ADSP Briefing Note: Local Integration? Insights from the field, and from a local NGO working on improving the resilience of displacement affected communities
According to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix “Baseline Mobility and Emergency Community-Based Needs Assessment, Round 15” conducted between March and April 2022 close to 5.9 million persons were deemed to be internally displaced in Afghanistan. Almost one-third (31%), were displaced between January 2021 and April 2022. The analysis produced to date in the country shows that following years of conflict and political instability, the economic and social structures of communities across Afghanistan have been severely tested, putting into question what durable solutions can mean in this context. Various and overlapping shocks – economic crisis, humanitarian crises, natural disasters and political instability – have tipped millions of Afghans into extreme poverty and into displacement.
Research by Samuel Hall for IOM in 2022 showed that community health is on the decline – meaning that communities do not have the resources to protect their own, with concerning signs of decreasing social cohesion and community protection systems. The WCLRF report confirms that community structures and local systems have been damaged, losing the capacity to cope with shocks, events, or emergencies that impact the lives of men, women and children.
While internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living under emergency conditions, they also face long-term challenges that impact their overall protection, for current and future generations, and their search for solutions adapted to their needs. This is why the NRC R3 consortium’s focus on recovery and resilience was one ‘key’ to the durable solutions conversation in Afghanistan.
There are opportunities for engagement, beyond humanitarian aid, and for advocacy with donors to support IDPs in the short and long term. This conversation is aligned with the United Nations Secretary General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement at the global level, as Afghanistan has been identified as one of the priority countries to transform the way in which internal displacement is addressed.
While the De facto Authorities (DfA) favour returns to areas of origin, all three durable solutions – including local integration and resettlement or relocation – need to be considered for a solutions-oriented approach, inclusive of the voices of the displaced. IDPs will likely remain in host communities for longer than expected from a cycle of displacement. It has also been documented that social support structures in the country are still fragile and are not able to support the reintegration or returns of IDPs at a large scale. Interim and emergency measures that support the resilience and local reintegration of IDPs, are needed alongside designing and implementing longer term plans.
It is in the context of severe challenges facing Afghanistan and its people that Samuel Hall, NRC and ADSP are delivering this brief on Local Integration? Insights from the field, and from a local NGO working on improving the resilience of displacement affected communities which puts forward data collected by an Afghan, women led non-governmental organisation (NGO), supporting NRC in its programming in the country. It is our hope that a timely, relevant and evidence-based brief will be of use to practitioners, policy makers, and donors as there are currently, multiple conversations on durable solutions happening in Afghanistan, focusing on returns, as well as on the prospects for local integration. This brief addresses specifically the latter.
Please see the full briefing note here.