IOM will provide site management support to local governments operating emergency response efforts for populations displaced by disasters and crisis, aiming to enhance national and local policies, build capacities of the government and community stakeholders, and provide relevant resources to ensure minimum humanitarian standards are promptly met in camps and camp-like settings. IOM’s initiatives will include the following:

• Building capacities of government actors, IDPs and local community leaders on camp coordination and camp management (CCCM), including early decampment strategies;
• Improving living conditions in camps through maintenance and critical upgrades, which includes technical assistance, in-kind support such as provision of basic CCCM toolkits, materials and kits to repair or enhance key facilities, and Cash-for-Work as assistance modalities;
• Conducting safety audits, with a focus on safeguarding the protection of camps' populations, including through GBV risk mitigation measures;
• Preventing local transmission at displacement sites through CCCM-tailored and evidence-based infection prevention and control measures, such as the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to camp managers and local duty bearers, provision of modular tents and sanitizing/disinfecting materials, and the promotion of vaccination drives, along with information dissemination and communication on COVID-19, infectious disease transmission and prevention as well as risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) efforts pertaining to vaccination confidence;
• Supporting prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence (GBV) through capacity building and awareness-raising, considering local gender dynamics;
• Facilitating inclusive community participation through regular and frequent consultation forums and feedback mechanisms to ensure effective response to the identified needs of vulnerable, marginalized populations as well as accountability to affected populations in the camps;
• Coordinating closely with other humanitarian actors and partners in the field to ensure efficient delivery of services to affected populations.

IOM will provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) with a focus on services that improve access to mental health services for the most vulnerable groups. All MHPSS activities will be in line with the IOM Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies and Displacement, and will be tailored to the specific context, including disasters and conflict. IOM intends to mainstream MHPSS activities in all emergency response projects in any location, to the extent possible. IOM's interventions will include:

• Building capacity of local government authorities, frontline health, security and social welfare responders, IDPs and local community leaders in providing MHPSS through trainings and supervision on psychosocial support, including psychological first aid (PFA) and peer support techniques;
• Conducting MHPSS activities, including community-based socio-relational and cultural activities for vulnerable adults and children in affected communities, such as sport and play activities, creative and art-based activities, cultural events and ceremonies;
• Providing MHPSS kits, including stationery, game boards, recreational tools and modular learning materials to support psychosocial well-being of displaced children;
• Facilitating referrals to other services (including specialized GBV services) and reporting moderate or severe psychological cases to other relevant agencies within the MHPSS network and cluster, considering cultural and gender sensitivities;
• Setting up free and widely available MHPSS hotline stations in coordination with local duty-bearers in displacement sites and at-risk host communities, through which the trained community focal points will provide basic emotional and practical support and facilitate timely referrals.

Aiming to assist families and individuals in vulnerable situations, IOM will provide access to essential services and commodities, for example, through the provision of hygiene kits and hygiene promotion activities to encourage improved hygiene practices, as well as the construction of WASH facilities coupled with WASH governance to ensure long-term operation and maintenance of the facilities. These activities are aimed to improve overall infection prevention and control for COVID-19 and other diseases and will involve targeted risk communication and community engagement. IOM's initiatives will include:

• Building capacity of local health officials in promoting proper hygiene practices, and the operation and maintenance of WASH facilities, through training;
• Promoting localised and inclusive awareness-raising campaigns and information, education and communications (IEC) materials on proper hygiene practices in line with global and national guidelines among supported households and communities (materials will be translated into relevant languages and presented in multiple formats to ensure their accessibility, including to children and persons with low literacy and special needs);
• Conducting consultations with the community, especially women and girls and persons with disabilities, on the location and design of WASH facilities in displacement sites, to ensure safe and dignified access to these facilities; 
• Installing sex-disaggregated WASH facilities, such as handwashing stations, soap refilling stations, and latrines, in transit sites, displacement sites, and host communities within the crisis response, and setting up measures to sustain these facilities in coordination with local duty-bearers and communities;
• Supporting vulnerable and at-risk families with the provision of appropriate hygiene kits in line with local preferences, including water treatment items, soap, sanitiser and dignity kits containing menstrual hygiene management (MHM) items for women and adolescent girls, that will be replenished depending on needs.

