Papua New Guinea Crisis Response Plan 2024

Last updated: June 22 2024
$17,650,000
Funding required
96,000
People Targeted

IOM Vision

IOM partners with the government at national and sub-national levels to respond to complex emergencies, reduce and mitigate the impacts of disaster displacement, and build peace. IOM works with partners and local communities to reduce exposure to natural hazards, build resilience and facilitate climate change adaptation through community-based planning interventions, as well as strengthening trust, contributing to shared peace, security, equality, justice and social cohesion goals.

Key Operating Modalities
Participation and empowerment Conflict sensitivity Integrated Programming Collaboration and partnership Localization
Cross-cutting priorities
Data and evidence Protection Mainstreaming Gender Equality Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse Disaster Risk Climate Change

Objective 1 - Saving lives and protecting people on the move
Objective
Saving lives and protecting people on the move

$14,300,000
Funding required
80,000
People Targeted
9
Entities Targeted
Internally displaced person, Local population / community
Primary target groups
Description of People and Entities Targeted

IOM works with disaster-affected communities, as well as with local authorities to collect data in a timely manner and respond to lifesaving needs, including protection, targeting disaster-affected communities. In parallel, IOM will continue its strong involvement in support to conflict-affected communities in PNG, especially in the Highlands region, ensuring national leadership of the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) and Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFI) Cluster, while seeking to expand in partnership with actors within and beyond the cluster, potentially including local Civil Society Organizations / Community-Based Organizations (CSO/CBO) networks. This equally applies to mass displacements caused by natural hazards.

In partnership with the local authorities, primarily the Provincial Disaster Centres, IOM will use the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and Solution and Mobility Index (SMI) for refined data-gathering processes and will lead field visits in identified displacement communities to collect data on profiles, challenges, needs, perceptions, and feedback from displaced and host communities across provinces that have been affected by emergencies or are deemed susceptible to population displacement due to volcano eruptions, climate change, man-made tribal and inter-tribal conflict, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, and cyclones. The information gathered will help to inform response and recovery planning, as well as the drafting of PNG’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Policy, which IOM is leading in partnership with the Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office. Specifically, IOM targets vulnerable communities identified through DTM and SMI assessments, as well as in collaboration with, or through referrals from, the relevant state authorities and key partners on the ground. 

Funding confirmed 3%
97% Funding gap

Basic needs, including food and multi-purpose cash assistance

IOM will address immediate food needs and protection concerns while facilitating livelihood recovery for vulnerable conflict-affected populations. This will involve integrating protection measures and mainstreaming gender-based violence (GBV) considerations into food distribution processes. Additionally, livelihood support initiatives, including equipping communities with climate smart trainings, seedlings and gardening tools, will be implemented alongside food distribution efforts to promote sustainable recovery and resilience-building among affected communities, ensuring recipient families' nutrition and energy needs are met. The food distribution will be done following PNG Emergency Minimum Required Food Basket Items to ensure the intake of 2,100 kcals per person per day following the Sphere minimum standards. IOM will also conduct food security assessments aimed at understanding the situation, current needs, and how to meet those needs; estimate how many people need assistance; identify groups at the highest risk and provide a baseline to monitor the impact of humanitarian response.

IOM will distribute basic emergency relief items, including food assistance and non-food items (NFIs), in response to the Maip Mulitaka landslide-affected populations, and in coordination with relevant clusters and humanitarian actors. Due to the logistical challenges and difficulties in accessing the area affected by the May 2024 landslide, IOM has been asked by a number of organizations and donors to support the distribution of their relief items. 

Funding required
$2,400,000
Plan types

Camp coordination and camp management

IDPs' camp-like settings or gathering points are commonly referred to as care centres in PNG, most often existing infrastructures used as gathering and evacuation sites. IOM will work in close cooperation with the government in establishing well-functioning evacuation management in collective centres and will provide technical support to maintain effective CCCM service, particularly in terms of evacuation and transit. IOM will also support the authorities with the administration and management of the displacement sites, including coordination of the service provision in displacement sites and centres and capacity building of government officials, humanitarian partners and faith-based organizations in CCCM and protection standards. IOM will also work with state officials and community focal points to ensure that displacement communities are well represented and participate in decision-making related to their situation. As Shelter, CCCM & NFI cluster lead, IOM will coordinate service provision in the sites as required.

In response to the Maip Mulitaka landslide, IOM will further work in close cooperation with the Government in establishing well-functioning care centres and will provide technical support to maintain effective CCCM service in the displacement sites. 

