The Regional Durable Solutions Secretariat (ReDSS) was pleased to take part in the Jigjiga University Migration Conference Series on February 27-28, 2025. The conference brought together experts, policymakers, academics, and practitioners to explore critical issues surrounding migration and displacement in Ethiopia, a country experiencing significant internal and cross-border displacement challenges.
For the last couple of years, ReDSS has been supporting Jigjiga University, both financially and technically, in organising the migration series conferences to ensure that durable solutions efforts for displacement-affected communities are documented, discussed based on evidence, and conducted in more collaborative and coordinated efforts. The conference provided a platform for presenting scientific papers, sharing best practices, and facilitating in-depth discussions on current migration trends, challenges faced by displaced populations, and the role of government policies in addressing these issues via durable solution activities.
Key Takeaways
1. Leveraging Multi-level Frameworks for Sustainable Solutions
Implementing durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia presents several opportunities and challenges. Global initiatives like the IASC framework and the UN Global Solutions Action Agenda, of which Ethiopia is one of the 15 pilot countries, provide a solid foundation. The Kampala Convention of 2009 and the ReDSS framework for durable solutions in the IGAD region also present valuable opportunities.
Key initiatives at the national and regional levels include the 2019 Durable Solutions Initiative (DSI), based on UN guiding principles and the IASC framework, and the draft IDPs proclamation. Forming durable solutions working groups at the national level and increasing public awareness drive the need for action. Active regional responses, such as the Somali region’s Durable Solutions Strategy, are pushing the federal government toward greater commitment.
However, participants pointed out significant challenges, including legal and policy gaps (lack of an IDPs proclamation), resource constraints, and limited local community involvement in decision-making. To overcome these barriers, they suggested strengthening institutional capacity, improving data collection, and ensuring better coordination between humanitarian, development, and peace-building actors. Additionally, fostering greater political will and creating more inclusive, community-driven strategies were seen as critical for achieving sustainable outcomes.
2. The Promise of the Nexus Approach in Shaping Durable Solutions
The Nexus approach, integrating humanitarian, development, and peace-building efforts, can potentially create sustainable solutions for displaced persons. One key takeaway was that durable solutions extend beyond providing temporary relief—they’re not simply about offering short-term aid or meeting immediate needs, including simple return or relocation operations. Rather, durable solutions are about ensuring IDPs can rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society, confirming ReDSS’ principles and arguments.
However, achieving this vision presents several challenges. A major obstacle is the fragmentation of funding and resources across humanitarian, development, and peace-building sectors, which often work with different budgets, priorities, and timeframes. To overcome this, a unified approach to funding is needed, one that pools resources across sectors and supports all stages of displacement recovery.
Coordination among agencies is another critical challenge. Efforts are often siloed, causing fragmentation or contradictions. In the Somali region, several strategies have been introduced with minimal coordination, including the Durable Solutions Strategy, Multi-Year Resilience Strategy, and Kabribayah Inclusion Road Map. The participants underscored the importance of establishing coordination platforms and joint task forces that bring together stakeholders from all sectors to ensure aligned, holistic responses.
While the Nexus approach offers a powerful framework, its success requires overcoming key barriers by improving coordination, ensuring local participation, advocating for policy reforms, and investing in reliable data systems.
3. The Centrality of Displacement-Affected Communities
The meaningful participation of displacement-affected communities (DACs), particularly IDPs, is fundamental to the sustainability, legitimacy, and effectiveness of solutions. With more than 3.3 million individuals affected (IOM, 2025), these communities must be recognized not merely as beneficiaries but as essential stakeholders whose insights shape outcomes.
Community-based organisations offer critical platforms for collective voice, allowing IDPs to articulate protection concerns, propose mitigation strategies, and participate in peacebuilding processes. The establishment and strengthening of these organisations must be prioritised as part of any comprehensive solutions framework.
Nevertheless, significant challenges inhibit full community participation. Displacement-affected populations often face organizational deficits and lack representative leadership structures. Insecurity remains a pervasive threat, as ongoing conflict and fear of retaliation constrain engagement. Even where political space exists, systemic exclusion persists, particularly for ethnic and minority groups.
Political resistance presents another barrier. Authorities may view displaced populations’ empowerment as a challenge to existing power relations, leading to tokenistic engagement or obstruction. Moreover, these communities often operate with severely limited financial, technical, and logistical resources, undermining their capacity for meaningful participation. Civil society and grassroots organisations play an essential role in both advocating for rights and holding decision-makers accountable. Supporting them as leaders, not just participants, is critical for sustainable solutions.
Addressing these challenges requires a strategic approach: establishing safe environments for participation, investing in organizational capacity-building, and ensuring institutional mandates require participatory processes. Concurrently, structural drivers of displacement—ethnic discrimination, systemic violence, and political exclusion—must be addressed.
Bridging the Gap: Key Challenges to Address
Finding lasting solutions for displaced people faces several practical obstacles. Communities and local authorities often struggle with long-term planning amid constant emergencies.
A major gap is the lack of sustained funding for long-term development. Most resources go to immediate humanitarian relief rather than helping people rebuild lives and integrate into society. Investment is needed in resettlement support, livelihood opportunities, and essential services. Local actors, despite being closest to affected communities, are often under-resourced and excluded from leadership roles. Strengthening local capacity and community involvement in planning is key to truly durable solutions.
Another issue is premature returns to areas still affected by conflict, with unclear land ownership and ongoing disputes. Without peacebuilding efforts and clear land rights, returnees face insecurity and risk renewed displacement. Resolving land issues and building trust is as crucial as providing material aid.
The perception of durable solutions as expensive, slow, and solely governmental responsibility hinders progress. In reality, all stakeholders have roles to play, and there are affordable, community-driven approaches to supporting resettlement. In rural relocation areas, basic services are often inadequate, affecting both displaced and host communities. In the Somali region, sites selected along clan lines can complicate integration and limit economic opportunities. Effective relocation requires proper spatial planning, infrastructure, and service provision.
Funding remains a major barrier, as durable solutions require sustained, predictable resources. Creative financing approaches, including private sector partnerships and diaspora involvement, could demonstrate that investing in solutions now prevents larger costs later. The dominance of humanitarian aid over development work means long-term solutions often fall through the cracks. Stronger coordination between emergency response and development efforts is essential for sustainable recovery.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The successful design and implementation of durable solutions should be government-led, area-based, and driven by strong political will. Without buy-in from government officials and local leaders, efforts won’t gain critical support or momentum. Political will requires steady, honest dialogue with all levels of leadership and affected communities.
Understanding displacement dynamics is essential—knowing not just numbers but causes, conditions, and obstacles. Displacement rarely stems from a single factor, and clearer understanding enables more meaningful responses. Displaced communities must be included in planning from the beginning to ensure solutions reflect their real needs and aspirations.
Legal clarity through strong policies and clear mandates is crucial to prevent fragmentation. Stable, long-term funding for services, infrastructure, and institutions must replace short-term emergency aid. Participants called for more predictable funding and smarter resource allocation to sustain efforts over time. A solid legal framework defining responsibilities and protecting IDP rights at every stage is a critical priority. Ultimately, shared responsibility among all stakeholders and a practical roadmap for change are needed to ensure displaced people are truly included in building their future.
