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In the context of assisting in the transition and recovery of conflict affected societies and communities, IOM has supported Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programmes for ex-combatants/fighters and their communities of return, through more than 120 projects over the last 25 years. IOM’s involvement in DDR derives from the Organization’s commitment to the prevention and resolution of the drivers of crisis-induced displacement, as well as its mandate to provide reintegration assistance for migrants and displaced populations, including ex-combatants/ fighters. In 2018, IOM implemented 28 DDR projects in 5 regions, covering 9 different countries. While IOM supports a range of DDR processes including support to disengagement and demobilization processes, its primary contribution to DDR is in reintegration work at the individual, community and structural/institutional levels. At the individual level, IOM supports ex-combatants/fighters and their dependents in their transition to civilian life through vocational, educational, business development and skills training, health and psychosocial support, administrative assistance and a range of social reintegration activities. Simultaneously, through context-specific, community-based efforts to rebuild social cohesion and provide for material recovery, IOM works to strengthen communities and create environments conducive to sustainable return, reintegration and reconciliation.

Demonstrating commitment to upholding legal norms and humanitarian principles, and ensuring access, in 2018, IOM invested in further operationalization and dissemination of its commitments to principled humanitarian action. Training materials and tools have been developed to support the implementation of the institutional humanitarian policy, Principles for Humanitarian Action, and the latter has been integrated into multiple in-house trainings targeting operational, managerial and policy staff as well as implementing partners. As of 2018, IOM is encouraging and offering to its staff at all levels, to achieve professional certifications in key humanitarian competency areas, such as international humanitarian law and the application of humanitarian principles in practice, in collaboration with the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP). In order to inform further internal reflection on access to rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance, a study on IOM’s engagement with armed non-state actors has been undertaken.

In line with its comprehensive approach to migration crisis that bridges humanitarian with development responses while respecting the primacy of humanitarian principles, in 2018, IOM has finalized multiple country-level crisis response strategic plans through a methodology that fully integrates the principles guiding humanitarian action.

In line with its commitment to effective and principled humanitarian partnerships, IOM has maintained active engagement at all levels with various actors, including consultation with humanitarian civil society partners. As a full member of the IASC, IOM continues to promote full access to and protection of humanitarian and medical mission.

Protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA)

In 2018, IOM developed two new protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) training packages for IOM staff and IOM’s Implementing Partners. The training has adopted an interactive methodology and it provides accurate information on procedures and guidelines to follow on the reporting process, the management of expectations when a case is reported and the duty of care responsibilities towards victims. These training packages have been established alongside the creation and implementation of the “We Are All In” misconduct platform. The “one-entry door” platform aims at making access to information on misconduct easier for all IOM staff, while also providing training and other awareness raising materials and streamlining the reporting process.  

IOM remained an active member of the IASC Task Team on accountability to affected populations (AAP)/PSEA and IASC’s official liaison with the UN Working Group on sexual exploitation and abuse. IOM continued the roll-out of the IASC PSEA Toolkit by creating and successfully delivering three regional "training of trainers" in East Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and West Africa regions that capacitated 75 PSEA Network Co-Chairs and Coordinators from 19 responses, who will further cascade down acquired knowledge through trainings and regional platforms. IOM continued exercising its unique mandate providing technical assistance on request to 26 in-country PSEA Networks and Country Teams on collective PSEA activities.

Gender-based violence prevention and response

IOM continued its work on mitigating vulnerability to gender-based violence in its shelter work through developing tools, capacity-building and supporting global initiatives. As co-lead of the gender-based violence (GBV) Risk Reduction Working Group of the Global Shelter Cluster (GSC), IOM produced a booklet, Distribution of Shelter materials, NFI and Cash: Guidance to reduce the risk of gender-based violence, which has been used in field- and global-level events and widely disseminated to cluster partners. Workshops were conducted in five countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Turkey and Yemen) to continue expanding GBV-prevention and mitigation mainstreaming responses in shelter, non-food items and site-planning activities. IOM continued its work developing and updating key tools to support these efforts, including the Site Planning booklet on Guidance to reduce the risk of gender-based violence. IOM also produced a third video on GBV mainstreaming - the theme of this video is how to respond to a disclosure of GBV incidents for non-specialists.

IDPs (due to conflict, violence, and disaster)

IOM’s Displacemet Tracking Matrix (DTM), the largest information system on human mobility, continued to actively participate in the Grand Bargain Needs Assessment work streams and co-led the outcome on Use of Data as well as contributed to the Joint Inter-Sectoral Analysis Group and also co-lead to the data work stream under the GP20 Plan of Action [cf. 20th Anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement]. IOM has co-led the development of the Needs Assessment Ethos document alongside UNHCR. The document outlines the values, principles and ethical behavior within the work of coordinated needs assessment and analysis. IOM also remained an active participant of the Expert Group for Refugee and IDP Statistics (EGRIS), in particular the IDP subgroup, to support the drafting of the International Recommendations for IDP Statistics (IRIS), which outlines key recommendations for National Statistical Offices to manage official statistics on IDPs. 

