Informing Durable Solutions for Internal Displacement in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan - Volume A: Overview

Critical data gaps must be closed to better understand forced displacement and to design durable solutions. Data gaps can be closed by standardized socioeconomic micro-data collection and analysis as carried out for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. Forced displacement has risen worldwide, and efforts have been made to understand and tackle displacement. Standardized frameworks have been created for collecting data to track the status and welfare of IDPs and refugees—but less often to track effects of displaced groups on host communities. While these contributions have produced useful analytical frameworks, several data limitations prevent an accurate assessment of socioeconomic conditions among displaced people and hosts, which hinders efforts to design targeted policy interventions. Key limitations include a lack of clarity in population definitions, the uneven reliability of the data, and a lack of cross-country comparability, as well as security and logistical concerns that inhibit the collection of primary data. By using micro-data collected through household surveys carried out in four countries among the most displacement-affected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, this study introduces socioeconomic profiles of displaced people and contributes to filling socioeconomic data gaps by providing inputs for targeted policy interventions for durable solutions for displacement. A durable solution is achieved when displaced people no longer have the need for assistance and protection linked to their displacement. Thus, durable solutions come into place when displacement ends. The durable solutions framework is useful to structure this socioeconomic micro-data analysis, providing actionable recommendations to overcome vulnerabilities among IDPs and to end displacement.