To support internally displaced persons and affected communities, in 2022 IOM will: 

• Continue to co-lead the CCCM Cluster, whilst performing essential camp management functions, including site care and maintenance, coordination of humanitarian services, and capacity-building of community leadership structures and governance activities;
• Strengthen communication and community engagement and access to complaints and feedback mechanisms and firm up accountability to affected populations across CCCM’s programming including supporting units in GBV mainstreaming and risk mitigation;
• Maintain a static presence as the camp management agency in Bentiu and Naivasha IDP sites (formerly UN Protection of Civilian sites) and collective centers, as well as continue to provide site care and maintenance inside Malakal PoC; 
• Continue to respond to emerging displacements through mobile responses, as well as expanding mobile response interventions in hard-to-reach areas of the country, encompassing site assessments, coordination of humanitarian partners, building the capacity of the community for self-management, and strengthening community governance structures;

IOM will continue to undertake standalone protection activities as well as mainstream protection, including gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation, across programming, and maintain close coordination with key protection partners and relevant clusters and technical working groups. Key activities will include:

• Implement protection monitoring in areas of displacement and return to identify human rights violations and protection risks, which can act as early warning mechanisms to support preparedness and response;
• Strengthen community-based protection efforts by working with communities to support their self-protection capacities or develop new strategies;
• Deepen and expand gender-transformative programming to address the root causes of GBV within integrated programming with IOM's WASH, peacebuilding, housing, land and property (HLP) and migration management sectors;
• Provide legal aid to GBV survivors, victims of trafficking, and those facing HLP issues;
• Work with and build the capacity of organizations for persons with disabilities or other rights groups to advocate and ensure respect of the rights of marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities.

In line with the IOM Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergencies and Displacement, IOM will continue offering focused non-specialized MHPSS services. Activities will include:

• Facilitate and guarantee access to targeted MHPSS for conflict-affected populations (including those in PoC sites, collective centres, host communities, and hard-to-reach areas) through the provision of enhanced protection focused response services, such as individual and family counselling, peer support groups, and referral to specialized MHPSS or social services;
• Provide training in psychological first aid (PFA) for service providers from different sectors who are working in direct contact with highly distressed persons to enable these actors to provide their respective services in a psychologically informed manner;
• Provide psychosocial support to families and communities via sociorelational and recreational activities, including cultural and social activities complemented by non-formal learning and small-scale income generating activities;
• Provide MHPSS services at centres, in clinics, through home visits, and in a remote modality through regional toll-free hotlines as well as open air interventions, through facilitation of recreational and sociorelational community activities, such as outdoor games, art competitions and activities relating to cultural festivities;
• Strengthen cross-sector responses between MHPSS, health and GBV to offer more holistic services to persons affected by physical health and/or mental health problems.

IOM will continue its static, mobile, rapid response team, and comprehensive care and treatment strategy, with a focus on integrated emergency lifesaving primary health care, and routine immunization for IDPs, returnees, and host communities. Activities will include:

• Provide general outpatient clinical and trauma care, sexual and reproductive health, clinical management of rape, and child health services through an existing network of static health facilities and outreach/mobile clinics;
• Provide integrated tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening, care and treatment through health care providers working at static clinics;
• Deploy health rapid response teams in response to disease outbreaks and emergencies and deliver critical lifesaving health care services to locations where acute needs are most severe;
• Ensure the provision of routine immunization services within health facilities and through outreach services for communities otherwise not reached with health services including COVID-19 vaccination of eligible persons according to the national vaccines deployment plan for South Sudan;
• Refer acutely sick patients who require in-patient care and treatment, including severely malnourished children, to appropriate higher-level health services.

As one of the largest WASH actors in South Sudan, IOM will continue to ensure the provision of WASH services in existing areas of operation, whilst mobilizing its emergency preparedness and response (EP&R) teams in order to rapidly restore service provision in response to crises (famine-like conditions, conflict-/flood related displacement) and prevent infectious diseases such as Hepatitis E Virus, acute watery diarrhea/cholera and COVID-19 thus safeguarding and preventing public health risks. Activities will include:

• Ensure provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services for IDPs in Malakal POC and Wau and Bentiu IDP camps;
• Mobilize WASH emergency preparedness and response teams across the country in order to rapidly restore service provision,  including borehole rehabilitation/repair, shock chlorination, hygiene promotion and sensitization, as well as the distribution of water purification products and WASH NFIs, whilst ensuring GBV-related risks and concerns are taken into consideration in all programming;
• Ensure health facilities and schools in areas of return have minimum standards for WASH services and facilities, including latrines, water quality and quantity, drainage and waste management;
• Support cash-for-work for community members engaged in the rehabilitation of WASH facilities and promote community engagement and ownership.

