A Day in the Life of an IDP Camp Leader
Part 1: Carrying Two Burdens
“Please, Madam. Help us.”
During a monitoring visit to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp as part of a human
trafficking prevention project supported by Arise Foundation, a women leader shared the
challenges facing the community she serves.
Her concerns were immediate and urgent: families arriving at the camp with nothing,
women and girls facing health risks, children needing medical care, and young people being
targeted with false promises of work and a better life.
“There is an elderly woman here with a terrible skin disease. She scratches all night and
cannot sleep. Many of our women and girls have infections because our toilets are in very
poor condition.
“We have new families who were recently displaced from their community. They are deeply
traumatised, and I don’t know how to help them. They don’t even have cooking pots. They
wait for older camp residents to finish preparing meals so they can borrow their pots to
cook for their own families.
“They have no blankets, no mosquito nets. Some of our young girls leave with anyone who
promises them a better life or an opportunity to earn money. Many never return, and their
families don’t know where they are.”
She also described the daily struggle of meeting basic needs.
“There isn’t enough food. When children in our camp school fall sick, we sometimes give
them pain relief medication and simply hope they get better because we cannot afford to
take them to the hospital.
“Sometimes people come to help us, and we are grateful, but it is usually a one-time visit.
Our needs are here every single day.”
For this camp leader, responding to these challenges is part of everyday life. Like many IDP
leaders, she is responsible for far more than organising camp activities. She is often the first
person residents approach when they face illness, conflict, protection concerns or the risk of
exploitation.
Many IDP camp leaders have experienced displacement themselves. They understand the
uncertainty and loss faced by their communities, while also carrying responsibility for
others.
They listen to families in crisis, support survivors of violence, help resolve disputes and raise
concerns with humanitarian organisations and authorities. They do this work while
managing their own experiences of displacement and uncertainty.
The responsibility comes with a cost. Constant exposure to the struggles of others can lead
to stress, emotional exhaustion and secondary trauma. Yet the wellbeing of camp leaders is
often overlooked in humanitarian responses.
Meeting the needs of displaced communities requires more than food, shelter and services.
It also requires supporting the people who help hold those communities together.
For IDP camp leaders, this means access to psychosocial support, mentoring and practical
resources that recognise the demands of their role.
Their strength should not be measured by how much they can carry alone.
Behind every displaced community is someone working to protect, support and advocate
for others. Supporting those leaders is essential to building safer and more resilient
communities.
