In October 2002 an inter-agency working group (comprising OCHA, UNHCR, NRC, the International Rescue Committee and the Sierra Leone government's National Commission for Social Action) set up the Camp Management Project. The initiative sprang from the urgent need to focus on management of displaced people's camps following the sexual exploitation scandal involving humanitarian agencies in West Africa. (1)
While comprehensive guidelines and minimum standards already exist for camp design, construction and service delivery, there has not been a systematic and holistic approach to camp management - from negotiating camp locations through to camp closure. Neither is there any comprehensive documentation with a camp management perspective which could be a practical tool to complement existing sectoral guidelines.
Camp management agencies play a critical role in delivering assistance and providing protection for displaced people in both IDP and refugee settings. However, the capacities of management agencies vary widely depending on their expertise, experience and ability to secure donor support. These differences in management and approach are particularly clear between refugee and IDP settings. The inter-agency working group in Sierra Leone has focused on identifying key areas of camp management responsibilities, reviewing lessons learnt and identifying good practice from refugee camp situations which could be transferred to IDP camp management. By combining all of this, the working group aimed to develop a comprehensive overview from a camp management perspective. The product that was developed became the Camp Management Toolkit.
The objectives of the Camp Management Toolkit are:
The toolkit addresses both the technical and social aspects of camp management and is meant to be an iterative document, open to additions and changes. This initiative specifically focuses on individual camp managers and camp management agencies. It does not aim to be exhaustive and there is no intention to duplicate or revise existing guidelines or standards. Ultimately, the Toolkit aims to provide a comprehensive, holistic and practical overview of a full spectrum of camp management responsibilities.
The Camp Management Project is now moving to a global level. From October to mid-December 2003, the Toolkit will be field-tested in selected countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and South America in order to identify gaps in information and tools, assess the effectiveness of the tools, review and assess the present design, enhance the revised toolkit with newly identified good practices and identify which operational areas of the toolkit are consulted more frequently.
For the field testing to be as reliable as possible, it will take place in a cross-section of conflict-prone or post-conflict countries. The main criteria for selecting field-testing countries are:
For further information please contact Nina M Birkeland. Email: nina.birkeland@nrc.no
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