Globally, over 117 million people are forcibly displaced due to conflict, violence, human rights violations, and disasters that continue to rise. While some cross international borders as refugees, the vast majority remain within their own countries, becoming internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The latest Global Report on Internal Displacement reveals a staggering reality: at the end of 2024, a record 83.4 million people were internally displaced, most fleeing conflict, violence, or disasters. Unlike refugees who cross borders, IDPs face unique challenges, often not being captured within national systems and local capacities that already are thinly stretched. This is not just a headline figure, it’s a profound humanitarian, development and peace challenge that demands more than quick fixes.

This global context underscores that internal displacement is central to the worldwide forced displacement crisis. When almost one in every hundred people worldwide are living as an IDP, the challenge extends far beyond emergency response, instead spanning from prevention to recovery and structural development.

Too often, displacement is viewed narrowly as a short-term crisis, a snapshot of suffering calling for immediate relief. But what if we looked deeper? What if we recognize displacement as a long-term development challenge, affecting governance, poverty, social cohesion, and climate resilience?

A Development Approach That Reinforces Dignity, Agency and Community

Did you know that more than half of UNDP’s work occurs in fragile, crisis-affected areas? Internal displacement does not occur in isolation; it is intertwined with governance and economic challenges, poverty, environmental pressures, and social tensions. Treating it solely as an emergency misses the broader context. This is where solutions to displacement come in. They go beyond temporary shelter or emergency aid, aiming instead to restore dignity, livelihoods, and social cohesion for both IDPs and host communities.

UNDP’s “development solutions approach” recognizes IDPs as rights-holding citizens, placing the restoration of the social contract at the heart of long-term solutions. By addressing root causes and supporting inclusive recovery, durable solutions help reduce tensions, strengthen local economies, and build resilience for entire communities.

In line with the new UNSDG-IASC Guidance on internal displacement and United Nations interagency efforts, this approach is already in action in countries such as Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and many others. UNDP has institutionalized its approach through the corporate Strategy on Development Solutions to Internal Displacement and a regional framework for Africa embedding displacement responses within broader development frameworks championed by governments to ensure ownership and lasting impact.

Ethiopia’s Displacement Landscape: Challenge Meets Opportunity

Ethiopia faces one of the most complex internal displacement situations, driven by a mix of conflict, intercommunal violence, natural disasters, and climate extremes. Displacement is often protracted, reshaping communities and straining resources over years.

In November 2024, Ethiopia launched its National Strategy to Implement Solutions Pathways to Internal Displacement (2024), a milestone that positions the country as an example for nationally owned, development-focused solutions prioritizing dignity, livelihoods, and community restoration.

As a pilot country of the UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement, Ethiopia also benefits from the Internal Displacement Solutions Fund (IDSF), launched in 2023. The fund enables UN Country Teams to support government-led, sustainable initiatives through a multi-agency effort including IOM, UNHCR, and UN-Habitat under the coordination role of UN Resident Coordinator Office.

Strong results have been achieved across four core thematic areas: nationally owned solutions, evidence-based approaches, catalytic impact, and gender equality. Despite global funding constraints, the Fund remains a unique financing mechanism to support sustainable solutions aligned with national development priorities, SDG targets, and peacebuilding goals.

To continue supporting countries in operationalizing this global vision, the UN system established the Global Solutions Hub (GSH) in Geneva in 2024. Hub serves as an inter-agency resource hosted by the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) and supported by IOM, UNDP, and UNHCR to advance solutions to internal displacement under the HDP Nexus.

A Global Movement Meets Local Action: The Humanitarian Reset and HDP Nexus

Globally, humanitarian needs are rising while resources are tightening, a paradox driving the ongoing Humanitarian Reset. The future lies in shifting from short-term, reactive responses toward nationally led, development-focused, and peace-oriented strategies. This requires stronger collaboration across humanitarian, development, and peace actors, with the HDP Nexus empowering local governments and communities to take the lead. The Nexus approach can also bring together national and regional actors, such as in the IGAD region, to address common challenges and capitalize on opportunities spanning across borders, ranging from economic integration to climate adaptation and harmonized early warning systems that incorporate considerations relevant to population movements.

Partners are reinforcing the HDP Nexus approach through a multi-sectoral, area-based transformation that supports the government to develop a predictable, multi-year financing strategy that maps all funding sources while also working to improve spatial planning and settlement design, fostering social cohesion and conflict resilience, and investing in climate-smart, green infrastructure.

Ethiopia has been at the forefront of translating this global shift and solutions agenda into practice, particularly in Qoloji, a major displacement site in the Somali region that has emerged from crisis into a blueprint for integration and resilience. UNDP, as one of the co-chairs and champions of the Durable Solutions agenda, collaborates closely with the government and other stakeholders to turn this vision into proof of concept.

Qoloji Transformation: Ethiopia’s Living Model for Durable Solutions

Established in 2016 amidst intercommunal conflict and recurring climate shocks, Qoloji site shelters approximately 100,000 displaced people. It is not just a site of displacement it is the centerpiece of a visionary plan to turn prolonged displacement into an opportunity for inclusive growth, social cohesion, and climate-resilient development.

This transformation aligns with Ethiopia’s 2024 National Solutions Strategy and the Somali Region’s durable solutions and resilience agendas.

The effort is holistic: improved governance, expanded access to essential services, and pioneering climate-smart infrastructure. Social cohesion and peacebuilding are central, recognizing that durable solutions mean not just shelter, but belonging. Area-based, multi-sectoral initiatives like Qoloji champion government leadership and foster local ownership.

By embedding displacement responses into local development plans, it promises lasting progress even as humanitarian funding becomes scarcer.