Through preparedness actions and emergency response, IOM will provide shelter assistance to displaced populations and those impacted by disasters and crises. The activities will provide targeted populations with prompt access to emergency and more durable shelters that ensure safety, health, privacy and dignity. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, shelter activities will mainstream early decampment strategies and health-related considerations. IOM's initiatives will include:

• Providing shelter materials based on the context and identified needs, including shelter strengthening kits (SSK), shelter repair kits (SSK) and emergency shelter kits;
• Providing support through cash-based interventions, including multi-purpose cash grants and vouchers, to augment basic needs such as the purchase of additional shelter materials, household items, daily necessities, and hiring of skilled labour to support shelter repair or construction;
• Providing technical assistance, through IOM’s field engineering teams, on shelter repair and construction, especially for the most vulnerable groups that may need additional assistance to undertake the work, including the elderly, women, and persons with disabilities (PWDs);
• Providing trainings to affected communities, including community-based volunteers and local skilled labourers such as carpenters, on appropriate techniques and knowledge for strengthening, rebuilding, and repairing shelters, through Building Back Safer trainings, IEC materials in local languages, and others.

IOM will actively support efforts at the national, regional and community levels, to prevent, manage and resolve conflict as a driver of displacement and an obstacle to the return and reintegration of displaced populations and former combatants. IOM will strengthen local capacities to promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts for communities to enjoy the dividends of peace through:

• Improving local governance, especially in conflict-affected fragmented societies in BARMM, by establishing, strengthening, and maintaining community accountability and decision-making mechanisms, such as community working groups (CWGs) and technical working groups (TWGs), as well as existing bodies, such as the Municipal/Barangay Peace and Order Council/Committee (BPOC) and the Municipal/Barangay Development Council/Committee (BDC). These committees and working groups will be established to drive the allocation of resources and services based on needs and promote social cohesion while ensuring participation, ownership and commitment from various segments of the community, including women, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups;
• Strengthening community-based safety and protection mechanisms, such as the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs), to enhance their capacity to promote peace and provide responsive services through trainings and in-kind support, informed by consultations with vulnerable groups, such as women and indigenous peoples;
• Conducting community-driven social cohesion activities, such as barangay clean-up events, youth-led cultural and sports recreation, inter- and intra-community peace dialogues, to foster collaboration and joint decision-making through a conflict-sensitivity and peace promotion lens, with an emphasis on inclusive activities and processes;
• Supporting organizations such as Bangsamoro Islamic Women Auxiliary Brigade (BWAB) and other cooperatives/associations of former combatants, indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups, with sustainable socio-economic initiatives to ensure their active participation in income-generating activities and promote their reintegration into society; conducting a gender-sensitive market analysis, providing coaching, mentoring and trainings to strengthen their market linkage, and providing tailored livelihood assistance, such as trainings on livelihood skills development and business entrepreneurship, including business continuity planning and financial literacy, and in-kind/cash grants;
• Supporting at-risk individuals, such as youths and unemployed former combatants, with sustainable socio-economic initiatives to build their resilience and reduce radicalization and violent extremism;
• Supporting community governance structures and duty-bearers, including existing community-based organizations, such as cooperatives, community associations and people’s organizations, to engage in conflict-sensitive field studies, ideation, and knowledge exchanges to promote inter- and intra- community cohesion and best practices on local governance, community-driven development, and peace initiatives;
• Building capacity of former women combatants and youths as active agents of peace through trainings on conflict resolution and peace promotion, and providing technical assistance, such as the creation of safe spaces for these groups to hold community-based peace dialogues;
• Preventing violent extremism through risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) campaigns with localized peace promotion messages.

IOM will serve to establish stability and security, restore trust among community members, vulnerable populations and local authorities and lay the foundations for durable solutions, lasting peace and sustainable development. Initiatives will focus on inclusive governance and social cohesion, inclusive economic recovery, and access to essential services, which include:

• Improving local governance, especially in conflict-affected, fragmented societies in BARMM, by establishing, strengthening, and maintaining community accountability and decision-making mechanisms, engaging various social segments of the community, including women, elders, youths, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities;
• Providing trainings to members of local governance bodies on inclusivity and conflict-sensitivity, accountability to affected populations, organizational development, financial literacy, leadership, and other topics, based on needs assessments;
• Conducting community-driven social cohesion activities;
• Supporting vulnerable communities and individuals, such as indigenous peoples and IDPs with sustainable socio-economic initiatives to ensure their active participation in income-generating activities;
• Providing technical assistance and in-kind support for rehabilitation/reconstruction of community and key green infrastructures such as barangay halls, community safe spaces, water systems, and others identified through community consultations as needed to improve their access to socio-economic opportunities and services;
• Promoting access to socio-economic opportunities and services through cash grants/in-kind support to at-risk individuals, as well as the establishment and dissemination of referral pathways to available relevant services;
• Improving the capacity of government institutions to deliver inclusive and responsive socio-economic services accessible to remote and fragile communities through technical assistance, including research and evidence generation on community needs and gaps in current policies and services, policy enhancement and development, and in-kind support with equipment and tools, such as information communication technology (ICT) and other technologies;
• Establishing help desks at points of entry to facilitate referral to available reintegration services.

