Forced Migration Review Issue 53: Local communities: first and last providers of protection

This issue of Forced Migration Review includes 23 articles on ‘Local communities: first and last providers of protection.’ It is often people’s immediate community that provides the first, last and perhaps best tactical response for many people affected by or under threat of displacement. In this issue of FMR, authors from around the world – including authors who are themselves displaced – explore the capacity of communities to organize themselves before, during and after displacement in ways that help protect the community.

For results-based protection, understanding and building on these community-led solutions is essential. A results-based approach to protection starts with the experience of the affected population to identify threats, understand who is vulnerable to these threats and why, disaggregating risk patterns including sex and age as well as gender, ethnicity, time, location, political affiliation, disability, economic statues and other factors where relevant for understanding exposure to threats. With this analysis, humanitarians must also understand the capacities that individuals and communities can employ to reduce the threat and/or their vulnerability to a threat and identify ways in with they can support these endeavors.

Find the full issue and all individual articles in this issue online in html, pdf and audio formats at www.fmreview.org/community-protection.