Women are still under-represented in leadership structures which makes their participation low in decision making process; in 2020, women were represented at 40% in the leadership structures. This has been attributed to female leaders facing gender discrimination and lacking family support due to cultural prejudices. Youth representation also remained low, with leadership structures composed mainly of male representatives (female at 36%). The capacity of leadership structures and youth associations still requires strengthening, including the engagement of youth in meaningful activities. Limited financial resources did not allow for the construction of offices for community structures, provision of stationery, furniture, airtime for communication, visibility items and minimal incentives to support their families.
The camps lacked effective community-based complaint and feedback mechanisms. Suggestion boxes are present and managed by different partners, however most of them were not functional. Nonetheless, community structures played a vital role in the business continuity plan (BCP), COVID-19 prevention and response measures, with their active engagement in community mobilization activities across the camps. Community leadership structures, outreach volunteers and incentive workers were trained on COVID-19 prevention and mainstreaming and were mobilized for COVID-19 prevention activities across the camps.
Inter-agency community-based complaint and feedback mechanisms (CBCM) standard operating procedures were drafted, training was conducted on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and the code of conduct for schoolteachers and support staff, and refresher training facilitated for all UNHCR personnel. Awareness-raising sessions on community-based complaint feedback mechanisms and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse were conducted for people of concern across the camps.
2020