Many of the people that the World Food Programme (WFP) assists in its emergency programmes have migrated as a result of a natural or human-made disaster. This report analyses migration as it is practiced by people not only as a result of a crisis, but also as a strategy to reduce vulnerability and maximise income prior to or during a crisis. It proposes a protocol for assessing the role of migration as part of WFP’s emergency food security assessments (EFSAs).
Migration is proven to be a vital as a part of many peoples' livelihoods in times of stability and in times of crises. However this review argues that emergency assessment procedures and assistance policies do not usually consider the role of migration explicitly. Migration can easily be overlooked in favour of more tangible elements of livelihoods, such as agricultural production. Likewise, assessments of displacement and disasters are often limited to considering losses in the area that has suffered physical damage.
Migration-sensitive assessments can help to inform the programming of emergency assistance. Programming can be designed to build upon people’s own coping strategies, safeguarding positive migration practices and helping people to avoid resorting to distress migration or displacement.
In order for emergency assessments to be migration-sensitive greater focus is needed on the following areas:
- assessments need to widen their scope to consider the possibility that the affected population may not live only within the area geographically affected by crisis;
- assessments need to include the host population, as well as migrants. Many people seek refuge among local communities rather than in camps, drawing on social networks for support. Over time, the burden of providing for migrant guests may be a significant strain on hosts’ resources. An assessment of the needs of local host communities may suggest a case for outside assistance;
- people’s situations are fluid and hard to label. A host today may be a displaced migrant tomorrow. The point is not to limit by categories – pastoralist; labour migrant; refugee; internally displaced - a narrow understanding of who is affected, but to keep the assessment broad enough to capture the full extent of the crisis over time.
The assessment guidelines presented in the article draw on The WFP Emergency Food Security Assessment Handbook. They use sets of question checklists that ensure that migration is an explicit part of the assessment. These question checklists are structured according to three step methodology:
- understanding pre-crisis migration patterns;
- assessing the impact of a crisis on migration patterns;
- assessing the impact of assistance on migration choices.
The authors also discuss the programming implications of incorporating migration-sensitive analysis into emergency assessments. Understanding the relationships between migration, mobility and displacement should inform how assistance is delivered, where and when, and the appropriate balance between food aid and other responses.