IOM will continue to provide emergency shelter and NFI support across South Sudan, with the most appropriate modalities determined through comprehensive needs and market assessments, with special consideration to persons with special needs and other vulnerable groups throughout the project cycle, including:

• Support crisis and flood-affected populations through timely and quality provision of in-kind NFI support and distribution of emergency shelter materials;
• Facilitate cash-based interventions (CBI) where markets are functional and accessible, through sectoral conditional grants (restricted vouchers, cash for work) for shelter and NFIs;
• Strengthen S-NFI cluster coordination and enhance support to S-NFI cluster partners through role as the S-NFI cluster lead agency, ensuring an effective and coordinated response, both in serving beneficiaries and providing technical support to partner organizations and continuing to host an HLP Officer in support of the S/NFI cluster.

IOM will provide assistance to survivors of human rights violations, including those arising from the conflict. Activities will include:

• Supporting survivors of GBV, including conflict-related sexual violence survivors, to access their rights, including access to justice, alongside supporting access to multisectoral services and providing support for sustained livelihoods, to strengthen the longer-term resilience of survivors;
• Strengthening direct GBV response services, including case management, mental health and psychosocial support, and legal counselling services for GBV survivors, including victims of trafficking;
• Providing direct services to victims of all forms of trafficking;
• Providing case management and referrals to specialized services for survivors.

IOM will scale up efforts to strengthen resilience of healthcare systems, community health resilience, referral networks, and the Ministry of Health (MOH) and NNGOs to assume an increasing role in health service delivery, including:

• Strengthening the resilience of healthcare systems and referral networks through outreach and static service delivery, capacity building of NNGOs, and support to pharmaceutical supply chain management;
• Strengthening the capacity of MOH to deliver routine immunization services and COVID-19 vaccination through Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) services to underserved and hard-to-reach areas, engagement of MOH vaccinators, and capacity building;
• Strengthening community health resilience through health education and promotion activities and implementation of preventive health services;
• Providing technical assistance to enhance MOH coordination and leadership capacity on border health systems and responses to public health threats; 
• Developing capacities of county health departments and NNGOs to assume responsibility for direct service provision in IOM locations of engagement;
• Providing on-the-job training of MOH staff on selected priority medical interventions, including emergency maternal, child and neonatal care;
• Addressing capacity to provide compassionate care and addressing harmful norms/attitudes among health staff and systems, which stigmatize and affect female and male survivors from accessing care.

IOM will support peace and social cohesion through targeted activities to address drivers of conflict that are blocking returns and recovery, as well as integrating community-level peace and cohesion activities throughout all interventions. Conflict issues blocking or arising from returns and reintegration of displaced persons will be regularly identified through analyses, partners and local stakeholders. Activities will include: 

• Implement community dialogues, reconciliation and social cohesion activities, including between pastoralists and farmers in areas affected by cattle raiding violence to improve relationships between divided communities;
• Strengthen community-level conflict resolution and prevention mechanisms, including the establishment of early warning systems;
• Provide support for the establishment of community-based water management and pasture management groups;
• Reduce violence and tensions and strengthen social cohesion at community levels through ‘peace dividend’ projects;
• Develop and disseminate strategic messages on tolerance, peace, non-violence and interdependence in cooperation with communities utilizing various media and social communication platforms;
• Positively use opportunities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to promote peaceful co-existence, social cohesion and combat stigmatization, engendering the cooperation needed to limit and respond effectively to the spread of the disease;

IOM will continue advancing national land legislation in conjunction with national ministries and parliamentarians, while simultaneously serving individual HLP needs at the grassroots level. Activities will include:

