With 75.9 million people internally displaced as of the end of 2023, the persistent and increasing numbers of people forcibly displaced by conflicts, violence, disasters and increasing impact of climate change within their own borders require rethinking solutions to internal displacement. This would go beyond a humanitarian protection and assistance lens to focus on strengthening public systems and services so that states can adequately meet the needs of their citizens with displacement-specific needs.

Rethinking solutions to internal displacement requires a set of indicators and methodology to measure states’ commitments and intermediary efforts to provide insights into the structural changes needed to reach desired sustainable solutions for IDPs, such as commitment indicators, implementation indicators and outcome indicators.

With support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development (BMZ), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Joint Internal Displacement Profiling Service (JIPS) have jointly developed Monitoring progress towards solutions to internal displacement an indicator framework:  A development-oriented indicator framework to monitor progress in implementing solutions to internal displacement from a development perspective.  

The paper is based on an in-depth desk review and a series of workshops and consultations involving over 200 individuals from 70+ organizations concerned with internal displacement at the global level and through a series of workshops in Colombia, Iraq and Somalia.

This work supports governments and practitioners in gaining a comprehensive understanding of what solutions to internal displacement entail at all levels, highlighting the many areas and avenues for action.