Attachments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Armed conflict and political instability since 2011 has affected millions of people across Libya. The highly volatile security situation and protracted conflict, intensified in March 2014 causing large waves of internal displacement and migration toward other countries. The complex socio-political landscape has given way to an increasingly protracted conflict, where in 2018, intermittent upsurges throughout the year led to sporadic displacement, with renewed clashes in Derna and Tripoli in June and September. According to the 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview, 823,000 people, including around 248,000 children, are in-need of humanitarian assistance in Libya as a result of persisting instability.
A noticeable shift in the nature of crisis has evolved, where overall de-escalation of conflict at the national level has given way to more localised forms of communal-based fighting over governance and control of key strategic and economic resources. With this, internal displacement has reduced significantly with increasing numbers of people returning to their areas of origin. The number of identified returnees in Libya increased to 403,978 (+21,756) during September and October 2018, largely due to a return movement in Derna following improvement of the security situation.
This new dynamic brings with it multifaceted challenges for populations returning to conflict-affected areas and returnee households continue to face acute needs in three sectors: protection, shelter & NFIs and health. Notably, returnees are at particular risk of difficulties in accessing education services and government services after losing documentation after fleeing a crisis and low access to basic services at the household and community level. Notwithstanding the shift in displacement patterns, internally displaced groups face significant shelter challenges due to rising rental prices and insecure tenure conditions.
Assessment Background The 2018 Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA), implemented by the Libya Intersector Coordination Group (ISCG) with the support of REACH, is the most detailed and comprehensive study into the sectoral needs of Libya to inform humanitarian and strategic planning and has been strategic in informing the 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO).
The information generated from the MSNA was used to inform individual agency interventions in Libya across six sectors: food security, health, WASH, shelter & NFI, education, protection, as well as the cash and markets working group (CMWG) providing information on displacement and humanitarian assistance. All indicators used in the assessment were agreed upon and validated in partnership with each sector.
The assessment includes household level surveys conducted between 23 July and 5 September. In total, 5,352 household surveys were collected across 19 mantikas and the municipality of Derna. At the mantika and municipality level in Derna, survey respondents were profiled by displacement status, (non-displaced, internally displaced and returnee). Displacement profiling ensured that unmet needs could be understood by different population groups. In total, 2,449 non-displaced surveys 1,641 IDP surveys and 1,212 returnee surveys were conducted, in addition to 2 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 3 Key Informant interviews (KIs) in each assessed area. The MSNA findings are representative per population group and per assessed area with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 10%.
Multi-Sector Unmet Needs Overview Multisectoral analysis presents an opportunity to identify and understand to what extent unmet sector needs are interrelated and how they contribute to overall household needs. By identifying population groups and locations in which households have unmet needs across multiple sectors simultaneously, this integrated approach can help assess the impact of current and future humanitarian interventions. This provided greater insight into how changes in circumstance were likely to exacerbate humanitarian conditions.
Analysing the percentage of households by the number of sectors they have unmet needs in provides an understanding of the geographic variation in which humanitarian needs converge. Population groups and areas with a higher proportion of households with unmet needs in multiple sectors, such as in three or more at the same time, are likely to face acute problems in meeting their basic needs.