All Episodes - Local communities: first and last providers of protection (Forced Migration Review 53)
It is often people’s immediate community that provides the first, last and perhaps best tactical response for many people affected by or under threat of displacement. In the 23 feature theme articles in this issue of FMR, authors from around the world – including authors who are themselves displaced – explore the capacity of communities to organise themselves before, during and after displacement in ways that help protect the community. See more at http://www.fmreview.org/community-protection.html.
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FMR 53 - From the Editors
This issue’s feature theme, ‘Local communities: first and last providers of protection’, looks at the capacity of communities to organise themselves before, during and after displacement in ways that help protect the community.
FMR 53 - Understanding and supporting community-led protection
Supporting locally led protection strategies can significantly improve the impact of protection interventions.
FMR 53 - Women-led self-protection in Sudan
In parts of Sudan, local NGOs and women’s groups have taken the lead in their own protection, and their considerable achievements have helped change the status of women in their communities.
FMR 53 - This group is essential to our survival: urban refugees and community-based protection
Nearly 60 percent of all refugees now live in cities, a trend that will continue as camps increasingly become an option of last resort.
FMR 53 - Refugees as a first stop for protection in Kampala
As Rwandan refugees in Kampala, I and others like me are uniquely placed to help newly arrived refugees find their feet in the city. The work is demanding but vital.
FMR 53 - Combatting dependency and promoting child protection in Rwanda
Continuing dependence on aid that waxes and wanes with time and that comes largely from external sources can lead to feelings of powerlessness. It can furthermore undermine family- and community-based initiatives to protect children.
FMR 53 - Local action to protect communities in Nigeria
Collaborative, creative initiatives in Nigeria helped protect local communities from much of the impact of Boko Haram violence. When international agencies arrived, however, they ignored these efforts.
FMR 53 - Refugees hosting refugees
Acknowledging the widespread reality of ‘overlapping’ displacement provides an entry point to recognising and engaging with the agency of refugees and their diverse hosts in providing support and welcome to displaced people.
FMR 53 - Northern Uganda: protection in displacement, protection on return
In the absence of international or state assistance and protection, community members in northern Uganda stepped in to fill this vacuum both during displacement and throughout the laborious return process following the conflict’s end.
FMR 53 - Rethinking support for communities' self-protection strategies: a case study from Uganda
Local communities will continue to find ways to address the risks that confront them with or without humanitarian support but the international community may be able to enhance these solutions.
FMR 53 - Rebuilding lives in Colombia
A grassroots women’s organisation in Colombia is working to protect women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence, and to support the healing of survivors.
FMR 53 - Community-based protection: the ICRC approach
The ICRC tries to ensure that its activities on behalf of IDPs and those at risk of displacement support, rather than undermine, communities’ and individuals’ self-protection mechanisms and coping strategies.
FMR 53 - Networks and 'the right to the city' in Medellin, Colombia
Collective action by displaced people in Medellin has been both diverse and strategic.
FMR 53 - Effective community-based protection programming: lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Oxfam’s work with local communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted the organisation to develop guidance for themselves and for others working in similar situations.
FMR 53 - Community Liaison Assistants: a bridge between peacekeepers and local populations
Community Liaison Assistants may be UN peacekeeping’s most effective instrument for community engagement, with the potential to play a critical role in the protection of civilians.
FMR 53 - Refugee community development in New Delhi
Recognising that process is as important as outcomes, a community development approach can be effective in supporting local communities as providers of first resort.
FMR 53 - Community policing in Kakuma camp, Kenya
Community policing has become a popular way of promoting local ownership of security in refugee camps in Kenya and more widely, but it can also fall victim to its ambivalent position at the intersection of refugee communities and state policing.
FMR 53 - The role of community centres in offering protection: UNHCR and Al Ghaith Association in Yemen
Community centres play an important role in offering protection for displaced communities, particularly for members of those communities who have specific needs.
FMR 53 - The role of cultural norms and local power structures in Yemen
Community power structures and attitudes in Yemen are key factors in how IDPs can gain protection and assistance.
FMR 53 - The role of community in refugee journeys to Europe
For Eritreans and Syrians coming to Europe, community networks both encourage the initial decision to go and provide elements of support along the way.
FMR 53 - Integrating protection into disaster risk preparedness in the Dominican Republic
Addressing protection as a key element of community-based disaster risk reduction and preparedness efforts is essential to safeguarding human rights in disaster and emergency settings.
FMR 53 - Filling the funding gap for community protection
An initiative to help local communities build resilience against violent extremism may offer useful lessons in how to help local communities access funding to support their self-protection efforts.
FMR 53 - Filling the funding gap for community protection
An initiative to help local communities build resilience against violent extremism may offer useful lessons in how to help local communities access funding to support their self-protection efforts.
FMR 53 - Preparing for self-preservation
External actors need a far deeper understanding of local communities’ experience of and strategies for self-protection, and a far greater commitment to support those communities.
FMR 53 General - Rethinking gender in the international refugee regime
Currently the instruments of refugee status determination make asylum claims depend on images of women that are characterised by victimisation and motherhood.
FMR 53 General - Colombia: the peace process and solutions for forced migrants
If, as seems likely, Colombia reaches a peace agreement to end its long internal conflict, the settlement may create the political and legal conditions to solve the phenomenon of forced migration of its citizens.
FMR 53 General - Statelessness and the refugee crisis in Europe
The European Union needs to issue a Directive on common standards for statelessness determination procedures with a view to mitigating the particular impacts of statelessness in the context of the continuing refugee crisis in Europe.
FMR 53 General - Refugee women as entrepreneurs in Australia
The 'Stepping Stones to Small Business' programme in Australia is appreciated by participants but has shown that 'entrepreneurship' is a problematic concept in the context of women from refugee backgrounds.
FMR 53 General - Power, politics and privilege: public health at the Thai-Burma border
Power, politics and privilege: public health at the Thai-Burma border. Participants in a field-research methods course on refugee health at the Thai-Burma border learned that beyond the biological vectors and disease processes that contribute to human suffering, power, politics and privilege play central roles in negatively.
FMR 53 General - Humanitarian visas: building on Brazil's experience
Brazil’s humanitarian visas are an important tool in complementary protection, offering legal pathways for forced migrants to reach a safer country.
FMR 53 General - Engaging with innovation among refugees and IDPs
Traditional humanitarian actors should develop mechanisms to support innovation by displaced people.
FMR 53 General - South African midwives caring for immigrant and refugee women
Over recent years South Africa has accepted many refugees and asylum seekers, among whom are women requiring maternity services.
FMR 53 - FMR Reader Survey 2016: results and observations
We are very grateful to the approximately 550 individuals who took the time to respond to our recent Reader Survey.
FMR 48 - Reflections from the field
Working with religious leaders is an essential element of serving local communities, as is an understanding of the religious life of local communities and how belief influences their decision making.