UNHCR’s expanded role in support of the inter-agency response to situations of internal displacement

A lessons-learned and effective practice workshop on UNHCR’s expanded role
in support of the inter-agency response to internal displacement situations was
convened by the Division of Operational Services (DOS) and the Policy Development
and Evaluation Service (PDES) from 11 to 14 October 2006 in Nairobi.

The idea to convene this workshop mainly derived from the fact that UNHCR
has assumed, since December 2005, a new leadership role in relation to internally
displaced persons (IDPs), better known as the ‘cluster approach’. Nine months after
the introduction of the cluster approach, it was deemed necessary to take stock, at
least in the interim, of what innovations the new approach has introduced to
UNHCR’s operations, what challenges remain and in which directions the Office
should invest in order to better assume its leadership role in the areas under its
responsibility, i.e. protection, camp coordination/camp management and emergency
shelter.
 

By way of contrast, and to compare UNHCR’s operational experience in
various IDP situations, the workshop brought together not only countries where the
cluster approach has been activated but also a number of different countries where
the organization is working with IDPs