Further, guided by its Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations (PRDS) Framework, in 2018, IOM promoted resilience-orientated response and recovery, enabling impacted populations to better resist and recover from shocks and stressors, as a preventative action to reduce risks of further displacement through community stabilization projects in 17 countries, reflecting IOM concern towards achieving durable solutions in fragile contexts, in order to foster stability and integration.

Cross-border, disaster and climate related displacement

In 2018, IOM launched a project in West Africa involving returning migrants in community reintegration projects. It aimed at supporting community-level climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction so as to reduce displacement and forced out-migration linked to climate change and disasters. Further, IOM partnered with other UN agencies, civil society and the Platform on Disaster Displacement to roll out joint policy guidance tools to support reducing and addressing displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, including the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda, the Words into Action guidelines on Disaster Displacement, and the Toolbox on Planned Relocation to Protect People from Disasters and Environmental Change.

IOM also continued advocacy, communication and capacity building activities for policymakers together with its partners to help States and the international community at policy level to prepare for and address cross-border displacement due to disasters and climate change.

Other

In the Americas, IOM established and led, jointly with UNHCR, the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform, following the UN Secretary-General's appointment. The platform convenes close to a hundred partners to facilitate a coherent and well-coordinated analysis, strategic planning and operational response to the outflow and situation of Venezuelan migrants and refugees across 16 transit and destination countries in the Americas and the Caribbean. In the Middle East and Northern Africa region, IOM continues, jointly with UNHCR, to provide operational coordination and advisory role to the collective effort to address the needs of people in the move through Libya and Yemen and inform durable solutions. Migrants in mixed flows were traditionally not a de-facto target population in traditional humanitarian response plans, thus falling through the cracks and not on the radar for dedicated assistance and solution-finding. This coordinated approach using IOM’s mandate and operational footprint ensures they are not left behind and are at the forefront of assistance.

Empowerment of women and girls

In 2018, the Women's Participation Project was pursued, providing Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) actors with the tools to design strategies aimed to enhance displaced women's participation, including within site governance structures. Activities were implemented in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and South Sudan (with the Norwegian Refugee Council). Efforts were made towards better disability inclusion. The Women in Displacement on-line platform was launched, providing a space for CCCM agencies and humanitarian practitioners to share knowledge and tools on strategies to enhance the participation of women and girls affected by forced displacement. The platform was developed with the Women's Refugee Commission, in coordination with the global CCCM Cluster. IOM also participated in the revision and finalization of the Camp Management (CM) Standards, a core commitment in the Global CCCM Cluster in 2018. All five standards include components on gender equality and gender-based violence. In 2018, IOM CCCM team organized 12 training and workshops benefiting 326 staff, partners and authorities from 43 countries. There were 26 deployments of CCCM Experts from headquarters to 12 locations, including 6 countries affected by displacement crises. The revised Global CCCM Cluster training package integrating GBV was used throughout 2018 in various CCCM and site management operations.

Gender equality programming

IOM further pursued the integration of protection and GBV indicators into Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) operations. DTM, as standard procedure generates datasets with sex and age disaggregated data. DTM staff proactively work to ensure a gender balance in its key informant networks. Seventy-five per cent (75%) of active DTM operations have protection (GBV/CP) indicators which are integrated into data collection activities. IOM hosted the Global GBV Area of Responsibility Information Management Specialist, who collaborated with the DTM team. Building on the work done with the Child Protection Area of Responsibility, a guidance note on the use of DTM data was developed by GBV specialists.

The DTM also strengthened collaboration with key protection actors to improve the quality of data and analysis through the development of the DTM & Partners Toolkit.

IOM, in partnership with UNICEF, continued to work on the joint project to improve the evidence-base of needs and risks faced by children in situations of forced displacement or migration. Phase I ended in 2018 with a 3-country pilot to test the developed DTM indicators, joint Standard Operating Procedures, tools and training curriculums.

IOM improved its effort to understand trafficking trends, including risks affecting women and girls developing a specific counter-trafficking module for the DTM global training package. 

Sexual and reproductive health

Displaced persons living in camps or settlements face higher Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) risks including pregnancy complications, GBV and exposure to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, which require a holistic array of multi-sectoral interventions. The lack of access to safe health services and referral pathways for women and girls hinders essential prevention and continued care for pregnancy, childbirth emergencies and related mental health needs. These issues can be exacerbated by the breakdown of local governing systems that protect the rights of men, women and children.

