With over 1.5 million people displaced in Central Sahel, emergency and transitional shelter and Non-Food Items (NFIs) assistance is a priority need in the three countries. The fact that the vast majority of IDPs are staying in host communities is putting strong pressure on already vulnerable communities, increasing tensions among groups. Other hosting environments include urban centers, formal and informal sites and collective centers.  

• Therefore, in order to improve the living conditions of the displaced populations and their host communities, as well as to ensure adequate physical distancing measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in displacement sites, IOM will distribute shelter and NFI kits and support shelter construction, help with repair and rehabilitation of host family houses, ensure the maintenance and replacement of degraded shelter materials as well as the shifting to transitional shelters where required in case of protracted displacements. This assistance will be done both in-kind and through cash-based interventions.  

• As most of the spontaneous or temporary displacement sites are currently devoid of any basic community services like schools, health centres, watering points or some require rehabilitation of said structures, IOM will also contribute to improving living conditions in reception sites through site planning, set-up and improvement activities, reinforcing basic infrastructure and providing technical support to governments and humanitarian partners.  

• Additionally, IOM will continue to fill its Shelter/NFI cluster coordination role in Mali (as the co-lead agency), Niger (as the lead agency) and Burkina (as the lead agency in the Nord region) to ensure that assistance and interventions comply with international minimum standards, gaps are filled and overlaps are avoided among the humanitarian partners.  

IOM’s proposed response in Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) in Central Sahel will be aimed at displaced households settled in formal camps, spontaneous sites and collective centers as well as large groups of IDPs living in host communities and urban centers that could benefit from the services.  

• In Mali and Burkina Faso, IOM plans to reinforce the capacities of the Governments and humanitarian actors in site management through training and coaching. 

• IOM will also deploy site management mobile teams in these two countries to conduct participatory coordination of services and identification of gaps, establish governance structures as well as complaints and feedbacks mechanisms and implement two-way communication and notably Risk Communication and Community Engagement on COVID-19. 

• Similarly, small site improvement works will be conducted to mitigate GBV risks and prevent the spread of COVID 19 

In support to and in collaboration with Ministries of Health and local authorities, IOM will conduct health activities that will aim to:

• Ensure that conflict-affected vulnerable populations have access to adequate health assistance, including mental health, by providing direct health services. 

• Promote health equity by strengthening health care systems and health referrals while training medical staff and equipping medical facilities  

• Conducting health promotion and disease prevention activities, notably vis-à-vis the COVID pandemic.  

IOM in Mali and Niger will conduct some Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities for the benefit of affected and displaced communities, notably: 

• Providing access to safe and sufficient drinking water, where proper infrastructure is lacking by way of drilling boreholes and constructing and maintaining necessary equipment.  

• Delivering sanitation services, such as the construction and rehabilitation of latrines, notably in sites or to beneficiaries that have been assisted with transitional shelters in Niger, implementing appropriate Operation and Maintenance (O&M) activities to ensure sustainability of the newly built infrastructures.  

• Conduct hygiene promotion campaigns and activities, including the distribution of WASH items, notably Menstrual Hygiene Management kits, or items and equipment such as hand washing stations to contribute to the fight against COVID 19. Distribution and hygiene awareness activities will follow national guidelines on COVID-19 preventive measures, such as physical distancing 

• Conduct hygiene awareness activities, provide hand washing posts and WASH items, notably, which will also be done in Burkina Faso to continue the fight against COVID-19.

IOM’s protection activities will contribute to upholding the rights of displaced and affected populations in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali and include: 

• Building the capacities of the authorities, the communities and key-partners, on key-topics, in coordination with the relevant cluster and sub-clusters, notably on counter-trafficking and Gender-based violence.   

• Conducting counter-trafficking in emergency to prevent and respond to trafficking in persons in displacement situations, by way of developing referral systems, with existing services providers, and sensitization campaigns. 

• Engaging in gender-based violence (GBV) prevention activities to bring a positive shift in attitudes, norms and structures, to promote a safer environment and the empowerment of women. IOM will seek to reduce risks faced by affected populations and mitigate resorting to negative coping mechanisms by supplying the most vulnerable individuals or households with dignity kits. All of this will be guided by IOM’s Institutional Framework for Addressing GBV in Crisis. 

• In Mali and Niger, IOM will support the establishment or strengthening of protection committees at displacement sites in coordination with the Protection cluster.  

GBV and protection will also be mainstreamed throughout all IOM emergency related activities.