Through its response and assistance to the government partners and the affected population, IOM will mainstream sustainable approaches that effectively promote durable solutions including safe and dignified returns, local integration and relocations to safe places. This includes:

• Enhancing national and local shelter policies and programmes to mainstream early decampment and durable solutions in coordination with government partners, such as the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD);
• Strengthening coordination with local government units to address land ownership or leasing agreements to ensure equal access to services for durable solutions;
• Improving access to durable solutions for the affected communities through support for disaster-resilient shelters and sustainable livelihoods.

IOM will provide support to address land issues in Mindanao, which have been a persistent driver of conflict in the region, stemming from historical injustices and human rights violations involving the unjust dispossession of land and property rights and customary land tenure. IOM will contribute to the government effort in improving the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation (TJR) mechanisms in a consultative, transparent, and community-based manner through the following:

• Providing technical assistance to government partners to facilitate participatory fact finding and formal listening processes, including on land issues;
• Providing technical assistance to government partners on land policy and TJR, including through research on existing policies and laws on land tenure and their implications on land ownership and possession;
• Providing support to enhance evidence-based, data-driven policy development and strong community engagement on issues related to land, which includes the provision of technologies, such as geographic information system (GIS)/global positioning system (GPS) equipment, technical assistance for mapping and digitalization of public and private land, as well as relevant training that ranges from proper usage of equipment to coordination with local government units, consultation with communities and accountability to affected populations;
• Conducting workshops to develop community-level policies on land rights and issues, as well as supporting community-based awareness sessions on TJR, land rights and land policies.

IOM will continue to support health system strengthening efforts in the Philippines, by bolstering the preparedness and response capacity of the national healthcare system, including the implementation of the IHR (2005). IOM will support strengthening efforts pertaining to improving capacity related to the COVID-19 response and other health threats such as tuberculosis in the country. To achieve this, IOM will procure and provide critical equipment, alongside overseeing robust capacity building efforts for healthcare workers, partners and relevant personnel. IOM will support local governments and their healthcare system through the following:

• Providing critical medical equipment, such as GeneXpert machines, antigen testing kits, cold chain carrier boxes and vehicles, cardiac monitors, oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, sea and land ambulances, to improve disease prevention and response efforts, including the detection, referral and treatment capacity of local health facilities, alongside training in the operation and maintenance of provided equipment; 
• Establishing/strengthening molecular laboratories, supporting the laboratories to acquire accreditation by the Department of Health (DOH), especially in remote and hard-to-reach communities to improve their access to testing and diagnostic services of communicable diseases such as COVID-19 and tuberculosis;
• Providing capacity-building training for local health personnel, in coordination with IOM’s MHC, Ministry of Health (MOH)/DOH -Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Units (RESU) and government-accredited institutions such as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), on topics on laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, laboratory quality and safe management, including infection prevention and control, molecular diagnostics, and specimen collection and handling, among others;
• Working with the government and partners to strengthen referral systems, including emergency transport and transfer, for cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases;
• Facilitating collaboration amongst national, regional and local government health officials to ensure alignment of local policies and practices with the national standards such as the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response; encouraging sharing of knowledge and best practices with international experts including from WHO and countries with advanced systems on public health disease surveillance;
• Providing technical assistance to government health partners including the Ministry of Health to enhance routine vaccination programs and to increase vaccine confidence especially for COVID-19.

IOM will support key actors in conflict-affected communities in Mindanao with MHPSS activities. These activities aim to not only address the MHPSS needs of the affected population, but also promote dialogue, social cohesion and community healing towards recovery and crisis prevention. Initiatives will include:

• Capacity building on MHPSS in the context of conflict prevention and resolution for government stakeholders, local community leaders, traditional leaders and IDPs in conflict-affected areas, which includes training of trainers – with participants nominated by the communities – on peer support, PSS, PFA and child protection, and referral pathways to enable the affected communities themselves to properly respond to, report, and refer MHPSS cases, including cases of GBV, to the appropriate, specialized service providers or organizations in a safe and ethical manner;
• Improving PSS referral mechanisms in coordination with local authorities and service providers to streamline the existing referral pathways and to make referral processes more efficient and accessible to all relevant actors, which includes establishing/strengthening MHPSS hotlines attended by dedicated social workers and psychologists, disseminating information materials to the target communities to raise awareness of the available referral mechanisms and how to access them, supporting the creation of safe spaces in the community for children, women, other vulnerable groups and families, for them to be protected and engaged in structured psychosocial activities such as sport and play activities, creative and art-based activities, cultural events and ceremonies;
• Supporting accreditation and recognition of the referral and reporting system by local government units and government health agencies to strengthen and ensure sustainability of the initiative.

