Overview

Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) is the technical sector that coordinates the temporary assistance and protection activities to displaced persons living in camps or camp-like settings (including all temporary communal shelter options such as formal camps, collective centers, communal buildings, spontaneous settlements, transit centers, evacuation centers, reception centers or those that may require relocation due to proximity to hazard, insecurity or eviction). It does this according to international and national legal protection framework to achieve minimum humanitarian standards through the participation of the affected population. CCCM is a cross-cutting sector that is both technical and social in its aim.

CCCM does not advocate for settlements, but when there are no other shelter solutions camps can be used as a last resort. Planning for closure and more lasting solutions start at the beginning of opening a site working closely with national authorities, partners providing assistance, and the displaced population. Throughout discussions with the affected communities, key considerations for short and long-term solutions are identified and shared with other stakeholders.

In rapid onset emergencies, the immediate set up of CCCM functions to support and facilitate a humanitarian response.

CCCM is a sector in IOM's Migration Crisis Operational Framework (MCOF). In 2005, under the IASC Cluster Approach system, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were appointed co-leads of the Global CCCM Cluster for natural disasters and conflict-induced IDP situations respectively. The Global CCCM Cluster has been supporting CCCM responses by developing policies, providing guidance, advising on standards and creating tools. Technical support is provided to field operations through deployment of CCCM experts or rapid response officers during an emergency with face-to-face training through the CCCM Capacity Building Program, or remotely where specific requests are made. Remote training can be accessed through the Global CCCM Cluster Learning website.

IOM is mandated to take on leadership of the CCCM Cluster in a sudden onset emergency when the cluster is activated. Or strengthening the humanitarian response in other context with no formal cluster activation through Sector or Working Group Coordination. IOM may also implement camp management operations as a Camp Management Agency or through Site Management Support (SMS) to assist local/national authorities. Capacity building and information management support are both vital and complementary parts of these responses. In natural disaster contexts, where IOM is the sole lead of the cluster, the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) will fulfill a large part of the cluster's information management function through area and location assessments, as well as return intention survey when required. Further guidance on Cluster activation can be accessed in the IASC website.

Key Considerations

Camp Management Standards

The Minimum Standards for Camp Management describe the minimum actions needed to support meaningful engagement within a site as well as planning and coordination between sectors and agencies. They aim to clarify the role of any site management agency working on a daily basis in humanitarian settings and to set out minimum levels of quality of that work. Although called the Minimum Standards for Camp Management, the standards apply to all contexts where displaced people seek shelter, protection and other support, and the term "site" is used unless a specific camp context is meant.

More information on Camp Management is found in the Camp Management Toolkit. It is available in the Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management entry. The Camp Management Toolkit is the most comprehensive guidance for those engaged in camp-based responses to displacement. Stressing the inter-sectoral nature of the responses, the toolkit highlights recent knowledge to better protect and meet the needs of displaced populations in camp settings.

Integrating prevention and mitigation of GBV in CCCM response

Living conditions in displacement sites often increase the vulnerabilities of the IDPs and increases the risks of safety and protection issues, including GBV related incidents where women, adolescents and children are disproportionally affected. CCCM addresses these issues by advocating and incorporating GBV mitigation measures in the planning and implementation of camp management involving all actors and stakeholders. IOM has been leading different initiatives to incorporate different ways of working to prevent and mitigate GBV risks in CCCM operations.

Addressing GBV in CCCM operations / Protection from GBV in CCCM operations

GBV occurs in all crises where IOM operates. GBV interventions refer to core crisis programming activities that can remedy, mitigate, or avert direct loss of life, physical, or psychological harm and threats to a person's dignity and well-being. Therefore, specific measures and interventions to mitigate, respond to and prevent GBV must be undertaken from the onset of a crisis and continue through transition and recovery efforts in all IOM sectors and programmes. Crisis operations that do not take into account vulnerabilities to GBV can in fact exacerbate the risk of GBV and represent a failure on the part of IOM to fully promote, respect, and protect the rights of affected populations - especially women and girls.

The Institutional Framework for Addressing GBV in Crises helps IOM safeguard the safety, dignity, and well-being of all crisis-affected persons - especially women and girls. The Framework aims at ensuring that their equitable access to services is prioritized, integrated, and coordinated across all IOM crisis operations. The Framework's Operational Model presents key outcomes and strategic interventions, including the essential, non-specialized interventions (those than can be undertaken without GBV-specialized expertise in the country) that, at a minimum, must be implemented in all crisis operations. The CCCM sector can contribute to addressing GBV by undertaking these essential and non-specialized interventions which consist in strategies to mitigate risks and to implement safe quality programming.

