A Day in the Life of an IDP Camp Leader
Part 3: A Voice for the Community
Alongside her responsibilities for protecting and supporting people within the camp, the women
leader has another important role: advocating for her community.
Camp leaders are often the link between displaced communities and the organisations that can provide support. They speak with government officials, humanitarian organisations, donors, faith-based groups and development agencies, helping to ensure that the needs and experiences of people living in the camp are heard and understood.
This can mean advocating for better access to food, healthcare, education, livelihoods, water, sanitation, shelter and protection. Camp leaders attend meetings, coordinate visits and share information with those who may be able to help, while continuing to respond to the everyday needs of people within the camp.
Without their advocacy, many of those needs could remain unseen.
Yet carrying the concerns of an entire community comes with its own pressures. Many camp leaders have experienced displacement and loss themselves, while also being expected to support others who are living through the same uncertainty.
Daily they listen to people who are struggling, help families in crisis and respond to difficult situations, often with limited resources. Over time, the responsibility of supporting others, combined with repeated exposure to their experiences of trauma, can affect the leaders’ own emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Stress, exhaustion and secondary trauma can become part of the hidden cost of leadership, yet the wellbeing of those carrying these responsibilities can easily be overlooked.
Supporting camp leaders is therefore important not only for them as individuals, but also for the communities that rely on them. When leaders have access to appropriate support, they are better able to provide guidance, resolve conflicts, identify protection risks, coordinate assistance and continue advocating for the people they serve.
Psychosocial support can take different forms, including counselling, peer support, trauma-informed care, stress management and opportunities for rest and recovery. Providing this support recognises that resilience does not mean being able to carry an unlimited burden alone.
Camp leaders are survivors as well as leaders. They are often advocates, protectors, mediators and caregivers, taking on responsibilities that extend far beyond the day-to-day organisation of camp life.
For this women leader, those responsibilities mean listening to the concerns of her community, speaking on their behalf and trying to find support for needs she cannot meet alone. At the same time, she is living with the realities of displacement herself.
Supporting leaders like her is an important part of building safer and more resilient communities. They spend their days caring for others, but they also need opportunities to be supported and cared for themselves.
