Upon request for international assistance, IOM will provide immediate life-saving assistance and protection to local communities, and internally displaced persons affected by disasters anywhere in El Salvador, in close collaboration with the government and partners. In 2025, IOM expects to respond to at least one emergency, such as hurricanes, tropical storms, floods and earthquakes. In addition, IOM will continue to strengthen the Government and other partners' preparedness for emergencies.

IOM will also strengthen partnerships with the DGPC and Local Emergency Committees in order to promote the availability of timely information on internally displaced populations due to natural hazards. On one hand, IOM will support government capacities to collect, process, analyse and share data for evidence-based decision-making. On the other hand, IOM will collect information on IDPs through DTM to inform decision-making. Based on the key role data sharing plays in humanitarian emergencies, data will be promoted with local and central government institutions, the humanitarian sector, United Nations agencies, donors, local committees, civil society, and other key stakeholders. Findings will also inform internal IOM programmes and project proposal development.

IOM will support the government in strengthening the coordination and management mechanisms of its emergency shelters for the displaced population, following up on the activities of 2024, in emergencies in El Salvador by: 

• Strengthening and expansion of the CCCM/emergency shelter coordination teams (coordinator, information manager, CCCM technical advisor) at the national and departmental levels. 
• Support the implementation of intersectoral assessments to understand the needs of displaced persons in temporary shelters for the Sectoral Technical Commission for Shelters (CTSA) and with other UN agencies and partners in the sector. 
• Implement a training process on CCCM to support local authorities and community leaders, to increase the capacities of the population in the territory during 2025. 
• Strengthen the relevant regional and national shelter and CCCM coordination structure in collaboration with DGPC, DA and other partners by deploying (Emergency) Shelter Sector Specialists to monitor stakeholder activities, coordinate assessments, set standards, and active coordination of activities and development of durable solutions in an early stage.

Under Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Response, IOM will: 

• Provide community-based mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) (including psychoeducation, psychological first aid, counselling and socio-relational cultural and play-based psychosocial activities) for the most vulnerable groups and communities, in emergency situations, and referrals to specialized life-saving mental healthcare for specific cases. 

Additionally, IOM will particularly strengthen the provision of durable solutions to avoid GBV for the population of interest in an early stage and accountability of government entities and NGOs and GBV referral mechanisms. Activities will include:

• Provision of toolboxes and SOP templates to evaluate GVB risk in other IOM sectors, IOM’s implementing partners and governments, starting from GBV risk analyses in emergency situations, through capacity-building and action plans.  
• Mitigation activities: Creating risk assessment working groups in collective centres. Providing a GBV referral pathway, health, psychosocial assistance and legal and counselling services. 
• Integrating gender mainstreaming in response plans through the training of the representatives on the GBV intersectoral group and inclusion of the GBV on emergency plans of the sectors-
• Train IOM implementing partners and emergency staff on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), including training on the key concepts of PSEA, how to report incidents, responsibilities, obligations, and the victim-centred approach. 
• Accompany IOM implementing partners to build, equip and enhance existing safe shelters for GVB survivors. 
• Provision of assistance GBV risk mitigation activities established in the GBV guidelines by training non-GBV specialized staff on how to handle a GBV disclosure safely and ethically and promoting the participation of women and girls throughout the design, implementation, and monitoring processes of shelter-related activities. This will be implemented in close coordination and consultation with the GBV specialist. Implement permanent solutions to empower GVB survivors to their own economic autonomy, such as entrepreneurial training, job search, and employability, among others. 

IOM will provide life-saving WASH assistance to the affected communities and displaced persons in at least one emergency in El Salvador through:

• Transportation and distribution of 5,000 pre-positioned differentiated hygiene kits, including MHM for women and girls of reproductive age.
• In collaboration with standby partners, improving access to water and sanitation systems including the rehabilitation of sanitation facilities in collective centres.