In CCCM operations, interventions to mitigate risks of GBV that can be undertaken include:

• Training IOM CCCM staff and implementing partners on GBV core concepts and guiding principles, as well as identification of risks and mitigation measures, Codes of Conduct, PSEA and AAP;
• Ensuring female staff in IOM's and implementing partners' teams to reach all members of the population;
• Systematically collecting and analyzing sex and age disaggregated data to identify differential needs and access to assistance;
• Understanding camp governance structures and decision-making and taking action to ensure female participation in these structures and processes;
• Conducting women's leadership training;
• Regularly undertaking participatory assessments (e.g. safety mapping or audits, focus group discussions, etc.) to identify context-specific risks and vulnerable groups in the camp/site;
• Establishing feedback and complaints mechanisms through which community members can relay their concerns related to site infrastructure or service provision;
• Supporting GBV coordination mechanisms and development/updating of service mapping and referral pathways;
• Supporting CCCM staff to safely and ethically link survivors of GBV to available specialized services or referral pathways in case of disclosure of an incident.

Women's Participation Project

The Women's Participation Project aims to understand how governance structures could contribute to reducing risks of GBV in camps and camp-like settings. Ensuring meaningful participation of all population groups in decision-making and in camp governance structures is an essential pillar of good camp management. It is also essential to contribute to improved humanitarian response, disaster risk reduction, holistic community support, and ultimately, accountability to affected populations. Finally, meaningful participation of different groups within the displaced community offers a basic step towards making sure that different needs, capacities, and expectations of heterogeneous groups within the displaced community are reflected and addressed. Often making up half or more of the entire population in a displaced community, women's representation in camp governance structures have traditionally been limited and restricted. As such, increasing women's participation in camp governance structures could enable them to voice their safety concerns and support the identification of responses to mitigate identified GBV risks.

The CCCM Support Team in Geneva can also be contacted for more guidance on GBV prevention and mitigation in CCCM.

Inclusion of persons with disabilities

Humanitarian crises disproportionately impact persons with disabilities who may face more significant difficulties accessing humanitarian services, engaging in participation mechanisms, and getting involved in decision-making systems. IOM advocates for more inclusive CCCM responses and CCCM practitioners along with other actors must ensure that persons with disabilities meaningfully participate in the camp life and decisions that concern them, give them effective access to information and feedback and complaint mechanisms, and work towards more accessible services and assistance.

In line with the IASC Guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action (2019) and in support of the organization’s compliance with the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, IOM developed a toolbox focusing on disability inclusion in CCCM. The toolbox provides step-by-step guidance and practical tools for CCCM practitioners to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities and increase their participation in humanitarian responses.

Contact the Global CCCM Team for additional information on this initiative. 

Practitioners are also encouraged to consult the Minimum Standards for Camp Management and their annex on disability inclusion for additional resources.

Relevance to IOM’s Emergency Operations

IOM's CCCM activities seek to improve field response in displacement sites, provide support to national authorities and link assistance to host communities, which may also be hosting displaced persons among the population and have specific needs. It widens the understanding and adoption of the CCCM approach through the CCCM Cluster's training of national authorities prior to an emergency, and work with partners for improved humanitarian responses that contribute to disaster risk reduction or strive for holistic area-based community support.

CCCM has been a core sector in IOM's emergency operations prior to the 2005 IASC designation of Cluster leads, and was recognized for its institutional capacity as both coordination of CCCM Cluster/Working Group and camp management operations excellence. IOM has also partnered with national authorities in implementing CCCM Capacity Building programs by training key government offices and adapting the CCCM training materials to national legal and linguistic context. Lastly, in many settings, IOM DTM has supported the identification of hidden displaced populations by collecting information on remote camp populations multi-sectoral needs and gaps in essential services.

Where IOM is directly implementing camp management operations, IOM's CCCM program typically collaborates with other program sectors within IOM's emergency portfolio such as Shelter, WASH, Health, and Protection. At the core of these activities stands IOM's commitment to raise accountability to affected populations.

IOM's commitment to preventing and mitigating gender-based violence (GBV) in emergencies - including in camps and camp-like settings - is captured in the Institutional Framework for Addressing GBV in Crises (GBViC Framework). The Framework's Operational Model outlines different interventions to mitigate GBV risks in CCCM operations.

There are different settings in which CCCM interventions can be carried out (see picture below). Recent displacement trends indicate that many IDPs seek refuge outside traditional camp settings such as host communities and urban environments. IOM's CCCM programs have been increasing its work in area-based approaches seeking to enhance its response to better serve displaced communities and advocate for sustainable solutions.

CCCM Assistance

Coordination

IOM's role in CCCM is designated at country level by the UN Resident Coordinator when the Cluster is activated. All activation of clusters will support existing government coordination structures. IOM will work within the overall humanitarian response plan and will represent camp coordination and camp management issues and concerns in the Inter-Sector Working Group to ensure a coherent, accountable, and predictable response in all displacement sites.

