IVAP Analysis Report April 2015
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IVAP Analysis Report April 2015 IVAP is proudly funded by ECHO and DFID Background to KP/FATA Complex Emeregency The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan. It borders Afghanistan as well as Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces. More than 5 million people have been registered with the government and/or UNHCR as an internally displaced person (IDP) at some point since 2008 due to violent clashes in the country’s northwest region made up of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The 2014 military operations in North Waziristan and Khyber Agencies aggravated the situation, leading to the displacement of a further 233,000 families (approximately 1.4 million people). According to latest estimates from the UNHCR (2014), there are currently 1.6 million registered IDPs in KP/FATA. The vast majority of IDPs in KP/FATA chose to live in host communities (97%) rather than in camps for cultural reasons, including the privacy of females and difficult living conditions in the camps. The rest, who often have no other option, live in IDP camps (3%) (WFP). OCHA and other sources put the proportion of displaced families living outside of camps at 90% (OCHA, 18 June 2014; NYT, 20 June 2014; Al-Jazeera, 26 June 2014; IDMC, 12 June 2013, p.6). Displacement is difficult in Pakistan, which is ranked 146th on the list of 186 countries covered by the Human Development Index (UNDP, 24 July 2014, p.159). An estimated one fifth of its population are poor across the country, while in the KP/FATA a staggering one third of the population are poor (FDMA/UNDP, 2012, p.5; HDR, 2013, p.18; HPG, May 2013, p.21; UNDP, 27 October 2011). To receive cash, food and other assistance from the government and many UN agencies, IDPs need to be registered as being an IDP and ‘verified’ by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). Under a joint government-humanitarian process, people can be registered when they possess (or have proof that they have applied for) a computerized national identity card (CNIC) that shows that their permanent address or area of origin is from an area that has been designated as ‘conflict affected’ by the Government of Pakistan. Not all displaced persons in KP/FATA have been able to register due to a range of reasons including a lack of official documentation, problems with having more than two addresses or the fact that while their area of origin may be affected by the conflict it may not be specified as such by the government. Female-headed households and other vulnerable groups are often disproportionately represented among those experiencing issues with registration as in many cases they are not able to produce the correct documentation (OCHA, 7 August 2014, p.7). Even as people have been newly displaced in some parts of the KP/FATA, others have returned. It is estimated that over 2 million people have returned to their areas of origin in the past few years. According to the plans of the government, all displaced persons will be able to return to their area of origin by mid-2016. However, there are still questions about the safety of families returning to areas in FATA, and whether they will have access to basic services and infrastructure, including shelter, health, education, water and sanitation. 1 IVAP Background Since it was established in 2010, the aim of the IDP Vulnerability Assessment and Profiling (IVAP) project has been to gather data on the location, humanitarian needs and vulnerabilities of people displaced due to the complex emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan. Initially piloted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has implemented IVAP since mid-2010. IVAP conducts multi-cluster profiling of the needs and vulnerabilities of displaced persons through door-to-door family-level interviews and phone interviews to update information on existing records. Set up as a service for the humanitarian community, IVAP aims to guide humanitarian responses that are targeted towards the needs of the most vulnerable. IVAP also provides a range of technical support services on profiling and assessments on request to the humanitarian community in Pakistan. IVAP has been carried out through a series of five funding cycles thanks to the support of ECHO and DFID. The current dataset is based on data gathered from June 2013 to March 2015, with 160,110 displaced families (799,971 individuals) profiled through family-level interviews and records updated on an annual basis through follow-up phone calls. Data collected by IVAP has been shared with the humanitarian community through geographic and cluster-specific bulletins and factsheets, regular presentations, tailored information requests, the referral of cases, and IVAP’s online database. In the past two phases, IVAP has referred over 50,000 families to humanitarian responders for assistance, successfully advocated for the registration of over 10,000 displaced families with government authorities, and consistently placed the priority needs of vulnerable persons on the agenda of the humanitarian community. IVAP provides one of the few, and by far the most extensive, sources of data on off-camp displacement in KP/FATA. Over the past five years of operation, IVAP has developed a strong reputation for gathering reliable and unbiased profiling data on displacement as well as providing impartial technical assistance on assessment activities. It is clear from this experience that being aware of and responsive to the changing information needs of the government and the humanitarian community, is central to the success of IVAP. 2 Methodology The IVAP methodology is based on a multi-cluster face-to-face family-level survey. The questionnaire form was developed by IVAP based on input from all clusters active in the KP/ FATA humanitarian response. The survey was conducted in all areas where IVAP was able to gain access (including Charsadda, DI Khan, Hangu, Kohat, Kurrum, Nowshera, Peshawar and Tank) where the security situation was operable. Population IVAP aimed to gather information on all people displaced from the conflict in FATA and living in off-camp host communities in KP. IVAP gathered information on 160,109 displaced families (802,580 individuals) in the period from June 2013 and March 2015 with all information gathered before August 2014 updated over the phone in the period since. In this report, the results of the IVAP profiling exercise are compared with the findings of other needs assessment activities conducted in KP/FATA in this period. On 7 December 2014, the IVAP dataset was cross-checked against the WFP/UNHCR registration and food distribution lists (excepting families displaced from North Waziristan Agency). The results of the exercise showed that 45,427 families were common to both the IVAP database and the WFP/UNHCR registration list; 14,344 IDP families (12%) had returned (these were mainly IDPs from Bajaur and Mohmand that were profiling in the earlier phases); 10,904 families were NADRA non-verified; and 48,825 families (41%) on the IVAP database did not match with any registration data. Based on this cross-checking, it is estimated that IVAP has covered roughly one-third of the total displaced population. Methodology During the planning phase, IVAP mapped out the rough concentration of displaced persons in each Union Council (UC) based on secondary data then met with village leaders in every village to gather information about the number and location of displaced persons. Data collection teams went from door-to-door in the areas identified as having a high likelihood of hosting displaced persons to conduct the survey. An extensive public communications campaign (including through posters, newspapers, and over the radio) was conducted to raise awareness about IVAP. Displaced persons that had not been profiled were able to call a hotline to arrange to be profiled by IVAP staff. All data was collected on mobile devices except in the districts of DI Khan and Tank where paper forms were filled due to the sensitivity of mobile data collection in these areas. While the aim of IVAP was to conduct a full census, in effect, IVAP used a non-probability snowball sampling technique under which each respondent was asked to assist the interviewer in identifying other displaced families. Unit of analysis The basic unit of analysis for the questionnaire section of the survey was the family. Family is defined as the nuclear family (meaning a couple and their unmarried children only), which is usually smaller than the household size which often includes all members of a joint family sharing the same kitchen and living sharing income and expenditure. 3 Questionnaire and interviewer profile The questionnaire (available at www.ivap.org.pk) includes 120 questions covering all the clusters including health, education, WASH, protection, shelter, nutrition, CoRe, livelihoods and food security. The survey questionnaire was developed based on consultation with the cluster coordinators taking into account harmonisation with other need assessment activities in KP/FATA and synergies with past IVAP questionnaires. Each data collection team was composed of four male and one female data collectors in addition to one supervisor. The female data collection staff members were responsible for interviewing female respondents. Demographic Profile The profiled population is relatively young with 57.7% aged less than 18 years. Figure 1 gives a snapshot of the age demographic of the population disaggregated by sex. There were also more men than women (51.5% male; 48.5% female). Average family size – based on the government definition of a nuclear family as parents or married persons with their unmarried children – was found to be 5 persons per family.