IOM trains humanitarian partners responding to flood-affected communities on Camp Management

In July 2020, South Sudan was hit by unprecedented flooding which led to massive displacement across the country. Communities from the worst-hit parts, notably in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), Upper Nile and Jonglei regions were uprooted from their homes as they sought refuge to higher, dry ground.

Mangala, in the Central Equatoria State, north of South Sudan’s capital Juba, saw an influx of displaced communities mostly from Jonglei State.

The arrival of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mangala, translated into a surge of the immediate needs of basic services for the IDPs including food, shelter, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, putting a further strain on already limited services. Coupled with the lack of static humanitarian actors present in the area, service delivery and coordination between partners became evermore challenging.

“As more and more IDPs arrived in Mangala, humanitarian response in the area was essentially haphazard because there were no humanitarian actors present in the area. This hampered humanitarian efforts and impacted effective coordination,” said Aman Goklap, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Reporting Officer.

To improve humanitarian coordination between aid actors, IOM organized a capacity building training on camp management for partners working on the ground.  Facilitated by IOM’s CCCM team, the training focused on the need to ensure that service delivery for the flood-affected communities in Mangala was in line with humanitarian principles and standards, and to encourage the participation of the host communities in decision-making including identifing individuals and households most in need. The training also focused on integrating protection concerns and GBV mainstreaming during emergency humanitarian response.

“As frontline workers, when we are operating under the same rules, using the same approach, coordination and service delivery will ultimately run smooth thus the urgency for this training to take place,” said CCCM’s Project Assistant, Denis Kalisto who was one of the training facilitators.

IOM took the lead to meet with community leaders and establish community structures which included Person’s living With Disabilities (PWDs), Youth groups, Women groups including pregnant and lactating mother’s to ensure full representation of the flood-affected population and ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable groups with specific needs are met.

“During the training, we learnt valuable lessons about camp management during a humanitarian crisis, the importance of identifying and understanding the needs of the community and ensuring that no group is left behind during service delivery,” said Deng Ayiik Goch from the Rescue Mission (TeRM).

“I will apply what I have learnt in my work and pass on my knowledge to my colleagues,” said Deng.

The four-day training was attended by ten participants including from different national and international NGOs. The training utilized the CCCM training materials developed by IOM in coordination with the South Sudan CCCM Cluster and introduced participants to operational good practices.

IOM will incorporate feedback received from participants of the training to improve on future capacity building trainings on camp management.

IOM’s Camp Coordination and Camp Management capacity building training was funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA).

This article was written by Liatile Putsoa, IOM South Sudan Media and Communications Officer.