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Philippines

PHILIPPINES - IOM Aids Displaced Families, Returnees, in Mindanao

IOM, with funding from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) has provided 2,891 displaced families with shelter repair materials and 4,986 families with non-food relief items including cooking pots, sleeping mats and tools in conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao.

The ongoing multi-sectoral humanitarian programme supports vulnerable families living in evacuation centers, as well as families who have returned or are planning to return to their communities of origin.

Almost two years after the conflict that displaced tens of thousands of families across Central Mindanao, some 26,600 families continue to live in evacuation centres and other transitional sites in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

But according to data gathered by IOM mobile liaison teams, large numbers of families have already returned to their often devastated homes and villages.

"The situation on the ground is changing" says IOM Mindanao Programme Coordinator Jasper Llanderal. "More families are beginning to voluntarily return to their communities of origin. The main challenge for most of them is that they lack the resources to either rebuild their homes or restart their livelihoods."

IOM is addressing the problem by providing livelihood start up kits to vulnerable families who are still in displacement sites and are unable to support themselves, and to families who have returned to their communities. The kits range from seeds and gardening tools, to fishing equipment.

IOM works in close partnership with the local community and the Department of Agriculture to ensure that the packages provided are appropriate and suited to the needs and available resources in the area.

For more information please contact Cris Villanueva via Email: cpillanueva@iom.int , Tel: +632 848 1260 ext.149