To cover crisis-affected populations’ basic needs such as food, shelter, and WASH, as well as transportation costs, IOM will:   

• Provide multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) in line with Cash Working Group recommendations.  Considering that IDPs are on the move and that needs of affected people are diverse, unconditional cash assistance enables beneficiaries to prioritize their most pressing needs in a dignified manner. IOM implements MPCA programming directly and through the Rapid Response Fund (RRF) by sub-granting to international and national NGOs.  

• Provide life-saving assistance (food, NFIs, temporary accommodation, primary and secondary health care, psychosocial support etc.) to migrants in need identified in the Migration Response Centres (MRCs) and Transit Centres (TCs). Migrants also receive protection screening and referral and capacity-strengthening support.  

In 2025, IOM seeks to strengthen its out-of-camp or area-based approach to reach IDPs in host communities and clusters of IDP sites/camps including displacement affected communities. Through the establishment of Community Resource Centeres (CRCs) in conjunction with deployment of mobile teams, the approach enables a multisectoral, multistakeholder effort. This method shifts from status-based to vulnerability-based assistance, bringing support closer to displaced populations. Key aspects include data management (such as service monitoring, monthly CFM reports including partners presence, sharing of intention survey findings from community consultations), disaster preparedness with the government authorities and community, maintaining IOM’s Zite Manager CFM system, and supporting vulnerable groups. It will also facilitate referrals to government services, and carry out site management and improvement. 

IOM implements CCCM programming directly and through RRF partnerships with international, national and local NGOs along four pillars of response:  

• Provide camp coordination, management, and information in both camps and out-of-camp areas through an area-based approach in conflict- and disaster-affected areas; 

• Plan, develop, maintain, and upgrade communal structures and collective sites to ensure adequate living standards including accessibility for persons with physical disabilities;  

• Establish community representative structures for IDPs and enhancing community participation through risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) and CFMs;  

• Strengthen the capacity of CCCM partners and government authorities on core concepts and practices. 

IOM’s community engagement and policing interventions aim to build trust between key border agencies and border communities at critical crossing points. This trust is essential to foster enhanced collaboration during times of crisis, which are frequent in certain border regions. By strengthening relationships, programming will ensure that, in the event of a mass influx of people due to man-made or natural hazard-induced disasters in neighbouring countries, communities and authorities are better equipped to work together. The intervention will create a more resilient and cooperative environment at the local level, ensuring effective responses in emergencies. 

• Engage communities through awareness campaigns on protection issues, security risks, and the role of community policing in safeguarding vulnerable groups. 

• Ensure that community engagement and policing efforts are inclusive, focusing on the needs of women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities to guarantee their protection and participation. 

IOM supports climate and conflict-affected communities across Ethiopia to re-establish social, economic and governance structures. IOM will: 

• Implement inclusive governance dialogues and capacity strengthening to ensure community-driven solutions and recovery through the community-based planning (CBP) approach. The CBP approach allows communities to address their self-identified, multi-sectoral recovery priorities, including for example the rehabilitation of community infrastructures, such as WASH infrastructure, schools or health posts, as well as livelihoods, natural resource management or social cohesion efforts. 

In addition, IOM provides tailored economic empowerment support to returning migrants and their communities. This includes enhancing access to essential social services and fostering sustainable livelihoods in migration hotspots. In 2025, IOM will continue to: 

• Provide community-based support that addresses the economic and social needs of returnees and their communities. 

• Develop community-based action plans and empower communities to address challenges and use resources effectively. 

• Conduct awareness campaigns targeting host communities, including community members at risk of migrating irregularly.

IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) regularly and systematically monitors human mobility within Ethiopia to provide insight into the location, vulnerabilities, demographic breakdown and needs of displaced and mobile populations to enable accountable, evidence-based responses by IOM and other humanitarian and development partners. DTM’s data collection activities will include:  

• Conduct quarterly Site Assessment (SA) and Village Assessment Survey (VAS) to assess the multi-sectoral needs of IDPs and returning IDPs, as well as the absorption capacity of return communities. 

• Conduct weekly Event Tracking Tool capturing sudden population movements to ensure partners have up-to-date information to respond between regular rounds of the SA and VAS.  

• Conduct Household Level Surveys and deeper research of mobility trends and recurrent displacement to delve deeper into thematic concerns such as drought, durable solutions, and returns. 