Based on its global approach as described in its Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergencies and Displacement manual, in the context of inter- and intracommunal violence and associated displacement in the Liptako Gourma region, IOM will offer direct mental health and psychosocial support services and activities in all three countries. It has been generally observed that there are emotional and relational changes within the population, and the following effects of stress in conflict zones are noticeable: fear, distrust and reduction of social interactions.

• To ensure the most affected population are assisted, IOM will deploy mobile teams to reinforce the psychological well-being of affected populations through a wide range of individual and community activities (socio-cultural activities, conflict mediation/dispute resolution activities, psychological first aid, referrals to specialized services, etc.) 

• IOM will also aim to increase the access of people with mental disorders to specialized psychiatric care, notably by strengthening the capacities of state health workers and reinforcing and equipping relevant infrastructures. 

• IOM Burkina Faso as the lead agency of the MHPSS working group will keep ensuring the coordination of all actors providing mental health and psychosocial support and contributing to advising the HCT on this critical topic. 

IOM will apply its substantial experience in community stabilisation to support the restoration of basic rights and essential services for vulnerable people, while promoting governance. This will be done in order to prevent further  displacement through reinforced access to economic opportunities and the rebuilding of trust among communities, thus addressing the root causes as much as the effects of the crisis as IOM creates the conditions for renewed dialogue between all stakeholders through a participatory approach. These activities will help promote resilience and integration among the populations through: 

• Provision of income generating activities, notably by providing grants, livestock and agricultural assets and provide related technical training to beneficiaries. Youth will be particularly targeted. 

• Support to the rehabilitation and construction of infrastructures (WASH, health or educations infrastructures facilities as well as markets or community infrastructures), which will also reinforce access to basic services and strengthen local governance.

• Social cohesion initiaves will also be conducted to help rebuild the trusts between communities and with local authorities, where appropriate.

To promote peace in Central Sahel, IOM will support the transitioning of communities out of conflict, notably through community-based conflict management, providing support to community reconciliation processes intended to mitigate the drivers of conflict. Activities will notably target the most vulnerable youth while building their sense of purpose. Interventions will rely on the Organization’s capacity to: 

• Empower existing local conflict mitigation mechanisms and notably target conflicts linked to land tenure.  

• Support participatory local decision-making processes to define priority activities and infrastructures that contribute to conflict mitigation or resolution and support relevant line ministries to respond to this collective prioritisation in direct response to communities who may otherwise be aggrieved. 

• Strengthen the capacities of local leaders and authorities to promote peace and social cohesion within communities. 

IOM, together with humanitarian, development and private sector partners, will promote self-reliance approaches including a wide range of support tailored to individuals, households and communities, in particular to mitigate the detrimental impacts of prolonged displacement situations, accompany displaced people towards access to durable solutions, wherever possible and on a voluntary basis, and revitalize local economies towards interim or longer-term solutions, in alignment with IOM’s framework for the Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations. This will be achieved through:

• Support to livelihood, notably the distribution of productive assets and corresponding training opportunities 

• Promotion of peaceful coexistence in areas of return, resettlement or local integration

• Assistance of returnees and local communities with basic services and essential items, in cash or in-kind  

• Reconstruction and rehabilitation of community infrastructures  

In line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015–2030 and underpinned by broad multi-stakeholder engagement, IOM’s DRR efforts in Central Sahel will include: 

• Enhancing Governments’ capacities in DRR, notably support to develop or update policies and strategies 

• As part of its co-leading role of the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) for West and Central Africa, IOM will support activities in all three countries, notably multi-hazard risk assessments, the development of early warning systems, sensitization campaigns and establishment of community- disaster risk management systems, with a specific focus on floods and droughts.

IOM gradually introduced its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) in all three countries, starting in Mali in 2012, by deploying Mobility Tracking assessments, Multisectoral Site Assessments and Household Surveys. IOM has been collecting key information on displaced and returned populations, including numbers and locations, living conditions and access to services, sectoral needs, and future intentions, thereby providing vital data to inform government and humanitarian partners’ provision of tailored and effective humanitarian assistance and protection services.  

Across the Central Sahel countries, IOM supports collective evidence-based decision-making through its implementation of the following data collection exercises: 

• Displacement Monitoring: Tracking and monitoring displacement, including gender and age disaggregation, service delivery, and key needs and gaps across communities. IOM will continue to roll out its Mobility Tracking Component more systematically in all three countries in 2021 especially expanding operations in Burkina Faso to new regions.   

• IOM's effort to track the impact of COVID-19 in human mobility spans across key monitoring initiatives, including on international travel restrictions, mobility and points of entry, and impacts on migrants, IDPs, and flows. Data collection will continue across Central Sahel to address specific needs faced by migrants and mobile populations.