Between 9-13 December 2013 the International Organization for Migration’s Regional Office in Dakar is organizing a five day workshop for Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) to train trainers during natural disasters. The event is possible due to funding from the European Commission’s Office for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO). The West and Central Africa Region has suffered from numerous political, social and ecological crises in recent years and all these will be exacerbated by climate change in years to come. This underlines the relevance of CCCM, which sees the increasing importance of managing populations displaced by natural disasters.

in her welcoming remarks Carmela Godeau, the IOM Regional Director for West and Central Africa, emphasized that “the objective of the training will be to train as many Governmental Counterparts as possible to strengthen their capacity to manage with dignity and according to international standards the respective caseloads of forced migrants.”

IOM and the CCCM Global Cluster have strong ties with the overall humanitarian system and national disaster management structures. Large-scale displacements caused by border-crossing regional natural disasters demand operational preparedness of the highest standards for the management of camps and evacuation centers. To meet these challenges, the region increasingly needs a comprehensive system of joint preparedness involving humanitarian partners, disaster management agencies and governments.

Participants in attendance are from both countries of West and Central Africa region and other priority areas including Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Gabon, Mali, Mozambique, Lebanon, Liberia, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Syria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. IOM also welcomes members from CEEAS, the Somali Disaster Management Agency, the Rwandan Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs, the National Disaster Management Agency of Mozambique, the Zimbabwe Department of Civil Protection, the Office of National Security in Sierra Leone, the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, the Malian National Directorate for Social Development, and the Senegalese Military.

Exchanges during the workshop will allow CCCM perspectives from a global and regional perspective to inform and develop an enlarged focus on information management and gender issues. Coordination of crucial relations between national, regional and local actors, as well as those within the camp itself, is an important part of the curriculum. Creating protection mechanisms and ensuring the participation of the host population, displaced people out of camps and the inhabitants of the camp, including vulnerable groups, are some of the issues that add to the relevance of this training.     

IOM’s CCCM Training of Trainers in Dakar is the third training of this kind in a global effort to target national authorities. The first was in Indonesia in August 2013 and focused on natural disasters in the Asian region, and included participants from the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Switzerland; the second was in Bogota, Colombia in November 2013 and included the countries Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, the Regional Office of IFRC in Mexico, and El Salvador.