• Conduct Flow Monitoring to capture inter- and intra-regional migration flows daily at key identified transit locations to inform development programming, including migrant assistance and protection programming.  

• Provide technical capacity strengthening on DTM tools and data protection for the government and partners to improve data management and technical capacity. 

• Conduct Transhumance Tracking within primarily pastoralist communities within the country to assess the impacts of climate change on traditional livelihoods and coping mechanisms, as well as inform early warning systems. 

IOM works to minimize, avert and address displacement related to natural hazards and climate change through improved disaster risk management, focusing on high-risk communities that are vulnerable to specific types of disasters and have limited access to early warning systems. IOM, through both direct implementation and the Rapid Response Fund, will: 

• Support the integration of climate mobility considerations into national and regional policies and plans to ensure climate-driven mobility is effectively addressed at the policy level. 

• Support establishing and strengthening early warning systems linked to the Early Warnings for All Initiative, of which Ethiopia is a first-round cohort country. 

• Facilitate the development of community-specific disaster risk reduction plans that incorporate the use of technology for early warning and response. 

• Implement emergency preparedness measures, including pre-positioning of essential supplies and equipment as well as capacity strengthening of local authorities to facilitate quick disaster response. 

• Collaborate with local authorities and communities to ensure coordinated disaster response efforts, with a focus on the immediate safety and protection of vulnerable groups, including women, children, and persons with disabilities. 

IOM works through the health cluster and in collaboration with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to provide essential and lifesaving primary health care services to IDPs, returning IDPs, migrants and host communities. In addition, IOM supports the recovery and strengthening of resilient health systems and supports health system preparedness, disease surveillance and response capacities at points of entry, along mobility corridors and in return locations. IOM will: 

• Deliver comprehensive lifesaving primary health care and nutrition services, integrating MHPSS and gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation for vulnerable populations in priority areas. 

• Support government health facilities by deploying mobile health and nutrition teams to hard-to-reach and/or vulnerable communities.  

• Provide vaccinations and nutrition screening, including the management of malnutrition, health promotion, and education at the facility and community levels. 

• Provide comprehensive reproductive health care services to women of reproductive age, including antenatal, delivery, family planning services, and postnatal care and referrals. 

• Provide capacity-strengthening for government health workers and partners, including on the use of population mobility mapping to strengthen disease surveillance at borders. 

• Procure and donate essential medicines and supplies. 

• Strengthen digitalized health information systems. 

• Rehabilitate damaged health facilities, particularly in conflict-affected areas. 

• Participate in the preparedness and response of national technical working groups, such as for cholera, measles and malaria. 

• Strengthen the government’s capacity on disease surveillance and outbreak preparedness, including at points of entry, and through an integrated approach with WASH teams. 

• Support the response to emerging illnesses such as dengue fever, typhus fever, influenza, West Nile virus, and haemorrhagic fevers.

A comprehensive humanitarian border management (HBM) framework aims to equip Ethiopia to effectively manage migration before, during, and after crises, ensuring the safety of migrants and the resilience of border management systems. Ethiopia currently lacks a HBM framework, which limits its preparedness and response to crises that involve migration flows, such as the recent Sudan civil war. During such events, the absence of a structured approach forces reactive measures, leaving the country underprepared to manage large-scale border crossings.

IOM will: 

• Support the operationalization of Art.16 of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, specifically the operationalization of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) on admission and stay for people displaced across borders in disaster situations.  

• Support respective administrative entities in developing crisis simulations, inter-agency contingency planning, training and capacity-strengthening on HBM. Target entities are border management agencies such as border guards and police, immigration, customs, and health officials, supported by non-law enforcement institutions and entities, including but not limited to civil protection, child protection and family services, gender mainstreaming, and by extension, their referral services. 

• Support the installation and use of mobile border management information systems for the registration, collection and analysis of data on migration movements, particularly before, during, and after crisis. 

Ethiopia is transitioning from a legislative-driven approach to migration governance to a more comprehensive and strategic policy-led migration governance, which integrates crisis-driven mobility and migrants in vulnerable situations. The upcoming adoption of the National Migration Policy Framework, including internal displacement and immediate assistance to migrants in need, will lead to organic, legislative, and subsidiary reviews. IOM’s proposed intervention will: 

• Support the strengthening of the National and Regional Partnership Coalitions, mandated to coordinate among governmental and non-governmental stakeholders on migration issues.  

