In 2016, just over 40 million people were reportedly internally displaced, most with no prospect of returning home in the near future. Prolonged conflict and recurrent extreme climate events are the main causes of protracted internal displacement, exacerbated by a lack of capacity or will among governments to address displacement and facilitate people’s safe return to their homes.

The report Breaking the impasse: reducing protracted internal displacement as a collective outcome, prepared by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), focuses on supporting internally displaced populations (IDPs) and host communities so that they can move early towards self-sufficiency in protracted crisis situations. The study features five case studies from Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, Somalia and Ukraine.

Without exception, the IDPs consulted for the study mentioned sustainable livelihoods as the number one element to improve their living conditions and restore their lives during crises, and especially once displacement became protracted. The report recommends that governments, along with humanitarian and development actors, invest in re-establishing livelihoods early in the humanitarian response, and find durable solutions.