Progress Toward Durable Solutions in Iraq: A Pilot Project in Ninewa Governorate

INTRODUCTION

This pilot project aims at assessing progress towards durable solutions to displacement for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees in Ninewa Governorate of Iraq in order to understand where they stand five years after the end of the 2014-2017 crisis and in which aspects they are still struggling compared to the population who never left their location of origin (‘stayees’). In this respect this project contributes to a broader discussion and Action Agenda around measuring progress towards solutions – and determining the end of displacement – which aims at operationalizing the eight criteria of the Framework for Durable Solutions produced by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and informing targeted interventions in key areas of concern. The analysis of this project builds on the information and knowledge gained by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) about the 2014-2017 crisis. IOM Iraq has been tracking and monitoring IDP stock figures as early as December 2013 through the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). The collection of returnee stock figures began in April 2015, although returnee stock figures have been retroactively reported since October 2014. IOM Iraq also uses the Displacement Index and Return Index as tools to monitor the living conditions of the IDP and returnee populations at the location level across key sectors, such as livelihoods, housing, services, safety, social cohesion and inclusiveness. Since 2015, IOM Iraq and Georgetown University implemented a longitudinal study, ‘Access to Durable Solutions in Iraq’, to understand how IDPs take steps to build lasting durable solutions. The study has regularly surveyed the non-camp IDP families since their displacement in 2014-2015, including some families who managed to return to their area of origin since 2017. Since 2019, IOM Iraq has been monitoring protracted and urban displacement in the main districts of origin and displacement to provide a contextualized categorization and inform planning and development of durable solutions strategies.