• Strengthen the establishment and functioning of the newly established IDP technical working group at the federal and regional levels (Tigray, Oromia, and Somalia in particular). 

• Support advocacy and implementation of the recently launched regional durable solutions strategies. 

IOM will provide support to strengthen housing, land, and property (HLP) rights and tenure security. In 2025, IOM will continue to: 

• Provide information on land tenure systems.

• Raise awareness and strengthen capacities among affected people, duty bearers and other stakeholders. 

• Provide legal assistance on HLP to recover damaged or destroyed HLP documentation, and support ownership verification via the due diligence process.   

• Raise awareness and strengthen capacities among to woreda level land administration authorities and technical staff.

IOM will support the Government of Ethiopia’s National Identification Program. Through IOM’s expertise and partnership with the government, IOM will ensure that vulnerable IDPs are registered into the national ID system. This registration will enable IDPs to access essential services, such as health care and social support, improving their protection and overall well-being. By integrating these individuals into the national ID program, the intervention aims to provide them with the necessary tools to access critical services and enhance their resilience during displacement. IOM will: 

• Facilitate the registration of IDPs in key regions into the national ID system. 

• Support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to avail its consular and protection services to its citizens by (re) issuing legal identity documents to crisis-affected migrants, such as Ethiopian migrant workers who are being caught in several crisis situations (with a focus on Lebanon and Jordan, as well as Yemen, Sudan and South Sudan).

IOM supports livelihood restoration and strengthening to improve the socioeconomic conditions of displacement-affected communities, mitigate negative coping mechanisms and reduce inter-communal tensions, thereby establishing the foundations for sustainable economic recovery and poverty reduction. IOM will: 

• Scale up support to sustainable livelihoods through on-farm interventions, such as crop production, livestock promotion, horticulture, beekeeping, poultry, etc. 

• Scale up off-farm interventions, including entrepreneurship, business and enterprise development, skills and vocational training, access to finance and job creation, etc.  

• Improve financial stability for vulnerable communities through financial literacy training and access to finance. 

• Facilitate the adaptation of livelihoods to the effects of climate change. 

• Support the socioeconomic empowerment of marginalized groups such as women and youth.

IOM provides comprehensive, integrated, and community-based MHPSS services that promote resilience, mental health, and overall well-being of crisis-affected populations. IOM provides MHPSS at the individual, family, and community levels, contributing to wider efforts to mend social fabrics and strengthen social cohesion. In addition, IOM supports the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen systems for mental health and psychosocial support. Activities are aligned with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) pyramid of intervention, covering all four levels, as well as IOM’s Manual on Community-based MHPSS in Emergencies and Displacement. IOM implements MHPSS programming directly and through RRF sub-granting to international and national NGOs. In 2025, IOM will: 

• Integrate mental health and psychosocial support teams with mobilized health and nutrition teams to provide direct MHPSS services.  

• Provide direct services including individual and group counselling, psychological first aid (PFA), psychoeducation, awareness sessions, referral to specialized mental health services. 

• Organize socio-relational and recreational activities (such as sport and play, creative and art-based activities, or cultural activities) to re-build the supportive social network of the affected population.  

• Support capacity-strengthening for government workers and partners on the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (MhGAP), PFA for teachers, and other priority topics. 

• Procure psychotropics for government facilities and PSS materials and supplies. 

• Directly provide MHPSS as part of community stabilization programming, to support individual recovery and social cohesion efforts. 

• Provide of multi-layered MHPSS to victims of trafficking (VoTs), returning migrants and stranded migrants, including support to reintegration and community acceptance (anti-stigma). 

In coordination with UNHCR, the GoE’s Refugees and Returnee Service (RRS), the GoE’s Immigration and Citizen Services (ICS), and other partners, IOM will provide emergency movement assistance to refugees. IOM assistance will include:  

• Provide emergency movement assistance by land in a timely, safe, voluntary, and dignified manner from conflict-affected locations and points of entry (PoEs) to designated camps in Ethiopia or between camps.   

• As part of the movement continuum, conduct pre-departure health checks prior to the movement to ensure identified health needs can be accounted for and referred. Experienced medical and operations staff are deployed in operational areas to ensure beneficiaries’ safety and dignity.  

