Somalia: Report on profiling of internally displaced persons - Gaalkacyo

1 INTRODUCTION

The IDP Profiling Project Somalia is a Somalia Protection Cluster/IDP Task Force pilot initiative that has developed and tested tools for profiling of internally displaced persons (IDPs) with the aim of providing overall information on IDPs for global monitoring as well as proving context specific information to facilitate preparation of local assistance to IDPs. The project has been guided and monitored by a core group of agencies consisting of UNHCR, UNOCHA, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Danish Refugee Council (DRC), with support from UNHABITAT, UNICEF and other members of the Protection Cluster Work Group/IDP Task Force. Implementation in the field has been led by DRC while UNHCR has been handling data management and proving support to report production. The project has been based on the draft Guidelines for IDP Profiling developed by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

The project applied simple random sampling in defined IDP settlements. Given the nature of these IDP settlements, this sampling method was found appropriate and sufficient. The sampling was made on the basis of an estimation of the IDP population in any given settlement. This estimation, in turn, was based on previous surveys, reports and updates from agencies operating in the area, and information from local authorities and IDP settlement leaders. The tools applied were focus group discussions/participatory assessments and household interviews. Focus group discussions were held with small groups of selected settlement representatives such as elder, religious leaders, and settlement management. They served partly as a 'door opener' to the settlements and partly as a way of providing a certain basic knowledge of the settlement against which the interviewers could assess the information obtained in the household interviews. This basic knowledge also served as a simple frame of reference in the subsequent process of data analysis. Household interviews were considered the most appropriate and effective way of systematically gathering the type of data wanted for the profiling.

The project developed a long questionnaire and a shorter version with a selection of the questions from the long version. However, after testing both of these in Bossaso, it became clear that the long questionnaire took too long time and discouraged people to take part in the interviews. It was therefore decided that after Bossaso, the short questionnaire should be the only one used, but in a slightly extended version.

Data from the questionnaires were transferred to the database at UNHCR Branch Office Somalia in Nairobi. A Standard Report was then been produced on the basis of the raw data in the database. In principle, such a report lists all the answers provided by the respondents in the household interviews. Based on the Standard Report, the present profiling report provides simplified overviews of selected parts of the raw data, makes minimal analyses, and points to potential fields of interests for further analysis. While this will be sufficient in some situations, there will in other situations be a need for more sector-specific in-depth analyses or a need to focus on specific settlements or sections of the IDP population. This may be done by consulting the database directly, thus getting more details than the present report provides, and by linking the different data fields in the database. The present report provides examples of such linking. Agencies with more detailed or sector-specific interests are encouraged to contact Protection Unit, UNHCR Branch Office Somalia, Nairobi, for assistance in more advanced data extraction.

The project carried out surveys in five locations: Bossaso and Gaalkacyo in Puntland, Mogadishu and Baydhaba in South/Central, and Burco in Somaliland. Reports on findings have been prepared for each of these locations. In addition, a separate Process Documentation Report has been prepared describing and analysing the process of developing and implementing the project and lessons learned. Some of the lessons concerning inappropriate formulations of questions in the questionnaire were learned so late in the process that they could not be corrected before the work was done. Where this is the case, a note is made in the present report to explain apparent discrepancies.

1.1 Gaalkacyo

The town of Gaalkacyo in the southern part of Puntland was the third location for IDP profiling under this project. Preparation for the profiling survey coincided with UNHCR preparation for a participatory assessment of protection issues in the same location. It was decided, on a trial basis, to coordinate the two activities so that they would become two parts of a joint exercise. The tool applied in the participatory assessment is a number of sector specific focus group discussions conducted with different age groups of both men and women. Such focus group discussions allow for an in-depth discussion of selected topics and for pursue of certain issues as they unfold in the discussions. These discussions should then be followed by household interviews to bring about a broader picture based on statistical data.

As planning of the two interventions had started separately, with key staff available at different periods of time, it was not practically possible to merge them completely and the expected synergy effect was therefore limited. In the Process Documentation Report the experience is analysed further and recommendations made for future setups of similar joint undertakings.

The participatory assessment resulted in a number of matrixes on protection issues that have been presented separately. In the present report, the results of the participatory assessment will, on selected issues, be drawn into the analysis of the household interview results and discussed when appropriate to highlight how different tools bring about varied results.

Due to the highly polarised political situation in Gaalkacyo, it was not possible to find one local agency that would be accepted in all settlements as implementing partner for the project. A compromise was found in hiring individuals from different agencies to form a team under DRC/UNHCR management that would be acceptable in all places. However, the political division of Gaalkacyo in North and South proved still to be so forceful that a team recruited for the North (where the work started) could not be accepted in the South. Consequently, a new team of cross-agency individuals had to be recruited for working in the South.

GPS readings were taken for the surveyed settlements in Gaalkacyo with the aim of producing a map showing their exact location. However, as an appropriate electronic background map of the Gaalkacyo area is not yet available, the map of the settlements can not be produced yet.