• Expand HLP rights-based education to individuals across the country, including comprehensive training in collaborative/alternative dispute resolution (CDR/ADR) methodologies, to provide community members with tools to settle disputes in a transparent, equitable and accessible manner, without reliance on overburdened and inaccessible court systems;
• Provide widespread education and training to ensure all parties are aware of their land rights as guaranteed by the national law, and strengthen access to land rights for women and vulnerable people, including providing legal counselling and services to women and addressing harmful gender norms and HLP practices among traditional and formal HLP institutions;
• Enhance capacities of national and sub-national land authorities on land records management, document verification and issuance, the application of relevant laws and statutes, as well as administrative, practices, and national and traditional laws and statutes governing HLP in South Sudan;
• Facilitate access to legal aid to affected populations pursuing claims on HLP;
• Advance HLP considerations through mainstreamed programming across all IOM interventions, and in particular within the S/NFI cluster, ensuring all interventions adhere to established HLP due diligence guidelines, grounded in “Do No Harm” principles;
• Continue to strengthen the capacity of key personnel of S-NFI cluster partners, other HLP relevant humanitarian organizations, local government, and customary institutions on HLP rights to ensure that emergency shelter, other humanitarian interventions and land administration activities do not violate HLP rights and exacerbate pre-existing HLP issues;
• Continue supporting peacebuilding efforts through strengthening capacity of local government and customary land administration institutions in the administration of land, as well as buttressing the capacity of current mechanisms for peaceful HLP dispute resolution;
• Continue supporting resolution of HLP disputes to promote economic and social stability through reconciliation, stabilization, and resilience building, reducing risk of conflict and violence due to HLP disputes arising from competition over scarce resources;
• Continue providing technical support to the government of South Sudan in moving its national land policy forward for enactment by the national assembly;
• Continue/expand working with the government and customary institutions to address pertinent HLP issues as the country enters post-conflict/transitional stages in 2022.

IOM will continue to design and deliver locally-driven, development-principled initiatives that facilitate transformative change that addresses the drivers of vulnerability and risk, and mitigate further displacement, with a focus on access and provision of essential services, economic recovery, and local governance and social cohesion. Activities will include:

• Strengthen governance structures at the local level, particularly the role of Boma and Payam Development Committees in local development and resilience planning for their communities, as well as serving as an interface between communities and the county government, whilst strengthening the meaningful participation of women and traditionally underserved groups within such bodies;
• Strengthen the capacity of community leaders, civil society and local authorities to respond pro-actively and pre-emptively to emergent conflicts through coordinated and holistic approaches, including promoting women’s role in peacebuilding and addressing harmful social and gender norms that promote and sustain inter-communal conflicts;
• Improve access to services and public infrastructures, such as safe water and sanitation infrastructure, as well as hand hygiene infrastructures, and recreational spaces and ensure that women’s meaningful participation in leadership and decision-making is promoted through participatory development planning;
• Promote a sense of inclusion and belonging among youth (particularly those who may be otherwise involved in livestock-related conflict and urban criminality such as youth gangs) through livelihoods, educational and vocational training support.

In line with IOM’s Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations Framework, IOM South Sudan will deliver multi-tiered initiatives that reinforce the agency of individuals, households and communities combined with systemic support to create environments conducive to the resolution of displacement and sustainable returns and recovery. Activities will include: 

• Map infrastructure and service gaps, including water, sanitation, education, health, and expand to issues of social cohesion and other factors influencing sustainability of returns;
• Strengthen basic service provision in areas of return (including health, mental health and psychosocial support, GBV response, WASH and waste management) through support to local government and community groups and strengthening relationships and referral mechanisms between levels of government and with community-led committees;
• Support communities and local governance systems to address land and property issues related to displacement and return;
• Provide functional adult literacy (FAL) training to empower vulnerable affected communities with writing, reading, numeracy and life skills for immediate application in managing their small businesses, conflict management, active participation in decision making, becoming competitive in the ‘job market’ and enhancing self-confidence;
• Support rehabilitation and construction of accessible and inclusive common market spaces in affected communities;
• Strengthen accessibility to micro-credit, with a particular focus on vulnerable returnees and community members, such as women and youth;
• Promote returnees’ participation in community and peacebuilding processes on an equal basis with host communities;
• Strengthen mechanisms for access to justice for returnees, including informal justice mechanisms and their capacities to apply human rights in decision making;
• Support durable solutions efforts in areas of return and host community integration for IDPs living in camps and camp-like settings, in coordination with humanitarian partners and the government authorities.

In line with IOM's Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergencies and Displacement, IOM will integrate MHPSS with conflict transformation and mediation activities, as well as within wider livelihood efforts. Activities will include:

• Provide MHPSS activities at the individual, family and community levels that contribute to wider efforts to mend social fabrics and strengthen social cohesion;
• Promote positive coping strategies at individual, family and community levels to reduce emotional distress and use of violence among youth at risk;
• Provide trainings and other support to facilitate the integration of MHPSS in conflict transformation and mediation as well as in livelihoods and development programmes;
• Build on existing mental health and psychosocial support activities in addressing harmful social and gender norms by providing support to individuals and families and reinforcing community level healing processes which is critical for the implementation and delivery of other outcome areas, such as livelihoods and governance.