• Provide medical escorts for individuals with significant medical conditions, as well as care and supervision during travel.   

• Ensure that an effective feedback mechanism is in place so that beneficiaries receive adequate and timely information about access to travel and movement assistance and to ensure that any issues encountered along the movement assistance can be reported back to IOM. 

• Provide onward transportation assistance to migrants, facilitating their travel to final destinations and providing bus tickets for returnees through facilities such as MRCs.  

IOM supports national and local processes to promote peace and reconciliation and the building of an inclusive peace infrastructure and dispute resolution mechanisms. IOM will: 

• Strengthen customary conflict management mechanisms through mapping and capacity strengthening. 

• Foster community-based peacebuilding through community dialogues between groups in conflict, peace education and support community-based peacebuilding initiatives. 

• Promote innovative peacebuilding through media literacy training, trauma healing through arts and literature, and environmental peacebuilding initiatives. 

• Establish and train youth and women peace ambassadors to actively promote peace, coexistence, and harmony within their communities. 

• Conduct peace education in schools and communities, media campaigns promoting peace and tolerance, cultural exchange programs, interfaith dialogue.; 

• Organize peace festivals and cultural events, artistic performances promoting peace, art therapy and storytelling, 

• Promote sports for promoting social cohesion and solidarity; 

• Build partnerships between communities’ organizations, government agencies, and international organizations, knowledge sharing and capacity strengthening. 

IOM delivers inter-related and mutually supporting protection interventions grounded in protection analysis to effectively prevent, mitigate and respond to identified protection risks. In 2025, IOM will focus on addressing the needs of populations facing protection violations and risks, with a focus on women and girls, unaccompanied and separated children, and persons with specific needs (older persons and persons with disabilities, among others). IOM will: 

• Support affected groups and communities to leverage their own capacities for protection, with interventions aimed at supporting community-based protection mechanisms and reducing barriers to services, through a Do No Harm approach.  

• Respond to protection incidents and devise sector-specific risk mitigation measures, including GBV safety audits, activity and site design, and trainings to sectoral partners on incident disclosures and safe referrals. 

• Establish or strengthen access to specialized services for vulnerable migrants, including returnees and unaccompanied and separated children, through referrals and family tracing and reunification (FTR).  

• Provide case management services, including GBV and child protection, life-saving assistance at onset of crises and upon return to Ethiopia, psychosocial support, access to legal assistance, provision of information on available services, and referrals to specialized service providers. 

• Train local officials and first responders in child protection, counter-trafficking and/or smuggling of migrants and provide information on existing referral mechanisms for vulnerable migrants.  

• Implement awareness campaigns to inform communities about the dangers of unsafe migration and ways to mitigate associated risks. 

• Mitigate protection risks in durable solutions programming through an integrated approach including case management support, promotion of equal participation and dialogue, and information on services.  

• Conduct regular protection monitoring on risk and protection operational environment as well as produce protection analysis in coordination with the Protection Cluster. 

Ethiopia has a largely young population, with about 70 per cent of the country’s population under 29 years of age. The country’s demographics means that the labour market needs to create nearly two million jobs every year – a difficult undertaking for an economy largely dependent on public sector employment. As a result, 25 per cent of Ethiopia’s working age young people are not in education, employment or training and many Ethiopians, particularly from crisis-affected regions, attempt dangerous irregular migration journeys in search of employment. In response, GoE considers labour migration as a critical strategy. IOM proposes to: 

• Support the development of a Skills Mobility Partnership with a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) or European Union country through targeted skills development also benefiting/targeting crisis-affected populations.  

• Support youth entrepreneurship in areas recovering from crisis (Tigray or Amhara if conditions allow) and prone to irregular migration.  

IOM implements shelter and settlements programming directly and through RRF sub-granting to international and national NGOs. In 2025, IOM will: 

•  Provide emergency shelter, essential household items, cash-for-rent, repair and maintenance of household and emergency communal shelters for displacement-affected populations, returnees, and host communities through hybrid shelter assistance consisting of in-kind kits and conditional cash assistance.  

• Support durable solution initiatives by providing longer-lasting housing solutions to displacement-affected communities (returned, relocated, or locally integrated) through the provision of housing, land and property (HLP) support, housing repairs, spatial planning, community-based planning, and capacity-strengthening initiatives focused on “building back safer” techniques. 

