Pakistan - With almost half a million people displaced as a result of ongoing military operations in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, two-way information flows between displaced people, the government and aid agencies have never been more critical to ensure an efficient, needs-based humanitarian response.

But IOM Pakistan’s humanitarian communications programme, which has used radio campaigns, print media and facilitators to provide life-saving outreach to communities displaced by conflict and natural disasters in the area since 2009, is now under threat.

Funding for the programme from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) ran out at the end of June.

In the last week of June, when displacement from North Waziristan peaked, the programme released two Public Service Announcements (PSAs) as part of a new campaign supported by the KP provincial Protection Cluster led by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).  

The first, at the request of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), provided essential information on the location of food hubs for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The second, produced on behalf of the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), informed IDPs about where and how to get cash aid.

Other radio campaigns targeting displaced families fleeing North Waziristan have included mine risk education, hygiene promotion and food distribution. 

The programme, which has service agreements with 60 radio stations across Pakistan, also distributes print materials and uses facilitators to conduct information sessions for IDPs and host communities to raise awareness and generate feedback.

“Humanitarian communications is an essential project that provides critical information to the displaced population of FATA. If this service lapses, a critical gap for time-sensitive information will arise,” says Haseeb Khan, Assistant Director of the FDMA.

“We are now urgently looking to the donor community for resources to continue to provide this life-saving flow of information to IDPs and to continue to get the feedback we need to get aid to the most vulnerable people in the right locations,” says IOM Pakistan Chief of Mission Enrico Ponziani.

For more information please contact

Ammarah Mubarak
IOM Pakistan
Email: amubarak@iom.int
Tel. +92 51 230 7841-57