PMH in French) or improved village hydraulic system (SHVA in French), restoring the structure to working order, increasing water production and quality in emergency situations) for IDPs, host populations and livestock (mainly in arid zones);  
• Construction of water infrastructures (PMH or SHVA) including cash for work;  
• Improvement of village water systems (improving access to water for a greater number of people in areas where the population has increased due to displacement);  
• Setting up/revitalizing/training members of water point management committees (to enable the establishment of a local structure capable of managing the built and rehabilitated water points and improving the social management of water);
• Support to a sustainable economic model of fees for the management of built/rehabilitated facilities;  
• Purchase of toolboxes for water point maintenance; 
• Distribution of WASH and NFI kits including MPCA;  
• Secure the water chain at household level; 
• Increase water storage capacity for beneficiary households; 
• Ensure compliance with Sphere Standards for water use;  
• Construction of sustainable latrine blocks including cash for work; and
• Purchase of latrine maintenance equipment (durable and emergency). 

IOM will provide: 

•    Multi-purpose cash assistance to help IDPs by enabling them to use cash for food, healthcare, clothing, shelter, WASH, etc. 

 

IOM will improve the immunization coverage of children and vulnerable persons in regions with high internal population movements and difficult access and low immunization coverage in Mali, 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 identification of children with zero dose through population mobility mapping exercise.
• 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 community health workers and reinforcing existing health facilities for immunization and community mobilization and sensitization to use immunization services.
• Supporting existing health facilities with primary health care by providing basic equipment and trainings/refreshers.

IOM will act in the framework of humanitarian border management in the regions of Ségou, Mopti, Timbuktu, Gao, Kidal, Taoudéni, Ménaka, Douentza and Bandiagara, to contribute to: 

• Capacity-building of border management services to align with human rights obligations and protection of vulnerable groups as well as technical training on use of equipment; 
• Operational research on the perception of vulnerable communities; and
• Construction and rehabilitation of basic community social services in border areas which are newly including sanitation facilities such as water points and latrines, and lighting (solar lamp posts), especially at spontaneous sites that emerge due to migration trends. 

 Thus, contributing to: 

• Protection of crisis-affected vulnerable populations, including migrants and nationals, guaranteeing their human rights and interests in accordance with national and international law and 
• Respect for national sovereignty and ensuring border security. 

In 2024, IOM will:

• Continue to strengthen the DNDS’s data collection, analysis and management capacities, to ensure efficient and seamless DTM implementation, led by the DNDS, with support from IOM.
• Continue the pursuit of the provision of support to the DNDS to ensure their continued application of DTM tools and methodologies while increasing the scope of its analysis, geographical coverage, and frequency of reporting.
• Monitor displacement numbers, trends, locations and profiles regularly and determine access to basic services and multisectoral needs and gaps of displaced populations and identify the needs of vulnerable populations through the implementation of DTM’s mobility tracking tool.
• Continue to strengthen DNDS capacity to collect data on access to basic services, multisectoral needs and gaps, and detailed information on profiles of displaced populations and impacted communities across Mali through DTM’s multi-sectoral location assessments (MSLA).
• Continue and strengthen the application of IOM’s biometric registration system (BRaVE) in the various communes of the regions hosting the largest numbers of IDPs in Mali.
• Implement the Emergency Tracking Tool (ETT) to provide information on sudden natural hazards, and conflicts that may have implications on the displacement of people.
• Implement the Stability Index DTM tool in targeted regions to identify pockets of stability and assess the stability of conditions in displacement hosting locations and facilitate the programming of durable solutions in areas of high return. This tool will serve as a measure of stability in return areas in Mali to enable partners to better develop their response and plan resources and operations in specific areas for coherent interventions that link humanitarian, recovery, and stabilization.
• Support more effective responses through the development of robust data collection, statistics, information, research, evaluation, and monitoring of the factors and causes of vulnerability of displaced persons to crises and emergencies.
• Implement detailed surveys of durable solutions in areas of protracted displacement and return. The focus will be on income-generating activities and vectors of social cohesion and community stabilization, at the level of different targeted localities. The results of these surveys will enable development actors to set up sustainable development and integration programmes for displaced persons and affected communities.
• Collect and analyze transhumance movement patterns and profiles of herders through the transhumance tracking tool (TTT) in the Kayes, Sikasso, Ségou and Liptako Gourma regions where transhumance movements generate local tensions and conflicts, to gain a detailed comprehension of transhumance patterns and trends and thereby inform better and tailored transhumance management and IOM programmes through its early warning system. The TTT will gather information on mass, early, late or unexpected movements of cattle, which might potentially lead to increased tensions and conflicts, natural hazards and their impacts on transhumance movements, and agropastoral conflicts. The information will be shared with local authorities, herder and farmer communities and other stakeholders, allowing for the swift implementation of interventions and actions to prevent, as well as facilitating bottom-up responses, mitigate and respond to, transhumance-related events, such as mediation and dispute resolution in case of conflict or rerouting of transhumance flows to alternative corridors to avoid natural hazards.