In order to support WASH preparedness in relevant municipalities, IOM will be: 

• Providing hygiene kits for at least 10,000 households, storing this humanitarian aid in the IOM warehouse in Panama.  
• Coordinating with the government and DGPC to review and assess areas with high flood risks to monitor, and an early warning system and modelling for risk reduction.

IOM will provide life-saving shelter and non-food item assistance to affected communities and displaced persons in at least one emergency in El Salvador through: 

• Supporting the government programme to build new collective centres, in coordination with DA and DGPC in the most vulnerable communities, following up on activities of 2024. 
• Rapid provision of CBI to meet the shelter needs of families whose homes have been damaged by disaster. The CBI will support beneficiaries’ capacity with new materials to rebuild their homes to facilitate return.
• Transportation and distribution of pre-positioned emergency shelter NFIs for 5,000 households (25,000 persons), including emergency shelter kits, solar lamps, and kitchen sets from the IOM warehouses in Panama to displaced and affected households in collaboration with partners. The composition of the kits will be reviewed and agreed with the Sector. When needed, shelter and non-food item assistance can also be provided through cash transfer, as appropriate and if feasible.
• Support community/owner driven house repairs for 400 displaced households through a combination of technical assistance, awareness-raising/training on safe construction, construction materials, labour and conditional cash support for reconstruction; in partnership with international and local NGOs’ support.

Through the Sector for Coordination and Management of Temporary Shelters in El Salvador, IOM will be: 

• Strengthening the preparedness of selected (vulnerable) municipalities through profiling the collective centre capacity and activities to support the readiness of up to 30 collective centres, developing community evacuation plans, emergency response training of communities and improving access to data. 
• Prepositioning and storing NFIs (including tarpaulins, fasteners, kitchen sets, mats, solar lamps, tools, hygiene items etc.) for at least 20,000 persons in IOM warehouses in Panama. 
• Supporting DGPC and the UN system with all aspects of human mobility in emergencies, including the development of policies and protocols around planned relocations, mass evacuations, and collective centres, contributing to the development of regional and subregional UN contingency plans with a focus on Shelter, CCCM, WASH, and Protection. 
• Playing an active role in the coordination platforms such as REDLAC and the Humanitarian Country Team during emergencies.
• Strengthening government capacity building in site planning and collective center physical interventions due to natural disasters, more specifically in earthquakes where collective centers may be destroyed or damaged. 

IOM provides support in developing the preparedness capacities of government and non-government partners in humanitarian response, assisting vulnerable populations and providing support for populations who are likely to be severely affected by the impact of disasters and crises. IOM’s initiatives include:  

• Providing trainings on disaster risk reduction (DRR) in line with Migrant in Countries in Crisis (MICIC) Guidelines and other internationally recognized standards, including on Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster to crisis-affected communities as part of CCCM and evacuation, shelter response and recovery programmes, mainstreaming protection principles and durable solutions.  
• Supporting the drafting, review and update of local policies on disaster risk reduction and management and local climate change adaptation plans and strengthening implementation capacities through the provision of training, equipment and tools.  
• Update research and actions related to climate change adaptation (CCA) and policies and programmes, and multi-sectoral programmes (i.e. food security-WASH-climate change, DTM-community stabilization) with other development partners including UN agencies and CSO partners. 
• Conducting advocacy work for policies and research related to CCA in El Salvador. 
• 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, in vulnerable communities.   
• Supporting at-risk communities and individuals to mainstream climate-smart, green livelihood strategies, including through the set-up of community-based climate risk monitoring and early warning systems.
• Community-based surveillance that provides cultural information on vulnerabilities, capacity and adaptation of the health system to climate change; integrated surveillance of population risks, as well as early warning systems that allow anticipating threats to the health of the mobile population.
• Strengthen the development of skills and competencies in environmental health, health education and hygiene promotion through an educational approach at the individual, family and community level in the institutions that make up the National Integrated Health System and the municipal and communal commissions of the health system, including civil protection.