IOM will support in developing the capacities of government and non-governmental partners in disaster prevention, and provide support for populations who are likely to be severely affected by the impact of disasters and crises. Initiatives will include:

• Providing trainings on disaster risk reduction (DRR) to crisis-affected communities as part of the shelter response and recovery programme;
• Supporting with drafting, reviewing, and updating local policies on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and local climate change adaptation plans (LCCAP);
• Enhancing capacities of local responders through trainings and the distribution of necessary equipment and tools to implement local DRRM and LCCAP;
• Contributing to improved understanding and awareness of local communities and authorities on climate risks, including interrelations with drivers such as conflict that could increase their vulnerability to climate impacts;
• Conducting research and actions related to climate change adaptation (CCA) and contributing to the generation of relevant science-based evidence and utilization of local knowledge to inform the government’s policies and programmes; 
• Conducting advocacy work for policies and research related to CCA in the Philippines;
• Conducting consultations with communities vulnerable to climate risk to develop community action plans that identify localized climate adaptation strategies, and providing technical assistance to implement these plans;
• Increasing access of vulnerable communities to climate-resilient sources of income.

IOM will provide support for local authorities and communities to enhance the speed, volume and quality of the emergency response in coordination with relevant partners, which will contribute to their improved capacity in anticipating, responding to, and recovering from an emergency. This will include:

• Supporting in the review and updating of local contingency plans;
• Enhancing capacities of local responders through trainings and distribution of necessary equipment and tools;
• Conducting emergency preparedness management simulation exercises;
• Conducting social activities that aim at preparing communities for potential emergencies, which includes orientation on access to and proper usage of available assistance, services and resources; 
• Supporting government’s efforts on registration of vulnerable households through IOM’s biometric registration and verification system, to ensure effective delivery of services and assistance during emergencies;
• Prepositioning of lifesaving and humanitarian relief goods ready for deployment at the time of disasters.   

IOM will contribute to mainstreaming and institutionalizing MHPSS in the government’s public health policies, services and programmes, especially in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

• Facilitating the sharing of knowledge and best practices on MHPSS initiatives among government stakeholders and other duty bearers;
• Raising awareness on localized/contextualized MHPSS referral mechanisms, through community-based working groups and local duty bearers including the Department of Health/Ministry of Health officials, to improve access of communities to the available services;
• Supporting local governments on the institutionalization and mainstreaming of an MHPSS-approach into general public health programs, including the identification of regular focal points for MHPSS to revitalize referral mechanisms;
• Building capacity of government frontline healthcare responders in coping with the long-term psychosocial impacts of COVID-19.

IOM will enhance preparedness through prepositioning key supplies for WASH and building local capacity especially on infection, prevention and control (IPC) measures. Initiatives will include:

• Building capacity of local government officials and service providers on WASH, including operations and maintenance (O&M) of refurbished or newly installed WASH facilities, as well as on techniques of hygiene promotion and information campaigns on proper sanitation and hygiene practices;
• Refurbishing and constructing WASH facilities, such as handwashing stations and soap refilling stations in order to promote proper hygiene practices among the target communities;
• Enhancing awareness of the most vulnerable and at-risk communities on proper hygiene and IPC measures.

IOM will help facilitate safe and dignified migration, especially for returnees, by providing support at points of transit and return. This will include:

• Providing operational and logistics support to local authorities, including the Philippine Coast Guard, Ministry of Health and Department of Health on transportation of returnees, implementation of IPC measures including COVID-19 screening, testing (PCR) and referral, and monitoring mobility flows at points of entry (POE);
• Supporting migrants and returnees at transit sites with accessing essential supplies and services such as health services, WASH, and shelter including modular tents and sleeping kits.

IOM collects, analyses and disseminates critical multi-layered information on the mobility, vulnerability, and needs of displaced and mobile populations in the Philippines. The following activities will be considered for implementation in any relevant settings, and the geographical areas and demographic groups and components of the DTM will be determined depending on the context and needs, taking into consideration the existing available data at that point. Initiatives will include:

• Implementing DTM during mass displacement due to both natural and man-made disasters;
• Conducting survey research on migration patterns for mobile populations, such as returnees and migrants affected by COVID-19 and other crises.

IOM will provide health services to eligible UN personnel and dependents, humanitarian actors and other eligible persons in need of care as part of the initiative to provide quality health services complementary to UN system health services in situations where the local healthcare system is strained or there is a lack of quality healthcare services (previously referred to as the “First Line of Defence (FLoD)” for the COVID-19 response) in the Philippines. The activities may include:

• Operating, maintaining and strengthening molecular laboratory capacity for COVID-19 testing and detection; providing SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing;
• Administering COVID-19 vaccinations;
• Providing tele-health services.