In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, 75.9 million people were displaced within their own countries—68.3 million due to conflict and violence, and 7.7 million due to disasters. Looking ahead, the World Bank’s Groundswell report projects that by 2050, over 200 million people may be displaced within their own countries due to climate and other factors.
In response, Malteser International (MI) commissioned IRMA to conduct a displacement study and help guide MI’s future strategy.
The study aimed to:
- Establish and share with staff the displacement landscape (theories, definitions, trends, and key actors involved in displacement).
- Explore MI’s current efforts (analyzing existing MI projects to see how they address displacement and explore partnerships with financial and technical stakeholders) to identify MI’s unique expertise in addressing displacement as a central theme within its Strategy 2025.
- Compile materials to building staff capacity in displacement programming.
The study used a mix of methods, including a review of nearly 200 documents using MaxQDA, consultations with 85 individuals through interviews and focus groups during case studies in Türkiye and Pakistan, a survey of 101 MI staff globally to understand their views on MI’s work and assess their assess knowledge of displacement issues.
The overall framework for displacement applied in this assignment was based on recent mappings conducted by IRMA for clients and/or as teaching materials, mainly inspired by IOM – UN Migration, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Platform on Disaster Displacement literature.
IRMA’s team for this assignment included Lezlie Morinière and Charlotte Gendre.