As CCCM Cluster Coordinator, IOM is accountable for the overall CCCM response by ensuring multi-sectoral assistance in camps and camps-like settings. Key activities are described in the IASC Cluster Coordination Module and include:

• Developing the CCCM strategy;
• Advocating and identifying durable solutions for the displaced families and affected communities;
• Enlisting and training existing or potential Camp Management Agencies to implement camp management operations;
• Developing locally-adapted camp management tools and guidelines based on the local standards/context;
• Monitoring service provision;
• Advocating for humanitarian standards;
• Providing and managing information on camp population and services - often done through the DTM's Site Assessments;
• Building national capacity through CCCM trainings for national authorities and local partners.

A CCCM Cluster Coordinator should be supported by a Cluster coordination team, the size and skills required are based on the scale and complexity of the emergency response including available funding. The core coordination team is primarily composed of a Cluster Coordinator, an Information Management Officer, and a Capacity Building Officer. Other positions in the team may be identified as needs arise and according to the phases of the humanitarian response.

Examples for generic terms of references for a CCCM Cluster, CCCM Cluster Coordinator, Information Management Officer, and CCCM Capacity Building Trainer positions in the Cluster Team are available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management. Moreover, this entry includes a generic organigram of that CCCM Cluster Coordination. These documents can be used as a starting point for finalizing the TORs for a CCCM team in a specific context. Country Offices can also get in touch with the CCCM Global support team (globalcccm@iom.int) in headquarters and request for help in developing TORs or provide examples used in past emergencies to assist in modifying responsibilities to suit the specific needs of the country team.

CCCM Cluster Lead and OCHA Roles and Responsibilities:

Confusion between the role of the CCCM Cluster and OCHA can arise in camp-based emergencies. When trying to understand the differences between the coordination responsibilities of OCHA in overall humanitarian response and CCCM Cluster in displacement sites as both involve multi-sectoral engagement is summarized below highlighting the key difference and complementarities of the two agencies.

More information on the Roles and Responsibilities of the CCCM Cluster Lead and OCHA is available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management.

Operations

IOM may take on an operational role in the CCCM Cluster by carrying out direct implementation of camp management activities. Roles could include: 1) acting as a camp management agency; 2) carrying out specific CCCM technical support in operations like biometric registration; 3) providing capacity building to partners or authorities; 4) taking on multiple sites with a specific typology like information settings or transit centers.

Camp Management Agency

When appointed to be responsible as a Camp Management Agency for one site, the aim will be to provide the overall management of a site and ensure the full and equal access to basic human rights for the displaced population.

Camp management is sometimes illustrated through a drawing of a temporary site called 'the Camp Management House'. This drawing describes how a camp management agency coordinates and monitors service provision, protection, and assistance in temporary settlements according to the legal protection framework and minimum humanitarian standards through community governance and participatory systems (source: CCCM Global Material).

There are three stages in the camp life cycle: Camp Set-up/Improvement, Camp Care and Maintenance, and Camp Closure. The activities that take place in a site are dynamic and often these phases can overlap. A Camp Management Agency's role will be to monitor the continuous changes of camp life to improve living conditions.

Core Tasks of a Camp Management Agency

(1) Coordinating and monitoring assistance: Coordination ensures that key services fill critical gap areas and advocates for targeted, immediate delivery of services based on standards and through community participation. It includes monitoring of services and service providers to advocate and ensure humanitarian standards are being met through multi-sectoral activities. Camp-level coordination meetings are the main forum for information sharing and where all camp actors (NGOs, local authorities, host community representatives, IDP community representatives, other partners) meet regularly to discuss crucial issues, needs and gaps inside the camps, advocate for solutions, and agree on a way forward. Sample tools used by IOM in camp coordination and monitoring of services are available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management. The Camp Management Toolkit has a full entry on Coordination for more reference and information.

(2) Managing Information: Camp management is responsible for regular data collection to provide information on needs, gaps and duplication of services to aid partners in their respective response planning and advocate for appropriate and timely assistance and protection inside camps. Information would include the disaggregated demographic data of the camp population; type of services and their locations inside the camp; list and contact information of NGOs or service providers; and service/site monitoring reports based on humanitarian standards. Information gathered at camp level are analyzed and shared to different partners in camp-level and Cluster-level coordination meetings. Generic tools used in coordination and monitoring of services are available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management. The Camp Management Toolkit has a full entry on Information Management for more reference and information.

(3) Setting up governance and community participation: Community participation requires planning and resources. Individuals and groups from the displaced community are asked to identify and express their own views and needs for collective action to be taken and contribute to solutions significantly. When applied to all necessary sectors of activity throughout a camp's life cycle, community participation will reduce dependencies and vulnerabilities. (Source: Camp Management Toolkit).