In 2018, IOM programmes with integrated SRH activities grew by 10% compared with the previous year. IOM globally provided 220,406 antenatal care (ANC) consultations, supported 16,500 deliveries by skilled birth attendants, and supported referral of 2,905 women for emergency obstetric care. In Bangladesh, IOM enhanced access to SRH care for Rohingya Refugees in partnership with UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA. Community Health Workers (CHW) were trained to support community-based identification of pregnant mothers and referral for ANC and delivery. To date, 28,559 mothers were identified at household level and linked to a health service allowing a 116% increase in the number of facility-based births/month.

Disaster risk data collection/analysis

With an extensive network of over 5,000 enumerators and 125,000 key informants in the field, and a wealth of historical data from past responses, the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has continued to innovate with key partners.

IOM advanced its work with IDMC and Flowminder, to generate advanced analytics and models for displacement in disasters. Flowminder have unitized mobile phone metadata and DTM data to better understand disaster- related displacement trends by population groups, which fed into the development of predictive analysis and displacement risk modelling. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has developed displacement risk models that foster crowd-sourcing to enable enhanced statistical analysis and ensure that the value of available data is fully utilized. These areas of innovative analysis drive support to inform operational partners and government authorities responsible for disaster preparedness and response.

The DTM assumed the co-chair role of the data and knowledge working group of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) to help IOM steer the discussion on data collection and analysis, ensure that existing efforts and partnerships are considered, and harness better the academic debate within the forum. DTM continued to pursue partnerships with academic institutions to supplement analytical capacities and maximize use of data for learning and development.

Preparedness

IOM continued to support the efforts at country and regional level to bolster both internal and inter-agency preparedness for potential large-scale disasters and escalation of conflict situations that could lead to large-scale displacement situations by providing contingency planning and organised preparedness workshops. IOM contributed to preparedness for natural disasters in seven countries (including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Caribbean region) and to four countries for conflict escalation (including Libya, South Korea and Yemen).

IOM’s Camp Cluster and Camp Management (CCCM) engagement with civil protection resulted in the Mass Shelter Capabilities Toolbox (MaSC) in 2018. Based on consultations and workshops with civil protection experts from 32 different countries within the European Union (EU) Civil Protection Mechanisms (EUCP), partners agreed upon standardized tools to be used by EU member states in its preparedness for large-scale natural disasters requiring a camp management response. This project complemented the CCCM joint IOM – EUCP training held in Slovenia that had participants from over 20 European countries and established a draft framework for joint deployments, where civil protection and IOM would work closely to respond to the early requirements of the temporary management and coordination of camps or collective centers, before turning them over to longer-term management authorities.  

Other

In 2018, IOM advanced on its institutional commitment and drafted its first environmental policy, the principal aims of which will be to align IOM actions with global environmental standards and improve the environmental sustainability, resource efficiency and quality of IOM outcomes. The draft includes three environmental standards (safeguards) in line with international best practice. The draft IOM Environmental Policy is currently under internal review.

As the Organization faces the most significant environmental risks at the project level, a project level tool to assess, manage and monitor environmental risks and impacts (environmental marker system) is simultaneously under development.

IOM supported Governments to build stronger evidence to better plan for and design policies to address future migration and displacement in the context of climate change and environmental risks. In 2018 IOM supported research on migration, environment and climate change in 25 countries, which will provide the basis for future policy and operational planning.

Direct funding to national/local actors

In 2018, IOM introduced a new tracking system in order to better gauge the scope of its financial support to local partners. Country-specific mechanisms for building local partners' implementing capacity were also introduced in the East Africa region

To promote financing of outcomes by adapting approaches to meet needs, reduce risk and vulnerability, and increase resilience, IOM underlined the importance United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and Common Country Analysis (CCAs) to link to Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs) and Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNOs) in its input to the guidance notes for the revised UNDAFs. IOM also contributed to the IASC HDN Task Team’s input to the consultation on the OECD-DAC recommendation on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDPN), highlighting the need for transition and recovery programming that can contribute to conditions that are more conducive to development efforts as well as predictable, flexible and multi-year funding to this effect. These points were also stressed in a study conducted by IOM in 2018 on enablers and barriers to the operationalization of the HDPN, which will be shared with relevant stakeholders. IOM also pursued a shared vision across its own humanitarian, development, stabilization and peacebuilding interventions, through active Migration Crisis Operational Framework (MCOF) strategies supporting comprehensive and coherent programming in 13 countries. These are designed to promote a comprehensive and coherent response, prior to, during and after a crisis occurs, much in line with the HDPN. IOM undertook an internal evaluation of MCOF, which will help IOM further mainstream the pursuit of reducing needs, risks and vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience across its operations. Meanwhile other existing and forthcoming tools will bring further guidance to these efforts, including i.e. the community stabilization guidance note, conflict-sensitivity guidance, diaspora engagement tools, labour market surveys, entrepreneurship policy guide and training, and an SDG handbook launched in 2018.