Funding required
$570,000
Plan types

Provision of water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies

IOM will distribute and maintain a contingency stock of basic emergency WASH NFIs and dignity kits to be able to respond to sudden events of displacement. While the WASH NFI distribution targets vulnerable families, the dignity kits will be distributed to those families based on the number of women of reproductive age. The contents of the hygiene and dignity kits will be determined, ensuring Sphere minimum standards and local context-adapted packages from WASH and Protection clusters. The distribution of WASH NFIs and hygiene kits and the intervention on water schemes will be accompanied by hygiene promotion work to make people aware of crucial public health risks related to water, sanitation, and hygiene and measures to be taken by individuals, households, and communities to reduce them. The hygiene promotion work will be based on the identified main public health risks and the current hygiene practices that contribute to these risks. IOM also has the capacity of installing and rehabilitating the WASH facilities at the evacuation sites during emergency.

In response to the May 2024 landslide, IOM will provide hygiene and dignity kits to affected populations. While the hygiene items distribution targets vulnerable households, the dignity items will be distributed to identified households based on the number of women of reproductive age. In light of the Government’s declaration for evacuation and relocation of all affected populations, IOM will support the Government’s efforts to find durable solutions for displaced communities while ensuring access to clean and safe water and hygienic conditions through WASH kits, repair and construction of WASH infrastructure, and provision of hygiene promotion activities and materials.  

Funding required
$2,090,000
Plan types

Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian response

Notably in response to the May 2024 landslide, IOM will support with the strengthening of local health systems and promote integrated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), including the provision of psychological first aid (PFA) training to frontline workers and community leaders, community and family support activities for affected communities, and referral of people in need to specialized care.

Funding required
$400,000
Plan types

Shelter and settlements

Access to adequate and appropriate shelter to ensure that the most vulnerable are not at risk and do not resort to negative coping mechanisms is vital, considering shelter has been cited as an acute need among displacement-affected communities. In 2023 during the emergency response and for election-related violence, earthquake and volcanic eruption in PNG, IOM provided shelter kits, which enabled the targeted households to make temporary shelters, in alignment with Sphere standards while living in care centres. Safe shelter training was also conducted to the IDPs to build a strong and safe shelter. IOM’s approach is to provide case-by-case support to the targeted affected households to ensure appropriate adapting of the kits to needs and to ensure maximum impact.

Additional support is required for host families in need of shelter support to extend their housing area/coverage to protect from external elements and mitigate protection risks associated with overcrowding. IOM will collaborate with community networks to facilitate beneficiary identification and collect vulnerability criteria of households, prioritizing persons with disabilities/elderly/minor-headed households/female-headed households, etc. Based on the lessons learned from the previous earthquake response, IOM will work on community mobilization and peer assistance to support.

In order to alleviate the immediate shelter needs of the landslide-affected population, IOM will distribute household shelter kits, which will enable the targeted households to make temporary shelters and rebuild new shelters in alignment with safe shelter trainings which will also be conducted for the IDPs to build a strong and safe shelter. IOM will support the Government and communities with durable housing solutions at the relocation site. 

Funding required
$5,700,000
Funding confirmed
$167,803
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types
2%
Funding confirmed
98%
Funding gap

Protection

During humanitarian responses, IOM is committed to mainstream protection and GBV risk mitigation to alleviate threats to lives, dignity and the well-being of crisis-affected populations. In line with this frame, IOM is committed to the Centrality of Protection in PNG following the IOM’s Institutional Framework for Addressing Gender-Based Violence in crises (GBViC) and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Protection Policy. IOM’s interventions include building local capacity through providing dedicated trainings to village leaders, disaster management committees, GBV and Child Protection focal points, and youth volunteers on how to identify the needs of vulnerable groups, mitigate protection risks during disaster response and safely respond to disclosure of protection-related incidents. Also, IOM will support the establishment of community engagement forums and community discussions with community leaders on protection risks, ensuring that the roles of women and other vulnerable groups in the event of disaster response and recovery are meaningfully taken into account. IOM will also support government stakeholders and civil society organizations to strengthen coordination and referral pathways for child protection, GBV and trafficking in persons (TiP) cases.

Further, IOM will mainstream protection throughout all stages of its response to the Maip Mulitaka landslide, including relocation, as well as undertaking targeted protection programming, including capacity building of local stakeholders for community-based protection, specialized services for people at risk of gender-based violence (GBV), and the establishment of safe houses. 

