IOM’s mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) response will build upon experience, expertise, and an already established strong partnership with the Ministry of Health. All MHPSS activities will be in line with 1) the IOM Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies and Displacement, 2) the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Situations, as well as 3) the Burkina Faso National Plan for Mental Health 2020-2024. IOM plans to strengthen and increase access to MHPSS services for IDPs and other affected communities in targeted areas of need by implementing activities in the following two main categories:

• Strengthening access to MHPSS services at institutional level through capacity building of health professionals in the field (for example, on the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), case management of MHPSS, psychological first aid (PFA) and strengthening referral pathways);
• Deploying protection and psychosocial mobile teams (PMTs) at the community level, who will provide community-based socio-relational activities such as sport and play, creative and art-based activities, cultural activities, sensitization and informational activities, and referrals to specialized services.

IOM’s response will consist of the provision of shelter and non-food items (NFI) assistance procured locally with local materials to improve the living conditions of displaced, host, and other affected communities, through:

• Distribution of in-kind standard NFI kits, in line with shelter/NFI cluster and Sphere standards and guidelines;
• Construction of emergency shelters and distribution of emergency shelter kits and rehabilitation kits, in line with shelter/NFI cluster and Sphere standards and guidelines.
• Construction of semi-durable shelter solutions, such as brick and clay shelters, in different sizes according different household needs, in line with shelter/NFI cluster and Sphere standards and guidelines.

All activities will be accompanied by information, education, communication (IEC) material informing on technical construction of the different types of shelter, fire safety awareness, and also COVID-19 preventive and response awareness material that is distributed to all beneficiary households.

IDPs affected by the ongoing crisis, currently largely reside within and among host communities, in spontaneous settlements, or actual temporary IDP sites set up on identified land provided either by the Government or private landowners, or temporary reception centers, such as schools. IOM seeks to:

• Ensure access to basic services and improve living conditions for displaced persons through site management activities such as the coordination of basic services and assistance with other humanitarian actors, ensuring community participation, engagement, and accountability, through all activities relevant for the communities, as well as engaging the communities in minor site improvement works;
• Engage in building and reinforcing capacities of both government and humanitarian partners to manage displacement in a safe and dignified manner.

IOM Burkina Faso plans to:

• Support governmental health promotion and immunization campaigns on routine vaccines, for example targeting zero-dose children;
• Support risk communication and community engagement efforts relating to overall health promotion, such as through targeted mobility-sensitive information campaigns in line with agreed areas of intervention among governmental, humanitarian, and development actors;
• Deployment of mobile teams to remote areas to specifically sensitize and inform on vaccination and immunization campaigns in order to increase knowledge and informed decision-making and demand for vaccination. Reaching remote communities through mobile teams will ensure nobody is left behind and all groups of targeted population are informed.

The proposed response aims to meet the needs of the most vulnerable displaced and other affected populations by strengthening their resilience and empowerment through sustainable joint livelihoods activities. In line with IOM's Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations, activities include:

• Distribution of in-kind kits and/or cash transfers for livelihoods activities and the organization of trainings and capacity-building on agriculture, market gardening and animal husbandry to reinforce the livelihoods of people targeted;
• Construction and/or rehabilitation of community-infrastructure to reinforce income-generating activities based on their needs;
• Provision of transitional shelters for vulnerable populations with a particular attention to land tenure and access to basic services.

In support to the Government of Burkina Faso, and in order to prevent further displacement and lay the groundwork for durable solutions, IOM supports the restoration of basic rights and essential services for vulnerable people, notably through reinforced access to economic opportunities and the rebuilding of trust among communities themselves, and also between communities and their relevant local authorities as part of the Organization's transition and recovery programming. IOM seeks to:

• Develop activities with tangible livelihoods opportunities that are equally conducive for and reinforce dialogue between communities in tension over resources;
• Support community-based conflict resolution mechanisms and structures through joint activities to prevent the emergence of new or the escalation of ongoing conflicts;
• Improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable youth through vocational training and distribution of grants to support young people with income-generating activities while building their sense of purpose through sensitization activities and peer-to-peer dialogue;
• Implement social cohesion activities along at-risk zones, as defined by the transhumance tracking tool/alerts, working with local governance structures in communities where transhumant movements may trigger tensions between herders and farmers to define conflict mitigation and resolutions methods to ensure peaceful transhumant campaigns;
• Support participatory local decision-making processes to define priority infrastructure that would contribute to conflict mitigation or resolution;
• Support relevant line ministries to respond to this collective prioritisation in direct response to communities who may otherwise be aggrieved, in areas where additional community infrastructure may be needed  to cater for the passage of transhumant movements.

