IOM, with funding from the  Spanish Agency for International
Development Cooperation (AECID) has provided 2,891 displaced
families with shelter repair materials and 4,986 families with
non-food relief items including cooking pots, sleeping mats and
tools in conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao.

The ongoing multi-sectoral humanitarian programme supports
vulnerable families living in evacuation centers, as well as
families who have returned or are planning to return to their
communities of origin.

Almost two years after the conflict that displaced tens of
thousands of families across Central Mindanao, some 26,600 families
continue to live in evacuation centres and other transitional sites
in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan
Kudarat.

But according to data gathered by IOM mobile liaison teams,
large numbers of families have already returned to their often
devastated homes and villages.

"The situation on the ground is changing," says IOM Mindanao
Programme Coordinator Jasper Llanderal. "More families are
beginning to voluntarily return to their communities of origin. The
main challenge for most of them is that they lack the resources to
either rebuild their homes or restart their livelihoods."

IOM is addressing the problem by providing livelihood start up
kits to vulnerable families who are still in displacement sites and
are unable to support themselves, and to families who have returned
to their communities. The kits range from seeds and gardening
tools, to fishing equipment.

IOM works in close partnership with the local community and the
Department of Agriculture to ensure that the packages provided are
appropriate and suited to the needs and available resources in the
area.

For more information please contact:

Cris Villanueva

IOM Philippines

Tel: +632 848 1260 ext.149

E-mail: "mailto:cpvillanueva@iom.int">cpvillanueva@iom.int