A core task of camp management is to promote, facilitate and coordinate meaningful participation of the camp population and providing equal access to all groups in the camp activities. Camp management achieves this by setting-up leadership structures and community/representative groups, or supporting or developing any similar or existing participatory structures where the camp population can contribute to the decision-making process concerning camp life. Capacity to participate in decision-making processes increases if community representatives and members acquire the necessary knowledge to contribute to the governance of the camp; this is a fundamental method of reinforcing a sense of dignity, reducing vulnerability and helping build local capacity while reinforcing coping strategies in times of crisis. Sample TORs on camp leadership structures, community groups, sectoral groups including tools on how to create these groups and how to conduct Focus Group Discussions (FGD) are available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management.

Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) is an activity where the affected population can regularly express their complaints and feedback about services inside the camp. The CFM can take various forms such as CFM desks, voice recorder and feedback boxes depending on the displacement context. The effectiveness of a CFM relies substantially on the presence of service providers and their immediate response to complaints and feedback. CFM guidance documents are available in the entry Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management. The Camp Management Toolkit has a full entry on Community Participation for more reference and information.

(4) Maintenance of Site Infrastructure: Camp management ensures the camp's physical safety and security and mitigates protection and health risks through care and maintenance of camp facilities and site improvements. Site improvements include small repairs (e.g. locks and doors for latrines) or temporary site works (e.g. foot bridges, steps, and installing sandbags). Regular monitoring of the camp though site observation, community safety mapping and consultations with different groups and identification of danger zones can help to ensure the physical protection of camp populations and that they are safe from assault, exploitation, and harassment.

Technical Support from a Camp Management Agency

Technical Support to the Cluster/Sector

IOM may also provide technical support to the CCCM Cluster. Activities could include site planning or information management (IM). In some cases, IOM can act as a grant manager providing small grants to partners interested in assuming the role of camp management agency or augmenting the capacity of camp management agencies by providing additional resources to facilitate the provision of assistance at camp level.

Capacity Building

As the need is identified, IOM can organize and implement CCCM training for partners - including government counterparts - to improve the overall understanding and capacity to carry out camp coordination, camp management, and camp administration activities. CCCM Training aims to build the technical knowledge and CCCM capacities of CCCM practitioners to contribute to an effective settlement response and raise standards in the sector.

The CCCM Cluster has an inter-agency roster of trainer that can be deployed on training missions in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. If capacity building support is necessary, the country office should immediately inform the CCCM Cluster team in Geneva (globalcccm@iom.int) to request for this support.

CCCM Area Based Approach

The CCCM Area Based approach has been used in several contexts by multiple CCCM agencies such as South Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon. This approach is an option for emergent contexts where the following factors are present: 1) mobility and flexibility in its response capacity; 2) the cross-sectoral needs of the displaced populations residing in specific displacement settings are addressed; 3) needs are addressed by a team composed of technical and protection expertise with the capacities to respond to contextual needs.

Common to all CCCM response options, mobile teams have the ability to drastically increase protection and assistance to displaced individuals living in communal displacement settings by providing information, community engagement, and a coordination forum for agencies to share information about provision of assistance. For further guidance on this approach, the CCCM Cluster team in Geneva will be available for support.

The MEND Guide

Training on planning and executing mass evacuations can also be provided. This capacity building support is usually provided to augment emergency preparedness efforts at the country level. This training is provided to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Guide for Planning Mass Evacuations in Natural Disasters (MEND Guide). IOM offers country-specific capacity building workshops on planning mass evacuations based on the MEND guide. In addition, disaster preparedness missions can be deployed to asses and provide guidance on evacuation preparedness. This support can be requested by contacting the CCCM Support Team in Geneva. The MEND guide is available in the Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management entry.

Protection Mainstreaming

CCCM ensures protection of the camp population by mainstreaming protection in all camp activities. Activities would include household registration, site planning/layout, site maintenance and improvements, governance structures, community groups, and complaints and feedback mechanisms. CCCM works closely with different Protection actors inside camps to ensure referral mechanisms are established and functional. Camp management staff should be trained in responding safely and ethically to protection incidents and are responsible to advocate for functional referral mechanisms throughout camp life. When ensuring participation or engaging with governance structures, camp management agencies can support women, adolescent girls, and other at-risk groups in identifying and speaking out about factors that make them feel vulnerable to risks. This includes GBV and GBV specialists are available to make sure this is done in a safe and ethical manner.

A number of guidance documents, tools, and other resources are available to support the implementation of CCCM in the field. To access these documents please refer to the entry on Guidance Documents and Tools for Camp Coordination and Camp Management.

Camp Management House

Contacts

For more information please contact the CCCM Support Team at globalcccm@iom.int.