Forced displacement around the world is increasing. In the past decade, the numbers of forcibly displaced people has doubled from 40 million to over 80 million due to conflict, persecution, generalised violence, or human rights violations. Refugees are the most high-profile and highly researched category of forced migrants. This attention has been instrumental in documenting, understanding, protecting, and providing for their needs. However, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) globally, and particularly those in Africa, receive less attention. Therefore their complex needs, vulnerabilities, and experiences are less explored and less understood. Consequently, IDPs continue to experience distinct vulnerabilities with detrimental effects to their lives. Furthermore, conventional scholarship and policy on displacement still centres around the camp, despite the reality that 60% of all refugees and 80% of all IDPs now live in urban areas as self-settled inhabitants among host communities.
This study consequently compares the needs and experiences of camp IDPs to that of self-settled IDPs in Maiduguri, Borno State, Northeastern Nigeria. Maiduguri has become the hub for the displaced since the emergence of the Boko Haram conflict in 2009, and the city now hosts over one million IDPs. Using the Capability Approach as an analytical framework, this study investigates IDPs’ wellbeing and capabilities. To explore these issues in-depth and empirically, 8 IDPs capabilities were created and examined as a threshold of what is considered decent for assessing individual IDP’s wellbeing. The study also goes beyond individual wellbeing, by exploring the notion of group capabilities. In so doing, it examined what groups are instrumentally important in enlarging IDPs’ capabilities. The research gathered rich in-depth qualitative data on camp versus self-settled IDPs’ experiences. In total, 67 IDPs participated in individual semi-structured and focus group interviews. Researcher observations were also utilised where possible. In addition, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 key informants in government, international organisations and NGOs, to understand if and how their support matches IDPs perception of their needs.
The study found that camp IDPs and self-settled IDPs differ in the way they realise capabilities. It found that in many cases, camp IDPs had more resources than their self-settled counterparts, but this did not mean they realised more capabilities. Camp IDPs had more negative personal, social, and environmental conversion factors to confront. It found that despite self-settled IDPs having fewer resources to cope with, their positive conversion factors allowed them to transform their modest resources into capabilities. Further, in some cases, in particular with primary capabilities, group affiliation is instrumental in promoting individual IDPs’ capabilities. However, when associated with a group that has any form of notoriety, that can also hinder IDPs’ capabilities.
The study concludes that the agency to lead their own lives coupled with freedom of movement – which are both missing for camp IDPs but evident for self-settled IDPs – greatly hinders or facilitates IDPs capabilities. It also concludes that capability expansion is possible and can be achieved when policy focus is shifted from just the provision of resources, towards individuals’ or groups’ capability to achieve the type of life they value by removing barriers for capability expansion. This ensures camp and self-settled IDPs are empowered, possess agency over their lives, freedom of movement, and equal opportunity; enabling them to become self-reliant.
