Context 
Internal displacement is a critical challenge to sustainable development worldwide. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s (IDMC) Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID), a record 83.4 million people were internally displaced by the end of 2024—more than double the figure from a decade ago. Conflicts and violence accounted for 73.5 million of these displacements, while disasters contributed 9.8 million, both representing historic highs.

Ethiopia hosts approximately 2.38 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to conflict and violence, with an additional 757,000 displaced by disasters.

The intersection of internal displacement with conflict, violence, disasters, climate change, and economic crises has resulted in historic setbacks in human development, disproportionately impacting the poorest and most vulnerable populations. The effects extend beyond IDPs and host communities, threatening national stability.

Many IDPs remain trapped in protracted displacement for years or decades, perpetuating marginalization that undermines economic recovery, peace, and long-term stability—key obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Internal displacement also imposes significant social, urban, and environmental costs. The influx of IDPs often strains institutional capacity at national and local levels, while the financial burden of providing housing, education, healthcare, security, and compensating income losses was estimated globally at over $21.5 billion in 2021. These costs can overwhelm fragile economies and humanitarian resources, hindering sustainable development progress.

Globally, persistent poverty, inequality, violent conflicts, gender-based violence, climate emergencies, inflation, and debt distress threaten SDG progress and increase the number of crisis-affected countries.

Ethiopia faces a complex humanitarian and development landscape shaped by climate-related hazards such as drought, flooding, and disease outbreaks, compounded by conflict and insecurity. These factors drive widespread displacement, heighten vulnerabilities, and escalate demands on essential services and social support systems. In particular, gender dynamics in rural and displaced communities impose a double burden on women. Supporting livelihoods and durable solutions for IDPs and returnees—especially vulnerable women, youth, and survivors of gender-based violence—in Afar, Amhara, Tigray, and Somali regions is vital.

Despite the scale and protracted nature of displacement, Ethiopia has made important strides to foster comprehensive prevention and development responses. Since 2019, the government, UN agencies, NGOs, and donors have collaborated to create enabling policy environments and structures aimed at durable solutions.

At the federal level, a Durable Solutions Working Group (DSWG), co-led by UNDP, IOM, and UNHCR, coordinates these efforts. Regional working groups exist, led by respective disaster risk management bureaus, involving development partners and local stakeholders. A national IDP proclamation has been prepared and submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval.

In November 2024, Ethiopia advanced further by launching a National Solutions Pathway to internal displacement, signaling a government commitment to shift from emergency relief towards sustainable recovery, reintegration, and resilience-building for affected populations. This comprehensive framework emphasizes principled, durable approaches that address immediate needs while supporting long-term development.

Aligned with this, the Ethiopia Integrated National Financing Framework (E-ISFS) 2024–2030 outlines strategies to mobilize and coordinate financing across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus. It integrates priorities from the Three-Year Development and Investment Plan, Homegrown Economic Reform Programme 2.0, the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), and the Disaster Risk Management Strategy to advance durable solutions for displacement.

UNDP supported the government in adapting Development Finance Assessment (DFA) and Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) methodologies to be more risk-informed and crisis-sensitive, strengthening the linkage between humanitarian, development, peace, and displacement financing.

Moreover, the proposed e-voucher system is anticipated to become a vital tool for monitoring, data collection, and ensuring equitable access to targeted livelihood and reintegration support for vulnerable groups including displaced persons, women, and people with disabilities. By implementing a digital system that enables the traceability of support and enhances accountability, the intervention ensures that assistance reaches the intended beneficiaries, ultimately leading to improve the overall effectiveness of support provided to IDPs.
 

UNDP’s approach to displacement
Nearly half of UNDP’s global programming is implemented in fragile contexts, many of which are characterized by high levels of internal displacement. Drawing on a wealth of experience from interventions in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, UNDP has shaped its institutional approach through the Strategy on Development Solutions to Internal Displacement. 

This strategy promotes a development solutions approach that recognizes internally displaced persons (IDPs) as rights-holding citizens and places the restoration of the social contract at the heart of long-term solutions.

Four thematic and one strategic focus areas: 

1. (Strategic) Strengthening governance and institutional coordination: this involves enabling the inclusion of IDPs in national policies and development plans and supporting the implementation of the nearly 40 actionable steps outlined in the National Roadmap to enhance governance mechanisms, streamline decision-making processes, and foster accountability.

2. (Thematic) Improving security for IDPs and displacement-affected communities: ensuring the protection and security of IDPs and host communities as a critical factor for enabling sustainable solutions. 

3. (Thematic) Promoting social cohesion in displacement-affected communities: addressing social fragmentation through clear prioritization criteria- essential for achieving sustainable solutions and minimizing conflict. 

4. (Thematic) Fostering socio-economic (re)Integration of IDPs and enhancing host community resilience: strengthening human capital through skills development and improving access to economic opportunities as key enablers of resilience- facilitating the integration of displaced populations into local economies and social structures, contributing to poverty reduction, improved quality of life, and long-term socio-economic stability for affected communities. 

5. (Thematic) Enhancing IDPs’ civic and political participation: strengthening IDP participation in decision-making processes to boost the legitimacy of local governance and empower displaced populations by integrating their perspectives into policy and programming outcomes