Months of escalating hostility towards Ukraine have culminated in a concerted invasion of the country and the launch of military attacks across multiple cities in Ukraine starting from February 24th, 2022. As of March 26, 2022, an estimated 2.2M people have fled to Poland from Ukraine. Many have been welcomed by the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland, many more are being hosted by Polish families, and the rest reside in recently established shelters and reception centers. While the Polish government, Polish NGOs, UN agencies, and local civil society actors have provided multisectoral relief across the country, this rapid needs assessment aims to better understand the priority needs, vulnerabilities, and barriers to accessing information, services, and humanitarian support that people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine face in Poland, including those experienced by groups with heightened vulnerability.  This assessment will be used to inform the IRC’s strategic response to these displaced populations in Poland and will be widely shared with the overall humanitarian community, including with Polish civil society and governmental bodies who have provided rapid and much needed relief to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. 

A compound crisis of armed conflict and climate change is driving unprecedented levels of humanitarian need, displacement and food insecurity in the Central Sahel: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. But these impacts are distributed neither equally nor randomly across the region. This report examines how political decisions dating from the French colonial rule through the early 2000s have marginalized peripheral areas of the Central Sahel states both economically and politically.

Protracted economic, political and security crises have rendered many countries ill-equipped to respond to COVID-19. Within these fragile contexts, refugees and people displaced by conflict and crisis will be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. An effective response to COVID-19 requires both global and local solutions. IRC’s advocacy aims to secure funding and operational flexibilities, promote best practices, and address specific threats to the needs of the communities we serve.

Widespread drought, food insecurity and conflict across East Africa and Yemen have led to a mass displacement of people. Refugee camps are overcrowded and lack clean water, sanitation and health care, conditions that have nurtured a deadly cholera outbreak, putting millions at risk.

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