Building on efforts initiated in 2017, UNHCR continued to strengthen the network of Outreach Volunteers (OVs) which currently stand at 1,634 as per the breakdown below by location:
• 400 in Balochistan (200 male and 200 female),
• 1,012 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (551 male and 461 female) and
• 222 in Islamabad and Punjab (168 male and 54 female)
Thanks to mobilization and training, and with enhanced capacity and knowledge of protection concepts and available services, OVs played a key role in the identification of vulnerable refugees and referring them for a timely solution of their problems. In 2020, UNHCR convened 580 meetings with the OVs and their respective communities across the operations. A total of 460 community sessions were held with general community members that were attended by 8,429 individuals with a 49% (4,118) participation of female members.
Alongside community meetings, UNHCR used telephones to remain in contact with the refugees. A total of 865 calls were made to the refugee community during the peak of COVID-19, and 2,227 calls were received on UNHCR’s protection helpline. All calls were appropriately responded to and confidentially treated as appropriate, in line with the community-based feedback and procedures.
With UNHCR and partner support, OVs initiated 33 small-scale community-led initiatives to support their communities to enhance self-reliance and community empowerment.
In addition, 18 refugee Shura (community leaders and elders structures) were established comprising 108 male individuals in Khyber Phakhtunkhwa and in Punjab 46 awareness sessions with 437 community members, OVs, and Shura were held on the importance of education, COVID-19, community coordination, and other communal issues.
A community-level pocket guide was developed in three languages (English, Dari and Pashto) and distributed among these community structures to facilitate timely referrals of identified vulnerable refugees, survivors of gender-based violence and urgent medical cases. With the first-hand updated information and key messages/emergency contact numbers available in the guide, it enabled volunteers and other community workers to ensure maximum support through swift and timely referral of protection cases as well as guide their community members on procedures such as Proof of Card Modification (PCM) and voluntary repatriation.
UNHCR established three new multipurpose model community centres in Punjab and Balochistan. At the end of 2020, the total number of community centres was five (two in Refugee Villages and three in urban areas). These centres offer a wide range of services including spaces for refugee women, girls, men and boys to come together, foster peer network, access information, receive psychosocial counselling and life-skills trainings. As a result, 267 persons of concern to UNHCR were trained in computing, English language, tailoring and other courses.
UNHCR also adopted alternative communication mechanisms to facilitate protection interventions in remote and inaccessible locations. Over 38 WhatsApp community groups were created. UNHCR also encouraged refugees to use UNHCR and its partners’ social network pages such as Facebook to access information.
A complaints database was maintained to record and handle complaints reported by the community through established channels including complaint and suggestion boxes, a confidential email address, helplines and consultation with community support structures as per SOPs developed in 2019.
In addition, the office developed and disseminated 70,000 brochures (in Pashtu, Dari and English) on COVID-19 preventive measures and protection services highlighting how and where to access specialized services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).