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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Recognising that process is as important as outcomes, a community development approach can be effective in supporting local communities as providers of first resort.
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.
Community centres play an important role in offering protection for displaced communities, particularly for members of those communities who have specific needs.
Community power structures and attitudes in Yemen are key factors in how IDPs can gain protection and assistance.
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About Local communities: first and last providers of protection (Forced Migration Review 53)
From the publisher's feed
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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