IOM will: 

• Strengthen the capacities of government to build conducive conditions and support more effective evidence-based responses to sustainably resolve displacement. 

IOM will strengthen emergency preparedness through: 

• Emergency preparedness planning/updates in Mopti, Ségou, Timbuktu, Sikasso, and Kayes regions and
• Enhancement of the technical capacity of DNPC and DGPC and main stakeholders through training sessions on data collection, rapid assessment and CCCM to prepare for potential crisis.

Stabilization initiatives need to be maintained in 2024 to reduce displacement pressures and support recovery. IOM will continue:  

• Strengthening the capacities of local authorities to provide information sharing and referral services;   
• Supporting the rehabilitation of infrastructure; and
• Empowing women and youth to diversify and increase their livelihoods.  

Durable solutions, including support to livelihoods and economic recovery, will be central in IOM’s programming in 2024, supporting IDPs to progress towards sustainable solutions, either in areas of return, relocation or integration in areas of displacement. IOM will continue: 

• Supporting individual and community income-generating activities and strengthening the State's technical services to be able to support vulnerable populations; 
• Facilitating the creation of community safety nets through village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) to increase the ability of communities to cope with shocks in locations that do not have easy access to formal financial institutions; and
• Supporting already established income-generating activities that support displaced communities, returnees, and host communities to enhance social cohesion.

In 2024, IOM will continue to work on strengthening the capacities of the government and local authorities to be prepared to respond to disasters, supporting the regeneration of land through labour-intensive activities, integrating climate change links within governance frameworks, including through: 

• Support to the National Directorate of Civil Protection (DNPC)/ Regional Directorate of Civil Protection (DRPC) in drawing up and disseminating regional contingency plans; 
• Training communities on DRR including community listening on traditional practices to leverage local capacities (community-based solutions); 
• Supporting communities to respond to disaster risks including MPCA activities  
• Mapping of potential risks and safe areas along identified hazardous zones (i.e. prone to the risk of flooding and wildfires);  
• Conduct of an in-depth technical remote sensing flood risk and vulnerability mapping of target areas;   
• Developing an early warning system in order to monitor water levels to promote early response in the case of high risk of flooding; 
• Construction and rehabilitation of public infrastructure, including rainwater runoff systems, retention walls, spate irrigation, and more to mitigate the impact of climate change including unseasonal rainfall, flooding, and landslides. Special emphasis will be given to the reuse potential of flood water for agricultural purposes at the community level; 
• Building capacity of knowledge management within the government response mechanisms;  
• Awareness-raising and support to communities to understand risks and implement preventive practices as well as capacity building on building back safer;  
• Community-based early warning systems to prevent floods;  and
• Capacity strengthening of the Malian government to ensure more regular reporting on hazards to the relevant Government units.  

IOM Mali will provide: 

• Support to national and local authorities with capacity building to set up and maintenance of WASH infrastructure in Ségou, Mopti, and Timbuktu;
• Prepositioning of WASH supplies in Mopti and Segou and strengthen the capacity of local community members and counterparts; and
• Sustainable access to water to prevent health hazards and increase resistance to shocks through water management infrastructure and systems in Mopti and Ségou regions.