1. Background
Pakistan has been facing a fragile security situation in the north-western region of the country since 2007. By the end of 2014, 5.3 million people1 were reported to be displaced at least once due to security situation; whilst return was also taking place to the areas that had been de-notified.
Around 3.75 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin by the end of 2014.
In December 2014, Government of Pakistan announced a phase-wise plan for the return of all IDPs from FATA by the end of 2016. Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency was de-notified in January 2015 and first phase of return was launched in March 2015, followed by Kurrum, Orakzai, NWA and SWA in different phases.
Since March 2015, around 185,300 families have returned to their areas of origin in FATA successfully, whereas around 118,000 families are still displaced. Thus, 61 percent of the families have returned while 39 percent are still displaced. Most of the return has taken place to Khyber Agency (75,700 or 87 percent families who were displaced, followed by North Waziristan Agency, 55,500 or 53 percent), South Waziristan (27,200 or 42 percent), Kurram (17,000 or 72 percent families) and Orakzai (9,800 or 42 percent families). Remaining IDPs’ families are still residing in hosting areas of KP with high influx in the neighbouring districts of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, D.I. Khan and Tank.
A meticulous IDP registration system, jointly regulated by Government of Pakistan and humanitarian community, was developed to channelize the assistance mechanism. IDPs were registered on the basis of possession of computerized national identity card (CNIC) and notification of their area of origin as a conflict affected zone. IDPs, once registered were eligible to get humanitarian assistance including monthly food ration, cash assistance and other targeted assistance. Several camps were established to provide shelter support to IDPs, however, majority preferred to stay with hosting communities. For the areas de-notified, a systematic process was introduced to facilitate the return of IDPs. Returning families were provided with one time cash support at the time of return and monthly food ration for a period of six months after the return. In addition to this, humanitarian actors and government initiated several programs in return areas to ensure provision of basic services to the returnees.
The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) endorsed supporting the returns process after fulfilling the conditions stipulated in Return Policy Frame-work and Activity Matrix, including inter and intracluster assessments in the areas of return. One of the key components of Return Monitoring Frame-work is to continuously monitor and assess the situation of returnees, their access to basic services and key protection issues. Inter Cluster Assessment Missions to the de-notified areas provided a quick overview of the situation and guided regarding feasibility of return. To assess the immediate and medium term needs of returnees, Humanitarian Regional Team (HRT) and Inter Cluster Coordination Mechanism (ICCM) agreed to conduct multi cluster assessments as well as detailed sectorial assessment from time to time to support strategic decision making and response planning for the returnees. During June 2015, first multi-cluster assessment (MuSAFR) was carried out in Khyber Agency, which provided strategic guidance for response planning and program implementation. A few cluster specific detailed assessments were also carried out in return areas.
In order to have a good understanding of the humanitarian situation, humanitarian community develop Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) every year as part of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC). HNO is a key step in humanitarian program cycle and support the strategic response planning for humanitarian community in the country. Due to fresh return in many agencies where no assessment had been conducted, it became difficult to get accurate picture of the situation. In this context, HRT, in consultation with relevant government authorities proposed to conduct a detailed multi-cluster needs assessment in all areas of displacement and return. Information collected through the assessment envisioned to support the humanitarian community as well as Govt. in policy formulation, program development, resource mobilization and advocacy on humanitarian access. It also aims to provide empirical evidences for 2017 HNO and the thence Humanitarian Response / Strategic Plan for the year. Provincial Assessment Working Group (PAWG) was assigned to develop the methodology and tools for the assessment in consultation with clusters and government counterparts. After the endorsement of HRT, HCT and government authorities, PAWG took lead in defining methodology & key information gathering tools to employ, questionnaires development, training, data collection and analysis.