Funding required
$740,000
Funding confirmed
$180,066
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types
24%
Funding confirmed
76%
Funding gap

Emergency preparedness

IOM’s emergency preparedness activities aim at increasing the skills and knowledge of vulnerable communities through awareness raising in disaster-prone areas to assess risks, capacity, needs, and gaps to build resilience to natural hazards through the delivery of baseline assessment and training on CBDRM. IOM will further support CBDRM planning sessions in the target communities, considering gender-mainstreaming and youth empowerment. IOM will also support the organization of simulation exercises for a community-based early warning and evacuation system established as a part of the CBDRM plan, observed by provincial, district, and local level government authorities. In addition, IOM will deliver trainings on Safe Shelter and Build Back Safer to vulnerable communities, as well as to relevant local-level government officials. IOM will support further involvement of sub-national governments by facilitating discussions between the exposed communities and sub-national governments to promote more active participation in community-based evacuation drills and more technical and financial contribution from the sub-national governments to implement community projects for risk mitigation.

Funding required
$1,750,000
Plan types

Displacement tracking

IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) programme will continue providing an essential evidence base to enable humanitarian, health, and development partners and counterparts to maximize resources and deliver better-targeted, timely and mobility sensitive assistance to returned, displaced, mobile, and host communities. DTM will implement one round of Baseline Mobility Assessments (BMA) and Community-based Needs Assessments (CBNA) at the community level in areas affected by conflict and natural hazards. BMA and CBNA will provide an evidence base and mapping of communities that host return, displaced and migrant populations to inform and ensure better-targeted delivery of essential services by partners, counterparts and stakeholders, IOM will also deploy and pilot the Solutions and Mobility Index (SMI) in the Highlands region to inform further interventions aimed at addressing the multisectoral needs of particularly fragile areas and communities. SMI will support in allowing for regular tracking of conditions (related to housing, access to services, livelihoods, social cohesion, security conditions, etc.) which will allow for enhanced understanding of conflict dynamics, better targeting of assistance, tracking of improvement or deterioration of conditions over time, etc.

IOM will ensure male-female participation in the focus groups, to attain essential, sex-disaggregated inputs, especially regarding the needs of communities, by employing female enumerators to ensure that everyone is able to seek assistance, share information, and participate in activities without any obstacle that may be posed by gender. IOM also ensures capturing the needs of other vulnerable groups, such as  older persons and people with disabilities, who are consistently included in the data collection and take an active part in the programs whenever possible, for example in the CBDRMs. Finally, DTM enumerators will receive basic training on how to ensure data confidentiality and respond to disclosures of GBV including incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).

In response to the Maip Mulitaka landslide, IOM deployed the DTM site assessment tool and is co-leading with the government in the registration of the beneficiaries, a register that will be shared with other humanitarian actors, including other UN agencies, to inform evidence-based planning and programming. 

Funding required
$650,000
Funding confirmed
$4,815
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types

Multi-sectoral support

Includes funding which supports multi-sectoral interventions or cannot be attributed to a specific activity area.
Funding confirmed
$143,571
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types
IDPs at a care centre in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Photo © IOM 2023
IDPs at a care centre in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Photo © IOM 2023

Objective 2 - Driving solutions to displacement
Objective
Driving solutions to displacement

$3,350,000
Funding required
80,000
People Targeted
9
Entities Targeted
Internal migrant, Internally displaced person, Local population / community, Refugee
Primary target groups
Description of People and Entities Targeted

Some of the country’s regions suffer from social fragility and limited social cohesion, with limited state presence and a significant number of tribal disputes that result in violence. Violent disputes can spread swiftly across regions and into urban areas and are exacerbated by competition over scarce natural resources and exposure to the effects of natural hazards, such as drought and damaged infrastructure. While the effects of climate change do not directly cause violent conflict, they can multiply risks known to contribute to insecurity and overburden limited community and state resources, making already vulnerable communities more desperate and susceptible to incidences of violence.

To support social cohesion, mitigate the impact of climate change and address underlying causes of conflict and drivers of displacement, IOM will continue to work with local communities, the National Disaster Centre, Climate Change Development Authority, sub-national government (provincial, district and local level), and partners.

The impact of climate change and natural hazards has been increasing in frequency, intensity and scale, challenging the ability of communities to cope using their indigenous/traditional risk reduction knowledge. IOM will work with fragile communities which will be supported in community-based resilience-building applying methodologies through Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) Planning and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) projects to strengthen the capacity of the government at the national and sub-national levels, and local vulnerable communities to build resilience including strengthening preparedness to emergency situations. 

Funding confirmed 50%
50% Funding gap

Community stabilization

IOM will contribute to an enabling environment for the sustainable reintegration of returnees and communities in areas of high return in which returnees reach a level of economic self-sufficiency, social stability within their community, and psychosocial wellbeing that enable them to cope with evolving challenges, with a particular focus on women and youth. 