• Improve the housing condition of returnees through vouchers and conditional cash and pilot market fairs to operate in locations where markets have been impacted by crises.  

• Through the RRF, maintain a shelter materials and NFI pipeline to support Cluster partners to rapidly respond to urgent needs.  

• As ES/NFI Cluster coordinator, strengthen Cluster coordination, and continue to provide strategic and technical guidance and support to Cluster partners

IOM will focus on enhancing the capacities of local actors and government entities to respond to migration management challenges on the Eastern Route through:  

• Establish or improve national and cross-border referral mechanisms for vulnerable migrants by training government officials and stakeholders on migration issues, migrant rights, and international legal frameworks. This includes providing support to government entities through improved equipment and infrastructure. 

• Produce strategies, advocacy documents, research studies, and communication products to aid resource mobilization and cross-border coordination initiatives, including border assessments.  

Through the Rapid Response Fund, IOM will provide essential coordination, logistics, and technical assistance to partners implementing life-saving interventions during emergencies. Key activities will include: 

• Logistical support to partners: Enable the rapid transport, warehousing, and distribution of life-saving supplies such as shelter materials, WASH items, and NFIs, ensuring they reach affected populations quickly. 

• Coordination of response efforts: Facilitate coordination among partners to ensure integrated and effective delivery of services, avoiding duplication and ensuring critical needs are met in sectors such as CCCM, WASH, shelter, and protection. 

• Information management: Support partners in gathering, analyzing, and sharing real-time data to ensure informed decision-making, helping to identify needs, gaps, and resources during emergencies. 

• Technical support and capacity building: Strengthen the capacity of partners through technical assistance, training, and resource provision to enhance the effectiveness of life-saving activities. 

• Monitoring and evaluation: Assist partners in real-time monitoring and evaluation to ensure that life-saving interventions are effective, targeted, and responsive to the evolving needs of crisis-affected populations.

IOM works closely with key government and non-government actors to support the preparatory processes, implementation of transitional justice (TJ) policy, and targeted outreach on TJ in Ethiopia. In 2025, IOM Ethiopia will: 

• Continue supporting implementation of the TJ Policy and the Roadmap for Implementation through capacity strengthening and technical assistance to national stakeholders, including government and civil society.  

• In collaboration with the TJ Policy Secretariat, identify priority areas for IOM contribution for the phases 3-5 of the implementation of the TJ Roadmap, including populations’ access to information, documentation, legal services, and other protection services.   

• Support institutions in designing and implementing reparation policies, including restoration of HLP rights.  

• Support survivors of rights violations and sexual and gender-based Violence (SGBV) to benefit from reparations programs to access their rights and benefits. 

• Support non-governmental actors and regional states to enhance their engagement in the implementation of the TJ policy in Ethiopia. 

• Promote reconciliation initiatives to foster dialogue and understanding between different groups. 

• Initiate peace education and awareness programmes to prevent future abuses and relapse to conflict. 

IOM will implement life-saving WASH activities targeting IDP sites and returning migrants at points of entry (PoEs), including the provision of WASH services and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. IOM will also implement durable WASH solutions in response to the drought situation in southern Ethiopia and to support returnees in post-crisis contexts to recover, including investment in sustainable water supply systems in collaboration with the regional/zonal water bureau or offices. IOM implements WASH programming directly and through RRF sub-granting to international and national NGOs. IOM will: 

• Provide access to safe water supply through pipeline connections, rehabilitation of existing handpumps and/or small-scale water schemes, and water trucking. IOM will also distribute water treatment chemicals and provide water quality testing kits where applicable/appropriate. 

• Increase access to sanitation services through the construction of emergency latrine and shower stances, desludging of latrine stances, and solid waste management. 

• Improve water access by connecting to existing power grids or solarizing water schemes for increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness, including establishment of cost-recovery systems to ensure sustainability and continued maintenance by zonal water offices. 

• Improve access to WASH services in schools and health facilities including the establishment of school and health clubs. 

• Continue hygiene promotion, risk communication and awareness campaigns through community volunteers using varying methods including, but not limited to, door-to-door, group counselling, and mass campaigns. 

• Provide critical WASH NFIs including menstrual hygiene management products and soaps for personal hygiene and handwashing, and cleaning materials for environmental and sanitation facilities management.