Ethiopia — National Displacement Report 10 (August - September 2021)

In order to capture the displacement and return dynamics in Ethiopia, DTM Ethiopia's National Displacement Report combines findings from its Site Assessment (SA) in Section 1 and findings from the Village Assessment Survey (VAS) in Section 2. The Site Assessment tracks the number and multi sectoral needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the Village Assessment Survey tracks the number of IDPs who are returning or have returned to their communities and their multi sectoral needs. VAS is also used to evaluate the absorption capacity of villages receiving returns with a focus on accessibility of services, livelihoods and reintegration. 

As of September 2021, a total of 4.23 million IDPs have been identified thus far across the country. Through Site Assessment (SA), a total of 2.12 million IDPs were identified in 1,577 sites across 9 regions in Ethiopia. Simultaneously, 2.11 million IDPs were also tracked through the Emergency Site Assessment (ESA) round 8 which is a monthly tool used to track internal displacement in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions caused by the Northern Ethiopia Crisis. Of the total displaced population, the main causes of displacement were conflict which displaced 3.5 million IDPs (85%), drought which displaced 307,871 IDPs (7%) and seasonal floods which displaced 139,199 IDPs (3%). 

Through Village Assessment Survey, a total of 1.5 million returning IDPs were identified in 1,172 villages across 9 regions. A large majority of returning IDPs (1.4 million) were initially displaced due to conflict while 61,295 returning IDPs were initially displaced due to flash floods and 54,095 returning IDPs due to seasonal floods. The region hosting the largest number of returning IDPs was Oromia region with 653,549 returning IDPs, followed by Somali region with 392,286 returning IDPs. However, please note that there were considerable access and/or security issues in Amhara, Benishangul Gumz, Oromia and Tigray regions which affected the total displacement and return count.