Source description last updated: 10 August 2020

Note: The IDMC was formed in 1998 and named “Global IDP Project” until 2006 (IDMC: Appeal 2006 and Future Strategy, January 2006, p. 4-5).

In brief: The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is an independent humanitarian NGO within the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) that provides information and analysis on internal displacement worldwide.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID), Country Profiles, Special Country Reports, IDP Maps

Covered monthly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A, B and C.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

The IDMC’s mission is to “provide high-quality data, analysis and expertise on internal displacement with the aim of informing policy and operational decisions that can reduce the risk of future displacement and improve the lives of internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide. […]

Since our establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), we have offered a rigorous, independent and trusted service to the international community. […]

We provide verified, consolidated and multi-sourced estimates of the number of people internally displaced or at risk of becoming displaced by conflict, violence, disasters and development projects across the world.

We complement this global data with interdisciplinary research into the drivers, patterns and impacts of internal displacement across different country situations, contexts and scenarios.

Using this evidence, we provide tailor-made advice and support to inform global, regional and national policy-making.” (IDMC website: About us, undated)

Funding:

IDMC relies on donor support it receives from its institutional partners (IDMC: Appeal 2017 – 2020, April 2017, p. 4). As of 2017, IDMC’s funding partners included the European Commission, the foreign ministries of Australia, Germany and Norway, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Government of Liechtenstein, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR, formerly UNISDR), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) (IDMC: Appeal 2017 – 2020, April 2017, Acknowledgements). As IDMC stated in 2017, its “funding base has experienced budget cuts over the past year due to shifting humanitarian priorities” (IDMC: Appeal 2017 – 2020, April 2017, p. 4). More current information on the issue of funding could not be found.

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and Pacific, South Asia, Americas, Europe and Central Asia

Thematic focus: displacement associated with conflict and violence; displacement and climate change; economic impacts of displacement; urban displacement etc.

Methodology:

“We use two similar but distinct methodologies to produce displacement estimates related to conflict and violence, and disasters. In the case of conflict- and violence-induced displacement, we conduct situational monitoring in certain countries after we learn of the occurrence of displacement, and report the country-wide estimates of new displacement during the year and the total number of people displaced at year’s end. In contrast, we monitor and report cases of disaster-induced displacement on an event-by-event basis. For each of these events, we collect information from different sources and generate the most comprehensive and reliable displacement estimate for that disaster.” (IDMC website: Methodology, undated)

„Our ability to report on displacement and provide reliable estimates is contingent on the availability of sources, and their ability to gather data and willingness to share it with us. We draw on information produced or compiled from a wide range of partners. Although national governments are primary responsible for counting IDPs, many other institutions are involved in data gathering. These include local authorities, the UN and other international organisations, civil society organisations, research institutions, specialised media, thematic databases, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and the private sector. We also rely on media monitoring to triangulate information and to gather displacement figures. Such sources play a significant role, particularly when governments lack the capacity or will to collect data, or when their estimates are unreliable. Figures reported by the media are difficult to validate and we consider them to be less reliable than those our traditional primary data sources report. We therefore base our estimates on them only if no other figures were available.” (IDMC: Methodological Annex, 2019, p. 9)

Language of publication:

English

Further reading / links:

ACCORD: ecoi.net Source Description: Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), 22 October 2018
https://www.ecoi.net/en/source/11375.html

 

All links accessed 10 August 2020.