Based on the constant and high impact of natural disasters that affect the country every year, there is a need to fill in the current information gap on internally displaced populations. Therefore, it is fundamental to strengthen the capacities of El Salvador institutions to collect, process, analyse and share data on displaced populations due to natural disasters.  Additionally, it is important to generate information on the link between internal displacement and migration, since one leads to the other in some cases. DTM activities will include this key link.

Information management activities for data for action and data for insight will revolve around two main outcomes:

• Capacity development of government institutions such as DGPC and other relevant stakeholders to collect, process and analyse timely information on displaced populations affected by natural hazards. In 2025, the focus of capacity development will be on the coordinated analysis and sharing of data produced by different government institutions to promote an integrated response to emerging emergencies.
• Developing mechanisms to share timely data collected using DTM tools and methodologies on displaced populations to better prepare for and respond to emergencies related to natural hazards and mixed migratory flows (displacement due to violence, return migration and in transit). In 2025, the focus of this component will be to promote dialogue and discussion on available data to promote the use of the tools and to identify additional data needs to better inform decision-making of different stakeholders.

Key stakeholders that will benefit from the data sharing include UN Agencies, the Humanitarian Country Team, NGOs, other government institutions, donors and international cooperation, and IOM internal programmes and units, among others. Examples of data usage include emergency response plans, resource allocation for humanitarian assistance, development of project proposals, etc. 

IOM will support health systems strengthening efforts in El Salvador and enhance the preparedness and response capacity of the national and local health systems in line with 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR). It seeks to build inclusive health systems to ensure services are readily available to migrants, IDPs and other vulnerable groups and build resilient health systems to combat public health emergencies such as COVID-19, Tuberculosis (TB), tropical diseases such as predominantly infectious pathologies with poor hygienic-sanitary, socioeconomic and environmental conditions and other public health threats. IOM’s initiatives in new vulnerable communities, following up activities of the previous year, include: 

• Providing critical medical equipment and relevant trainings to improve prevention, detection and response to communicable diseases in the context of widespread and multi-directional human mobility. 
• Strengthening/ensuring referrals to appropriate health services. 
• Empowering migrants, people on the move and host communities, in communicable disease prevention, and response through community engagement. 
• Facilitating collaboration and sharing of best practices amongst the international, regional, national, and local government health officials and experts to ensure alignment of local policies and practices with key standards such as IHR and Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response.  
• Supporting needs and capacity assessment of key POEs and health facilities and addressing their gaps in the provision of healthcare services including IPC, health screening, testing, referral and mobility monitoring, through the provision of technical assistance, training and equipment.  
• Information systems to improve local management, collection, analysis and sharing of information, and reporting on health data.
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To strengthen the health components of preparedness and risk reduction, IOM El Salvador will:

• Support emergency public health risk reduction and prevention measures linked to disaster response activities; building health system capacity to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks and health threats, including through the strengthening of disease surveillance systems and population mobility mapping (PMM) to foster a migration-sensitive approach to preparedness and risk reduction, as well as community events-based surveillance, data collection and ensuring information is integrated into national surveillance and reporting mechanisms.
• Pilot an educational program on prevention, risk management, health services, and safe water management in coordination with WASH units to raise awareness among communities about their right to access universal health in an emergency context.
• Develop educational audiovisual content on access to health services, to communicate key messages that empower communities in emergency preparation and response (applying the communication for development methodology).

IOM El Salvador will provide technical, coordination and planning support to the El Salvador Government, including the Ministry of the Interior through the General Directorate of Civil Protection (DGPC) and the National Directorate of Shelters (DA); Ministry of Public Security (MSP), Ministry of Health (MINSAL) and the Cooperation Agency of El Salvador (ESCO) on:

• Risk assessments of plots and housing, land and property rights and planned relocations, and land planning, to pave the path, both politically and socially for relocations.
• Providing transport to people of displaced households or households at risk.