Twenty years after signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), 98,324 internally displaced people (IDPs) and some 47,000 minority returnees in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still in need of solutions. The revised strategy for implementation of annex VII of DPA was supposed to be implemented by 2014. UNHCR contributed to the Report on Implementation, prepared by the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees (MHRR) in December 2015. According to it, the Strategy was implemented only partially. UNHCR attributes the incomplete attainment of the strategic goals to inadequate mechanisms for effective utilization of the available resources, and in part due to incomplete records and data regarding IDPs and returnees and their needs. In 2015, UNHCR continued implementation of the EU-funded Instrument for pre-accession Assistance (IPA), three-year project (2014-2016), supporting durable solutions (“IPA Annex VII project”). The municipal structures established within the project have assumed the advocacy role to ensure efficient identification and resolving the problems of IDPs and returnees at the community level through applying the needs-based approach. The project team and municipal partners have contributed to achieving valuable results related to access to rights, social protection, self-sustainability and housing. The Steering Board was established, ensuring necessary buy-in and patronage of the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities. UNHCR conducted mapping of the most vulnerable cases in eight municipalities (covering 1,223 families).
Another multi-year project in 2013-12016, funded by United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS), was implemented jointly with United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Canton 10; UNHCR provided income generation (IG) grants and free legal aid for vulnerable returnees. In May 2015, UNHCR received a 1.15 million grant from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for UNHCR’s technical support to MHRR in CEB II project (closure of 121 collective centres through CEB loan and State co-financing). Out of total number of 45 project municipalities, the implementation started in 23 municipalities (15 in Republika Srpska (RS), 8 in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovinaand in Brčko District. UNHCR also facilitated producing four project documents as there is no legal framework regulating social housing. The main issues are unclear status of IDPs after relocation, source of subsidized rents, lack of livelihoods solutions and inadequate public awareness. UNHCR funded complementary activities, Local Action Plans for social inclusion of collective centre residents in five municipalities and a survey on needs. Verification of CEB II beneficiaries started in February 2016, UNHCR continued its engagement in the RHP through the monitoring of beneficiary selection and reporting, monitoring sustainability component and monitoring of progress of overall durable solution process; the implementation is slow, particularly related to the beneficiary selection process, due to the inadequate capacity/ readiness of the authorities to apply the developed eligibility and vulnerability criteria targeting the most vulnerable beneficiaries in need of sustainable housing solutions. UNHCR’s cooperation with UNCT partners in Birac Project, aimed at building a bottom-up partnership approach in five Birac Region municipalities enhanced the inter-municipal/regional cooperation. The Consultative Working Group, the principle Annex VII coordination body met only to discuss preparation of the Report on the Revised Strategy. UNHCR actively participated in preparation of the report.