IOM will continue to respond to water, sanitation and hygiene needs, supporting the prevention of infectious diseases outbreaks such as Hepatitis E virus, acute watery diarrhoea/cholera and COVID-19 and GBV prevention to safeguard and prevent public health risks and reduce violence whilst moving towards approaches that strengthen the sustainability of efforts, through improved WASH-GBV linkages, as well as a shift towards WASH market-based programming, in support of markets and livelihoods. Activities will include:

• Support manual and mechanical drilling of boreholes, as well as setting up solar-powered water yards, in locations agreed to as safe for use by women and girls and ensure accessibility for people with disabilities;
• Strengthen self-sufficient WASH management mechanisms and governance systems to enable communities to better respond to their needs and endure future shocks, and improve response capacities by promoting the meaningful participation of women in key positions regarding the management of WASH services;
• Strengthen market-based programming by supporting entrepreneurship and small-scale enterprise development, by working through or supporting local markets and engaging groups of business women and men to define business plans for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of communal water and sanitation facilities in public places;
• Contribute to challenging common social norms that exclude women and girls from decision-making and non-traditional roles in WASH, including engaging men and boys in positive behaviour change;
• Foster open defecation free communities by supporting community-led total sanitation (CLTS) and systemic hygiene promotion and behaviour change activities at the community level, including in schools.

As co-lead for the COVID points of entry (POE) technical working group, co-chair of the emergency responders mechanism, a member of the health cluster strategic advisory group, GAVI/MOH Immunization Committee, and several technical working groups, IOM will continue to scale up efforts to ensure that health systems are strengthened to better prevent, detect and respond to complex communicable disease outbreaks and health threats, including through early warning alert response systems for surveillance and response to disease outbreaks. Activities will include:

• Conduct regular surveillance through IOM clinics, and support Ministry of Health facilities to prevent, detect, report and respond to any epidemic-prone infectious diseases;
• Train staff in Early Warning, Alert and Response Systems (EWARS);
• Strengthen the Boma health committee in high priority hot spot areas;
• Conduct facility and community level health promotion, risk communication and social mobilization activities with a focus on epidemic-prone diseases;
• Support MOH on outbreak  preparedness and response efforts including COVID-19 through supporting the drafting and reviewing of standard operating procedures, protocols and guidelines, particularly those related to port health efforts;
• Support the Directorate of International Coordination of the MOH to strengthen its capacity to coordinate and lead the National Action Plan for Health Security with a special focus on preparedness and response capacities at points of entry and cross-border coordination;
• Support the development of cross border coordination platforms with neighbouring countries.

As coordinator of the MHPSS TWG at the national level, IOM will strengthen efforts at the community level, including capacity building of key actors, and integration of MHPSS considerations within wider humanitarian-development-peace efforts. Activities will include:

• Engage in MHPSS mainstreaming and capacity building of local stakeholders, humanitarian actors, health partners, and government ministries, such as social workers of the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare;
• Scale-up engagement of academic partners within capacity-building efforts, including mentorships for students or young professionals, and capacity building of students and lecturers;
• Engage respective community leadership in trainings and awareness-raising on psychosocial needs and existing MHPSS services to facilitate the handover of some of IOM’s recreational and counselling centres to the community;
• Coordinate the MHPSS TWG at national and subnational levels, strengthening MHPSS as a cross-cutting topic among protection, education and health sectors, including enhancing MHPSS data collection and service mapping, harmonized capacity building, and the development of a national mental health strategy.

IOM will ensure that vulnerable communities benefit from WASH interventions that are scalable, sustainable, adaptable and resilient, using context-appropriate technologies and ensuring capacity building for sustained management. Activities will include:

• Explore cost-effective means of ensuring adequate service provision, through community operation and management (O&M) of WASH infrastructures, such as solar water supply hybrid systems, sanitation infrastructure and market-based programming;
• Scale-up commissioning of biogas chambers to treat sludge from latrines and produce clean cooking energy, in both camp-like and host community settings;
• Undertake assessment for co-digestion of faecal sludge with food waste in a bin to further reduce the waste and the carbon footprint of waste management in camp-like settings;
• Install flood-resistant hand pumps and sanitation structures, preposition and distribute hand pump toolkits and training support for Boma level mechanics and WASH committees.

