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. IOM plans to:

• Reinforce the capacities of Government and humanitarian actors in site management through training and coaching in all three countries (in Niger, IOM’s intervention will focus on out of camps approaches).
• Deploy site management mobile teams to conduct  coordination of services, engaging communities, 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 in Burkina Faso and Niger.
• Conduct small site improvement works to mitigate protection  risks (including GBV) and prevent the spread of COVID 19 in Burkina Faso.

IOM aims to ensure that conflict-affected vulnerable populations have access to adequate health assistance. In particular in all three countries, IOM plans to:

• Promote health equity by strengthening health care systems and health referrals in all three countries including advocating for access to health of displaced people and improve reference system, transportation for example.
• Support Ministries of Health by improving the medical services provided to populations displaced and affected by the crisis, notably by reinforcing support to medical infrastructures and systems and conducting health promotion, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities and disease prevention activities, notably vis-à-vis the COVID pandemic (including vaccination).

Given the nature of the crisis in the region, it has been generally observed that there are emotional and relational impacts within the population including fear, distrust and a reduction of social interactions. Based on its global approach as described in its Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergencies and Displacement, and in the context of inter- and intracommunal violence and associated displacement in the Liptako Gourma region, IOM will offer direct MHPSS services and activities in all three countries, in particular:

• Deploy psychosocial mobile teams (PMTs) 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.), to ensure the most affected population have access to basic psychosocial services.
• Strengthen the capacities including trainings of state health workers and reinforcing and equipping relevant infrastructure, aiming to identify people with severe mental disorders and increase their access to specialized mental health and psychiatric care, if needed. 

As the lead agency of the MHPSS working group in Burkina Faso, IOM will continue ensuring the coordination of all actors providing mental health and psychosocial support and contributing to advising the humanitarian country team (HCT) on this critical topic.

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 and local actors/partners through targeted workshops/trainings that highlight the key protection issues facing the affected population and working with Ministries/Departments to promote effective prevention and responses to protection risks.
• Increase the affected population/displaced people’s knowledge on their rights through information-sharing on key topics such as trafficking in persons and gender-based violence (GBV), in coordination with relevant Clusters and sub-clusters
• Support the prevention and response to trafficking in persons in displacement situations by way of developing referral systems with existing services providers,  awareness-raising among communities at-risk and capacity-building of key government and non-government stakeholders.
• Addressing GBV including through 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. In addition, response activities will include providing psychosocial support and supporting health professionals in receiving GBV survivors as well as continuously referring GBV survivors through relevant referral mechanisms. All of this will be guided by IOM’s Institutional Framework for Addressing GBV in Crisis.
• In Mali and Niger, supporting the establishment or strengthening of protection committees in displacement sites and communities in coordination with the Protection cluster.

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

IOM will conduct water, sanitation and hygiene activities for the benefit of affected and displaced communities, in coordination with the WASH sector, notably:

• In Niger, delivering sanitation services, such as the construction and rehabilitation of latrines, notably in sites or to beneficiaries that have been assisted with transitional shelters, implementing appropriate operation and maintenance (O&M) activities to ensure sustainability of the newly built infrastructures.
• In all three countries, conducting hygiene promotion campaigns and activities, including the distribution of WASH items, notably hygiene kits inclusive of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM)  items, or items and equipment such as hand washing stations, inclusive of soap, to contribute to the fight against COVID19 and other communicable diseases. Distribution and hygiene awareness activities will follow national guidelines on COVID-19 preventive measures, such as physical distancing.

With over 2.3 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 which is increasing tensions among groups. Other hosting environments include urban centers, formal and informal sites and collective centers. IOM will:

• Distribute emergency shelter and NFI kits and support shelter construction, the repair and rehabilitation of host family houses, the maintenance and replacement of degraded shelter materials as well as the upgrading to transitional shelters where required in case of protracted displacements. These will be done 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. This assistance will be done both in-kind and through cash-based interventions.
• Contribute to improving living conditions in reception sites through site planning and set-up activities, improving basic infrastructure and providing technical support to governments and humanitarian partners, as most of the spontaneous or temporary displacement sites are currently devoid of any basic community services like schools, health centres, or watering points and some require rehabilitation of said structures.
• Continue to fill its Shelter/NFI Cluster coordination role in Mali (as the co-lead agency), Niger (as the lead agency in support of the Government’s leadership) 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 will apply its substantial experience in community stabilization to support the restoration of basic rights and essential services for vulnerable people, while promoting functioning governance, reinforcing access to economic opportunities, and enhancing social cohesion among communities. This will be done to address the root causes and effects of the crisis, restore trust among community members, vulnerable populations and local authorities and lay the foundations for durable solutions, lasting peace and sustainable development. Activities will include:

• Provision of income generating activities, notably by providing grants, livestock and agricultural assets and related technical training to beneficiaries. Youth will be particularly targeted.
• Support to the rehabilitation and construction of critical community infrastructures (water supply systems and sanitation infrastructures, health or education infrastructure facilities as well as markets, community and administrative centers), which will also reinforce access to basic services and strengthen local governance.
• Social cohesion activities, notably along at-risk zones, to work with local governance structures in communities where tensions may be triggered to define conflict mitigation and resolutions methods to promote peace. Where additional community infrastructure may be needed, IOM will support participatory local decision-making processes to define priority infrastructure that would contribute to conflict mitigation or resolution and support relevant line ministries to respond to this collective prioritization in direct response to communities who may otherwise be aggrieved.

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 voluntary return, wherever possible, and revitalize local economies towards interim or longer-term solutions, in alignment with IOM’s framework for the Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations (PRDS). This will be achieved through:

• Support to livelihoods, notably the distribution of productive assets and corresponding training opportunities 
• Promotion of peaceful coexistence in areas of return
• Assistance of returnees and local communities with basic services and essential items, in cash or in-kind
• Reconstruction and rehabilitation of community infrastructures

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, complementing and supporting IOM's transhumance work and related activities under the West and Central African Transhumance Crisis Response Plan 2022. Activities will notably target the most vulnerable youth while building their sense of purpose. Interventions will include:

• Empowering existing local conflict mitigation mechanisms and notably target conflicts linked to land tenure or between herders and farmers along transhumance corridors.
• Supporting 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 prioritization in direct response to communities who may otherwise be aggrieved, notably through protection mainstreaming and inclusion of marginalized voices/groups in peacebuilding activities
• Strengthening the capacities of local leaders and authorities to promote peace and social cohesion within communities. 

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’, partners’ and communities’ capacities in DRR, notably supporting them to develop or update policies and strategies
• Conduct assessments of risks and establish early warning systems and community risk reduction activities as well as information, education and communication campaigns

As part of its co-leading role of the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) for West and Central Africa, supporting 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 will boost its preparedness efforts in all three countries as well as support authorities’ efforts and communities, in Niger and Burkina Faso, through:

• Developing preparedness plans based on risk analysis
• Conducting trainings, capacity building efforts and simulations on how to respond to large populations movements

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 durable solutions, 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 decisions-making through its implementation of the following data collection exercises:

• Displacement Tracking: 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 2022 especially expanding operations in Burkina Faso to new regions. 
• Points of Entry: IOM's effort to track 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.