IOM Burkina Faso supports and contributes to joint in-country efforts towards the operationalization of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. IOM views localization, namely working closely with local authorities and empowering community-based organizations and local networks, as one critical way to do so. In crisis contexts, IOM Burkina Faso is committed to establishing and accompanying local civil society organizations (CSOs) to rapidly address affected populations’ needs and therefore contributing to the following efforts:

• Consolidation of social cohesion through the prevention and sustainable resolution of community conflicts by strengthening the capacity of relevant civil authorities and communities throughout the regions where the feeling of abandonment expressed currently by local populations fuels the instability;
• Peacebuilding support for the transitioning of communities out of conflict, notably through community-based conflict management, providing support to community reconciliation, reintegration processes and economic transformation intended to mitigate the drivers of conflict.

In collaboration and coordination with humanitarian actors, communities, and local authorities, in the displacement sites where emergency shelters are constructed, IOM seeks to establish and put in place early warning systems to allow people living in these shelters to leave quickly and take refuge in safer places in the event of a disaster or crisis (flood, fire, attacks). IOM will, in coordination with relevant stakeholders:

• Undertake multi-hazard risk assessments and mapping along with local authorities, vulnerable individuals and crisis response community in selected displacement sites;
• Identify appropriate evacuation sites;
• Conduct a census and assessment of people with specific needs per target area to ensure they are included in crisis response and procedures and not left behind. The assessment will cover specific support and assistance required to achieve equal opportunities of inclusion during an emergency;
• Engage directly with communities and authorities to identify the most relevant early warnings and alerts systems to support.

Based on activities undertaken for disaster prevention, IOM will work with the community, local stakeholders and authorities and humanitarian actors to support emergency preparation by:

• Developing preparedness plans according to risk analysis exercises undertaken;
• Implementing trainings, exercises and simulations on how to respond to in-camp emergencies.

IOM in Burkina Faso will support the establishment of an evidence base to provide further understanding of population mobility trends, profiles of affected populations, needs and stability of living conditions in displacement-affected locations through the implementation of Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) tools, thereby seeking to support the humanitarian response and contribute to conflict prevention efforts. In particular, IOM Burkina Faso will:

• Implement interventions to collect data on transhumance movements (magnitude of flows, profiles of herders and cattle, provenance and destination of flows) as well as agro-pastoral conflicts and early, late and unexpected movements of cattle through IOM’s transhumance tracking tool (TTT) in order to contribute to reducing tensions linked to natural resource management and conflict surrounding transhumance campaigns, resolving disputes and alerting local authorities and communities in all relevant regions, including border regions, such as the Boucle de Mouhoun, Hauts Bassins, Cascades, South-West, Center-South, Center-East, East, North, and Sahel regions. The TTT will also identify and alert on natural hazards, as well as inform on measures to prevent and mitigate the impact of hazards (diverting transhumance flows to alternative routes, providing assistance to affected herders and cattle, and the like).
• Continue monitoring population mobility at strategic cross-border entry and exit points through DTM’s flow monitoring.
• Provide regular and reliable mapping of levels of stability and community tensions in areas of internal displacement through the establishment of the DTM stability index, which collects data on key indicators contributing to the stability of living conditions, so as to identify priority areas for humanitarian, development and peace programming. This exercise is part of a broader regional stability index activity conducted in all three countries affected by the Liptako Gourma Crisis (Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali).
• Conduct DTM surveys and other data collection exercises among IDPs, host communities and other populations affected by emergency situations, based on information and data needs of the humanitarian and development community.
• Support and assist the Government of Burkina Faso in collecting accurate, evidence-based and regularly updated displacement data in line with evolving displacement contexts and allow the assessment of future trends. Activities will complement, on the one hand, registration activities conducted and managed by the National Council for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (CONASUR) with the support of UNHCR, and on the other hand, evaluation and information management activities carried out by other partners on the field.