IOM’s programmes will focus on disaster risk reduction and preparedness, to enhance community resilience such that their knowledge and coping mechanisms are increased to meet the challenges of climate shocks, in particular, flooding in the Nile Basin which is highly prone to water-induced hazards, with Jonglei, Upper Nile, Warrap and the Equatorias representing severe flood-prone areas; enhance the effectiveness of disaster risk mitigation measures to mitigate displacement and food insecurity, and inform and influence policymakers and the humanitarian community on disaster risk reduction. Activities will include:

• Support the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management in the development of a comprehensive disaster risk management policy;
• Promote Boma disaster risk management committees (BDRMC) as grassroots institutional mechanisms for preparing the community for emergencies and mobilizing them for risk reduction, plan and delegate responsibilities in advance of crises, including the promotion of community resources and multi-hazard disaster mapping, and ensure the meaningful participation of all sectors of the community within such structures, including women, persons with disabilities, IDPs, and returnees;
• Strengthen community resilience through community-based climate change adaptation programming in flood-affected areas of South Sudan;
• Support participatory risk, vulnerability, and capacity assessment (PRVCA) and development planning at the micro-level, with an emphasis on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development planning;
• Strengthen the knowledge base and governmental, community, and academic engagement on the susceptibility of communities to disaster and fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) related risks.

Through the provision of tailored capacity building and technical assistance, IOM will build the capacity of relevant stakeholders, including national and local authorities, NGOs, and community leaders on disaster risk management, preparedness and response, based on comprehensive and context-specific needs assessments, including through:

• Supporting conflict-sensitive needs analyses, gender analyses, and protection assessments, to update emergency response plans;
• Participate in joint inter-agency rapid needs assessments in hard-to-reach, underserved and new displacement areas through mobile response capacity to inform inter-agency emergency preparedness and contingency plans;
• Equip key stakeholders at the community level with the capacity to develop emergency preparedness and response plans to face future displacement whether due to conflict or natural disaster;
• Strengthen capacity for ad-hoc assessments and data collection activities using the DTM emergency event tracking tool to inform partners at the onset of the emergency and support them with planning;
• Strengthen emergency multi-sectoral coordination in response to displacement, including enhancing the emergency preparedness and response capacity of CCCM Partners through capacity and skills-building trainings and strengthened CCCM coordination and site-level support;
• Equip IDPs with knowledge and skills in responding to emergencies including fire and flooding and providing fire and safety committees with training and tools;
• Preposition trained technical teams and heavy machinery such as excavators, backhoes, trash pumps, among others, for quick response capacity;
• Promote the development and utilization of national early warning systems for crises including flooding, famine, locusts, and droughts;
• Update contingency and humanitarian response plans for the Malakal PoC site, formal IDP camps (former PoC), and collective sites in response to changing dynamics and rapid onset emergencies including flooding, fire and pandemics;
• Work to strengthen community referral mechanisms for GBV response and awareness-raising, in preparedness for crises.

As co-lead of the Points of Entry (PoE) technical working group, IOM has strong experience in providing technical support and collaborating with key frontline government and non-governmental partners to enhance border health and mobility management capacities. In line with national contingency plans, IOM will continue to support prevention and response efforts of the MOH at PoE, through coordinated multi-sectoral responses.

• Provide WASH/infection prevention and control (IPC) support at PoEs, including construction, operation and maintenance of WASH facilities, and provision of IPC materials to minimize the risk of infection;
• Strengthen risk communication and community engagement interventions at PoEs, nearby health facilities and adjacent communities;
• Strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Interior and other related ministries on border health and mobility management through capacity building of security and immigration actors, border police, and supporting improvements to border infrastructure and strengthening of whole-of-government responses;
• Provide technical support and collaboration towards the establishment of port health and capacity building efforts, as required.

Leveraging a countrywide network of over 6,500 key informants and close to 700 local enumerators, IOM will continue to provide granular, accurate and regularly updated information on the number and geographic distribution of IDPs and returnees, trends in mixed migration flows and the evolving needs of crisis-affected populations. Activities will include:

• Maintain countrywide coverage through mobility tracking to provide regular updates on the numbers, locations and priority needs of IDPs and returnees, as well as comparative trends analysis;
• Provide multi-sectoral needs analysis undertaken through key informant interviews and household surveys, in coordination with humanitarian partners and relevant authorities;
• Conduct flow monitoring at strategic mobility hubs, border points and displacement sites across the country to continue to provide timely information on displacement, mixed migration and return routes, and improve knowledge of migrant profiles, motivations and intentions;
• Develop and conduct tailored surveys to inform policies and durable solution interventions;
• Expand emergency event tracking of new displacement incidents to contribute to early warning efforts and inform conflict prevention and rapid response efforts;
• Strengthen evidence-based decision and accountability of humanitarian assistance through biometric data management;
• Undertake participatory mobility mapping and flow monitoring to better understand the mobility dynamics in the region, including at transit hubs, convergence points and major destination points.