DTM Sudan: Return Index Beta

To address a gap in information on the conditions in which permanent returnees are living across Sudan, which makes difficult to understand why IDPs return to some areas and not others or, put another way, what makes some locations more conducive to voluntary return than others, IOM DTM designed the first ever (beta version) Return Index for Sudan.

Sudan Return Index Beta evaluates the material and social living conditions in locations of return in Sudan based on a common and comparable value. This tool shows that locations with better conditions are also more conducive to having returnee populations. The Return Index can be used to infer what conditions are most critical for facilitating returns, how to address obstacles, where to geographically target interventions and advocacy, how to strategize for resources and operations, and to explore changes in conditions over time.

The tool provides a means of measuring the severity of living conditions in locations of returns by combining first, a collection of context informed minimum or critical living conditions that are necessary to make a location adequate enough to sustain returning populations; and second, quantitative analysis to generate and apply an index score to each location based on the state of these indicators.