ADDIS ABABA, Dec 9 (NNN-XINHUA) –The Ethiopian government and humanitarian partners have launched a national initiative, dubbed Durable Solutions Initiative (DSI), that aimed to provide conducive conditions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia to rebuild their lives.
The national initiative, which was developed by the Ethiopian government, the United Nations as well as international and national non-governmental organizations and donors late on Friday, mainly seeks to ensure internally displaced communities in the East African country are supported to return, integrate as well as relocate voluntarily, it was noted.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Peace, Muferiat Kamil, said during the launching event that the Durable Solutions Initiative mainly envisaged supporting interventions across national development policy, legislative reform, institutional strengthening and mainstreaming of IDP-friendly solutions in spatial and town planning.
“Those of us who have solutions at stake cannot simply rely on a project-based approach. We need development actors to systematically integrate the concerns of displaced persons and affected communities as active participants in programs,” the Ethiopian Peace Minister stressed.
United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Steven Were Omamo, also stressed that the newly launched initiative “is a vital step in fulfilling and restoring the rights of citizens in distress, and in assisting them to rebuild their lives.”
Omamo also indicated that “much more work needed to be done to ensure those in search of durable solutions will be able to access basic rights.”
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is partnering with the Ethiopian government in the implementation of the initiative, also stressed that the DSI mainly embraces area-based and government-led community-driven programs in areas of voluntary return, relocation or local integration, as well as ensuring that internally displaced households and individuals have access to livelihoods.
IOM Ethiopia’s Chief of Mission, Maureen Achieng, also emphasized the need to enable both the displaced as well as host communities in various efforts that aimed to bring about durable solution to Ethiopia’s internal displacement problem.
“We need to see both internally displaced communities and those receiving them as people who can use their capacities and skills to drive solutions forward and enhance peaceful co-existence in affected areas,” Achieng said.
The UN migration agency, in a statement issued on the launch of the initiative, also said that the DSI “comes at a critical time when ethnic-based tensions and communal violence in some regions of Ethiopia have forced millions of people to flee their homes over the past two years, leading to a complex crisis of population displacement in the country.”
It also stressed that the complex displacement crisis has driven the Ethiopian government as well as humanitarian and development partners “to increase its focus on an approach that cultivates long-lasting solutions to the situation of IDPs in the country.”
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), durable solution is achieved when internally displaced persons no longer have any specific assistance and protection needs linked to their displacement.
The DSI, reflecting relevant governmental plans and strategies as well as international standards, is expected to provide “an operational framework or platform to design and implement solutions in support of IDPs and host communities,” it was noted.
The launching event, which brought together more than 200 delegates from government and partner agencies, also discussed how the DSI will be implemented, highlighting the ongoing development challenges and peacebuilding agenda in Ethiopia. Participants also identified opportunities for support, partnership and financing under DSI platforms. — NNN-XINHUA
