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UN Migration Agency Tracks Displacement in Drought-Affected Madagascar

Villagers in the Androve region in the south of Madagascar where water is scarce and land has become arid. Those who have the means migrate elsewhere. Only the poorest and the elderly remain, surviving on a diet of cactus fruit. Photo: IOM

Habitantes de la región de Androve al sur de Madagascar en donde el agua es escasa y la tierra se ha vuelto árida. Los que tienen los medios migran a cualquier otra parte. Solamente se quedan los más pobres y los ancianos, sobreviviendo con una dieta basada en la fruta de un cactus. Foto: OIM 

Children walk/bike tens of kilometers a day to source potable water. Photo: IOM

Children walk/bike tens of kilometers a day to source potable water. Photo: IOM

Madagascar - Since 2013, the Greater South of Madagascar (“Grand Sud”) has been experiencing a prolonged drought and below-average rainfalls, affecting 1.8 million people.

Yesterday (08/06), national disaster risk management experts and representatives of the development cooperation community in Madagascar wrapped up a two-day discussion on ways to adapt the UN Migration Agency’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Tools to the Malagasy context, and agreed on a roll out schedule.

The DTM will help gather key data on population displacements, which will help inform the emergency response, including IOM’s implementation of community stabilization and livelihood support initiatives in communities experiencing an increase in the movement of people.

“DTM tracks mobility and displacement over time by monitoring trends, dynamics, needs and flows in populations to provide critical information to decision-makers and those responding to a crisis,” said Daniel Silva y Poveda, IOM Madagascar Chief of Mission, at the meeting. “Since 2004, the DTM has been implemented in over 60 countries worldwide in response to conflicts, natural disasters and complex emergency settings, from small and short-term cases to large-scale, regional and protracted displacement trends and migration crises.”

In late 2016, a rapid assessment was conducted by IOM and the Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes (BNGRC) of Madagascar. The assessment concluded that the drought has resulted in significant and complex mobility patterns in the south of the country, and from the south to other regions of the country, with some villages seeing a 30 per cent reduction in their population.

The study also estimated the impact that these migration trends have had on education, food security, water and sanitation, and protection in the areas most affected.

For instance: a diminished agricultural workforce – which hinders the resilience and capacity of recovery for those who stay behind – pressures limited basic social services in the areas where migrants decide to resettle. Other factors include abuse and exploitation of vulnerable migrants, and child labour.

With support from the Government of Japan and the BNGRC, DTM will be rolled out in Madagascar’s southern Androy region, with a view to collect systematic information on drought-induced migration.

During the two-day meeting, which was facilitated by IOM, participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the DTM processes, and to discuss information management gaps and needs in the context of the drought in the Androy region. The first report is expected in the next few weeks.

For further information, please contact Daniel Silva y Poveda, IOM Madagascar, Tel: +261 32565 4954, Email: dsilva@iom.int