IOM will foster employability and increase employment opportunities in the labour market, by providing target beneficiaries with tailored technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and business skills. Specific attention will be placed on pre-existing skills, experience, educational profile, intentions, and preferences. Returnees, particularly women and youth, will enrol in market-driven technical and vocational training in local businesses; business management training will be provided to selected returnees, with an emphasis on women and youth; and start-up tools and equipment, including using cash modalities if feasible, will be provided to graduates to start their own businesses or seek employment. In addition, IOM provided agricultural and farming skills training to vulnerable communities in rice and cocoa production for food security purposes and also part of the income generating initiatives. 

In response to the Maip Mulitaka landslide, IOM plans to undertake Community Based Planning (CBP) with a focus on increasing community resilience to disasters following the planned relocation. CBP will help to inform community-driven needs and stabilization interventions. 

Funding required
$850,000
Plan types

Peacebuilding and peace preservation

Based on the identified unique drivers of conflict, IOM will work to implement key peacebuilding interventions through community-based planning techniques for example, strengthening infrastructures for peace through establishing networks of community mobilizers, establishing peace centres as neutral spaces for interaction and mediation, by young women, establishing youth hubs for empowering youth complemented by capacitating youth leaders in peacebuilding, and enhancing the capacity of traditional/local leadership in conflict management. Infrastructures include projects to improve village-level courts and setting up peace centres/multi-purpose centres. Community mobilizers are networks of committed individuals, sometimes self-organized in informal associations, that aim to contribute to dialogue and participate in conflict resolution. IOM will also work to enhance intra- and intergroup dialogue and mediation through directly supporting community-level conflict mediation, supporting the role of women mediators through the identification and inclusion of women leaders and community members in all initiatives, and facilitating local peace conferences.

Through a community engagement and policing (CEP) approach, including training of local and provincial leadership in conflict-sensitive development, local-level governance and decentralization, IOM will facilitate the development of and implementation of community peace for development plans. This will include small grant projects, facilitating access to essential services, supporting provincial-level conflict-sensitive development planning, the establishment of feedback mechanisms to enhance institutional accountability and conflict monitoring and mapping for early warning and early action, and strengthening local governance and post-conflict recovery efforts.

In response the Maip Mulitaka landslide and Government declaration of mass evacuation and relocation, IOM will leverage its Community Peace for Development activities to support planning sessions and organize community engagement forums to identify peacebuilding solutions that could also encourage development during and after relocation. 

Funding required
$2,100,000
Funding confirmed
$34,247
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types
1%
Funding confirmed
99%
Funding gap

Adaptation and disaster risk reduction

Together with selected UN partners, IOM will pilot early/anticipatory action programming in the country and collaborate with regional anticipatory action initiatives, such as the framework of the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF)-funded mechanisms or Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) initiatives. IOM aims to pilot anticipatory action related to the risk of natural hazards, specifically tropical cyclones and tsunamis in the most vulnerable provinces. IOM will also aim to implement the Early Warning for All Initiative and broaden community level access to multi-hazard early warning systems as part of its DRR programming.

In response the Maip Mulitaka landslide and Government declaration of mass evacuation and relocation, IOM seeks to implement the Community-Based Disaster Risk Management intervention in the target areas of intervention, as part of CBP programming. 

Funding required
$250,000
Funding confirmed
$1,656,684
Last updated: 10 Jun 2024
Plan types
100%
Funding confirmed
0%
Funding gap

Land and property

In response to the Government’s declaration of the mass evacuation and relocation of communities affected by the May 2024 landslide, IOM will provide legal counseling, disseminate information, and train partners on housing, land and property (HLP) issues to remove barriers for affected individuals from accessing their HLP rights. 

Funding required
$50,000
Plan types

Livelihoods and economic recovery

In response the May 2024 landslide and Government declaration of mass evacuation and relocation, IOM aims to strengthen the economic resilience of affected individuals while promoting social cohesion in the longer term. IOM will support affected communities to build sustainable, equitable and resilient livelihoods and income security, through community-based socioeconomic planning and savings groups, trainings on financial management, saving, and investment, and livelihood diversification.

Funding required
$100,000
Plan types
Operational presence in

Papua New Guinea

7
International staff and affiliated work force
29
National staff and affiliated work force
1
IOM field office

The map used here is for illustration purposes only. Names and boundaries do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IOM.

Figures are as of 31 December 2023. For more details of IOM's operational capacity in country, please see the IOM Capacity section.

With thanks to our current donors